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Phalange denisova - Photo of the distal part of the phalanx: Eva-Maria Geigl, Jacques Monod Institute, (CNRS / University of Paris). ΜCT Scan and Virtual Reconstruction: Bence Viola, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada.

There is only one species of man on Earth today, Homo Sapiens . It has not always been the case. If the Neanderthal is known, his cousin Denisova's man is less so. Yet it is he who is at the center of an important discovery that is the subject of a publication in the journal Science Advance. It would not be so far from us as we thought before.

It is a simple phalanx, found in the cave of Denisova, in Siberia. Yet it is rich in teaching. In 2010, her genetic analysis revealed that she had belonged to a human population still unknown until then, the Denisovians. This analysis also revealed that this new human species was close to Neanderthal.

However, a new study rebats the cards a bit. Led by teams from the Jacques Monod Institute of Paris, the CNRS PACEA laboratory of the University of Bordeaux and the University of Toronto, it reveals that Denisova's man was perhaps closer to us than Neanderthal . It is the morphological analysis of this phalanx that has led to this conclusion: it is indeed very close to modern humans.

A paradox that had to be overcome by paleoanthropologists, explains Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute: " This phalanx must be pleiomorphic. This means that it is found in the ancestral Homo sapiens lineage and has been passed down through the generations. It would be Neanderthal who would have developed other characteristics ".

A lack of information

Clearly, Sapiens, Neanderthal and Denisova's man all shared the same ancestor who would have had this characteristic phalanx. Then, " the ancestor of the Neanderthals and the Denisovians came out of Africa about 600,000 years ago. The two branches then separated : one in Europe with Neanderthal, and one in Asia which gave the Denisovians. The ancestors of Sapiens remained in Africa, and came out later, " says Eva-Marie Geigl.

Despite these advances, archaeologists are sorely lacking information about the Denisovians. We do not know today what he looked like. So far, the first genetic analysis had driven them to look for something that could look like Neanderthals, but this new study shows that the morphological traits could be different. Only genetic analyzes can thus determine whether unearthed bones belonged to this "third humanity" still unknown.