Penghu 2 and Penghu 3—two roughly 45,000-year-old leg bones recovered between Taiwan and the Penghu Islands—are being identified as Denisovan remains that point to unusually large individuals.
Protein analysis, rather than DNA, underpins the claim: the same proteomics approach that linked Penghu 1 to a male Denisovan in 2025 now indicates both newer specimens also came from male Denisovans.
Size estimates put Penghu 3 at nearly 190 centimeters and about 200 pounds, with Penghu 2 around 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds—dimensions striking for the Late Pleistocene and larger than many contemporaneous human groups.
The find could help clarify what Denisovans looked like and where they ranged across Asia, though the bones' seafloor recovery left their exact original location and preservation context unknown.
Researchers are treating the result cautiously because the paper is posted on BioRxiv and has not yet been peer reviewed.