{
  "citation": "Specimen Registry v0.0.7 (2026). Maintained by Michael Gonzalez with AI assistance. https://specimenregistry.org. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0.",
  "license": "https://specimenregistry.org/license",
  "version": "0.0.12-neon",
  "publication": {
    "id": "10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x",
    "title": "A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau",
    "authors": [
      "Chen, F.",
      "**Welker, F.**",
      "Shen, C.-C.",
      "Bailey, S.E.",
      "Bergmann, I.",
      "Davis, S.",
      "Xia, H.",
      "Wang, H.",
      "Fischer, R.",
      "Freidline, S.E.",
      "Yu, T.-L.",
      "Skinner, M.M.",
      "Stelzer, S.",
      "Dong, G.",
      "Fu, Q.",
      "Dong, G.",
      "Wang, J.",
      "Zhang, D.",
      "Hublin, J.-J."
    ],
    "year": 2019,
    "journal": "Nature",
    "volume": "569",
    "issue": "7756",
    "pages": "409-412",
    "publication_date": "2019-05-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "open_access_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1139-x",
    "pmc_id": null,
    "pubmed_id": null,
    "abstract": "Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations and high-altitude modern Tibetans. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.",
    "crossref_verified_at": null,
    "verification_state": "draft",
    "verification_notes": "Migrated from ingest file: T1.6_Chen_2019.md",
    "fts_tsv": "'160':153B 'abil':77B 'adapt':106B,208B 'adher':164B 'also':44B 'altai':178B 'altitud':58B,65B,113B,212B 'analysi':132B,182B 'ancient':130B 'archaic':195B 'arriv':219B 'asia':87B 'asian':60B,99B 'bailey':231C 'baishiya':139B 'bergmann':233C 'c':229C,230C 'carbon':165B 'cave':39B,141B 'chen':224C 'china':144B 'coher':93B 'connect':79B 'current':20B 'd':261C 'date':161B 'davi':235C 'denisova':38B 'denisovan':5A,11B,73B,121B,126B,175B,186B 'dental':189B 'determin':146B 'direct':23B,171B 'dispers':83B 'dong':252C,256C 'east':59B 'environ':214B 'epoch':205B 'evid':172B 'f':225C,227C 'fischer':241C 'flow':53B 'fossil':26B,74B,84B 'found':133B 'fragmentari':25B 'freidlin':243C 'fu':254C 'g':253C,257C 'gansu':143B 'gene':52B 'genet':49B,105B 'genom':28B 'geograph':80B 'group':17B 'h':238C,240C 'high':64B,112B,211B 'high-altitud':63B,111B,210B 'hinder':75B 'hominin':16B,85B,196B 'homo':222B 'hublin':262C 'human':108B 'hypox':213B 'identifi':128B 'includ':102B 'indic':193B 'indirect':46B 'inform':72B 'inherit':118B 'insight':184B 'j':259C,263C,264C 'karst':140B 'known':22B,45B 'l':247C 'lack':69B 'late':2A 'least':152B 'legaci':50B 'long':215B 'low':57B 'low-altitud':56B 'm.m':249C 'mandibl':6A,127B,148B 'mandibular':187B 'manner':94B 'matrix':166B 'member':13B 'middl':3A,203B 'modern':66B,221B 'morpholog':71B,190B 'mountain':179B 'occupi':197B 'old':156B 'outsid':176B 'plateau':10A,115B,137B,200B 'pleistocen':4A,204B 'popul':61B,100B 'protein':131B 'provid':170B 'q':255C 'r':242C 'recent':98B 'region':218B 'relat':96B 'report':124B 'result':192B 's.e':232C,244C 'sapien':223B 'seri':160B 'sever':55B 'shen':228C 'siberia':41B 'singl':36B 'site':37B 'skinner':248C 'specimen':169B 'stelzer':250C 'studi':33B 'success':207B 'tempor':82B 'thousand':154B 'tibetan':9A,67B,114B,136B,199B 'u':159B 'u-seri':158B 'understand':90B,103B 'uniqu':183B 'wang':239C,258C 'welker':226C 'xia':237C 'xiah':142B,168B 'year':155B 'yu':245C 'zhang':260C",
    "created_at": "2026-07-26T18:01:51.160Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-07-27T02:16:42.538Z",
    "study_type": null
  },
  "specimens": [
    {
      "id": "xiahe-mandible",
      "common_name": "Xiahe mandible",
      "taxonomic_assignment": "Denisovan",
      "assignment_method": null,
      "verification_state": "pending-verification"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": [
    {
      "id": "40a36c7c-4041-444d-9a57-ed971ec0a8ad",
      "specimen_id": "xiahe-mandible",
      "method": "paleoproteomics",
      "dating_method": null,
      "lab": "Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig / University of Copenhagen (verify author affiliations)",
      "result_summary": "Denisovan-specific amino-acid substitutions identified via mass-spectrometric analysis of dentine proteins. First Denisovan specimen outside Denisova Cave and Baishiya's later cognate specimens.",
      "verification_state": "draft"
    },
    {
      "id": "44fc9629-5c1e-4c85-aa51-a7be21229202",
      "specimen_id": "xiahe-mandible",
      "method": null,
      "dating_method": null,
      "lab": "Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig / University of Copenhagen (verify author affiliations)",
      "result_summary": "Denisovan-specific amino-acid substitutions identified via mass-spectrometric analysis of dentine proteins. First Denisovan specimen outside Denisova Cave and Baishiya's later cognate specimens.",
      "verification_state": "draft"
    }
  ]
}