No one had a genome that showed, without any inference required, that an individual had parents from two different ancient human lineages.

That changed in 2018.

With Denny.

The Bone That Changed The Story

The fragment that would eventually be identified as Denisova 11 — as Denny — was excavated from Denisova Cave in 2012.

Specifically, it came from the cave’s East Gallery, a passage adjacent to the main chamber, from a layer designated as Stratum 11.

At the time of excavation, it was simply another bone fragment — the kind of small, broken piece of ancient bone that fills the bags and boxes of any archaeological excavation of a site this old.

It was broken and worn.