English Tooth Chewed the Fat in 498000 BC
He is 6 feet tall, robust and loves nothing better than a juicy rhinoceros steak.
Oh, and he’s more than 500,000 years old.
Archeologists on Thursday displayed a prehistoric tooth they said comes from the imposing, carnivorous humans who roamed Britain half a million years ago.
They say the tooth, discovered Aug. 24 by an archeology student on a perfectly preserved prehistoric site near the village of Boxgrove, is the oldest human fossil found in Britain.
“It is vitally important to our understanding of the evolution of the human species,” Geoffrey Wainwright, chief archeologist of the historical society English Heritage, told a news conference.
Scientists had previously discovered a 500,000-year-old tibia at the same excavation site on a farm near Boxgrove, 65 miles southwest of London.
The earliest Englishman, or woman, is a latecomer by international standards. Remains of early humans found in Africa go back 2.5 million years.
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