Denisovan leg bones from Taiwan reveal large body size

Abstract

Denisovans are an extinct archaic Homo group whose lineage diverged from the Neanderthal lineage approximately 550,000 years ago and were widely distributed across eastern Asia until [~]45,000 years ago1-7. Their morphological features are known directly from the existing cranio- dental and phalangeal remains1,2,8-12. However, the body size and postcranial morphology of the Denisovans remain largely unknown. We here report that hominin femoral and tibial fossils recovered from the Penghu Channel, Taiwan, are Denisovans in their proteomic profiles. Morphologically, these specimens are among the largest leg bones known in Pleistocene Homo. They exhibit generally archaic features, but also show some modern human-like morphology, including a strong femoral pilaster. Our findings demonstrate that the Denisovan population at the northern circle had larger body size than earlier Homo erectus as well as Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens in eastern Asia. This challenges the generally held expectation that Pleistocene Homo followed Bergmanns rule that anticipates latitudinal decline of body size, and suggests that the large Denisovan brain resulted from their large body size at least partly. The strong pilaster developed in the Penghu femur suggests some behavioral similarities between the Denisovans and the Upper Palaeolithic modern humans and/or gene flow from the latter to the former.