Israel scientists unveil appearance of ancient human relative

JERUSALEM: We know what Neanderthals looked like. Now, thanks to ancient DNA, Israeli scientists have unveiled the appearance of another of our ancient relatives.

Very few clues exist about the lives of the Denisovans — cousins of Neanderthals — who went extinct around 50,000 years ago: three teeth, a pinky bone, and a lower jaw.But that was enough for researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to draw conclusions on their appearance. The mission was challenging, according to Professor Liran Carmel, one of two scientists leading the study. “It is very difficult to start from DNA sequences and end up with an anatomical profile,” he said.

If it were that easy, police around the world would be pulling DNA from crime scenes and drawing up profiles of the suspects, he added. Instead, he and his team reconstructed the appearance of the Denisovans after three years of examining the patterns of chemical changes in their ancient DNA.