Axes show earlier proof of ancestors

Subject: Axes show earlier proof of ancestors Sun Feb 01, 2009 5:43 pm

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian archaeologists have announced the discovery of stone tools they believe are more than 1.8 million years old and the earliest evidence of human ancestors in South-East Asia.

The hand-axes were discovered last year at the historical site at Lenggong, in northern Perak state, embedded in a type of rock formed by meteorites, which was sent to a Japanese lab to be dated.

"We received news from Japan two weeks ago which said it is 1.83 million years old, so this find shows the existence of human beings there 1.83 million years ago," the leader of the archaeology team, Mokhtar Saidin, said.

"This is the earliest evidence of Paleolithic culture in the South-East Asian region."

Dr Mokhtar, from Malaysia's University of Science, said he believed the hand-axes were used by Homo erectus, an extinct early human.

He said the oldest Homo erectus fossil discovered in the region was from Java and dated at 1.7 million years old, but the two oldest were from Georgia (1.8 million years old) and China (1.7 to 1.8 million years).

He said the tool was older than the Georgian and Chinese fossils, and the team would look for the bones of the human who might have used it.

LNK

Axes show earlier proof of ancestors

Axes show earlier proof of ancestors

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