Bones of ancient humans found on the seabed of the Taiwan Strait suggest they were up to 190 cm tall

For Pleistocene East Asia, such dimensions are truly impressive: researchers classify these remains as among the largest known leg bones of members of the genus Homo from that period. However, it is too early to label these two large individuals as a ‘two-metre-tall race of giants’ — the study has been published as a preprint and has not yet undergone peer review.

The bones were literally recovered from the seabed

We are talking about two fragments — the Penghu 2 femur and the Penghu 3 tibia. They were not found during routine archaeological excavations: the remains were retrieved from the seabed of the Penghu Channel between Taiwan and mainland China, along with the bones of ancient land animals.

During the Ice Age, sea levels fell repeatedly, and what is now the seabed became dry land. However, such finds have a significant drawback: scientists do not know the exact position of the bones within the original soil layers and are deprived of a significant part of the archaeological context.

On the other hand, ancient proteins have been preserved within the bones themselves. Analysis of these proteins has shown that both fragments possess a Denisovan proteomic profile. According to the authors, these are the first known leg bones with a molecular link to the Denisovan lineage.

The individual may have been around 190 cm tall

Neither bone is complete, so the scientists were unable to measure the height of their owners directly. The researchers reconstructed the original dimensions of the bones and used morphometric models linking the length of the leg bones to overall body size.

For the individual whose femur was identified as Penghu 2, they estimated a height of around 180 cm and a weight of 83 kg.

Penghu 3 turned out to be even larger — approximately 190 cm tall and weighing 91 kg.

The authors of the preprint note that, in terms of size, the finds rank among the largest known leg bones of Pleistocene Homo specimens. By comparison, these Denisovans were larger than a number of known specimens of Homo erectus and Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens from East Asia.

This is the first time Denisovan bones have been found below the neck

This is precisely what makes the discovery particularly interesting. The Denisovans were first identified thanks to ancient DNA from Denisova Cave in Siberia, but their physical appearance remained largely unknown for a long time.

Scientists had mainly had access to teeth, finger fragments and a jawbone. In 2025, analysis of ancient proteins confirmed the Denisovan origin of the massive lower jaw of Penghu 1, also found near Taiwan. In the same year, molecular data linked a large skull from Harbin to the Denisovans.

The new bones allow us, for the first time, to discuss the dimensions of the rest of the body with much greater certainty. A picture is beginning to emerge of a rather robust ancient human — with a large skull and a powerful build.

But for now, these are merely fragments of the picture, rather than a complete portrait of the entire Denisovan population.

One of them lived around 45,000 years ago

The Penghu 3 tibia is of particular interest. In a separate study, another research team managed to obtain a radiocarbon date for it – approximately 45,000 years ago.

This represents a relatively late period in the Denisovans’ existence. By that time, Homo sapiens had already spread widely across southern Asia, so the find is significant for understanding how long different human lineages may have co-existed in this region.

Isotopic analysis of Penghu 3 also showed that this individual lived in an open landscape – likely amongst grassy plains or floodplains – and obtained a significant proportion of their protein from animal food. The researchers found no clear evidence of significant dependence on marine or freshwater resources.

It is too early to declare Denisovans to be giants

It is precisely here that the impressive figures call for a major caveat.

Scientists have obtained size estimates for only two individuals. We do not know the average height of the Denisovans, the range of sizes within their populations, or the differences between men and women. It is not even known how typical Penghu 2 and Penghu 3 were of their group.

If we were to randomly select two modern humans measuring 185–195 cm, we could not conclude from them that the entire Homo sapiens population reaches nearly two metres.

Therefore, the new data primarily show that some Denisovans may have been very tall, rather than that a height of around 190 cm was the norm for the entire ancient lineage.

There are also additional uncertainties. Both bones are incomplete, so height and weight have been reconstructed statistically. Furthermore, the finds were recovered from the seabed and lack the usual stratigraphic context of archaeological excavations.

The discovery nevertheless changes our understanding of these enigmatic human relatives

Despite these limitations, this is a rare instance in which the Denisovans cease to be almost exclusively a set of genetic sequences.

The authors believe that the large size of the Taiwanese finds may even be significant for interpreting the large Denisovan brain and the characteristics of their adaptation. However, such ideas currently require a much larger number of skeletal remains from different regions.

The most reliable conclusion at present is considerably more cautious, yet at the same time quite impressive: during the Late Pleistocene, a Denisovan lived in what is now Taiwan, whose size, as reconstructed, is comparable to that of a tall modern human standing around 190 cm tall.

But a single individual is not enough to turn all Denisovans into ‘Ice Age giants’.

Source

The main paper is the preprint“Denisovan leg bones from Taiwan reveal large body size”. The paper was published on bioRxiv on 8 August 2026 and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Authors: Yousuke Kaifu, Chun-Hsiang Chang, Yumeko Tarusawa, Rikai Sawafuji, Shiori Yonemoto, Shigeru Shimamura, Masanaru Takai, Reiko T. Kono, Cheng-Han Sun, Cheng-Hsiu Tsai, Minoru Yoneda, Takumi Tsutaya.

A further paper is titled“Habitat and feeding ecology of a Denisovan from Late Pleistocene Taiwan”. In this paper, Penghu 3 was directly dated to approximately 45,000 years ago, and stable isotopes were analysed to reconstruct the environment and diet. It has also been published on bioRxiv and has not yet undergone peer review.