TLDR
These ancient humans survived for many thousands of years on the Tibetan Plateau by using a wide variety of animals. They mainly hunted sheep and goat relatives, but also used other animals for food, clothing, and tools.
Summary
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1 Study Aim
The authors aim to reconstruct Denisovan subsistence, or how these ancient humans obtained and used animal resources, at Baishiya Karst Cave. They investigate which animals lived nearby, whether Denisovans accumulated the bones, and how environmental changes affected their choices. The study also tests whether a newly found rib belonged to a Denisovan individual. The study asks how these ancient humans survived in a changing, high-altitude environment.
2 Study Design
The research combines zooarchaeology, the study of animal remains, with proteomics, the analysis of preserved proteins. Researchers examined 2,567 faunal specimens from eleven cave layers and used Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), which identifies species from collagen fingerprints, on 1,857 specimens. They combined these results with bone morphology and surface-mark analysis. They identified 2,005 specimens taxonomically. Shotgun proteomic analysis, which compares many preserved proteins, assigned the Xiahe 2 rib to Denisovans. The rib came from layer 3, dated to about 48–32 thousand years ago. The researchers combined protein tests, bone studies, and dating to examine ancient diets and activities.
3 Findings
The study reveals that Caprinae, a group including sheep and goat relatives, dominated the animals at the cave. The assemblage also included very large plant-eaters, carnivores, small mammals, and birds. Human-made cuts and breakages affected 19.3% of identified specimens, while carnivore and rodent damage was rare. These patterns indicate that hominins mainly accumulated the bones. The authors report processing for meat, marrow, and hides, plus three simple bone tools and a possible retoucher. The Xiahe 2 rib confirms Denisovan presence during the Late Pleistocene. The findings show flexible resource use across changing conditions, although environmental and foraging causes cannot be separated for some animal shifts. These ancient people used many local animals and remained at the cave much later than earlier evidence showed.