CHINA’S LOST VALLEY OF HUMANS THAT COULD REWRITE HUMAN ORIGINS

Could China’s Three Gorges region have been one of the last great refuges—or even a heartland—of the Denisovans? Between roughly 300,000 and 50,000 years ago, a chain of caves along the Yangtze and Han river systems preserved human teeth, jaw fragments, stone tools and worked animal remains. This video explores the evidence from Yumidong, Xinglongdong, Changyang, Huanglong and Bailong caves, including the unusual Xinglongdong teeth, the Changyang jaw fragment and the controversial engraved ivory object sometimes described as a tusk fragment. The Three Gorges may have formed a natural migration corridor connecting the Tibetan Plateau, central China and the plains of eastern Asia. Although no DNA or proteins have yet identified the Three Gorges fossils as Denisovan, discoveries at Xiahe, Harbin, Penghu and Tam Ngu Hao 2 show that Denisovan populations occupied enormously different environments across eastern Asia. That expanding evidence raises a serious question: should Chinese fossils from this period now be investigated primarily within a Denisovan framework, just as contemporary European fossils are routinely considered within a Neanderthal one? ### Timestamps 00:00 China’s unidentified ancient humans 01:12 Europe’s Neanderthals—and Asia’s missing population 02:31 The Three Gorges migration corridor 04:02 Yumidong: repeated occupation beside the Yangtze 05:34 Xinglongdong: human teeth and worked ivory 07:27 The mysterious engraved tusk fragment 08:42 Changyang and its fragmentary jaw 10:04 Huanglong and Bailong caves 11:37 Why teeth may reveal Denisovan connections 13:01 Xiahe, Harbin, Penghu and Laos 14:38 Was central China a Denisovan heartland? 16:08 A hypothesis waiting for proteins and DNA ### Sources - Shao et al., “The Chronology of Early Human Settlement in Three Gorges Region, China—Contribution of Coupled Electron Spin Resonance and Uranium-Series Dating Method,” *Frontiers in Earth Science* (2022): https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.939766 - Gao et al., “120–150 ka Human Tooth and Ivory Engravings from Xinglongdong Cave, Three Gorges Region, South China,” *Chinese Science Bulletin* (2004): https://doi.org/10.1360/03wd0214 - Chen et al., “A Late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan Mandible from the Tibetan Plateau,” *Nature* (2019): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x - Zhang et al., “Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene Sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau,” *Science* (2020): https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6320 - Zhang et al., “Middle and Late Pleistocene Denisovan Subsistence at Baishiya Karst Cave,” *Nature* (2024): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07612-9 - Demeter et al., “A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan Molar from the Annamite Chain of Northern Laos,” *Nature Communications* (2022): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z - Jacobs et al., “Timing of Archaic Hominin Occupation of Denisova Cave in Southern Siberia,” *Nature* (2019): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0843-2 - Douka et al., “Age Estimates for Hominin Fossils and the Onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave,” *Nature* (2019): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0870-z The identification of the Three Gorges fossils as Denisovan remains a hypothesis. Their ages and geography make the connection plausible, but direct ancient DNA or palaeoproteomic evidence will be required to confirm it. :chatgpt-content-reference{index="0"}