The forearm fragment found at Bianfu Cave is the first Denisovan forearm bone ever discovered.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by the peer-reviewed Nature paper and corroborated by multiple independent science journalism outlets and outside experts. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=0.992 clusters=6 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial on the Nature study 'Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China' (Fu Qiaomei's IVPP team) (upstreams: Nature paper by Rao et al./Fu Qiaomei et al. (IVPP, Chinese Academy of Sciences), EurekAlert press release based on the same study) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]
Sources
- Scientists Find a Trove of Denisovan Fossils and Tools in Southwest ... (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/09/science/china-denisovan-fossil-discovery (corroboration)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10976-9 (corroboration)
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/denisovans-forearm-bone-china (corroboration)
- https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-first-known-denisovan-forearm-bone-emerges-from-a-search-through-60-000-bone-fragments-49655 (corroboration)
- https://www.science.org/content/article/mysterious-human-relatives-were-strong-and-agile-fossil-elbow-and-primitive-tools (corroboration)
- https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/bianfu-cave-denisovans-15057.html (corroboration)