This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: An ancient cave in southwestern China has revealed new evidence about how Denisovans—an ancient human relative—lived, survived and adapted over more than 100,000 years. The study, published in Nature, brings together fossils, stone and bone tools, animal remains and environmental records from Bianfu Cave in Yunnan Province to provide one of the longest cultural records of Denisovans.
Professor Bo Li from the University of Wollongong's (UOW) Environmental Futures Research Center is a lead author on the paper. He has previously led dating studies at other key sites preserving Denisovan remains and evidence of their activities, including Denisova Cave in Siberia and Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau. His significant contribution to this study was leading the luminescence and uranium-series dating analyses that established the chronology of Bianfu Cave, where Denisovan fossil remains, including teeth, cranial fragments and an arm bone, were uncovered alongside more than 1,300 stone artifacts preserved in the cave's sediment layers.
Professor Li said establishing an accurate timeline was fundamental to interpreting the site. "Dating a site like Bianfu Cave means reconstructing a timeline stretching back over 190,000 years, using novel techniques that measure the luminescence accumulated in buried sand grains and the natural decay of uranium in the cave speleothems and human tooth enamel," Professor Li explained. "That chronology is what allows us to say, with confidence, not just that Denisovans were here, but roughly when, and for how long." The fossils date to approximately 167,000 to 134,000 years ago, while evidence of repeated human occupation extends from 190,000 to 70,000 years ago.
Together, the findings provide one of the longest archaeological records of Denisovan occupation and adaptation. Until now, much of what scientists have known about Denisovans has come from a small number of fossil discoveries and genetic evidence still carried by populations across Asia and the Pacific today. Bianfu Cave is significant for bringing multiple strands of evidence together for the first time.
"This site is significant because it brings fossils, technology, subsistence and environment together in one long, stratified record," Professor Li said. "It moves us beyond isolated discoveries and genetically inferred distributions, showing how Denisovans actually adapted to their surroundings. It is evidence of just how diverse the technology of ancient human populations in eastern Asia really was." Stone and bone tools at the site point to a practical and flexible way of life, showing a resourceful approach to toolmaking using local materials.
Cut marks and fracture patterns on animal remains—including deer, water buffalo and gaur—indicate deliberate hunting and processing of large prey at the site. Pollen evidence suggests the cave sat within a conifer forest or similar environment that offered reliable resources through shifting glacial conditions. Qijun Ruan et al, Denisovans from southwestern China and their subsistence strategies, Nature (2026).
Extract — continue reading at the source.
