Did SCIENCE Just Say That Myra Shackley Was Right???

This is perhaps something that is well known "out there" in electronic-land, but it just became known to me, so I'll share. I was for years a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] and received the magazine SCIENCE as part of that. Upon retirement, I dropped all this, due to rather expensive dues. Once in a while the AAAS tries to get me to come back by sending me a free copy. Thus, the other day the "fateful" magazine arrived. And within was an article that rang bells. In fact, it came very close to being [for me] solid scientific evidence for the claim by the lady above that there are/were wild-living non-Homo Sapiens sapiens living in modern times in the central regions of Asia. My goodness!! What is science coming to??

The article was about the various researches that Russian scientists are doing trying to determine the DNA sequences of extinct species, such as the Mammoth and the Neanderthal. And, excitingly, they are making huge strides doing so. The focus of the current research has often been a cave in south-central Siberia, named Denisova--- after, I believe an old Christian saint who spent a lot of time in retreat there. It's general location is marked above.

It wasn't just St. Denis that spent a lot of time in the cave. It was home, or something-or-other, to Neanderthals and other "things" as well. This is not surprising in one sense, as it is a handy rock-shelter alongside a water source in the foothills of the Altai Mountains. Even tourists can get there easily, as is shown in the picture above.

Scientists have gone there for a different reason: Neanderthal remains. Many such items have been found, such as the teeth on the left [one of which {the molar} is Neanderthal]. As they have sifted through the debris of hundreds of centuries, they have come across not only date-able remnants, but some rare "fossils" which appear to have organic tissue associated with them. Given the almost impossible power of today's micro-analysis to purify and sequence the nucleic acids of [usually] mitochondrial DNA, the sequence-masters have descended upon Denisova.

One of the high-quality specimens found was a digitus auricularis, a "little" or "pinkie" finger. As it appeared to have tissue, it was sequenced. The results VERY much surprised the biochemists. This "artifact" did not belong to a Homo Sapiens sapiens but it didn't belong to a Homo Sapiens neandertalensis [or however it's spelled...I used to know once, long ago], but rather to a completely new human-like species !!! [I'm not big on exclamation points, but I think that deserves at least three]. When they placed their results on the human evolutionary tree, they fell to the "otherside" of the Neanderthals from us.
The New York Times published a simplified chart showing the relative relationship with, well, our "relatives" . Hmmmm. A group of non-humans living in the Altai Mountains at least as late as 30,000 years ago. That's when the bells tolled, and I remembered Myra Shackley.

This is an old clipping, but notice the subtitle: she has climbed mountains and crossed deserts trying to solve a 30,000 year old mystery. And the Mystery?? Dr. Shackley collected anthropological evidence and interviews from people in Central Asia which seemed to indicate that the survival of "extinct" Neanderthals, or something quite like them, was true in the Central Asian region. She also argued a strong "feasibility" case of how this could be true. Of course she was roundly laughed at, just like all the rest of us are who dare to study forbidden topics. But she just might have the last laugh.
I've borrowed another map and placed the location of Desinova Cave on it relative to the Altai Mountains, which have been a consistent favorite lurking area for Almas and other cryptobeasts of such nature. The juxtaposition is, for me, a bit too much to ignore. Right there, on the edge of those mountains, a group of non-human homonids lived at least as early as 30,000 years ago. One of them was so kind as to have left a finger behind [had it been a digitus profanis, I would swear that it was left specifically for the scientists----alas, we don't live in a perfect world]. 30,000 years is a blink of an eye from modern times. 30,000 years is a walk in the park for a species to survive, and hide from the weirdoes that scare it, and maintain. And in those 30,000 years, now and then, we see one of them. Dr. Shackley: Kudos!! As an aside: there is even some evidence that some of these critters had red hair [no Irish Jokes!; I'm Irish].

And if she is right. What does that mean for our other wildmen living in the mountains? What especially about our European Red-headed Wudewasa? Do they still wait just around the corner, or at least did they not long ago? Fee Fi Foe Fum.....