FOSSIL REMAINS FOUND
There can have been only one topic of conversation in Froghill’s homes, pubs and workplaces this week. And there can have been only one question in everyone's minds: will the recently discovered 'Froghill Man' prove to be the elusive missing link between apes and humans?
The excitement started last Saturday, when members of an amateur archaeology team uncovered a little more than the arrowheads they had come looking for. The team, from Birmingham’s Aston University, was digging for Iron Age artifacts at the base of Traubert’s Hill, when one of their members came across what looked like a human tooth.
Said team leader Chas Dawson:
“Suddenly a shout went up, and we all ran over to see what had happened. Peter Teilhard, one of our group, had been working in a small copse about 50 yards from the rest of us. He had unearthed what was unquestionably a human tooth. So we all joined him and started digging in the same spot, thinking perhaps that we might have stumbled upon the burial place of a murder victim.”
What they found was to prove more sensational than any mere murder, however. For another half an hour’s digging brought to light the complete skull and jawbone of an early hominid.
“I’m no expert,” continued Dawson, “but, to my knowledge, our find represents a previously undocumented stage in human evolution. The skull looks remarkably similar to that of Homo Sapiens, but the jawbone more closely resembles that of a Borneo ape. There are groove marks on his teeth which are particularly intriguing, as if he were accustomed to chewing sharp stones or pieces of metal.”
The remains have been sent to the Geological Society of London for further examination. In the meantime, we wait, with bated breath, to learn whether the ancestors of modern man might have lived - and died - in Froghill.
No Comments for this post yet...