The bone was excavated in 2012 by archaeologists who had no idea what it contained.

The protein analysis that identified it as hominin was done as part of a routine screening of samples.

The ancient DNA extraction succeeded despite the age of the material.

The sequencing produced a genome of sufficient quality for definitive ancestry analysis.

And the analysis revealed something that no one had expected to find in any ancient specimen: a child whose parents were two different human species.

She is called Denny by the scientists who study her.