# The lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations,…

> Most likely: The lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations, including a southern one ancestral…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/answers/ANS0CZKZH9P2WR1/the-lineage-goes-back-about-a-million-years-and-comprised  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Who were the Denisovans? The Harbin "Dragon Man" cranium](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity)[How deep are the roots of the Denisovan lineage, and how many distinct Denisovan populations were there?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/questions/QST0CZKZBE620N5/how-deep-are-the-roots-of-the-denisovan-lineage-and-how-many)Answer

Answer · Who were the Denisovans? The Harbin "Dragon Man" cranium

# The lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations,…

The lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations, including a southern one ancestral to Oceanian and South Asian Denisovan ancestry.

**Most likely** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Most likely** Its tests supported it: three pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Genomes from southern Denisovans differ deeply from the Altai Denisovans.
- Million-year-old fossils such as Yunxian carry derived Denisovan traits.

## What would rule it out

- Southern Denisovan genomes close to the Altai ones, or Yunxian outside the clade on molecular data.

## Evidence 3 for · none against

[At least three Denisovan groups contributed to living people; Oceanians and South Asians share a deeply…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/evidence/EVD0CZKZHHG3V3D/at-least-three-denisovan-groups-contributed-to-living-people)

Supported

FOR

[Papuans carry two deeply divergent Denisovan components.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/evidence/EVD0CZKZHSA582P/papuans-carry-two-deeply-divergent-denisovan-components)

Supported

FOR

[Yunxian 2 places as an early member of the longi clade on morphometrics.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/evidence/EVD0CZKZJ14333E/yunxian-2-places-as-an-early-member-of-the-longi-clade-on)

Suggestive

FOR

## The questions it answers

[How deep are the roots of the Denisovan lineage, and how many distinct Denisovan populations were there?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/questions/QST0CZKZBE620N5/how-deep-are-the-roots-of-the-denisovan-lineage-and-how-many)

Most likelyThe lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations,…

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The lineage goes back about a million years and comprised several deeply diverged regional populations,… [Answer ANS0CZKZH9P2WR1]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0CZKZH9P2WR1
```

Key

**ANS** 0CZKZH9P2WR1

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0CZKZH9P2WR1)
