Why our species relied more on rainforest resources than Denisovans, while living in the same region?

Congratulations to Dr. Alexandra Zachwieja and collaborators! The team published a new paper titled “Paleoenvironments and hominin evolutionary dynamics in southeast Asia” in the journal Scientific Reports of 27 September 2023.

This article presents the first isotopic analysis of the Middle Pleistocene Denisovan site in Northern Laos compared with nearby Late Pleistocene Human sites. Results show that the diet of the Denisovan individual focused on plants and animals from open forests and savannah environments, and animal proxies indicate an expansion of rainforest environments in Laos after 130,000 years ago. The results suggest that our human fossil comparatives relied much more on rainforest resources than Denisovans, despite living in the same region.

Read full article here.