Taller Than We Thought: Denisovans, Sexual Dimorphism, and the Limits of a Single Bone
Two leg bones dredged from a submerged channel between Taiwan and mainland China have been identified, through ancient protein analysis, as Denisovan — and their owners may have stood as tall as 190 centimeters. The headline-worthy size estimate rests on an assumption the field can't yet independently check: that we know what an average, or a female, Denisovan actually looked like.