Two million-year-old fossil babies unearthed

PARIS, Dec 17: On a sheet of white paper, researchers displayed a few tiny brown teeth and two doll-sized forearm bones: the youngest human fossils ever found. They came from two children, under three years old when they died, who lived two million years ago, the researchers revealed on Tuesday.

“The fossil babies are the youngest known representatives of their species, the flat-faced ape man, and are the precursors to modern man,” said Dr Andre Keyser of the University of Witwatersand in Johannesburg, announcing the discovery by French and South African researchers.

Keyser said the fossil babies are extremely rare; only a handful exist in the world and none of those were under six years of age. The finds include a jaw with several baby teeth, one permanent molar, a frontal bone and two tiny forearm bones. The university co-sponsored the dig with France’s Natural History Museum and National Centre for Scientific Research.