An ancient jawbone dredged from the Taiwanese seabed has revealed new insights into the appearance and sweeping geographic range of an enigmatic human species called the Denisovans.

The fossil was discovered by fishers trawling the Penghu Channel off Taiwan and is thought to be the most complete fossil that has been genetically identified as Denisovan. The male individual, who lived at least 10,000 years ago, had a strong jaw and very large, powerful molars.

“From a tooth or a small bone fragment, there’s the mystery of their appearance,” said Prof Enrico Cappellini, of the University of Copenhagen, a co-senior author on the paper. A Denisovan jaw discovered in Tibet had begun to fill in this picture, and the latest discovery adds to the evidence of a prominent jaw with huge teeth.
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The fossil has been dated to one of two glacial periods when the channel is known to have been above sea level, either between 10,000 and 70,000 years ago or between 130,000 and 190,000 years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/10/jawbone-fossil-builds-richer-image-of-ancient-denisovans