A fossilized finger found in a cave in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia has been dated at 40,000 years, belonging to a modern human relative.
Sequencing of the Mitochondrial DNA revealed that not only is it not the DNA of a modern human, but is also not that of a Neanderthal and is therefore an entirely new and different species of human.
Comparing Human Mt-DNA to that of a Neanderthal shows about 200 differences. Comparing Human Mt-DNA to this new species shows 400 differences, meaning that this species is about twice as far removed from us as Neanderthals were.
