Scientists Uncovered A Neanderthal Child Eaten By A Giant Bird
In Poland, just several years ago, anthropologists unearthed the oldest fossils of an ancient human across the country. However, back then, they didn’t know they’re onto something big. Only now the researchers determined they uncovered the 115,000-years-old remnants of a Neanderthal child eaten by a giant bird.
The fossils of the ancient human unearthed by researchers belonged to a Neanderthal child of between 5 and 7 years of age, and the remnants were two of his tiny phalanges.
As reported by the Polish Science, the anthropologists discovered that the bones were human after they examined the fossils earlier this year. The results were confirmed by Erik Trinkaus from Washington University in St. Louis and Anita Szczepanek from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, both anthropologists.
One of the most intriguing parts of the discovery was that the fossils of the Neanderthal child presented some small holes, something like a porous surface, a feature that shouldn’t have been there.
Scientists Uncovered A Neanderthal Child Eaten By A Giant Bird
Further examination of the remnants revealed that the bones must have passed through the digestive system of a giant bird to obtain the porous appearance the anthropologists observed. At least, that’s the opinion of Pawel Valde-Nowak, a professor at the Jagiellonian University’s Institute of Archeology and one of the authors of the study.
He further said that this is “the first such known example from the Ice Age.”
The scientists, however, came up with two hypothesis. The first one says that the giant bird attacked and ate some parts of the Neanderthal child while he was still alive, while the second theory tells that the mysterious flying creature consumed some body parts of the ancient human kid after he died.
However, the anthropologists have no clue on what kind of ancient giant bird could’ve eaten up a Neanderthal child.
Vadim is a passionate writer on various topics but especially on stuff related to health, technology, and science. Therefore, for Great Lakes Ledger, Vadim will cover health and Sci&Tech news.
0 comments