560,000-year old adult tooth found in France: report
Xinhua, July 28, 2015 Adjust font size:
An adult tooth dating back 560,000 years, the oldest human remains in Europe, was found in Tautavel, southwestern France last week , local newspaper reported on Tuesday.
On Thursday last week, a 16-year-old volunteer archaeologist has found the tooth in Caune de l'Arago cave, home of The European Centre for Prehistoric Research (CERP), which has been excavated for about 50 years, the daily Le Figaro reported.
"A large adult tooth -- we can't say if it was from a male or female -- was found during excavations of soil we know to be between 550,000 and 580,000 years old, because we used different dating methods," said Amelie Viallet , a paleontologist.
"This is a major discovery because we have very few human fossils from this period in Europe," she said.
More than 140 skeletal remains of "Tautavel Man" dating back 450,000 years, had already been discovered in the site, the report added. Endit