More recently, a jawbone discovered in Tibet — the Xiahe mandible — was identified through protein analysis as likely Denisovan, providing the first evidence of Denisovan physical remains from outside Denisova Cave.

The Xiahe mandible is large, with teeth that show the primitive morphology consistent with Denisovans, and its discovery in a high-altitude Tibetan site is consistent with the genetic evidence that Denisovans were adapted to and present in high-altitude environments.

But the Xiahe mandible is a jaw without a skull, from a site without the exceptional DNA preservation of Denisova Cave, and the identification as Denisovan rests on protein rather than DNA evidence.

The full physical picture of the Denisovans — what they looked like, how they walked, how their brains were organized — remains far more uncertain than for the Neanderthals.