Where are all the Denisovans? Ancient DNA

In 2010 geneticists uncovered an entirely new branch of human evolution, which they called the Denisovans. Since then archaeologists have been on the hunt for this lost population. Today, with the help of Geneticist Joao Teixeira we make that argument that we did find them, we found quite a few of them and we found them 100 years ago.
Sources:
Reich, David, et al. “Genetic History of an Archaic Hominin Group from Denisova Cave in Siberia.” Nature, vol. 468, no. 7327, 2010, pp. 1053-1060., doi.org/10.1038/nature09710.
Teixeira, João C., et al. “Widespread Denisovan Ancestry in Island Southeast Asia but No Evidence of Substantial Super-Archaic Hominin Admixture.” Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 5, no. 5, 2021, pp. 616-624., doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01....
Rizal, Yan, et al. “Last Appearance of Homo Erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000-108,000 Years Ago.” Nature, vol. 577, no. 7790, 2019, pp. 381-385., doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-18....
Détroit, Florent, et al. “A New Species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines.” Nature, vol. 568, no. 7751, 2019, pp. 181-186., doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-10....
Oppenoorth, William F. “Solo Man-a New Fossil Skull.” Scientific American, vol. 147, no. 3, 1932, pp. 154-155., doi.org/10.1038/scientificame....
Hayes, Elspeth H., et al. “65,000-Years of Continuous Grinding Stone Use at Madjedbebe, Northern Australia.” Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 2022, doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15....
Westaway, K., Louys, J., Awe, R. et al. An early modern human presence in Sumatra 73,000-63,000 years ago. Nature 548, 322-325 (2017). doi.org/10.1038/nature23452
Rogers, Alan R., et al. “Neanderthal-Denisovan Ancestors Interbred with a Distantly-Related Hominin.” 2019, doi.org/10.1101/657247.
Zeitoun, Valery, et al. “Solo Man in Question: Convergent Views to Split Indonesian Homo Erectus in Two Categories.” Quaternary International, vol. 223-224, 2010, pp. 281-292., doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2010....
Jacobs, Guy S., et al. “Multiple Deeply Divergent Denisovan Ancestries in Papuans.” Cell, vol. 177, no. 4, 2019, doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.0....
/ stefanmilo
Disclaimer: Use my videos as a rough guide to a topic. I am not an expert, I may get things wrong. This is why I always post my sources so you can critique my work and verify things for yourselves. Of course I aim to be as accurate as possible which is why you will only find reputable sources in my videos. Secondly, information is always subject to changes as new information is uncovered by archaeologists.
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www.stefanmilo.com
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[@StefanMilo]

Hey everyone, this is a new series I’m working on called “Ancient dna”. I’ve been hard at work interviewing geneticists from around the world. Next episode should be out in 2 weeks. All about the genetic connections between Polynesia and the Americas and the genetic perspective on whether those brave sailors reached the continent. Peace ✌️✌️

[@jamesgrover2005]

Brilliant, love this topic😊 I'll watch it later although the answers probably aliens.. {Runs and hides}

[@LiftdandGiftd]

Can't Wait! Thank you for giving me something to watch during this wet week. Perfect week in the valley to upload this, sunshine is coming.

[@harriehausenman8623]

ChatGPT also wants to say something: --- Hey Stefan, loving the "Ancient dna" series already! You've got us all digging into our roots like we're some sort of Pre-Historic Sherlock Holmes 🕵‍♂. Can't wait for the next episode, it sounds like it'll be a voyage of genetic discovery! Until then, I guess we'll just have to "Deni-so-van" our excitement 😉. Keep up the awesome work! Peace ✌✌

[@seangavingregory4367]

Love your stuff Milo... great work.

[@TheDeadlyDan]

You might check into Chris Stringer's work around categorizing H. Daliensis and H. Denisova into one taxa (derived from H Heidelbergensis) which populated East Asia prior to migrating south and coming into contact with H Erectus and H Sapiens. Admixture between H. Denisova and H Neanderthalensis in central Asia (Denisova cave) with later introduction of this hybridization into H.Sapiens within the Levant would be a much later episode than was admixture between H. Denisova and H. Sapiens in Polynesia, and should be reflected in our DNA.

[@budershank]

It's crazy how KZbin has replaced what should be on the Discovery or History. Keep it up, Stefan!

[@ronschlorff7089]

Yes, "Science TV", is now dead and gone! RIP

[@hackpens2246]

The History Channel spends a bit too much money on finding the Noah's Ark for it to have any credibility anymore.

[@tomsperduti2967]

Absolutely!

[@BrandonS-lk2qc]

It's so ironic. All this information 2 swipes away... and yet people are dumber than ever in history. Thank goodness for content like this...keeps us informed...and hope alive

[@greghelton4668]

Exactly. Trash regarding the shows you mention. Lots of trash on KZbin too, but with patience you’ll find treasures, like this one.

[@marly8784]

I’m Aboriginal Australian. I find Denisovans so fascinating and to hear my people are one groups that have most Denisovan DNA is just so cool. Makes me want to do the test to see se how much Denisovan DNA I have.

[@thathobbitlife]

You should! I'd highly recommend you do more then 1 if you can. The results vary slightly.

[@James-kv6kb]

I think you guys have been here all along and went north so that's where the connection would be.

[@sydneyfairbairn3773]

I am part Hawaiian. I wonder if any Denisovan shows up in that population?

[@SarcastHandleNotAvailable]

that would be really cool, it would kinda mean you could meet a person from other parts of the world and it would be "like" meeting another branch of human, kinda sorta. which would me amazing! I'd really love to know more about Aboriginal oral histories, never had a chance to read any (pun intened :D )

[@nanimaonovi2528]

You may have DNA that predisposes you to thrive at high altitudes. Really. You'd think resistance to sea sickness and awesome spacial awareness might have been an ancestral gift. But no.

[@laurensiadviriya4216]

Hi indonesian archaeologist here, it's so insightful thanks to you! Have never heard nor discussed Ngandong hipotested as Denisovans at all, but prehistoric ain't my major. Btw the pleistoscene glaciation altered indonesian islands as to the lands currently above the sea level presumably isn't even the major area where "homo erectus" lived. So when Joao mentioned 'on the island full of fossil evidence' well, maybe let's reconsider since we know little to none on those below the sea levels.

[@aldobhary173]

Native from Flores here, so glad to know more what happened in my homeland

[@user-ph7lt7wu6k]

A ja bym chciała cię poznać i zobaczyć jak żyjecie

[@XtremiTeez]

How tall are you?

[@sweetlittlelies7317]

@@XtremiTeez lmao

[@oliviapopireni3456]

Flores, Indonesia?

[@topz8196]

​@@oliviapopireni3456yes

[@Hippiewitablicky]

“Shout out to my Neanderthal wife” 😂😂 made me laugh. Thank you for the video Stefan ! Great work as always ❤

[@sarcastaball]

He's not doing it for you. He's doing it for money. You don't owe him any thanks. Great videos, though.👌

[@gothfetus2844]

​@@sarcastaball the fog is coming.

[@sarcastaball]

@@gothfetus2844 The fog is a great song. You too like Orange Goblin??🤘

[@kronkite1530]

@@sarcastaball Really charitable comment: so necessary. Can I book you for my kids’ birthday party?

[@sarcastaball]

@@kronkite1530 Charitable? How? Necessary? Sure, thanks. However; the necessity of any particular comment is for each individual to decide. I don't know why you would want to have me at your kid's birthday party. I don't have any competence or interest in it either. So no, you can not book me, sorry.

[@Dxco31]

omg, you are right. in sangiran museum (prehistoric human museum) in java indonesia, there are two type of skull bones that they name it homo soloensis and homo wajakensis (they name it after the city they found the skull) they still didn't identify what species it is and just name it with the city that they found the bones. in the museup they just describe it as the next evolution of homo erectus because the skull have some similarities to homo erectus in the eyebrow ridge bone area but have way more brain mass than homo erectus. but i think it actually belongs to denisovan

[@jmelande4937]

I love how you personify “archaic humans” into being real people that really existed, had full lives, probably had a sense of self, and weren’t just ancient brutish animals that we just happen to share an ancient common ancestor with. You present things with care and love and it makes them feel more like family than archaic.

[@nicodianime]

It's refreshing to hear about the people, not their bones, assembled.

[@carltuckerson7718]

Long awaited Stefan video. One of my favorite creators. I'm a practicing geologist in real life but I minored in anthropology in undergraduate at UTEP. Followed the money but my heart is still in the skulls.

[@Spongebrain97]

Oh wow you went to UTEP too? Im going to graduate this year with a major in history and a minor secondary education

[@jedminor6128]

It's a good way to go

[@carltuckerson7718]

@@Spongebrain97 yes - not my real name but I’m from El Paso

[@semaj_5022]

​@@carltuckerson7718 I think I know what your username is, but I'm afraid to ask. That said, i guess I can infer from your comment that anthropology pays...less well than geology?

[@jeanettewaverly2590]

That sounds like a Country-Western song.

[@pmgn8444]

Very interesting! Personally, I think it is very probable that Denisovan bones have been collected but labeled as something else. If your categories and W, X, & Y, but you don't realize that category Z exists, you label it W, X, or Y.

[@mpetersen6]

Makes sense. The only way to find out is testing samples if testable material can be extracted.

[@fredbergeron2193]

I think the same

[@jimmyjasi-]

Totally agree: it's compatible with work of Multiregionalists such as Wu Xinzhi and Milford Wolpoff. Of course Multiregionalism as such is much more dead than Fred Hoyle Steady State Cosmology and "aliens planted us theories", but I think what they could get right is cranial continuity between younger skulls such as Ngandong and Maba and some features of modern Asian populations. There was also quite groundbreaking study about "archaic" Red Deer Cave Man from Yunnan last year.

[@EricRoberts2112]

Thats very likely. You see that all of the time in paleontology. As our knowledge and technology gets better, we get better at finding differences that id remains as different species than what we originally thought.

[@larryc1616]

DNA can easily differentiate them all now

[@kanazef]

Here in indonesia, not only denisovans. also homo floresiensis. even to this day, Denisovan skull have been found not only in sumatra island. also in sulawesi island a thousand of km apart. im not a researcher, but i love all discovery related to early human life.

[@user-qm3fy5wo4g]

They want us to believe we are all the same forgetting our differences , this is a great example.

[@honeysucklecat]

I took an Anthropologie class in 1980, Jr high. Almost none of the stuff we were taught is still considered accurate. Pretty amazing. They were just starting to try and figure out homo habilis.

[@nickinurse6433]

That goes for almost every subject . In medicine...keep in mind that if your D is over 50, every single thing they learned in med school is completely outdated

[@milascave2]

@@nickinurse6433 I think that is a bit overstating the case. Most doctors do what most doctors did before,, prescribe narcotics, aspirin, antibiotics, and placebos.

[@milascave2]

I taught myself about evolution in Jr High in about1973. And yes, a lot of the information has changed since then. But the basics of what evolved into what mostly still holds true, albeit sometimes in a less linear way than previously believed.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

​@@milascave2what kind of doctor prescribed narcotics and placebos? In here those kind of doctors would already sued for malpractice. Antibiotics prescription also has been reduced dramatically in recent year. Most doctors even the oldest one still updates their information to the latest even when they old and can't train new methods, they will still at least know about recent developments. People didn't magically stop learning once they got profession.

[@user-cn7io2pe8p]

​@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 a good one? In which country do you live in that doesnt allow medical use of narcotics? Despite the danger of addiction they have their uses- ask people with terminal illnesses.

[@noeldenever]

Dear Stefan...you have no idea how thrilled I am to watch this. I am going to have so much fun perusing the researches you cited. I am a Javanese (both of my parents were born in Solo). I love archaeology, studying and wondering how we came to be who we are today as a species is a fascinating endeavor. Everytime I read or watch available materials about early human evolution (which is understandably centered in Africa, Europe, & Western Asia), I always wondered..what about human evolution here in my little corner of the world? Oh well, tropical climate doesn't yield in good fossil preservation and our government is not fond of spending money on research. There is not going be much interesting publications to find, I thought. Thank you for taking this topic for your video. I hope future research will provide more samples until we can find out if your hypothesis is correct. Even if it's not, or even if future research only brings more question than answer, well. The fun is in the journey. Cheers to you, your neanderthal wife, and your beautiful daughter.

[@experience741]

I hope that one day I can visit the sites of ancient humans on the island of Java

[@kurkkobain]

yes "evolution", but before the first human they were just animals. wea re not all humns for your infroamtion- get it?? Do you need a draw? you cant take adn froma old kelleton with more thna 60.000 years unless is preserved in very cold envirnment so everything about this is lies and fake, they need to jsutify their "work.." Read the Bible,, God created a man but looks like there was another things living around,, So how could caim procreate?? And there are a lot of stories about this all over the world. People are humasn by spriti not by flesh so many people look humans but they are not..ok?? they dont have a very specific gentetics, they lie to you in all these thousands of years, read story of gilgamesh copy and apste it they willdelete this fast.

[@TryinaD]

Omg a fellow Solo person!! I hopefully can visit Sangiran one day, I’m just so terribly busy

[@fathanarga]

@@TryinaD do visit sangiran soon, its been renovated with cool technological improvements (tho only at a few level)

[@mahasiswainternet6127]

Saya asli sragen. Kak.

[@davidbodeker6752]

Stefan, hovering around the cutting edge, keeping it fascinating, infecting us with his enthusiasm and making the whole thing comprehensible. Still my favourite KZbin channel. ❤

[@rajatanpacelana]

This is very interesting... My parents are born from South East Malukku(Indonesia) near Flores and Papua. In their traditions we keep bonds alive by marriage between the villages like my parents do, and its go back very far into the past.There is also a family name or clan has Chinese feature like the eyes.. and in my clan it has feature like the nose that looks same like the Indians or the Arabic people.. And some of the clans has features from the Papua Some of the boys in the village has red hair on some place on there head... And I have grey hair at my younger age and almost everybody has it in my clan... So now I am married to a Javanese (wife) she comes from a aristocratic family wich the marriage is kep between her families to preserve their heritage and I started to think that maybe... maybe my wife and I has preserve the Denisovan to our children, if we have the Denisovans. I was just wondering.. thanks for sharing...

[@Sunmonks]

I’ve always thought that a speciation is far more complex and dynamic than many of my books and professors characterize. This is likely due to not wanting students to get confused or overly myopic during intro courses, but speciation as a dynamic process makes much more sense than speciation as a single event.

[@nealjroberts4050]

That's because if you think about what speciation is - the accumulation of changes such that populations can't significantly interbreed - you realise it isn't a single event.

[@a5cent]

​​@@nealjroberts4050 There isn't even a rigid definition for what constitutes a species. Horses and donkeys can interbreed, but are different species. Chimps and bonobos can interbreed and their offspring is fertile. Most of what we consider distinct human species could also interbreed. As humans our brains desperately want to classify and categorize. Nature just doesn't care. The classification makes sense for animals who's paths on the evolutionary tree diverged millions of years ago, but for animals close to each other on the tree the classification breaks down. We just pretend that it makes sense.

[@nealjroberts4050]

@@a5cent Indeed. The species distinction becomes rather blurry when looked at. I recall some investigation about pesticide resistance in insects and they found it had occurred only a few times but the gene had been spread to multiple species as hybridisation was fairly common.

[@straightfrom]

OK hold the phone. Stefan has really stepped up the production game on this one. This man deserves way more than 300k subs. Bravo Mr. Milo! Great video!

[@gwengillotti5171]

Subscribed! This IS good science.

[@James-kv6kb]

I find it hilarious young people getting all excited about quality of videos. long before the internet was invented we had the best quality programs it's just everyone so used to the crap that's being out now

[@straightfrom]

@@James-kv6kb What a completely asinine reply. The media you describe took hundreds of people to create per production. What I'm celebrating here is somebody going from making relatively simple videos by themselves on this channel to making ones at a much higher quality than before - and still by themselves. I'm simply applauding somebody for improving their craft. Not sure what side of the bed you woke up on but you might want to relax a bit.

[@Mrbfgray]

@@James-kv6kb The old content you refer to wasn't of this quality where it counts and if it tread slightly into controversial territory it was controlled by advertisers, just as Establishment Media Mafia is today.

[@James-kv6kb]

@@straightfrom first of all learn to spell and don't have a complete meltdown because I suggest that you don't get quality videos anymore because it's just amateurs doing them not professionals

[@singingway]

I really like how Stefan conveys respect for all the ancestors and emphasizes that all forms of humans were human.

[@4030yes]

In Indonesia (Sumatera and Borneo) there're forest people called Bunian that have different body than most of Indonesian. You guys please check it

[@tanduranijo]

aja gelem

[@Sarcaman]

Stefan, you are my favourite youtuber. Nothing wrong with admitting what we don't know, having theories and exploring them next to all of the evidence - your videos always feel so balanced and well-researched. Keep up the great work!

[@a.wenger3964]

This truly is a new golden age in the field of evolutionary anthropology. Ancient DNA sequencing has been revolutionary. It's added a whole new vector of analysis which could potentially shift century-old paradigms in the field!

[@dwaynejordan5898]

@@a.wenger3964 for those willing to accept the data contradicting their previous assertions. Despite facts and data should be followed, some people's ego is just too big.

[@a.wenger3964]

@@dwaynejordan5898 Unfortunately you're absolutely correct here. In any given scientific field, there's always going to be a battle of egos (especially when research grant money is on the line). That being said, debate is a necessary part of the peer review process; and although the evidence presented here is pretty convincing, it's still not definitive. I'm excited, however, to see if consesus will be reached following any future discoveries.

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@a.wenger3964 Yes, the great astrophysicist Carl Sagan once said, in his series Cosmos, that "having high intelligence is no guarantee against sometimes being dead wrong". He was discussing the early, now defunct, theories of the cosmologists of course!

[@pacifront83]

Stefan, Per 23andme, I also have 98% more neanderthal dna than other samples taken. My ancestry is mostly southern south Asian; Sinhalese from Sri Lanka.

[@staceydesrosiers8818]

Very cool, mine is 81 percent more than others on there, I'm french and British

[@arjunakorale6166]

I’m Sinhalese Buddhist & originally from Sri Lanka too & I also have a high percentage of neanderthal DNA too (94% more neanderthal than other samples taken by 23andMe).

[@alani3992]

Lanka would preserve more 1st African migration dna than S Asia, due to island protection.

[@arjunakorale6166]

@@alani3992 Yes, I agree with you on the migration theory out of Africa & into Asia (& Eurasia) & then further on to other parts of the world. However, this migration was by Homo sapiens & as far as I know Homo neanderthalensis never migrated into Sri Lanka. My Mother’s 23andMe profile says that she has roughly 3% ancestry from North India (around Delhi) & my father’s side has some tiny DNA ancestry from NE India (Bengal & Orissa), so my guess is that the neanderthal admixture came from mainland Asia (prob Central Asia).

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

hanuman (the monkey king) is full neanderthal. thats why he is called monkey, not human.

[@deepdrag8131]

Stefan, You are one of the most enthusiastic, fun loving KZbinrs on the platform. It’s a joy to watch you.

[@sophiegrant8029]

Thank you for your videos, Stefan. I used to study anthropology and archaeology at university, but for many reasons, I had to abandon my studies. Watching your videos not only allows me to learn new things but continue following my passions in my own time.

[@user-hm6bn6kw6k]

Exactly. I am taking a great course on great questions right here!

[@tateisgod]

Hey Stefan, another great video, so, many thanks! I live in Australia and can remember maybe 20-25 years ago, maybe more, that there were some petroglyphs found on the north coast somewhere, maybe northern Western Australia or the Northern Territory. When the local Aboriginal population were asked if they knew anything about them they replied by saying that they pre-dated their own arrival as they aren't a part of their oral histories. Now, thats not to say that Aboriginal hands didn't carve them out of the rock, and as the population fluxed with the shifting coastlines the connection to those petroglyphs was lost to time, but as Aborigines have oral histories proving their validation through certain geological or astronomical events going back tens of thousands of years that can be traced by modern science, its an interesting note to point out. Maybe denisovan? Maybe not. Looking forward to your next release! Thanks again!

[@kyrab7914]

I love that we're actually starting to look for and find evidence of aboriginal oral histories. And also that we're listening when we ask them this time

[@Reginaldesq]

Maybe, but until they find some remains that predate Aboriginal arrival, I'm sceptical.

[@rolandsalomonsson3854]

The Aboriguineans arrived to Australia/New Guinea rather shortly after 74000 bc (after Mt Tuba eruption). Some came along the Indian Ocean costs to Sundaland and others came from north to Sundaland (that´s the inmixed Denisovans). And there already lived older humans in Sundaland. ALL OF THOSE HUMANS MIXED and some became ancesters of the Aboriguineans.

[@zimriel]

Keep in mind that most Aboriginal languages and, I think, genetics represent a vast and somewhat recent sweep (3000 BC, so this is recent by Australian standards) of Pama-Nyungan from that northern territory to over almost all the rest of the continent. Northern west-Australia is about the only holdout of non-PM, I think. So, if those aborigines were PM, then absolutely they might remember that other populations had preceded them, because they did. And if they were in the north then they might have had some contact with non-PM not far from the petroglyphs.

[@annepoitrineau5650]

When they say "not us", it might also mean another tribe? Australia is huge and aboriginal groups are very different from each other.

[@filipusandikawicaksana6822]

Hi Stefan! I'm from Java, learned about H. soloensis in high school and have went to Sangiran several times... Needless to say I watched the videos from the very start to end! I think I'm gonna share this video to my Archaeology major friends and history teachers bcs they probably need to know this ASA0 😂

[@roryasrorri701]

hello, fellow Javan. glad i found your comment. i feel less lonely now. greetings from Sragen.

[@kappachino3431]

There is ton of anomaly of human migration in indonesia island. we don't have resource to research that. kinda bad

[@MultiDivebomber]

​@@roryasrorri701 Hi...my father from Sragen too....

[@getuklindri8167]

​@@roryasrorri701Hi, greeting from a hybrid here! (Java-Sunda-Betawi) 😁🖐

[@miftarisq2068]

Fellow Javanese here huh? Sugeng Enjang people.

[@nancysoto7184]

I love your KZbin presentations. Your diverse subject matter ( Paleontology / Archaeology / Molecules Biology / etc) keeps me clued to your channel. THANK YOU!!!!

[@Cierbhal]

The most exciting to me is we are on the precipice of this archaeology and genetics research. I can't wait to watch it unfold. Thanks Stefan!

[@ProperZen]

“This is Stefan Milo reporting from Blackpool where the weather is cold and wet but the excitement high as we ready for the lighting of the Blackpool Lights!”

[@anthonyp3113]

I am torn between making a witty comment about Milo selling out and not having a spoon mic anymore and just sharing how happy I am for the increase in quality of these uploads. Either way great work as always!

[@gregrefon]

The spoon was abducted by his kid I presume.

[@Hellemokers]

BRING BACK THE SPOON

[@bennichols1113]

Plenty of room so strap a spoon to that big mic stand

[@Hellemokers]

Big money corrupts!!1!

[@pacotaco1246]

He should put a spoon sticker on his microphones, for the memories, for the nostalgia

[@wildyam474]

Your emotional connection to anthropology and archeology is so beautiful and inspiring. At the end of this video, you seemed almost moved to tears by the possibility that these skulls are Denisovans. It's very special that you have such love and passion for what you do. Thanks for sharing that with us!

[@greeneyedxvampiress]

I’m so happy I discovered your channel! I’ve always loved learning about prehistoric humans since I was a kid, but never got much beyond a year of college anthropology courses in terms of education. Finding such accessible prehistoric human education through your channel has really brightened up my days. Thank you for all your hard work and sharing your discoveries with others! I’m excited to watch more of your videos!

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

I haven’t finished the video but your content is amazing and I feel bad for never commenting on how much your videos help and inform me. Someday I hope to study anthropology thanks to you!

[@StefanMilo]

That's great George, thank you for sharing that.

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@StefanMilo if George is a "dino guy" perhaps he's going to be looking at bones from a bit earlier than ours appear, eh? ;D

[@ironsnowflake1076]

I wish I could look thru a window into the past & watch these ancient humans, but then I'd never get anything done in this modern world :D Always a pleasure to watch someone who is passionate about my favorite subject 👍

[@tjthreadgood818]

I completely agree with everything you said. 🤭 🇺🇦

[@volkhen0]

Who would watch the watchers then?

[@DoctorDeSotoTheBand]

Cannot beat Stefan’s fab choice of topics, deep research, passion and on-screen charm. Win!

[@dmoramarin1]

Dear Stefan: Great video! I also want to commend you for your not about language, more specifically, terminology. I think that's a great project waiting to be undertaken! I'm a linguistic anthropologist myself, and think it is worth examining how archaeologists/geneticists are talking about these ancient populations that survive within our DNA today, and come up with possible solutions to avoid pejorative/offensive implications/connotations toward any contemporary populations.

[@user-hm6bn6kw6k]

Excellent projects! I bet if you enlisted the aid of other people on this thread, they might think of some better names. List five that need to be changed immediately.

[@HallsteinI]

I don't know how to rightly put it into words, a sense of loss perhaps, when thinking of our extinct relatives. It would have been a privilege to share the world with them. I don't know if we'd have gotten along with each other, humans have a history of not getting along. Even still, it would have been exciting.

[@TristanCleveland]

But just imagine the racism. Could we handle it?

[@paulkaz2127]

@@TristanCleveland What is it, that makes you think they would be racist?

[@jbrown8601]

Bad idea, people are too immature.

[@user-zz7gi2fj9h]

It would be the same level of rascism that is now. Colonizers in the past would have either way be rascist as to justify their conquests, whether or not modern science would have proven later that multiple hominine groups exist. Geneology played no role for the majority of (pre-)history and even the miniscule phenotypic differences between for example Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans were enough to let people believe that they were to different species, so if it somehow came out that Europeans are 100% Neanderthal the rascism would have happened either way.

[@Zmiana_Pogody]

I also think it's a bad idea. Just imagine some of them being just slightly more agressive than us and others slightly less agressive. It would be even worst hell that we have now...

[@TheElusiveReality]

One thing that always seems to be left out of the discussion of paleoarchaeology is the fact that there is a lot of variation in the appearance of even modern humans, some people have much more pronounced brow ridges but were still the same species, it makes me wonder what paleoarchaeologists would say if they found a skull fragment of a modern person with an unusually pronounced brow ridge

[@Madokaexe]

That's why we have ways to measure the age of fossils!

[@Bildgesmythe]

It's not just brow ridges but things like teeth, skullcap, occipital bun. It can be tough without DNA.

[@ronschlorff7089]

Yes, and we, the wonderful tool makers, have developed new instruments with which to explore and define our human nature and origins; thereby going back a very long time to when our first attempts at the craft were to "bang the rocks together"!! ;D

[@josephjohnson6849]

@@Bildgesmythe are Neanderthals and denisovan still known as their own species

[@SingleTrack66]

Man I love this sort of stuff

[@jkratzok]

Stefan, thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into your videos. I thoroughly enjoy your presentations and the ideas that you posit. Please keep up this good work!

[@SarcastHandleNotAvailable]

Excellent, excellent videos, Stefan! My favorite things, prehistoric human history and genetics, a perfect series, you're churning out great content!

[@WestlehSeyweld]

I read a recent paper on super archaic admixture in modern African populations, around 2-19% of the total genome from an unknown and incredibly divergent population of hominin. Crazy interesting stuff that no one is talking about.

[@Demandroid]

Stefan, hasn't it been a little while since you did a video on Native American origins? In the interim there have been some archaeological developments possibly pushing the date earlier (and there's also the mystery of some DNA coordinating with populations in Australia and New Guinea?). Any chance we get your thoughts on this soon?

[@hq4287]

+

[@StefanMilo]

Population Y is a massive target of mine. This year will not pass without me chatting to a geneticist about that.

[@Demandroid]

@@StefanMilo excellent, can’t wait to hear it!

[@jimmyjasi-]

@@StefanMilo Please. Jeniffer Raff is so amazing! I don't think Nobel will be ever awarded for solving Native American origin mystery, but she's kinda worth it (and Peter Skoglund and David Reich)... so many other deserved geneticists and anthropologists work ignored unlike those of Svante Paabo. Thinking about Denisovans... can't it be if they were so diverse as Indonesia and icy Tibet, Manchuria and Siberia and adaptive much in style of Homo sapiens rather than well suited for their niche but hardly for expansion Neanderthals... Can't that be that Denisovans has also passed to Americas in 130thousands ya.? Louis Leakey himself has argued for it! In Li and Xing 2009 Human Genome Clustering study Native American populations split from East Asian cluster sooner than Native Australians (at k4 and K5 respectively). Please like those who think that plausible

[@asdfasdf6271]

@@jimmyjasi-native Americans split earlier than native Australians in Li and Xing et al (2009) because there were many more native American samples than native Australian ones. The larger the sample size of a population, the easier it is for them to form their own distinctive group in clustering analyses like structure and pca. Outcome of structure and pca are entirely dependent on the populations included and their population sizes. Native Australians are much more distant from East Asians and other Eurasians like Europeans, etc. than Native Americans are because they are a deep split from other Eurasians as well as their Denisovan admixture pushes them away from everybody

[@irishalchemy]

What a great source of information your channel is; its a real gem and im thrilled to have found it!

[@zaeroses1096]

I love how excited not just Stefan is, but Joao as well (only watched less than half the video so far, maybe more researchers too)!

[@joonzville]

Thanks for covering this, Stefan. Very thought provoking and fascinating. Let’s hope some DNA can be found and more fossils, too! I don’t have a problem believing that Denisovans hybridized with earlier hominins any more than Homo sapiens did the same with our older cousins of Neanderthals and Denisovans and any other populations we ran into after leaving Africa.

[@jameswright4640]

Hoping to help fund and sustain the move away from plastic utensil-based sound gear. Although if pressed I would admit that I dug it. Your videos are amazing! I have learned a great deal from you. Thank you for your work!

[@jennifercook92]

Thank you so much for allowing me to continue my education without going to school. It’s people like you who are changing the world. Keep it up! I love this!

[@theg0z0n]

I've watched this video like ten times. Joao and you talk so well together. I really hope you can bring him on again.

[@awf6554]

An interesting addition is the role of Quaternary sea level fluctuations. Those SEA "islands" have alternated with a plain contiguous with mainland SE Asia. It's hard to imagine the impact of those changes between relative isolation and exposure on archaic human migrations, admixture, and evolution.

[@SimranWasu]

You are my favourite history KZbinr! Binging your videos has been such a journey in thinking about early humans and what we went through to even get here and to a point where we can piece it back together.

[@MarceloRodrigues1]

I love the excitement behind each piece of information. It makes me even more eager to follow the subject!

[@Aliskandr]

I’ve been following you for years now Stefan, the quality of the content is great, the presentation gets better and better and your laid back style absolutely endearing. Keep up the good work🙌🏻

[@Andrew-bz4yo]

Thanks for this video Stefan. I'm an ancient history/archaeology student and your channel inspires me so much to continue studying so that I can research this stuff someday :)

[@ronschlorff7089]

Yes, I too am a student of history and archeology, and anthropology, as in this channel's subject matter. And I'm also quite ancient!! LOL ;D

[@megret1808]

Consider that during the height of the last ice age SE Asia was a much larger land area called Sundaland. From northern Laos, the Plain of Jars, to Indonesian island megalithic jars that are identical in design. It was occupied dry land

[@kaoridante3988]

kok mirip sma cerita lord rangga yah

[@phyloSastra]

@@kaoridante3988bukan hanya mirip. tpi itu memang tercatat di buku prof.arisio santos dan stephen openheimer bahwa indonesia dulu adalah sebuah benua dan menjadi titik awal perkembangan manusia modern.

[@phyloSastra]

@@kaoridante3988dan diduga sebagai atlantis yang hilang.

[@lrsyadkurniawans]

@@kaoridante3988 Bukan mirip, memang fakta dunia yg ditutupi memang begitu, kita ini induk peradaban dunia, jgn percaya kalau ada yg bilang kalau nenek moyang kira migrasi dari Afrika/China, semua itu hoax, saya punya data cerita leluhur yg sama dengan Mendiang Raden Ranggasasana.

[@kaoridante3988]

@@lrsyadkurniawans di jawa msh ada cerita2 bahwa peradaban kita dulu sangat maju pd masanya,saya pun ada perasaan spt itu.bagaimana kita sdh bs mengolah logam dr dulu.tp kita mengalami kemunduran

[@garypage9515]

And....his is why I am subscribed to this channel. Absolutely incredible videos! Thank you Stefan!!

[@angelacraw2907]

Wow, what a great video. I always believe there is more to be found and this will be added to the discussion. Thank you for the work you have done on this mini-documentary. I look foward to more.

[@foxtrottin7458]

Another gem! Thanks for covering the Denisovans!

[@PavlockProducts]

Stefan leveling up the conversation as always. Great discussions, great visuals, great references. Long live the spoon man

[@BalkanBoi360]

I have found your channel not a while back and couldn't find it because I forgot the name of the channel. Finally I have found it. Amazing job, keep up the good work. Very nicely made.

[@lengisen9637]

Love these longer format videos. Feels like watching a documentary, just ten times better

[@april4025]

Fantastic video! I’ve been fascinated by denisovans since I first learned about them and I’m thrilled that you’ve dedicated a whole longer video to them. Thank you for all your hard work and research that goes into these videos!!

[@BillySugger1965]

Stefan, I’ve been subscribed to your channel since your earliest videos and several years ago a video of yours inspired me to write notes on the idea of _Homo cursus,_ a unified species classification of Homo erectus and their descendants. The biological species concept simply does not apply to such closely related populations. Now unifying all the way back to H. erectus may be a stretch, but I do think there’s a lot of room for reconsidering the classification of hominin species. And as new evidence emerges, and new interpretations are entertained, that room only seems to grow…

[@pacotaco1246]

Why cursus? What does the word cursus mean?

[@lordski1981]

​@@pacotaco1246 Well, in Latin one meaning of Cursus is; Genus, and Gens. So perhaps he is referring to that?

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

Cursus, is used to describe parts of the ancient landscapes around The 'henge, kind of translates as racetrack.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

So a sort of Latin pun.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

I still think we've shown ourselves to be anything but Homo Sapiens, I think we should be called Homo Verro, The Wanderer.

[@harrynazarudin9167]

Thank you for making this video! I am Indonesian and have visited Sangiran Museum in Solo city. If you happen to visit, please come! It’s hard to believe in a small island with many turbulent volcanoes, there is a patch of land that is 2 million year old!

[@user-hm6bn6kw6k]

This is absolutely amazing and wonderful. I have subscribed and am going to look for earlier programs. I expect I am going to have to watch this episode a hundred more times to grasp it all, but sign me up! Best wishes from Charlottesville, Virginia.

[@theresachamberlin4204]

Steven, your KZbin videos are just excellent. You do a great job of making a scientifically complex subject both interesting and understandable. You are a gifted communicator, keep up the good work.

[@seanthorntonmd3908]

One of your best, Stefan! Well done and keep up the great work. You are a wonderful source for the latest news on these subjects.

[@ottodidakt3069]

love this stuff, and really appreciate the spirit with which you approach it - cheers mate ... thanks for a gasp of fresh air in these times of imprecision and cheap conclusions in so many topics PS : and what great guests you find

[@aggid9132]

I randomly stumble upon this video. As an Indonesian living in Java, this really shocked me because I've never been into archeology but is always interested in where Indonesians mostly come from. I'll search more about Denisovans, for sure. Thank you!

[@thrashsis5412]

We're are Austronesians. Our ancestor came from Taiwan. Denisovans it's deverence line

[@aggid9132]

@@thrashsis5412 Oh yeah of course I'm aware of that. Island Southeast Asia and Sahul are Austronesians. But in terms of species, like homo floresiensis, homo luzonensis, homo erectus erectus, and homo erectus soloensis, I've never heard about the interbreeding between homo denisova with the hominins above is what I meant.

[@deltahunter2302]

Just drop the idea..No strong evidence Austronesians are from Taiwan. It's only a hypothesis.

[@Do2mifasol-nh3lq]

​@@deltahunter2302 You alright Austronesian come from Taiwan is just language theory. In history theory There isn't inscription in Taiwan history before 10th century. Meanwhile there are so many inscriptions in islands of SEA.

[@ycantiusegeorgiantextforhandle]

@@thrashsis5412keep in mind that the Austronesian migration is very recent, in the historical timescale. In the video, he said that there’s evidence of Homo sapiens in Sumatra up to around 73,000 years ago. So most Indonesians are not 100% Austronesian, with Highland Papuans practically having no Austronesian dna, even the Javanese don’t have a lot of Austronesian dna. Austronesian influence is mainly cultural and linguistic but our Austronesian ancestors mixed with our indigenous ancestors. An easy visual example would be Biak people, where they speak an Austronesian language but they look indigenous Papuan. Or the reverse would be in Timor Leste, where the people look more similar to ‘Austronesian’ Indonesians but Tetum is classified as a Papuan language. I’m not too well versed on the timescale but I’m pretty sure ancient civilisations like Sumer and the Greek city states were already around before the Austronesian migration.

[@jakethomasgarner1886]

I’m bloody grateful for the videos you make, sir. I’m really interested in the topics you bring forward. And I too believe “that will never not be cool”.

[@FriendlierFetus]

He's been crashing on my couch.

[@KBergs]

It's Denisovan not Dennis of Van

[@jimbarth9859]

🤣

[@mariab509]

😂❤

[@mrbaab5932]

​@@KBergs Or Denis O'Vans maybe?

[@yellowflowerorangeflower5706]

I read that wrong. "He's been crushing on my coach" makes less sense.

[@tonyhinderman]

Love this channel!! So glad to have it recommended idk what took youtube so long too this is amazing work!

[@sheckyfeinstein]

I enjoy your videos, in part because of your impressive knowledge on the subject, and also because you acknowledge that many hypotheses exist, and that our understanding is not yet complete.

[@michaelbacon5278]

This channel keeps going from strength to strength. Fascinating video. I also love the very deliberate sensitivity in the approach.

[@JMM33RanMA]

This is fascinating stuff! I have often wondered if our folktales about "the Little People" [elves, dwarfs, fairies, etc.] are memories of stories of interactions between different populations. Afterall, if you compare Tutsi and Pygmy* people you will find size diversity in modern populations as well. *I know that this word is considered defamatory, much like the word Indian [as applied to indigenous people of the Americas], though the various groups do not seem to possess a generic term of their own. When I asked an Onondaga elder I was told that they used "Indian" for all indigenous tribes because they only had a term for their own tribe and confederation-Hodenosaunee. This topic could make for a video on its own.]

[@LimeyLassen]

I don't think that's parsimonious. In the folklore, "little people" are usually invisible spirits with magic abilities, not a race of normal short people, which is more a product of modern fantasy literature.

[@JMM33RanMA]

@@LimeyLassen I don't believe it, but I have wondered about it in the same way that I have wondered about how much of Christianity was deliberate Roman meddling. That there was some is perfectly obvious, but that doesn't mean that I believe any of the various conspiracy theories, or Brown's fiction.

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

I think that's probably pushing the boundaries of folk memory a bit far. Cultures with storytelling traditions can manage to preserve oral history remarkably well, but after thousands of years and hundreds of generations, seems hard to imagine anything remaining. Also, plenty of little people stories come from parts of the world where no diminutive people ever lived, unless you count Neanderthals, who were only about 10cm shorter than contemporary humans.

[@JMM33RanMA]

@@merrymachiavelli2041 True enough, but some folktales go back centuries, to times when most people were illiterate. The story of King Arthur is from so long ago that attempts to find a factual core have been less than successful. Given that many stories about the "little people" are scary, the use of them to frighten children would have resulted in some retention, from generation to generation, even with modifications. As proof of this, there is the total nonsense told about Africans, African-Americans and Jews that generations of bigots have successfully passed on to their children, and which have no core of reality behind them at all.

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

​@@JMM33RanMA There are two orders of magnitude difference between the 100s of years and 10,000s of years, which is the minimum for encounters with other hominins. The more generations go by, the more small errors in recall and innovations slip into stories, the more likely it is that the tribe gets massacred by its rivals, the more likely it is they all adopt farming or new deities and want to tell new, different stories which are more meaningful. Putting my finger in the air for the sake of illustration, I'd say oral traditions have a 'half-life' of 250 years, which is to say, every 250 years they lose 50% of their original detail and content, and new stuff gets added to the cultural canon. So after 1000 years, maybe 6.25% of an oral tradition might remain. After 10,000 years, that's 0.00000000000017% left. After 40,000 years, when Neanderthals went extinct, it's 5.66*10x71, which is a number so small I'm not even going to attempt to write it, even if you are more generous, you still end up with very small numbers!

[@koitsenka]

i love when i get to see Dr. João Teixeira on your channel.

[@robertreynolds442]

This is truly great information. Plus the closed caption description of the music was awesome. My grandma would have danced in the club to it. 10/10.

[@charlesspeaksthetruth4334]

Modern-day people in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA in the world, a new study reveals. Researchers in Sweden have found that the Philippine Negrito ethnic group known as the Ayta Magbukon have the highest level of Denisovan ancestry today.

[@Vercur]

How much percentage?

[@charlesspeaksthetruth4334]

@@Vercur It won't let me post this link unfortunately. So when you get a chance, type up this title in Google and the article to where I got my information should pop up: *Indigenous people in the Philippines have the highest level of DNA from our ancient ancestors the Denisovans.*

[@charlesspeaksthetruth4334]

@@Vercur Here's quotes from the article I told you to look up: "Scientists already know that Denisovans interbred with modern humans in the distant past, but the new study identifies the *Ayta Magbukon people as the humans with 'the most Denisovan DNA'.* 'We made this observation despite the fact that Philippine Negritos were recently admixed with East Asian-related groups - who carry little Denisovan ancestry, and which consequently diluted their levels of Denisovan ancestry,' said study author Maximilian Larena, from Uppsala University in Sweden. If we account for and masked away the East Asian-related ancestry in Philippine Negritos, *their Denisovan ancestry can be up to 46 per cent greater* than that of Australians and Papuans."

[@elingeniero9117]

@@charlesspeaksthetruth4334 Percents don't tell you much, since you do not mention what it is based on.

[@NikoAbston]

Stefan, I don’t usually get too worked up over youtubers. But for you, I would make an exception. Your content quality is off the charts!

[@Ian-bl9xd]

Always love ur content. Even my 9 and 11 yr olds sit and view it with me and we r always excited when u have new stuff for us to watch. Great channel. Love it

[@RedexTwo]

Absolutely incredible information! Thank you for sharing and taking the time to teach us about it.

[@briemills9209]

You hit it out of the park once again, Stefan! Awesome and very well researched video.

[@johandennefors]

Such a lovely pleasure to discover a fresh new Stefan Milo video! Purely wonderful creation. And even better still to hear that this was just the start of a series. Wow. Two weeks, Stefan. Please don't let us down. (I'm still hoping for the herbalicious video you know...)

[@TheOldmandeli]

Fantastic video. It’s been so fun to see your channel and experience grow. You’ll always be our microphone-on-a-plastic-spoon baby.

[@Bobbied100]

I like your videos. I’m super interested in all of these questions too. I like that you’re not hysterical and just keep pushing but at the end of the day, not afraid to say, we really don’t know

[@Mklebs]

Great content as always. Love references to sources, very scientific approach to every topic. Just wanted to highlight editing this time-great job!

[@balaenopteramusculus]

Always love your videos! And the artwork of Ettore is truly amazing; it adds so much life to the convoluted history of human ancestry

[@user-ye2ey8up1h]

This was an extremely well-done video. I believe the possibility here is quite sound, and at the very least you've made a good case. I don't deny for a second that we haven't already found Denisovan skulls and just misclassified them (especially in East Asia with finds like Dali), so why not Southeast Asia? Always a pleasure seeing a new video from you. Cheers!

[@iamtheroadwanderer]

Thank you so much for the hard work and research in this video, Stefan!

[@jkasiron2275]

Awesome work on this all around! It's got a very professional look and feel to it. It's interesting that the more we look for our differences, the more we found out how much we've all got in common.

[@Reginaldesq]

There is a cool video on youtube. I think its by "useful charts". The title is, are you descended from royalty, or something like that. The jist of is that most people on earth can trace a direct line of decendence from any person that was alive (and had children) 1000 years ago. Pretty much every person on earth is relatively closely related to every other person.

[@klatie256]

Thank you so much Stefan, once again your video is informative, interesting, and incredibly well-made. You’re my favorite KZbinr by far and I think you’re amazing!

[@feelswriter]

Homo Bodoensis?

[@craciunstef]

Hello Stefan! I love your videos and your passion for knowledge! One thing I would suggest, albeit this is related to my perception and my ADD maybe: It would be nice if you left out or toned down the chimes and the other musical enhancements that are probably meant to emphasize some of the conclusions (e.g.: minute 23). I find them outside the point and distracting when using headphones. Keep up the awesome work!

[@josepestana5265]

Love the channel, love the information, and production. I like the fact that i could a fellow Portuguese. Props for you João 🇵🇹

[@TheVeillin]

Easily the best videos in this entire field of study. Highest quality production and reliable information. You’re a blessing Stefan

[@simonward-horner7605]

Marvellous, absolutely fascinating; thanks for this, Stefan! I'll have to rewatch this, I was playing it while earning a living, but I'll settle down with a glass of scotch and enjoy it all over again this evening.

[@gregrefon]

👍

[@scribeslendy595]

That Histocrat feature was so well placed that I genuinely thought I'd opened a new video by mistake.

[@julioalbertoherrera1339]

Very interesting channel. It tries to answer the questions everyone is afraid to ask. Excellently work!!! 💀🧬

[@kurtoogle4576]

Huge thanks to Stefan and Dr. João Teixeria!! I love this theory and truly hope that you follow up on it as we learn more!

[@zolacnomiko]

Love to see all the Hank Green/SciShow/PBS Eons at the beginning of the video! Also, this video was *fantastic*-fascinating subject/content, and like...dang your production values are really going through the roof! Love that you include all the little comedic/blooper moments, don't want to get TOO serious! Great work all around, Stefan!

[@stormcloudspass]

I came to the comments to find the Hank/Scishow/PBS Eons appreciation

[@sharonhobbs4144]

Stefan has a marvellous sense of humour and a master of the tongue-in - cheek

[@msergio0293]

​@@stormcloudspass Same

[@nonstopbg]

This is fascinating! This is how I imagine knowledge and scientific progress to work out for us - bringing us all together, instead of dividing.

[@mariahelenaprado8406]

Stefan, thank you for this wonderful video. Please, give us more.