2019 GS Paper I, all questions
UPSC Prelims 2019 · GS Paper I
Question 92: Science and Technology
The word ‘Denisovan’ is sometimes mentioned in media in reference to
afossils of a kind of dinosaurs
ban early human species
ca cave system found in North-East India
da geological period in the history of Indian subcontinent
AnswerUPSC’s answer is (b).
Denisovans are an extinct group of early humans, related to Neanderthals, first identified from a finger bone and teeth found in Denisova Cave in Siberia and known largely through ancient DNA. Their genes survive in some modern people, especially in Asia and Oceania. A jawbone from the Tibetan plateau was attributed to them in 2019. The word has nothing to do with dinosaurs, an Indian cave system or a geological period.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Denisovans were early humans, not dinosaurs.
- (b) Correct: Denisovans are an early human species or group.
- (c) Denisova Cave is in Siberia, not North-East India.
- (d) It is not a geological period.
Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2019, General Studies Paper I, Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.