Remember we discussed the issue. Let's continue exploring this topic.

The Altai mountains are located in such a way that it was simply impossible for numerous migrations of various bipedal creatures to go around them. Nearby is a vast strip of steppes, stretching from the Yenisei to the Carpathians, which served as a real "gateway to the peoples" (usually the so-called that part of it that passed between the Ural ridge and the Caspian Sea). On the other side of the mountains there are deserts that open the way to the Far East and Southeast Asia. Altai contains many interesting and mysterious places, including the famous Denisov Cave with a large grotto - it is always dry in it, and the opening under the dome gives light during the day and serves as a natural chimney.

And that's what was found there ...

It is not surprising that representatives of the genus Homo have found refuge in Denisova Cave for hundreds of thousands of years, starting with the Neanderthals, who settled there 280,000 years ago. The people of the historical era also left traces there - the Turks and the Huns, the creators of vast nomadic empires. Throughout this giant period of time, people lived here, made tools, ate or butchered animals caught in the hunt - bones of a yak, donkey, rhinoceros, hyena were found in Denisova Cave.

Thus, over the natural floor of the cave, two dozen cultural layers have grown, filled with artifacts - evidence of the life of a wide variety of inhabitants. To explore these cultural layers (and excavations began here in the second half of the 1970s), archaeologists had to dig a deep hole. And in 2008, a famous discovery happened: in Denisova Cave, among a huge array of cultural layers, a tiny bone was found - as it turned out later, the phalanx of the little finger of a young female. We can talk about great scientific luck, since this find, plus a few more small bone fragments (two teeth, possibly a phalanx of a toe) became the only evidence of the existence of a hitherto unknown species of people on Earth.

20 cultural layers have grown on the floor of the Denisova Cave. The discovery of small bone remains of the Denisovites in this massif is a great success.

The surprises continued in 2012 when the work of a group of scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig (led by the Swedish biologist Svante Peebo) was published. Scientists have succeeded in sequencing with high accuracy both the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of the Denisovans, as our extinct cousins ​​are now called, and it became possible to substantively talk about the relationship of people living in Denisova Cave 75-30 thousand years ago with Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. The sequencing of Denisov's DNA became real only with the emergence of new technologies for working with genetic material, which, as a rule, is fragmentary in fossil bones. In particular, the method of artificial restoration of double-stranded DNA was applied in cases where one of the strands in the original sample was damaged.

The diagram shows the family tree of Sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals, as well as great apes, coming from a common ancestor. Red shows the threshold, after which, out of 24 pairs of monkey chromosomes, after fusion, 23 pairs of human ones turned out.

As for the relationship, it was possible to find out that, according to the analysis of mtDNA, the difference between a modern man and a Denisovan is 385 nucleotides, while the difference between Homo sapiens and a Neanderthal is 202 nucleotides. Nuclear DNA analysis showed that Neanderthals and Denisovans had a common ancestor who lived perhaps about 700,000 years ago (dating is extremely approximate). The ancestor of this branch and Homo sapiens - the so-called "antecedent man" (Homo antecessor) lived on Earth more than a million years ago.

So everything is clear with kinship? Not really. It is known that Homo sapiens appeared about 200,000 years ago on the African continent. One and a half hundred thousand years later, a small population of Sapiens (about 40-50 thousand people) decided to leave their African home and went to the Middle East, and the descendants of these people settled on all continents except Antarctica. Thus, all the original inhabitants of the Old and New World with the exception of Africa - that is, white Europeans, Chinese, Eskimos, American Indians - are descendants of fugitives from Africa, whose numbers are comparable to the population of the regional center. At the same time, the Sapiens were, of course, not the first representatives of the genus Homo who left for Eurasia. Prior to this, Homo erectus traveled there, giving offspring in Europe in the form of Heidelberg man or in Asia in the form of Sinanthropus and Pithecanthropus.

Arriving in the Middle East, the Sapiens met there previously arrived Neanderthals. At the same time, what is called hybridization in science happened: our ancestors and Neanderthals began to interbreed, and they had offspring. Presumably, this was the first, but not the only, wave of hybridization of these species. The second episode, according to genetic data, could have occurred in the Far East with the participation of the ancestors of the Chinese and American Indians on the part of Homo sapiens. Today, the percentage of Neanderthal genes in the genome of representatives of different peoples of the world is 1-4%.

After it was possible to obtain accurate data on the genome of Denisovans, another important discovery was made. It turned out that the Denisovans could not avoid hybridization with Homo sapiens. Living not far from the "gates of peoples", they met with a certain branch of the ancestors of modern people, which then marched towards Southeast Asia, or rather, its insular part. Melanesians, representatives of the Australoid race (among them the Papuans are the most famous in our country) contain in their genome up to 6% of "Denisov's" genes. Although it is absolutely not necessary that hybridization took place in Altai, it is now believed that this species of people had a wide habitat in Eurasia.

Thus, some modern people who live, however, mainly in one corner of the planet, can consider themselves closer relatives to the Denisovans than everyone else. However, there is another mystery, which was presented by the find in Denisova cave. It seems that on its basis it is possible to assume the existence of another type of people, from which even a tiny bone has not yet been found.

Neanderthals and Denisovans make up two branches descending from a common ancestor, but, as already mentioned, Homo neanderthalensis is genetically noticeably closer to Sapiens than Denisovans. Moreover, the Denisovian genome contains about 1% of genes that Neanderthals do not have and which are noticeably older than the rest: American biologist David Reich from the Harvard School of Medicine drew attention to this. It remains to be assumed that hybridization with sapiens was not the only one that the "Denisovian" people underwent. Now it is suggested that they, on their historical path, could interbreed with other species of the genus Homo.

The researchers drew attention to the fact that the tooth found in the Denisova Cave, which, like a fragment of the phalanx, was the subject of genetic analysis, has an unusually large size, which is typical of earlier hominids. This may mean that the breeding partners were representatives of some kind of people who came out of Africa even earlier, and the Sapiens, and Denisovans, and Neanderthals. Perhaps, nothing is still known about this species, but it can be assumed that they were, for example, representatives of the Heidelberg man. What prevents you from checking it? Absence of a sequenced genome of the latter.

It will be necessary to recall again that the isolation of high-quality genetic information from the fossil remains of the Denisovans was a unique case and a great scientific success. The same goes for the genes of Neanderthals. The fact is that both of them lived in relatively cold and humid regions of the world, and the climate ensured the safety of complex molecules inside the bone remains. In hot climates, where the sun burned white bones, DNA was almost completely destroyed.

Discoveries are yet to come

Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of the fossil material found so far, it is very difficult to say how much the Denisovans differed from modern people. external appearance and behavior, or whether they had, for example, speech. Differences in the genomes of sapiens and Denisovans may indicate that certain mutations responsible in our genome for important functions associated with development nervous system and the work of the brain, among the Denisovans, as among representatives of another branch of humanity, are not noted. This may mean that these extinct people did not possess a human mind in the full sense, which, of course, did not prevent them from leaving offspring together with sapiens.

It would seem that Homo florensiensis fits into the same row of "crypt-people" - the remains of representatives of this species were discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores. These creatures, who were immediately dubbed "hobbits", were distinguished by their small stature (1 m) and an extremely small brain volume - 400 cm3. This is less than that of chimpanzees, and comparable to the brain size of the Afar Australopithecus, which was not of the genus Homo. Thus, the Flores dwarfs were apparently at a lower stage of development than the Neanderthals or Denisovans. Yes, they produced primitive stone tools, probably they were engaged in hunting and construction with their help, but Australopithecus was also capable of creating stone tools. According to one of the prevailing hypotheses, Homo florensiensis could be a descendant of Pithecanthropus, a fairly developed creature that fell into the conditions of island isolation (and the modern and fossil fauna of Flores Island is filled with evolutionary curiosities) and there it changed, or, one might say, degraded. The latter term, however, is hardly appropriate, since it presupposes the understanding of evolution as a constant movement from lower forms to higher ones, while in reality only adaptation by the method of natural selection matters. Now, however, the hypothesis of a shrunken and stupid Pithecanthropus is not shared by everyone, suspecting in the ancestors of the "hobbits" some less developed creatures such as the australopithecines.

However, there is another interesting example, when traces of some mysterious humanoid creature can be clearly traced in the genome of modern humans. True, we are again talking about a specific group of Homo sapiens.

Africa is a treasure trove of genetic diversity. If we remember that non-African humanity goes back to several tens of thousands of Africans who left for Eurasia, it is not difficult to assume that the genetic differences between a German and a Japanese may be much smaller than between representatives of different African peoples, where the Sapiens developed 200,000 years. But the pygmies in western Cameroon and the Hadza and Sandaw people in Tanzania are a special case... As you can see from geographic map, Tanzania and Cameroon are separated by a decent distance, but the representatives of the three peoples mentioned are united by common DNA regions, and this indicates, firstly, common ancestors who lived at the latest 40,000 years ago, and, secondly, that these the most ancestors were already the owners of the aforementioned sites. A group of biologists from University of Pennsylvania under the leadership of Sarah Tishkoff published a work in the journal Cell, in which it was argued that the DNA sections common to the three peoples are traces of hybridization with a hitherto unknown and living in Africa 80-20 thousand years ago, a species of people that descended from a common ancestor with the Neanderthals about 1.2 million years ago.

The only problem is that, again, not a single bone has been found from these hypothetical people - geneticists have again made a discovery "at the tip of the pen." An indirect confirmation that even in a recent era in Africa some species of people other than sapiens could exist, the find in Ivo-Eleru (Nigeria) can serve. A rather primitive skull was discovered there, dating, however, to the era of undivided rule of the Sapiens - 13,000 years ago. In other words, there is a problem of a certain discrepancy between the calculations of geneticists and the findings of paleoanthropologists working “in the field”.

But let's not forget: if luck hadn't happened with the discovery of tiny bone fragments in Denisova Cave, no one would have known about any Denisovites today.

Australians were the first

The map on the next page shows the migration paths of the ancestors of different groups of Homo sapiens across Eurasia. As you can see, the ancestors of the Australian aborigines and Papuans were in the same group of immigrants from Africa as the ancestors of the future population of Europe and Asia - they separated from their African relatives 75-62 thousand years ago. However, the "Australian" branch (red arrow) went to Eurasia first, even before the "Europeans" separated from the "Asians" 38-25 thousand years ago (in particular, the ancestral line of the Chinese - Han). The second wave of migration, which passed through Southwest Asia, India and Indochina, ousted and absorbed the representatives of the "Australian" branch on the continent, and the aborigines of Australia and the Papuans were isolated for 50,000 years. Hybridization with Denisovans is also marked on the map.

Genetic clarity

The honor of scientific proof of hybridization between Homo sapiens on the one hand and Denisovans, as well as Neanderthals, on the other, belongs to a group of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany) under the leadership of the Swedish geneticist Svante Peebo. Based on bone remains from Croatia, researchers were able to read the genome of a Neanderthal in 2010. In 2012, similar work was carried out with respect to the Denisovans genome. The Denisovsky genome was sequenced with an average coverage of 31 (99.4% of nucleotides read at least 10 times, 92.9% - at least 20). Thus, the quality of reading the genome corresponds to the sequenced genomes of modern people, which made it possible to start the comparison.

Here's some more interesting information.

An unusual variant of a gene involved in the body's production of hemoglobin is widespread among Tibetans. This feature allows them to live in the mountains at an altitude of more than 4500 meters above sea level. A study published in the journal Nature shows that the Tibetans inherited this gene from the Denisovan man, a related species (or subspecies) of the genus to modern humans and Neanderthals. Homo... The Denisov people, who died out 40-50 thousand years ago, are known from the bone remains found in the Denisova cave in Altai.

“We have very clear evidence that this version of the gene came from Denisovans,” said Rasmus Nielsen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study. "This shows that humans have evolved and adapted to new conditions by receiving genes from other species."

A gene known as EPAS1 is activated when oxygen levels in the blood drop, increasing the production of red blood cells. It helps the person to cope with peak loads. EPAS1 is even called the gene of "super athletes", as some variants can help athletes to quickly raise hemoglobin levels, increasing endurance. In the highlands, the usual version of the work of this gene turns out to be fatal. An increase in the number of red blood cells in the blood there leads to hypertension and heart attacks, as well as the birth of children with lower birth weight and an increase in infant mortality. The Tibetan gene variant avoids these side effects as it is less active.

In 2010, studies also conducted by Rasus Nielsen and his team showed that when the ancestors of the present Tibetans settled the Tibetan Plateau, more than 2.75 thousand years ago, their number sharply decreased, and then began to grow thanks to the part of the population that had genetic features that make life easier in the mountains, including a special variant of the EPAS1 gene.

“We found that part of the EPAS1 gene in Tibetans is almost identical to the Denisovan gene and is very different from all other people,” says Nielsen. Nuclear DNA extracted from a Denisovan finger bone has been compared to genetic material from the Chinese and Tibetans provided by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Nielsen suggests that modern people, having left Africa, interbred with Denisovans in Eurasia. Their descendants subsequently settled in China and Tibet.

sources
The article "Cryptohumanity" was published in the magazine "Popular Mechanics" (# 141, July 2014).
http://www.popmech.ru/science/17225-denisovskiy-chelovek/#full
http://elementy.ru/lib/431435
http://paranormal-news.ru/news/denisovskij_chelovek_skreshhivalsja_s_neizvestnym_nauke_vidom_cheloveka/2013-11-21-8087
http://polit.ru/news/2014/07/03/ps_epas1/

For example, there is more information for you and

Leipzig, Germany, under the leadership of Kay Prüfer and Svante Paabo studied the nuclear genome of a Neanderthal lady who lived in Altai about 50 thousand years ago. Like any serious research, this work has a background. Svante Paabo and his colleagues began sequencing the nuclear genome of the Neanderthal back in 2006. This is not an easy task, as ancient DNA has long fallen apart and is often contaminated with nucleic acids from microbes and modern humans. However, in 2010, they found out that the Neanderthals gifted their genes to Homo sapiens living outside Africa.

Now scientists have received an updated version of the genome, in which the position of each nucleotide is verified at least 50 times.

Phalanx of a finger of a Neanderthal woman

Bence viola

The material for the study was DNA from the phalanx of the ring finger or little finger of an adult woman who lived in Denisova cave in Altai... The phalanx was found in 2010 by the researchers of Denisova Cave Anatoly Derevianko and Mikhail Shunkov and transferred to Leipzig for analysis.

Do not confuse the Neanderthal population of Denisova Cave with Denisovites.

They lived there a little later, about 40 thousand years ago, and although they were related to the Asian Neanderthals, they were an independent group of the genus Homo. by the same group of researchers under the leadership of Svante Paabo and also from the phalanx of the finger.

The genome showed that the parents of the Neanderthal woman were closely related. They were relatives or cousins, or maybe uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, grandfather and granddaughter, grandmother and grandson. Scientists concluded that family marriages were common among Neanderthals and Denisovans, as they lived in small groups and were limited in their choice of mate. Researchers believe that the number of Neanderthals and Denisovans at that time was steadily declining, their time was coming to an end.

Comparison of the genomes of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans showed that different groups of hominids in late Pleistocene, 12-126 thousand years ago, met, communicated and left offspring.

Gene exchange did not occur often, but rather regularly.

Excavations in Denisova cave

Bence viola

Approximately 77-114 thousand years ago, the Neanderthals were divided into Asian and European populations. Neanderthals living in the Caucasus exchanged genes with the ancestors of modern Eurasians and the inhabitants of Australia and Oceania, Altai Neanderthals with Denisovans, Denisovans from unknown caves with the ancestors of modern inhabitants of mainland Asia and American Indians.

The Neanderthal contribution to the genome of modern Eurasians is, according to researchers, from 1.5 to 2.1%.

And the genome of the Denisovan man, in contrast to the Neanderthal, contains 2.7-5.8% of the DNA of some unknown ancient hominids. Perhaps they separated 1.2-4 million years ago from the ancestors of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans. Researchers do not exclude that this mysterious ancestor - human erectus Homo erectus, whose fossilized bones are found by anthropologists, but the DNA sequence has not yet been deciphered. Further research will show if this is the case.

Scientists have compiled a list of DNA sequences that distinguish modern humans from our closest extinct relatives. The list of differences is rather short. The changes also affect genes responsible for cell division and regulation of the work of other genes. In order to find out how these modifications influenced the appearance of modern man and his biology, geneticists need to work further.

1. Name (more precisely, working title) - "Denisova 11".

2. Source of information: nuclear DNA obtained from 175 mg of bone powder. Find: bone fragment 24.7 × 8.4 mm; location in the skeleton has not been established.

3. The age of the girl is over 13 years old (as stated in one of the scientific reports, “the age of the bone remains is over 13 years before the moment of death”).

4. Father - Denisovite, mother - Neanderthal.

5. The parents of "Denisova 11" are non-purebred representatives of their subspecies, they carry the genetic trace of previous crosses, which is reflected in the girl's genome. Thus, her father had at least one Neanderthal ancestor during his lifetime.

6. The ancestors of "Denisova 11" along the Neanderthal lineage were probably relatively recent (about 20,000 years before the girl's life) newcomers from Europe: in particular, their genetic relationship with the inhabitants of the Vindija cave (Croatia) is traced.

7. 1.2% of DNA fragments of "Denisova 11" correspond to modern humans, 38.6% to Neanderthal and 42.3% to Denisovans.

Professor Svante Paabo, head of the laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of the History of Human Society (Leipzig, Germany):

- And to the present time we are all hybrids. In the genome of individual groups of modern people, you can find 10-15% of the genes of the Neanderthal man and 1.5 - 5% of the genes of the Denisovan man. Even such a low proportion affects, according to one of our hypotheses, the adaptability to high altitude of the inhabitants of Tibet and to the cold of Greenland. Why not more? First, populations of Homo subspecies did not meet and mix as often. Second, there was selective selection against hybridization.

Vivian Sloan, employee of the Svante Paabo laboratory:

- We carefully checked all our results and the purity of their receipt. Versions such as mixing of material in the laboratory, errors in analytical equipment, and even the consequences of cannibalism were excluded. We can confidently assert: sequenced by the genome of the daughter of Denisovan man and a representative of the population of Altai Neanderthals(which split more than 390,000 years ago - approx. website)

It was also established that the crossing of various subspecies of hominids in the Pleistocene epoch occurred practically at every contact of different populations.

Location of Denisova Cave

Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko, scientific director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS:

Together with the Denisovans, the Neanderthals also lived in the cave. The question naturally arises: how did they coexist? I recently made two hypotheses.

The first is antagonistic, when two species compete up to mutual destruction and even eating their own kind. This is supported by the absence of objects of the Neanderthal industry in Denisova Cave - only fragments of their own remains. Although, I note that in the Okladnikov Cave, located 45 km away (in a straight line), a sufficient number of Neanderthal stone products, more archaic in comparison with Denisov ones, were found.

The second hypothesis is that there was a complementary relationship between Neanderthals and Denisovans, right up to interbreeding. This option is supported by last discovery, rendered in a subheading.

In the same eleventh layer in 2016, a fragment of a human bone was found, so tiny that it has not yet been possible to establish its exact location in the skeleton. But the sequencing of the DNA obtained from the bone showed that this girl, at least 13 years old, was a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, and in the fourth generation. Note that mixed species offspring (for example, horses and donkeys) are not capable of further reproduction. As soon as Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred repeatedly, it follows from this that they belong to the same biological species with all the already established cultural and genetic differences.

This is an extremely important fundamental discovery. Denisovans and Neanderthals interbred with early people modern species, formed in Africa 200-150 thousand years ago. All this testifies to the unity of the biological species that settled in Africa and Eurasia. And this attracts more and more of our colleagues from all over the world to Denisova Cave: archaeologists, geneticists, anthropologists, paleontologists.

Did this discovery bring new knowledge about the appearance of Denisovans? Not yet. Genetic analysis provides incomplete information, since not all parts of the ancient genome can be restored. It all depends on the length of the chain and its sections that you can explore. So, about the first girl from Denisova cave, we only know that she was dark-skinned and brown-eyed, plus her approximate age.

The fact that the species of ancient people discovered in 2010 in Denisova Cave in Gorny Altai was more culturally and spiritually developed than its contemporary Neanderthal was also concluded by the author of the find, Academician of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS Anatoly Derevyanko. Say, the life surrounding him was too advanced for those times - the Denisovite could not only sharpen tools well, but even drill holes, and made a lot of interesting decorations. Now the cultural superiority of the Denisovan over the Neanderthal was confirmed by genetics. And in general, we found out a lot of interesting details ...

The Denisovite knew what "good" was and what was "bad" ...

As a basis for our research, we took DNA samples of both Denisovans and Neanderthals, and other varieties of ancient people aged from 30 to 40 thousand years and older, - said Dmitry Afonnikov, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Bioinformatics and Theoretical Genetics of the ICG SB RAS to Komsomolskaya Pravda ... - And compared their microRNAs. For those who do not know, this is a gene structure that interacts with template ribonucleic acid and regulates protein synthesis at once in a group of genes.

Simply put, microRNA is a natural stop-cock, which, like an arbiter, decides which signs will dominate in us and which ones will stall. So, as it turned out, 3 miRNAs in the Denisovan and 7 in the Neanderthal were especially interesting. However, they performed completely different functions - thanks to them, the Neanderthals became stronger, and the Denisovans became smarter. And not for years!

In order to somehow adapt, a Neanderthal man had to have good tissue regeneration, - says Konstantin Vladimirovich Gunbin, a researcher at the ICG SB RAS, - And we were lucky to find those microRNAs that are just responsible for these processes. But in the case of Denisovans, they directly regulate the work of genes that are responsible for the formation and functioning of the prefrontal area of ​​the cerebral cortex - it is she who is primarily responsible for receiving and processing information, as well as the ability to live normally in society, distinguish between good and bad deeds and foresee the consequences of their actions.

... and "smarter" faster than a modern person!

Moreover, as scientists believe, the human brain from Denisova cave developed even faster than that of the modern one.

This is evidenced by the number of mutations in the genes responsible for the frontal zone of the brain, - explains geneticist Dmitry Afonnikov. - Denisovites have a lot of them, so we can say that they "got smarter" faster than modern people. We cannot yet confirm this unambiguously. But experience suggests that everything was exactly like that - in any case, the mind of the present man and apes evolves according to this algorithm.

But, as you know, both branches - both Neanderthals and Denisovans - turned out to be dead ends. Which, however, does not mean that they disappeared in the dust of millennia without a trace. For example, the ancient homo sapiens, as a result of crossing, borrowed immunity from the Denisovan against viral infections. This is especially true for the inhabitants of distant Malaysia - it has already been established that their ancestors "became friends" with the Denisovans the closest of all - forever accepting into their gene pool from 4 to 6 genes of the "Man of Altai".

From the dossier "KP"

V scientific journal"Nature" in 2010, two publications were published concerning the phalanx of the little finger of a creature found in 2008 in Denisova Cave in Altai by scientists of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. Among the authors of the materials are the director of the Institute, Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko and his deputy for scientific work doctor historical sciences Mikhail Vasilievich Shunkov. The research was carried out by an international team with the participation of both Russian specialists and the famous paleogeneticist Svante Paabo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany), who previously led the work on deciphering the Neanderthal genome. The editors of the journal "Nature" also indicated the research of the remains oldest ancestors person in the list of the twelve most significant events of 2010 in the world of science.

More than 20 archaeological cultural layers of Denisova Cave preserve the ancient history of North Asia - from the Early Paleolithic to the Middle Ages

We drove for a long time, leaving hundreds of kilometers behind: an important archaeological site is located far from large settlements and good roads... The last part of the path generally went along a mountain serpentine. But no matter how tired we were by the end of the trip, the incredible beauty of Altai - mountains, seething rivers and a huge sky - became our reward. And, of course, the air, which has absorbed the smell of pine nuts, resin and honey. We covered these distances in order to see with our own eyes a unique artifact - the most ancient bone needle, which scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences recently found in Denisova Cave, and to ask the director of the Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, about it Mikhail Vasilievich Shunkov.

Of course, the conversation was not limited to a discussion of an important find - people living in these regions think in different categories, they are not afraid to pose global questions and painstakingly, year after year, seek answers to them.

-Mikhail Vasilievich, the reason for our arrival was the most ancient needle, which everyone is talking about now.

The found needle is the oldest and largest product of this kind known in world archeology today. This find suggests that the culture of the ancient inhabitants of the Denisova cave was at a sufficient high level development and was in no way inferior to the culture of Homo sapiens.

- And when was the Denisov Cave discovered? And why exactly did it become the subject of archaeological research?

As an archaeological site, this cave was discovered in 1977, when Academician Aleksey Pavlovich Okladnikov sent a small detachment here. Of course, the cave was known before. It was even described by the artist N.K. Roerich, when he traveled with his wife and son in 1926 in Altai. But also other expeditions late XIX- early XX centuries. visited this cave. Mostly scientists from Tomsk University worked here. After the formation of the first Siberian University Altai began to be actively explored by geographers and geologists - V.V. Sapozhnikov, rector of Tomsk University, brothers B.V. and M.V. Tronovs. They studied Altai comprehensively, including the caves. that is, it has been known in science for a long time.

It should be noted that caves are one of the most difficult archaeological sites. In order to conduct research in them, a special approach is needed. In 1977 A.P. Okladnikov, the first director of our institute, organized a small expedition here led by paleontologist N.D. Ovodov. This is one of the oldest employees of our institute. He is now alive, healthy and fruitfully working. Nikolai Dmitrievich laid two pits. And with one pit I passed all the sediments in the center of the cave. It turned out that the cave contains many cultural layers of primitive man from different eras. It became clear that a new, very interesting object had been opened. But it did not immediately become clear that this was serious, for a long time and requires a lot of organizational work.

- That is, the permanent excavation did not start immediately?

Planned excavations began in 1982. First, under the leadership of Academician V.I. Molodin was exposed the upper part of the cave deposits, the Holocene strata, that is, those cultural layers that are not older than 10 thousand years. This is the area of ​​interest of Vyacheslav Ivanovich - the Middle Ages, the Early Iron Age, the Bronze Age and the Neolithic. After that, excavations of the underlying horizons began, which are already older than 10 thousand years. And they continue to this day. Our main attention is focused on the most ancient stage of human history - the Paleolithic era. Excavations have shown that chronological period, which we study in the cave - from 280 thousand to 10 thousand years.

- You said that there are also other caves around. Why are the excavations concentrated here?

Denisova Cave is a unique object in Russian archeology, there is no second such in Russia and in general on the territory of the entire post-Soviet space. Here are collected cultures in the range from the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. It is very important that on one site, in one geological section, we can trace the evolution of cultures, the transition from one stage to another.

- With what period are the finds, which everyone calls sensational, associated?

I do not like this word, but, probably, you cannot call them otherwise. These findings are associated with the transition from the Middle Paleolithic era, the Neanderthal era, to the Upper Paleolithic, which is traditionally associated with modern humans - Homo Sapiens. In Denisova Cave, excavations have been going on for over 25 years. And the finds from the middle part of the cave section have always attracted the greatest interest. In our nomenclature, this is stratigraphic layer 11. This is the layer that characterizes new stage in the history of mankind - the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Archaeologists have always paid special attention to it, because it is a change of cultures. The culture of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic is associated with the formation of modern humans. It was always believed that the Neanderthal was the carrier of the Moustier culture (Middle Paleolithic). Then came Homo Sapiens, bringing in a new culture of the Upper Paleolithic. And from this time began the history of man of modern physical appearance. Man began not only to make tools out of stone, but also to make extensive use of bone. Burials, primitive art, rock paintings, etc. appeared.

- By the way, are there rock paintings in Denisova Cave?

Unfortunately no. On the territory of Russia, only two caves are known in the South Urals - Kapova (Shulgan-Tash) and Ignatievskaya, where the pictorial activity of primitive man was discovered. Europeans traditionally believed that the center of the most ancient "civilization" was southwestern France and northern Spain, because rock paintings were discovered there, and this is the highest creative and intellectual achievement of primitive man. We have not found Paleolithic rock art in Altai, but the culture of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, captured primarily in stone tools, is quite clearly represented not only in Denisova cave, but also in open-type monuments found in the vicinity of Denisova cave, in the valley of the Anui River ... In addition to the cave, we also explore other objects here, less known, but no less significant for us. There were found sets of stone tools, which in their appearance are very close to the stone tools characteristic of the sites of Western Europe at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. This is the so-called Aurignacian culture in Europe. Orignacoid forms of tools were also found here, in Altai. An interesting problem arose - the correlation of our Siberian, Altai materials and Western European, as well as Paleolithic items from Asia Minor and the Middle East. There are a lot of analogies and parallels both in stone tools and in various decorations.

- Scientists still believe that Homo Sapiens appeared in Africa, and then began to populate Europe?

Homo Sapiens came to Europe from Africa, where it was formed about 200 thousand years ago. In the chronological interval of 80-60 thousand years ago, he penetrated the Middle East, then began to populate Europe. He brought a new culture with him. But the place where this culture originated has not been precisely determined. Certain parallels were drawn with Western Asia, with the Zagros, on the territory of Iraq and Iran. The most ancient Aurignacian tools were found in caves there. But later, in the course of our research, it turned out that the finds of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic from Denisova Cave are not inferior in age to European ones, and maybe even older than European ones ... And then an intrigue arose: the cultural manifestations that we recorded in Altai are dated to about 50 thousand years. It is almost 10 thousand years older than in Western Europe... Indeed, we have a kind of culture, technologically and cognitively advanced. Found various decorations from animal teeth, from ostrich egg shells. This material was imported to us from Mongolia or Transbaikalia. It is too feature behavior of a person of modern physical appearance. We could not imagine that the finds recent years will change this whole picture so much. In 2008, we found a phalanx of a girl's finger in Denisova Cave. Now she is widely known, even famous. The scientific director of our institute, Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko, sent this phalanx to the famous paleogenetics professor Svante Paabo to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. And a very interesting result was obtained. First, it turned out that the anthropological remains from Denisova Cave are exceptionally well preserved in paleogenetic terms. Secondly, the sequenced genome from this sample showed that it does not belong to the Neanderthal or Homo Sapiens, but to a completely new ancient population, previously unknown to science.

- Was it a shock?

Of course, shock, even shock. We could assume anything, but not that some special kind of hominin lived in Altai. Or a subspecies is a special issue. Let anthropologists decide it, we will listen to them carefully and draw our conclusions. But the fact that this is a completely new, ancient population unknown to science became obvious. And then many things fell into place. As archaeologists, we have seen that in its manifestations this culture must belong to the Homo Sapiens.

- Do you mean any specific findings?

We then found a chloritolite bracelet. This is a rare stone, and not local. Its location has been established - Rudny Altai, 250 km west of Denisova Cave. The stone is not just beautiful, it changes color depending on the lighting. This is clearly an exclusive piece that belonged to a person with a certain status in society. The trasological study showed that the decoration was composite, a hole was made in it. We assumed that a ring was attached to it on a leather strap. Two years later, our hypothesis was confirmed - we found a marble ring. But the most important thing is the techniques that were used in the manufacture of these items. Pebbles were taken as a basis and polished. She was given flat shape... Then a hole was drilled in the middle. Then it was expanded with a rasp-type tool. And an object in the form of a ring or bracelet was formed. Then it was polished, etc. Together, all these techniques used by ancient man have been known to science since the end of the Upper Paleolithic, no older than 20 thousand years. And their massive use is already the Neolithic era, after 8 thousand years. The bracelet and ring were found in a layer that is older than 40 thousand years. It is now dated between 40 and 50 thousand years. At first we thought it was the handiwork of Homo Sapiens, who already possessed quite sophisticated technologies. In addition, bone needles with an eye were found. And this year we found a needle about 8 cm long. There is no analogue to it. In size, it is twice as large as similar items known not only in our country, but also at other sites of the early Upper Paleolithic. The point is not that we found the largest needle in size, but the use of advanced technology. I repeat: this person was not inferior in his skills to Homo Sapiens - that's what is important.

- But at the same time he was not Homo Sapiens?

It turned out that this is a completely new population, which, with the light hand of A.P. Derevianko was named Homo sapiens altatensis (Altai Homo sapiens). Or at the place of discovery - a Denisovan man, a Denisovite. Just as the Neanderthal got its name from the Neandertal Valley. The name is quite firmly established in scientific literature, and in popular and mass media. Now we already know for sure that the Denisovan man lived in the cave for quite a long time. We can say with absolute confidence that the human culture of the Upper Paleolithic was not brought to the south of Siberia from Africa, Europe or from other territories. It was formed locally.

What is the importance of a single section - under layer 11 with the remains of the Early Upper Paleolithic, where a bracelet, bone needles, various jewelry, Aurignacian stone tools were found, there is a layer of cultural layers of the Middle Paleolithic era. And we traditionally believed that they should belong to the Neanderthals. But now we know for sure that the bearer of this Middle Paleolithic culture was a Denisovite.

Back in the 80s. of the last century, a tooth from the lower cultural layer 22 of the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic was discovered in Denisova Cave. Anthropologists who worked with him, including our outstanding scientist Valery Pavlovich Alekseev, studied this tooth in detail, but could not unequivocally determine to whom it belonged. He combined morphological features of both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal. As paleogenetic analysis has now shown, this tooth belongs to a Denisovan. And the Denisovan has a very interesting morphology. Despite the advanced culture, in terms of physical anthropology, his remains are quite archaic and have common features with both Neanderthals and even more ancient forms. We can say that here, in Altai, in the Denisova Cave, for many tens of thousands of years, starting from the Middle Paleolithic era, the evolution of the Denisovans and the gradual formation of the Upper Paleolithic culture took place for at least 280 thousand years. That is, it can be argued that Altai is one of the centers of the formation of the culture of a person of modern physical appearance.

- And where did the similarities with the Neanderthals come from?

Paleogenetic analysis showed that the Denisovans were in close contact with the Neanderthals. Today, in Altai, both in Denisova cave, and in Okladnikov cave, which is located 100 km to the north, and in Chagyrskaya cave, which is located 200 km northwest of Denisova cave, remains of Neanderthals of the same period have been found. This is the easternmost area of ​​the Neanderthals. Paleogenetic analysis showed that Denisovans and Neanderthals entered into close relationships, there was an exchange of genetic material, the so-called inbreeding. Of course, African Homo Sapiens play a major role in shaping a modern human being. But now it is known for sure that the Eurasian modern population in its genome has from 2 to 4% of the genome of Neanderthals, and modern inhabitants Southern hemisphere- the indigenous population of Australia, the islands of Melanesia and the Philippines - carry 3-6% of the genome of the Denisovans, that is, both Neanderthal and Denisovans contributed to the formation of a modern human physical appearance. And many scientists say that if it were not for this inbreeding, modern mankind would have less strong immunity than now.

- So there was natural selection?

This has played a certain role in human evolution. The history of the Neanderthals is also very interesting here. If the cultural, genetic and biological roots of the Denisovans have an autochthonous basis, then the Neanderthals in Altai were aliens. Most likely, they came here about 60-50 thousand years ago. Prior to this, the eastern boundary of the distribution of Neanderthals was middle Asia, the territory of modern Uzbekistan. This is evidenced, in particular, by the famous find of the late 1930s. the then young researcher A.P. Okladnikova - the remains of the skeleton of a teenager in the Teshik-Tash cave. When Homo Sapiens conquered the territory of Eurasia and moved from the Middle East, it is possible that he displaced the Neanderthals from the territory of western part of Central Asia. And they migrated eastward to Altai. Here they met with the local population - Denisovites.

- Who found this needle?

I often get asked this question. I'll tell you this: it would be wrong and unfair to single out a specific person. We know who found her - he is a wonderful specialist. But on the excavation site, where this unprecedented find was made, two of our young researchers, two charming girls, worked. One of them found this needle. And to praise one person to the detriment of another is an ignoble deed. We have a large team, and this is the result of our common work.

- Now more about the needle itself, please.

First, it demonstrates the fairly high technological skills of the Denisovans, the bearers of this culture. Secondly, it testifies to the skills of sewing clothes and making shoes. It was made, most likely, from the bone of a large bird, the size of a swan, or perhaps from the so-called slate bone of the limb of ungulates. This will be shown by further laboratory studies of the find. Similar needles with an eyelet were found in the Denisova Cave and at other monuments in Europe. But this is the first time a bone needle of this size, about 8 cm, has been discovered. Now we can say that this is, apparently, the oldest such product known today in archeology. It was found in sediments about 50 thousand years old, intact and intact. This is very important, because it testifies not only to the perfection of the methods of its manufacture, but also to the sufficiently high level of technology of excavations that we are conducting in Denisova Cave and other Altai sites.

That is, the modern technique of our excavations guarantees the maximum preservation of ancient artifacts. In the laboratories of our institute, we will conduct a comprehensive study of the needle and other finds. We will extract as much information as possible. At the end of the field season, Thomas Hayem, the head of the radiocarbon dating laboratory at the University of Oxford, came to our expedition. He took samples to determine more accurately the age of this find.

- What is the path of the found artifact from the cave to the laboratory?

Any find must undergo a thorough comprehensive analysis. All artifacts and bone remains found in the cultural layer of the cave are first fixed in place, photographed, described, and put on a plan. Then all the excavated soil goes to the river bank, where it is washed. Then the washed substrate must be dried, sieved by fractions, sorted out the fine fraction, and the micromaterial must be removed from it. Then all the material is sent for primary determination to the table to specialists. Many samples are specially packaged for further laboratory processing. We send them to many RAS institutes and leading foreign centers. Moreover, the location of any new find in the cave can be correlated with the finds of previous years. To do this, we have a 3D model of the cave, which was made by employees of the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the guidance of the famous cosmonaut and writer Yu.M. Baturina

You obviously have to collaborate with a large number of specialists from a wide variety of fields of knowledge.

Of course, we try to attract a wide variety of specialists and, what is important, we always find a response from their side. The Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Institute of Geophysics, the Institute of Geology, the Institute of Cytology and Genetics are the leading institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I don’t want to say banal words, but really only an interdisciplinary approach gives serious scientific results.

- You are now the director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. What tasks do you consider to be the main ones?

Only a year ago I replaced A.P. Derevianko. Anatoly Panteleevich - scientific director of our institute, inspirer and organizer of all our scientific victories. We have a wonderful continuity, talented young employees. We have a great shift. I talk about it with pleasure. The more we work in Denisova Cave and other archaeological sites, the more results we get, the more new challenges we face. They need to be addressed at a qualitatively new scientific level. Our youth is capable of this. Therefore, our institute, our research has a future.

- Are you waiting for some more important finds in Denisova Cave?

We wait. When sequencing the Denisovan genome, our colleagues of paleogenetics established the presence in it of up to 17% of the genome of an archaic hominin not yet known to science. It is possible that he will soon be discovered. This is a very interesting, I would say, intriguing task that has been posed to both anthropologists and archaeologists. The task of the day. Work is underway in this direction now.

Interviewed by Olga Belenitskaya. Journal "In the world of science"