Face of first European as fragments of 35,000-year-old skull are made flesh
Monday 4 May 2009
Source: Daily Mail.
- The first modern European: Forensic artist Richard Neave reconstructed the face based on skull fragments from 35,000 years ago.
This is the face of the first early European human which has been painstakingly constructed by scientists from bone fragments.
The man or woman — it is still not possible to determine the sex — lived 35,000 years ago in the Carpathian Mountains that today are part of Romania.
Their face was rebuilt in clay based on an incomplete skull and jawbone discovered in a cave where bears hibernated.
Forensic artist Richard Neave made the model based on his measurements of the pieces of bone and his knowledge of how facial tissues sit on the skull.
It was created for TV show The Incredible Human Journey about the origins of the human race and evolution, which will be screened on BBC next Sunday.
The farmers who brought agriculture to central Europe about 7,500 years ago did not contribute heavily to the genetic makeup of modern Europeans, according to the first detailed analysis of ancient DNA extracted from skeletons of early European farmers. Alternatively, a different population may have replaced the early farmers in Central Europe.
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