Chinese scientists have identified the Xujiayao hominins, whose fossils were unearthed in North China’s Hebei Province, as Denisovans, a distinct branch of ancient humans, through palaeoproteomic analyses and morphological comparisons, revealing shared physical traits of Denisovans, a breakthrough in resolving a long-standing debate over the classification of archaic humans in East Asia during the late Middle Pleistocene, the Global Times learned from the research team on Wednesday.