this guy 100,000.
China hails "greatest discovery since Peking Man"
Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:20am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - An almost complete human skull fossil that could
date back 100,000 years has been unearthed in China, state media said
on Wednesday, hailing it as the greatest discovery since Peking Man.
Last month's find in Xuchang, in the central province of Henan, was
made after two years of excavation just as two archaeologists were
leaving for the Lunar New Year break, the China Daily said.
"We expect more discoveries of importance," Li Zhanyang, archaeologist
with the Henan Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, was
quoted as saying.
The fossil consists of 16 pieces of the skull with protruding eyebrows
and a small forehead.
"More astonishing than the completeness of the skull is that it still
has a fossilized membrane on the inner side, so scientists can track
the nerves of the Paleolithic ancestors," Li was quoted as saying.
Besides the skull, more than 30,000 animal fossils, and stone and bone
artifacts were found.
"The pieces of the human skull showed up just when archaeologists were
going home for the Spring Festival," the newspaper said, referring to
the New Year holiday which officially begins next month.
Peking Man was discovered in the 1920s near Beijing and dates back
roughly to between 250,000 and 400,000 years.
Greatest Find
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