Did Homo sapiens encounter the mysterious Denisovans east of Wallace's Line?
Wallace's Line represents a water boundary separating the southeast Asian part of Indonesia from the western part of the Indonesian archipelago, New Guinea, and Australia. The above Science Daily article summarizes the work of Cooper and Stringer who argue that early modern humans -Homo sapiens- met and interbred with Denisovans, a related hominid species, east of Wallace's Line. Having the interbreeding take place in this area would help explain why Denisovan DNA is found in the highest concentrations among the aboriginal peoples of New Guinea and Australia, but it would also mean the Denisovans also managed to cross the watery Wallace's Line and thus likely had boats.
One intriguing remark in this article is the statement that it appears Denisovan males mated with Homo sapien females. Were there no Homo sapien males mating with Denisovan females?
A. Cooper, C. B. Stringer. Did the Denisovans Cross Wallace's Line? Science, 2013; 342 (6156): 321 DOI:10.1126/science.1244869
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