Archaeologists frequently recover bone tools and jewelry from ancient sites but lack the means to identify what humans used them tens of thousands of years ago, unless the artifacts are found in specific graves.
That could be changing, however, with the discovery and careful analysis of a 20,000-year-old deer tooth pendant from the famous Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Russia. Using a new method, the researchers concluded from DNA evidence that the pendant’s owner, and perhaps creator, was an Ancient North Eurasian woman.
