Denisova Cave

Denisova Cave (Russian: Денисова пещера, romanized: Denísova peshchéra, lit. 'the cave of Denis') is a cave in the Bashelaksky Range of the Altai Mountains in Siberia, Russia. It is widely known for having provided items of great paleoarchaeological and paleontological interest. In particular, the 2008 discovery of bone fragments that in 2010 have been conclusively established to have belonged to a separate early human species – the Denisova hominin – which is named after the cave. Other items including artifacts dated to around 40,000 BP. Remains of a 32,000-year-old prehistoric species of horse have also been found in the cave. The cave is located in a region thought to have been inhabited concurrently in the past by Neanderthals and by modern humans. A bone needle dated to 50,000 years ago was discovered at the archaeological site in 2016 and has been described as the most ancient needle known (though another possible needle dates to about 10,000 years earlier from South Africa from c. 61,000 years ago). Denisovans, Neanderthals and related hybrids may have inhabited the Denisova Cave for extended periods, but perhaps not at the same time. The attribution of the needle and certain other artifacts at the cave, whether to Homo sapiens or to the Denisova hominin is uncertain. The "mystery population" of Homo colloquially referred to as "Denisovans" was for a time also sometimes referred to by the scientific name Homo denisova after the cave, until June 2025, when Denisovans were confirmed to be Homo longi, making H. denisova a junior synonym.