The odds of this story being findable at all — of the bone fragment surviving, of it being excavated, of it being identified as hominin, of the DNA being recoverable, of the analysis producing readable results — are extraordinarily small.

Denny’s existence was nearly lost forever.

The fact that she was found, and that her story could be told, feels like a genuine gift from the past.

Part of the appeal is also what Denny represents about the human condition.

She was a child — a young individual whose life was ended before she grew to adulthood.

Her existence was not remarkable to anyone who knew her.

She was born, she lived, she died.