Denny’s genome tells us about her biology.

It tells us nothing about the human story that produced her.

The Neanderthal Mother’s Journey

One detail from the genetic analysis of Denny’s genome is particularly striking: her Neanderthal mother’s ancestry.

The Neanderthal genome sequences recovered from Denny’s DNA — the sequences inherited from her mother — were compared against the known Neanderthal genomes that scientists had previously characterized.

Denisova Cave itself contained evidence of Neanderthal presence, including a toe bone from another individual (Denisova 5) whose genome had been sequenced and found to be Neanderthal.

When the researchers compared Denny’s maternal Neanderthal ancestry with Denisova 5 — the Neanderthal from the same cave — they found that Denny’s mother was not closely related to Denisova 5.