Scientists studying ancient human remains recovered from the waters between Taiwan and the Penghu Islands say the bones could help fill in the sparse fossil record of Denisovans, one of humanity's most elusive extinct relatives.
The new evidence suggests the long-lost relatives could have been extremely large for the time period, nearing 6 feet 3 inches.
Here's what to know
According to The Debrief, researchers are basing the new claims on fossil specimens discovered in 2010 known as Penghu 2 and Penghu 3.
The specimens are roughly 45,000 years old, and scientists think they are Denisovan leg bones.
Denisovans have been difficult to trace in the fossil record. Scientists first identified the group in 2010 using DNA from a finger bone discovered in Siberia's Denisova Cave, but physical remains linked to them have remained scarce, The Debrief reported.
A jawbone from the same set of finds, called Penghu 1, was identified in 2025 as belonging to a male Denisovan through protein testing. Similar analysis suggests Penghu 2 and Penghu 3 were Denisovan bones too.
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Size estimates point to unusually large individuals. Researchers think Penghu 3 may have been nearly 190 centimeters — about 6 feet 3 inches — and close to 200 pounds, while Penghu 2 may have stood about 5-foot-11 and weighed around 182 pounds.
More background
For the Late Pleistocene, those dimensions would have been striking. While many people reach that height, The Debrief notes that a body that large likely would have exceeded the size of many Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, and Neanderthals living at the time.
The discovery also adds to a much larger scientific puzzle: what Denisovans actually looked like. Much of what researchers know about them has come from genetics rather than complete skeletons, leaving major questions about their anatomy, body size, and range across Asia.
Denisovan ancestry survives in some modern human populations through traces in DNA. Stronger fossil evidence could help scientists connect those genetic clues to real-world traits, migration routes, and the ways ancient humans adapted to different environments.
Because the bones were dredged from the seafloor, scientists do not know the exact place or conditions in which each specimen was preserved, making interpretation more difficult, The Debrief noted.
What's being done?
Researchers are using proteomics — the study of ancient proteins — to investigate fossils that no longer contain usable DNA. That approach is especially valuable for very old remains, where genetic material often degrades beyond recovery.
In these specimens, protein analysis is carrying much of the evidentiary load. The technique first linked Penghu 1 to Denisovans, and it indicates the two leg bones came from male Denisovans as well.
Even so, scientists are presenting the findings cautiously. The paper, titled "Denisovan leg bones from Taiwan reveal large body size," is posted on the preprint server BioRxiv and has not yet gone through peer review, The Debrief reported.
Future work could help fill a major gap in the story of where Denisovans lived — especially across coastal China and Southeast Asia — and what some of the last surviving members of the species may have looked like.
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