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The child would be about 5 or 7 years old when it was eaten by a bird.
SALT LAKE CITY – The history of the oldest human remains of Poland is a bit difficult to swallow.
Scientists have recently identified fossils discovered in Poland a few years ago as being the remains of a human child apparently eaten by a giant bird.
According to CNN, as the remains of the child were found among animal bones, it is only this year that the researchers were able to perform a laboratory analysis, which revealed that some of the bones were human.
Bones have been recognized as phalanges, which are digital bones of a human hand.
Two anthropologists, Anita Szczepanek of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow and Erik Trinkaus of the Washington University of St. Louis, both confirmed that the bones belonged to a Neanderthal.
"The bones discovered by our team at Ciemna Cave are the oldest human remains in Poland today, dating back to about 115,000 years," Professor Paweł Valde-Nowak was quoted as saying. , researcher at the Institute of Archeology of the Jagiellonian University, at Science Poland. .
The porous surface of the bones appeared after crossing the digestive system of a large bird. According to Science Poland, it is still unclear whether the bird attacked and partially consumed the young child, or fed it to the child while he was already dead.
The bones, which are no more than one centimeter long, are poorly preserved, making it impossible to perform a complete DNA analysis.
But Valde-Nowak said that the lack of DNA analysis does not prevent scientists from being confident about their discovery.
"[We] I do not doubt that it is Neanderthal remains, because they come from a very deep layer of the cave, a few meters below the current surface. This layer also contains typical stone tools used by the Neanderthal, "he said.
The Smithsonian reported that before that, the oldest human remains found in Poland were three molars of Neanderthal dating from 42,000 to 52,000 years ago, making these 115,000-year-old fingers a discovery important.
The results will be published this year in the Journal of Paleolithic Archeology.
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