Part 3/9:
In 2008, a major breakthrough occurred when a pinky bone discovered in Denisova cave yielded a complete genome. This specimen didn’t belong to Neanderthals or anatomically modern humans, revealing the existence of a previously unknown human species: the Denisovans. Preliminary analysis suggests that they are more closely related to Neanderthals than to modern humans, yet they also engaged in interbreeding with modern humans, leaving a DNA legacy that persists today, particularly among populations in Australasia, including Papua New Guinea and Aboriginal Australians.