The last definitive Denisovan fossil evidence is from Denisova Cave, where the youngest Denisovan remains appear to date to sometime around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago.

But the absence of younger fossils may reflect the rarity of preservation rather than the actual timing of extinction.

The question of whether there are other Denisova Cave-type sites — other locations where exceptional preservation conditions have maintained ancient DNA from this period — is actively being pursued by researchers.

The discovery of the Xiahe mandible, and the development of protein analysis methods that can identify ancient hominin specimens without requiring DNA recovery, suggests that the geographic scope of Denisovan-related fossil finds may expand significantly in coming years.

The Future Of Ancient Hominin Research