Mladeč

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mladeč (German: Lautsch) is a village 20 km NW of Olomouc in central Moravia, Czech Republic. The Mladeč caves are located near Mladeč.

Mladeč is an archaeological site with the oldest directly dated remains of modern human in Europe. These remains are about 31.000 years old.

The Mladeč bones are not the oldest human remains found in Europe—just the oldest bones that indicate a human settlement, or community. Two human cranial fragments, found at the site of Pestera cu Oase in Romania, are believed to be older than the Mladeč remains and date back 35,000 radiocarbon years.

The Mladeč remains are a complete assemblage of early modern human fossils. The site contains remains of at least half a dozen individuals, including children. Some skulls show both "modern" and Neandertal features, which is evidence of hybridization.

[edit] References

Eva M. Wild, Maria Teschler-Nicola, Walter Kutschera, Peter Steier, Erik Trinkaus & Wolfgang Wanek (19 May 2005) Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč, Nature 435:332–335. link for Nature subscribers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050520091948.htm