The Legacy Of An Encounter

Denny’s existence — and the existence of others like her who were never found — was part of the mechanism by which ancient human genetic diversity was incorporated into the modern human genome.

Modern humans of non-African ancestry carry Neanderthal DNA.

Modern people from Oceania carry Denisovan DNA.

These inherited sequences are not relics or vestigial residues — in many cases, they influence the biology of the people who carry them, affecting immune function, metabolism, anatomy, and susceptibility to disease.

The ancient encounters that produced children like Denny were not biologically trivial events.