We interbreed with Denisovans
A second archaic population contributes genes still carried across Asia and Oceania.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 2 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 3 thousand years
- Era
- Late Pleistocene, Quaternary
Modern humans moving through Asia encounter and interbreed with Denisovans, apparently on more than one occasion and with more than one Denisovan population. Papuans and Aboriginal Australians carry the highest proportions, around 4 to 6 per cent. The inherited variants include EPAS1, which allows Tibetans to live above 4,000 metres without the blood thickening that afflicts lowlanders — one of the clearest cases of a beneficial trait entering our species from another.