KRAKÓW, POLAND—Science in Poland reports that two tiny 100,000-year-old finger bones of a Neanderthal child were identified among a collection of animal bones unearthed in deep layers in Ciemna Cave, which is located in southern Poland. Paweł Valde-Nowak of Jagiellonian University and Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis said the poorly preserved finger bones belonged to a child who was probably between the ages of five and seven at the time of death. The porous surface of the bones suggest they may have passed through the digestive tract of a large bird. The only other known Neanderthal remains to have been found in Poland are three molars from Stajnia Cave, estimated to be about 50,000 years old. However, thousands of Neanderthal tools, dating back some 200,000 years, have been recovered from across southern Poland. For more on Neanderthals, go to “Early Man Cave.”
