A limestone cave in the Altai that rewrote human ancestry. In 2008 a finger bone came out of the deposits here and the mitochondrial DNA in it did not match us or Neanderthals: it was a third kind of human, now called Denisovans, known first from genetics rather than from bones. They interbred with the ancestors of living Melanesians, whose DNA still carries the proof. Then in 2018 came Denisova 11, nicknamed Denny, a girl with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father: not two species that met, but one person who was both. The cave has 22 strata and people were using it from around 125,000 to 180,000 years ago onward. Also found here: a 50,000 year old bone needle 7 cm long, and a cave lion carved from mammoth ivory about 45,000 years ago. Bashelaksky Range, about 150 km south of Barnaul.
Kazakhstan
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