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The Secret World of Denisovans

The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals

Silvana Condemi François Savatier

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Paperback

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English
The Experiment LLC
16 June 2026
In December 2010, scientists discovered a fragment of a finger bone in the remote, Denisova Cave in Siberia. To their surprise, the bone contained neither Homo sapiens nor Neanderthal DNA. Rather, the fast-advancing science of paleogenetics revealed that the DNA came from a previously unknown species of hominids—the Denisovans—who shared a common ancestor with both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

This and subsequent Denisovan fossil discoveries required paleoanthropologists, including Silvana Condemi, to reconsider their understanding of our ancestors and their successive prehistoric migrations out of Africa and into and throughout Eurasia tens of thousands of years ago.

Leading us through the excavation of Denisova Cave, the sequencing of the Denisovan genome and recent fossil research, Condemi and her co-author, François Savatier, explore how the Denisovans migrated throughout Asia and with whom they interacted along the way, as well as the comparisons and divergences between the evolutionary processes of Denisovans and our other ancestor cousins, Neanderthals. They help us to understand and appreciate how today’s inhabitants of East Asia—from Siberia to the Philippines—carry up to 5 percent of Denisovan DNA, and they revise the epic story of our ancient human ancestors’ journeys as they peopled our planet.
By:   ,
Imprint:   The Experiment LLC
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 211mm,  Width: 142mm,  Spine: 20mm
Weight:   295g
ISBN:   9798893031409
Pages:   288
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Silvana Condemi, a world-leading paleoanthropologist, is the research director of CNRS, the largest French public scientific research organization, at Aix-Marseille University. She is the coauthor of A Pocket History of Human Evolution and The Secret World of Denisovans. François Savatier is a journalist for the magazine Pour la Science (the French edition of Scientific American), where he focuses on the science of the past. He is the co-author of A Pocket History of Human Evolution and The Secret World of Denisovans.

Reviews for The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals

Presents a compelling investigation into details of the Denisovans' emergence and their contributions to the scientific understanding of human history. . . . Beyond the scientific revelations and debates, The Secret World of the Denisovans conveys the sense of excitement and intellectual detective work that underpins paleoanthropology. It's an excellent read for anyone with an interest in human evolution, genetics, or simply a good scientific mystery.--Shelf Awareness A clear overview of Denisova and its immediate antecedents.-- ""Science"" Condemi and Savatier bring together everything we know about this enigmatic human, allowing readers to get to know our ancient cousin species. The result is part primer, part detective story. But more than that, it's a reminder that even our oldest assumptions about human history can be overturned and rewritten.--Big Think Defined by their DNA rather than by their physical appearance, the Denisovans present us with the ultimate mystery of human evolution. In their entertaining new book Silvana Condemi and Francois Savatier painstakingly assemble everything we currently know about these shadowy extinct relatives and boldly paint a picture of them as they may have been in life.--Ian Tattersall, author of Understanding Human Evolution The Denisovans are among the most enigmatic early human fossils ever discovered. The Secret World of Denisovans is beautifully written and captures the complexities of scientific exploration, debate, and progress in an engaging and accessible way, without compromising scientific rigor and accuracy. The book gradually unveils the morphology and behavior of this population in a suspenseful, detective-like format. It is an entertaining read for professionals and the public alike.--Miriam Belmaker, Paleoanthropologist, The University of Tulsa


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