Evidence from DNA traces left by Denisovans shows they lived on the Tibetan plateau, ­probably travelled to the Philippines and Laos in south Asia and might have made their way to northern China more than 100,000 years ago. Only a jaw ­fragment, a few bits of bone and one or two teeth ­provide any evidence of their physical characteristics. This key fossil is made up of an almost complete skull with a braincase as big as a modern human’s and a flat face with