Gluing together the delicate fragments of a fossilised skull in South Africa – and trying hard not to sneeze – two Melbourne students were astonished at what they saw. Could it be a direct ancestor from two million years ago?
By Jane Cadzow
JUNE 20, 2020
By Jane Cadzow
JUNE 20, 2020
Jesse Martin wondered briefly whether he was up to the challenge. The table in front of him was covered in pieces of fossilised cranial bone. He knew they came from the skull of an ancient creature. But which ancient creature? That was the mystery he needed to solve. “There were more than a hundred tiny fragments, so it was quite hard to get a sense of what it could be,” he says. “The biggest part would have been no bigger than a 50-cent piece. The smallest part would be smaller than your little fingernail.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/indiana-bones-the-melbourne-archaeology-students-and-the-fossil-jigsaw-puzzle-that-wowed-the-world-20200514-p54t22.html
