ancestral to both23; however, two lines of evidence suggest that the ancestors of the Aeta experienced a second Denisovan admixture event. First, multiple analyses found that the Aeta are genetically more similar to populations without appreciable Denisovan ancestry (for example, Igorot, Malay and Malay Negrito groups) than they are to Melanesians (Supplementary Information 3, 6). This can be explained by more recent gene flow from other populations without Denisovan ancestry. However, such gene flow would reduce the levels of Denisovan admixture below that found in Melanesians. More directly, we find that putative Denisovan haplotypes that are unique to the Aeta (n = 962) are significantly longer than putative Denisovan haplotypes shared between Aeta and Papuans (n = 596, mean = 16.1 kb compared with mean = 14.1 kb, Mann–Whitney U-test, P ≪ 10−10), or putative Denisovan haplotypes unique to Papuans (n = 727, mean = 16.1 kb compared with mean = 14.9 kb, Mann–Whitney U-test, P ≪ 10−1,000) (Supplementary Information 10), supporting a scenario in which a second admixture event between the Aeta and Denisovans happened after the separation of the Aeta and Melanesians. Two distinct Denisovan admixture events are most consistent with Homo sapiens and Denisovans interacting within southeast
