Unique 20,000-year-old fossilized bones found in Japan

The 20,000-year-old bones known as "Ushikawa Man," previously thought to be among the oldest human fossils in Japan, have turned out to be the remains of a brown bear. The fossilized bones were found in the late 1950s in Toyohashi, about 225 kilometers from Tokyo.

University of Tokyo anthropologist Gen Suwa, who led the new study, noted that doubts about the nature of these fossils arose in the 1980s.This is reported by Live Science.

The study, published in the journal Anthropological Science, found that the fossilized fragments belong to a brown bear.

The fossils, found in the Ushikawa region during excavations in 1957-1959, were originally thought to be human bones - humerus and femur. But modern methods, including computed tomography, have shown that these were the forearm and femur bones of an ancient brown bear.

Gen Suwa explained that in the 1950s, Japanese paleontologists had a limited understanding of the appearance of bear bones because such finds were rare. However, they described in detail and collected a significant number of skeletal remains during excavations.

Previously, it was believed that the "Ushikawa man" could be a representative of one of the oldest groups of people who lived in Japan more than 20,000 years ago. But it turned out that the oldest human remains on the mainland were found near the city of Hamakita. They include bone fragments of two people who lived 14,000 and 17,000 years ago.

Read also: A unique treasure of 321 coins found in England (photo)

This is not the first case of confusion between human and animal remains. For example, in the 1990s, a bone found in a cave in Alaska was first identified as a bear's, but later turned out to be human - it belonged to an Indian woman who lived about 3,000 years ago.

In addition to the discovery of Ushikawa Man, scientists are investigating other interesting cases. For example, the mosasaur described in 2021 is suspected of having a "fake" origin. Some parts of its jaw, which date back to the period of 72-66 million years ago, have inconsistencies.

New methods, such as computed tomography, help scientists verify the authenticity of finds and debunk previous assumptions.

Earlier, amber dating back 90 million years was found in Antarctica.

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