A Mysterious Jawbone Found Near Taiwan Sheds Light on Ancient Human Cousins

A remarkable fossil discovery near the coast of Taiwan is offering fresh clues about a mysterious group of ancient humans called Denisovans. This group, related to both Neanderthals and modern humans, once roamed vast areas of Eurasia. What makes this discovery even more exciting is that it shows just how far Denisovans may have traveled and how adaptable they were to different environments.

The fossil in question is a lower jawbone, or mandible, that was found in the waters off the Penghu Islands, a chain of islands off the western coast of Taiwan. The jawbone still has five teeth attached and is believed to have belonged to a male Denisovan. The exact spot where it was found isn’t known, but it was recovered during commercial fishing operations in an area known as the Penghu Channel, which used to be dry land long ago.

After the fossil was brought up from the sea, it ended up in a Taiwanese antique shop, where it was purchased in 2008. Later, it was donated to a museum, and only recently did scientists realize how important this bone truly is.

Denisovans are a relatively new discovery in the story of human evolution. Their existence wasn’t even known until 2010, when researchers found a few small bone fragments and teeth in a cave in Siberia called Denisova Cave. Genetic analysis showed that these remains belonged to a separate group of archaic humans — close relatives of the Neanderthals, but distinct. Scientists believe Denisovans and Neanderthals split from a common ancestor about 400,000 years ago.

What’s fascinating is that modern humans — Homo sapiens — actually met both Neanderthals and Denisovans when we began migrating out of Africa. There’s strong evidence that early humans interbred with both groups, which means many people alive today, especially in East and Southeast Asia, carry small amounts of Denisovan DNA in their genes.

The newly analyzed jawbone from the Penghu Channel adds a new piece to this ancient puzzle. Scientists couldn’t extract DNA from it because of the conditions it had been exposed to underwater. But they used a different method to study the fossil — analyzing proteins from the dental enamel (the hard outer coating of the teeth). Two specific protein variants were found that are known to occur only in Denisovans, not in Neanderthals or modern humans. One of these proteins is linked to the Y-chromosome, which helped confirm that the individual was male.

What’s especially interesting about this jawbone is its strong and thick structure. According to biological anthropologist Takumi Tsutaya of Japan’s Graduate University for Advanced Studies, the mandible is quite robust, and the cheek teeth are larger than those of Neanderthals or modern humans. This tells us that Denisovans may have had powerful jaws, possibly adapted to their diet and environment.

Dating the fossil has proven tricky. Because of how it was found — dredged from the seafloor — scientists couldn’t use traditional dating techniques like radiocarbon dating. Instead, they studied animal fossils that were discovered alongside the jawbone. Based on these, they estimate the jaw could be between 10,000 and 70,000 years old — or possibly as old as 130,000 to 190,000 years. If the younger estimate is correct, it could be the most recent Denisovan fossil ever found.

So far, confirmed Denisovan fossils have been found in only a few places: the original site in Denisova Cave (Siberia), Baishiya Karst Cave in China’s Tibetan Plateau, and now, the Penghu Channel near Taiwan. A molar from Cobra Cave in Laos also appears to be from a Denisovan, based on its shape, though that hasn’t been fully confirmed through genetic or protein analysis.

What this tells us is something remarkable: Denisovans didn’t just live in one type of climate or environment. They thrived in icy Siberian mountains, high-altitude plateaus in Tibet, tropical forests in Laos, and now we know they also lived in the warm, subtropical region near Taiwan. This means they were incredibly adaptable — surviving in places with very different climates, landscapes, and resources.

Frido Welker, a molecular anthropologist from the University of Copenhagen and a co-author of the study, said this wide range of habitats suggests Denisovans were much more flexible and resourceful than we previously thought.

However, despite these exciting discoveries, we still know very little about Denisovans. We have only a few bones and teeth, and no complete skeleton has ever been found. Their disappearance, much like that of the Neanderthals, remains a mystery. They vanished from the fossil record shortly after modern humans spread across the globe. Some scientists believe competition, climate change, or interbreeding may have contributed to their extinction — but we can’t say for sure.

What we do know is that Denisovans left a lasting legacy. Their genes live on in the DNA of many people today, especially in populations from Asia and the Pacific Islands. This shows that, although the Denisovans themselves may be gone, their story continues — not just in the bones we find, but in the very fabric of who we are.

This discovery off the coast of Taiwan is yet another reminder of how much more there is to learn about our ancient relatives. Each new fossil, no matter how small or broken, helps us piece together the vast and complex story of human history — a story that spans continents, climates, and millennia.