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Podcast: The Micah Hanks Program
Episode: Echoes of the Ancients: Denisovans, Genetic Ghosts, and Relicts from the Past
Description: Recent advances in genetics and paleoanthropology are revealing a complex world where multiple hominin species coexisted, interbred, and left behind their DNA in modern populations. Fossils like the Denisovan jawbone Penghu-1 found in Taiwan and enigmatic remains from Red Deer Cave suggest that some archaic humans may have survived into the Holocene, much later than previously thought. Meanwhile, studies of modern genomes have uncovered "genetic ghosts"—traces of unknown ancient populations for which no physical remains have been found, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at these and ot...