# Rao 2026: Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China

> Huiyun Rao, Song Xing, Qijun Ruan et al., 2026. 4 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Fills the southwestern gap and adds postcranial anatomy.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CZKZ2MY62DW/ancient-proteins-identify-various-denisovan-remains-from  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Who were the Denisovans? The Harbin "Dragon Man" cranium](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity)Rao 2026

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# Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China

Huiyun Rao, Song Xing, Qijun Ruan et al., 2026. _Nature_.

Screening of more than 60,000 bone fragments from Bianfu Cave, Yunnan, finds two parietal fragments and a proximal radius from layers of about 167-134 ka; with two teeth, all five hominin specimens are Denisovan by proteomics. The richest Denisovan site outside Denisova Cave and the first Denisovan radius. PRIDE PXD073112.

**Who were the Denisovans? The Harbin "Dragon Man" cranium** Articledoi: **[10.1038/s41586-026-10976-9](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10976-9)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

Fills the southwestern gap and adds postcranial anatomy.

## Cited by on this site 4 records

[Bianfu Cave hominin specimens (two parietal fragments, a proximal radius, two teeth)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/artifacts/ART0CZKZP5Y7C28/bianfu-cave-hominin-specimens-two-parietal-fragments-a)

ART

[Bianfu Cave Denisovan proteomes (PRIDE PXD073112)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0CZKZKG00SXC/bianfu-cave-denisovan-proteomes-pride-pxd073112)

Dataset

DAT

[Five Bianfu Cave specimens are identified as Denisovan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity/events/EVT0CZKZA7444EA/five-bianfu-cave-specimens-are-identified-as-denisovan)

EVT

[Who were the Denisovans? The Harbin "Dragon Man" cranium](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/denisovan-identity)

The mystery article

MYS

## Cite it

```
Rao, H., Xing, S., Ruan, Q., Bai, F., Zhao, Y., Wu, Z., Tang, S., & Bennett, E. A. (2026). Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10976-9
```

[Read it free at nature.com](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10976-9)

Key

**SRC** 0CZKZ2MY62DW

Kind

Journal article

Rights

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Kept

29 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

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

The record

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