What did DNA from the bone reveal?

A previously unknown human group

What was unusual about the girl nicknamed Denny?

Her mother was Neanderthal and father Denisovan

Why are Denisovans known mostly from DNA?

Very few fossils have been found

Denisova Cave Quiz: A Finger Bone and a New Human Group

This denisova cave quiz studies a tiny bone with a huge story. Play 10 interactive questions on a cave in Russia's Altai Mountains, a girl's finger bone found in 2008, DNA sequencing in 2010 that revealed the Denisovans, Svante Pääbo's Nobel Prize, a girl with a Neanderthal mother and Denisovan father, Denisovan DNA in living people and a gene for life at high altitude.

Start Denisova Cave Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Where
Where is Denisova Cave?
Bone
What famous fossil was found in 2008?
DNA
What did DNA from the bone reveal?
Year
When were the DNA results announced?
Nobel
Which scientist won a Nobel Prize for ancient genome work?
Denny
What was unusual about the girl nicknamed Denny?
Today
Which living people carry notable Denisovan DNA?
Tibet
Which Denisovan gene variant helps Tibetans?
Few
Why are Denisovans known mostly from DNA?
Jaw
Where was a Denisovan jaw identified in 2019?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where is Denisova Cave?
Answer: Altai Mountains, Siberia
In Russia.
Q2: What famous fossil was found in 2008?
Answer: A finger bone
Very small.
Q3: What did DNA from the bone reveal?
Answer: A previously unknown human group
Named the Denisovans.
Q4: When were the DNA results announced?
Answer: 2010
A genetic discovery.
Q5: Which scientist won a Nobel Prize for ancient genome work?
Answer: Svante Pääbo
In 2022.
Q6: What was unusual about the girl nicknamed Denny?
Answer: Her mother was Neanderthal and father Denisovan
A first-generation hybrid.
Q7: Which living people carry notable Denisovan DNA?
Answer: People in Papua New Guinea and Melanesia
From ancient interbreeding.
Q8: Which Denisovan gene variant helps Tibetans?
Answer: One for high altitude
EPAS1.
Q9: Why are Denisovans known mostly from DNA?
Answer: Very few fossils have been found
Bones are scarce.
Q10: Where was a Denisovan jaw identified in 2019?
Answer: The Tibetan Plateau
The Xiahe jaw.

A Tiny Bone, a New Human Group

Denisova Cave lies in the Altai Mountains of Siberia in Russia. In 2008 researchers found a tiny finger bone from a girl. In 2010, DNA from the bone revealed a previously unknown group of ancient humans, named the Denisovans after the cave.

Svante Pääbo, a pioneer of ancient genomes, won the 2022 Nobel Prize partly for this work. Another bone revealed a girl nicknamed Denny, whose mother was Neanderthal and father Denisovan, a first-generation hybrid.

Because very few Denisovan fossils exist, they are known mostly from DNA. Some people in Papua New Guinea and Melanesia carry notable Denisovan DNA, and Tibetans carry a Denisovan gene variant, EPAS1, that helps at high altitude. A Denisovan jaw from the Tibetan Plateau was identified in 2019.

What This Quiz Teaches

Science fans will enjoy these questions.

Where the cave is
What was found
What DNA revealed
Who studied it
Which living people carry the DNA

Did You Know?

The cave was used for many thousands of years.
Neanderthals lived there too.
Bone fragments are identified by proteins.
Stone tools fill its layers.
Denisovan teeth are large.