Compared to Homo sapiens (~5'9" max) and Neanderthals (5'3"-5'6"), Denisovans appear notably larger. Bence Viola (University of Toronto/Max Planck Leipzig) co-authored the 2017 study on the Denisova 4 tooth, which was "very large compared with Neandertal and early modern human molars"—notably from a female individual, making the size all the more striking. Fabrizio Mafessoni (Max Planck Institute) has described them as "large and robust, even compared to Neanderthals." Given that a female already showed impressive dental dimensions, some larger males may have substantially exceeded Neanderthal averages, though precise height estimates remain speculative.
Comparative evidence supports large Denisovan body size
Key facts
- Homo sapiens maximum height around 5'9"; Neanderthals 5'3"-5'6"
- Homo floresiensis (hobbits) on Flores Island descended from Homo erectus and survived until about 10-12,000 years ago
- Ben Viola (University of Toronto/Max Planck Leipzig) in 2012 said the large Denisova 4 tooth indicated a "rather big individual"
- Fabrizio Mafessoni (Max Planck Institute) in 2018-2019 stated Denisovans were "large and robust even compared to Neanderthals, probably pretty impressive"
- Due to sexual dimorphism, some male Denisovans may have reached 7-7.5 feet tall
Sources
A fourth Denisovan individual | Viewpure.mpg.de
this tooth comes from a female Denisovan individual. DNA retrieved from a tooth discovered deep in Denisova Cave allows us to assign it to the Denisovans, a ...
In a Tooth, DNA From Some Very Old Cousins ...nytimes.com
A tooth fossil discovered in a Siberian cave has yielded DNA from a vanished branch of the human tree, mysterious cousins called the Denisovans ...
The mysterious hominids from the Denisova Cavempg.de
Bence Viola from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig discovered the tooth fragments together with Russian colleagues in the ...
Occlusal surfaces of the Denisova 4 and ...researchgate.net
S1A). Both Denisova 8 and Denisova 4 are very large compared with Neandertal and early modern human molars, and Denisova 8 is even larger than Denisova 4. Only ...
A fourth Denisovan individual - PMC - NIHpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
by V Slon · 2017 · Cited by 136 — DNA retrieved from a tooth discovered deep in Denisova Cave allows us to assign it to the Denisovans, a group of archaic hominins.
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