Reveals the profound influence of the Denisovans and their hybrid descendants upon the flowering of human civilization around the world "Tracing the migrations of the Denisovans and their interbreeding with Neanderthals and early human populations in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas, the authors explore how the new mental capabilities of the Denisovan-Neanderthal and Denisovan-human hybrids greatly accelerated the flowering of human civilisation over 40,000 years ago. They show how the Denisovans displayed sophisticated advances, including precision machined stone tools and jewellery, tailored clothing, celestially-aligned architecture, and horse domestication. Without early human's hybridisation with Denisovans, Neanderthals, and other yet-to-bediscovered hominid populations, the modern world as we know it would not exist."