PARIS: The fossilised remains of an early human cousin found in the mountains of Tibet proves mankind adapted to live at high altitude far earlier than previously thought, scientists said on Wednesday.

A jawbone dating from at least 160,000 years ago of a Denisovan — a now-extinct branch of humanity — is the first of its kind discovered outside of southern Siberia, and experts believe it holds the key to understanding how some modern-day humans have evolved to tolerate low-oxygen conditions. Contemporaries of the Neanderthals — and like them, possibly wiped out by anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens — the Denisovans first came to light a decade ago.

Their existence was determined through a piece of finger bone and two molars unearthed at the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia’s Altai Mountains and dated to some 80,000 years ago.

But the new remains — discovered in passing by a local monk nearly thirty years ago -- has led researchers to conclude that Denisovans were far more numerous, and far older, than previously thought.

“To have beings, even if a little archaic, living at 3,300 metres (11,000 feet) on the Tibetan plateau 160,000 years ago.... That’s something that no one could have imagined until today,” said Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Max Planck Institute’s Department of Human Evolution.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2019