Egypt announces discovery of 30,000 year-old skeleton

ABC ^ | MAY 8 2002 | ABC Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

Egypt announces discovery of 30,000 year-old skeleton

Wednesday, 8 May 2002


The skeleton of a human being who lived more than 30,000 years ago has been discovered in southern Egypt by Belgian archaeologists, an Egyptian official announced.


"Anthropologists have set his, or her, age to be between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago," Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said.


It was the oldest skeleton ever found in northern Africa, Mr Hawass said.


A team from the University of Leuven found the skeleton buried in a seated position facing east, with the head turned upward, the director of the council's excavation department, Attiya Radwan, said.


It was found in a mountain cavern in Dandara, 550 kilometres south of Cairo, along with shards of pottery from the same period, he said.


The pottery debris could be the oldest in the world after some found in China, going back 35,000 years, he said.

"The study of the skeleton will add a lot to our knowledge of human evolution in Egypt," he said, adding that the cavern where it was found could be an "archaeological treasure trove".

Archeologists at the University of Leuven could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

[Sawdring]

Did you see that show named "Eve" on TLC a couple of weeks ago? I thought it was interesting what scientists think of human evolution. They said it takes about 20,000 years for skin color to change to accomodate the amount of UV rays at a given latitude.

[Fifth Business]

Look for the movie next summer.

[Goldi-Lox]

Didn't James Michener write a book about this already? Took place in the city of UR...

The book: The Source

[Chu Gary]

Was there hieroglyphs in the burial tomb with the words "Death to the Satan US?"

[Charles Henrickson]

If it's a female skeleton, I wonder if Bubba will find it attractive.

("The Mummy Returns.")

[Doctor Stochastic]

They said it takes about 20,000 years for skin color to change to accomodate the amount of UV rays at a given latitude.

Is that with SPF 15 or SPF 20?

[SunkenCiv]

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