Denisova Cave (, also Ayu-Tash) is a
cave in the Bashelaksky Range of the
Altai mountains,
Siberia, Russia. The cave is of great
paleoarchaeological and
paleontological interest. Bone fragments of the
Denisova hominin, sometimes called the "X woman" (referring to the maternal descent of mitochondrial DNA) originate from the cave, including artifacts dated to ~40,000
BP. The cave is located in a region thought to have been inhabited concurrently in the past by
Neanderthals and modern humans.