摘要：A number of archaic Homo sapien from 1.2-0.32mya have been found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. However, little is known about the relationships and the evolutionary pathways of various archaic Homo sapiens. In 2008, a bone of an unknown hominin (dated 48-30kya), was excavated at Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. This Denisova hominin was found to be a species of archaic Homo sapiens. However, the phylogenetic analysis based on the complete mitochondrion DNA (mtDNA) shows that the Denisova hominin branches off much earlier than the divergence of modern humans and European archaic Homo sapiens (i.e. Neanderthals), which occurred about one million years ago. This result indicates the high diversity and multiple origins of archaic Homo sapiens. Further researches of archaic Homo sapiens, especially those found throughout East Asia will be quite helpful in revealing the detailed phylogeny of the human evolution
关键词：Denisova hominin; archaic Homo sapiens; ancient DNA; phylogenetic tree
