Denisova cave in Altai: expert work of specialists of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences

At the invitation of the Altai Krai Government and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, specialists of the Institute of Archaeology of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences and the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University will develop project documentation for the inclusion of the Denisova Cave archaeological site into the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.
The preparation of project documentation involves a number of activities, including determining the Outstanding Universal Value of the potentially nominated object, analyzing its safety and authenticity, assessing the impact of external factors on the preservation of the cultural heritage site and planning for its management system.
During implementation of this plan, a working group of specialists from the Institute of Archaeology and KFU visited Denisova Cave from September 29 to October 3 and held a number of consultation meetings with the employees of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS (Novosibirsk): Director A.I. Krivoshapkin and senior research fellow M.B. Kozlikin, representative of the Public Fund “Denisova Cave” Oleg Akimov and editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Denisova Cave” Daria Gridneva (Belokurikha), employees of the Soloneshensky regional museum of local history (village of Soloneshnoye, Altai Krai). The results of the current archaeological studies of Denisova Cave, surveys of nearby territories and assessment of the existing infrastructure allow planning further activities for the preparation of project documentation.
Denisova Cave is a unique archaeological site, where in 2008 the remains of archaic human were found, named in the course of scientific research by archaeologists and geneticists as the Denisovan. An article, published in 2010 in the journal Nature about the results of these studies, became a world sensation, and scientists recorded a discovery of global scale. Denisovan turned out to be a previously unknown link in the chain of human evolution, differing from his Neanderthal ancestors. The close contacts between Neanderthals and Denisovans are evidenced by the findings of the remains of hybrids of these representatives of the human race.
In general, Altai is a unique evidence of the development of mankind. Anuy- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Karama sites, Okladnikov and Sibiryachikha caves, as well as other finds of the products of primitive human activity, confirm the importance of studying this region by geologists and scientists of other fields of science for understanding the evolution of the planet and all mankind.