UPSC Prelims 2019 · Question 42 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2019 question on Denisovan Human Species

The word 'Denisovan' is sometimes mentioned in media in reference to

  1. fossils of a kind of dinosaurs
  2. an early human species
  3. a cave system found in North-East India
  4. a geological period in the history of Indian subcontinent
Show answer

Answer: B. an early human species

Verdict

Correct answer: an early human species → Option (b).

Analysis

The first evidence for Denisovans or Denisova hominins was first discovered in 2008 in a cave in the Altai mountains in Siberia. Analysis of a fossil jawbone containing molars recovered from Baishiya Karst cave in Xiahe, Gansu, China shows Denisovans lived in the Tibetan Plateau some 1,60,000 years ago. This is the first time evidence of Denisovan presence has been found outside the Denisova cave.

Denisovans are an early human species (archaic hominins) distinct from Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

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