The discovery of the first fossil of the Denisovans, a sister population to the Neanderthals, in 2010 revealed an otherwise completely unknown hominin population and highlighted a major challenge in studying our ancestors – finding their physical remains in the archaeological record. Bone is easily broken down into small fragments over time and the vast majority of bone found during excavations can’t be identified to species.

In this presentation, Samantha Brown, archaeological scientist and Junior Group Leader for Palaeoproteomics at the University of Tübingen, will discuss the use of a technique called ZooMS in the search for new human remains amongst these vast assemblages of bone fragments and the discovery of Denisova 11 (nicknamed “Denny”), the only known hybrid of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

This Zoom webinar with Samantha Brown aired live on April 25, 2024 as part of the ongoing "HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic" series.