Paris, France

Scientists believe that a new discovery made by them proves now-extinct branch of humanity used to live in southeast Asia.

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According to a new study published on Tuesday in 'Nature Communications', a child's tooth, which is at least 130,000 years old, can help scientists uncover more information about an early human cousin.

Denisovans, a cousin of Neanderthals, about which very little is known, lived between 164,000 to 131,000 years ago and were recently believed to be extinct. But now researchers believe that the new findings can provide their whereabouts.

Clement Zanolli, a paleoanthropologist and co-author of the study, concluded that "these populations' modern ancestors were 'mixed' with Denisovans in southeast Asia".

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Scientists found out that the child's tooth, found in a cave in Laos, belonged to a previously unidentified group of humans after they extracted an entire genome of the group.

Denisovan remnants can be found in current populations in southeast Asia and Oceania through interbreeding with Homo sapiens according to a jawbone found on the Tibetan Plateau.

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Zanolli, who is a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research told AFP, that there was no "physical proof" of their presence in this part of the Asian continent.

Also read | Did we, the modern humans, kill off Neanderthals? A new finding may have answers

He added that the child's tooth, which was found in Tam Pa Ling Cave, appeared to have a "typically human" shape is between 3.5 and 8.5 years old.

They are not the only descendants of early human cousins as Aboriginal Australians and people in Papua New Guinea have almost five percent of the ancient species' DNA.

The study's co-author and paleoanthropologist Fabrice Demeter that the girl's DNA has been badly preserved because of heat and humidity and the tooth is too old for carbon-dating.

"The proteins allowed us to identify the sex, female, and confirm its relation to the Homo species," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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