Denisova Cave

The cave is an unremarkable opening in limestone above the Anuy, occupied on and off for a few hundred thousand years, and it produced one of the more consequential finds in human origins: a fragment of finger bone excavated in 2008, whose DNA in 2010 turned out to belong to a population related to but distinct from Neanderthals and modern humans, now called Denisovans - the first hominin group identified from genetics rather than from anatomy. Later work showed Neanderthals used the cave too, and one individual, known as Denny, had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father, a first-generation hybrid. Denisovan ancestry survives in living populations in Melanesia, Australia and parts of Asia. Ornaments and a bracelet of worked stone from the deposits are argued over for their dating. On the ground it is a cave with excavation trenches; a small museum in a nearby village holds the context.

History

The cave is named after the Old Believer hermit Dyonisiy, or Denis, who lived in it in the 18th century. Russian scientists found ancient remains here in the 1970s, and 22 strata have since been identified, going back about 125,000 to 180,000 years; bone fragments found in 2008 were shown in 2010 to belong to a separate early human group, the Denisovans, and a sewing needle of bird bone about 50,000 years old was also found here (Wikipedia, Denisova Cave).

The main sights

• The cave itself - a limestone opening above the river with excavation trenches inside.
• The finger bone find - the fragment that identified a human population from DNA alone.
• Denny - the individual with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
• The village museum - the interpretation, since the cave shows little.

When to go

June to September. Two hours. The road in is rough and poor after rain.

What to expect

Excavation areas are fenced and often closed during the digging season. The cave is visually ordinary; the importance is entirely in what came out of it. There are no facilities at the site and the nearest village is small. The approach road needs a high-clearance vehicle in wet weather.

Nearby

The Anuy valley runs below; the Chuysky tract is east across the mountains.

Key facts