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Genetic analysis of the finger bone has since indicated that it was a remnant of a previously unknown hominin, distinct from both early modern humans and Neanderthals - the heavily muscled Homo species that cohabited with Homo sapiens in the region from 50,000 to 30,000 years ago. Early modern humans, the results suggested, shared parts of Eurasia not only with Neanderthals but a totally different human-like creature, and all three probably came into contact (the finger bone was found within 65 miles of known Neanderthal and modern human sites). (See the top 10 new species...
Scientists have no idea what the Denisova hominin looked like or how it behaved and interacted with early modern humans, and perhaps never will without a more complete fossil record. But even the preliminary genetic analysis has already shed new light on human ancestors' exodus from Africa and subsequent spread across the globe. The dominant theory holds that various hominin species left Africa in a series of distinct migrations, beginning with Homo erectus or a close relative a little under 2 million years ago, followed by the lineage that gave rise to Neanderthals, and finally the ancestors of modern humans...
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this very modern novel has a fraught relationship with its ancient source material. On the one hand, the text of the story is rife with biblical allusions. Some are direct citations made by characters, some inform the book’s conversations in paraphrase, and still others are simply biblical phrases woven directly into the fabric of Steinberg’s narrative. The somewhat stilted wording of the Bible in English translation assimilates easily into Steinberg’s high register prose style, and in this manner, the milieu of the story pervades the storytelling...
...words and actions stem from his own personal inclinations. In the Bible, God orders him to marry Gomer; in Steinberg’s book, the marriage comes about naturally. Likewise, Steinberg’s Hosea preaches from experience, not divine ecstasy. This is the story as a modern writer—uncomfortable with the idea of a too personal God and drawn to a materialistic understanding of human affairs—would tell it. Thus, even as Steinberg draws upon the Bible for his inspiration, he distances himself from it. Through this lens, “The Prophet?...
...rare today that a novel grapples with the several thousand years of Jewish history and heritage that preceded America, rather than only addressing the issues surrounding modern Jewish life. Mainstream Jewish authors such as Philip Roth or Jonathan Safran Foer are writing about Jews, but not so much about Judaism. Less common is the Chaim Potok or the Milton Steinberg who attempts to bring the vast Jewish past into dialogue with the Jewish present...