Nestled in the foothills of southern Siberia’s Altai Mountains, Denisova Cave has yielded numerous artifacts, as well as fossils of many animals and at least two hominins: Neanderthals and Denisovans. The cave is the only place in the world known to have remains of the Denisovans, who, like Neanderthals, were our close evolutionary cousins.

The site is one of the most significant for understanding human evolution, but study of it has been hampered by difficulty dating the finds. Today, a