
Homo Sapiens (Archaic) Baby Fossil of the Middle Pleistocene
Author(s) -
P. Rajendran,
Peter Koshy,
S. Sadasivan
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
ancient asia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2042-5937
DOI - 10.5334/aa.06102
Subject(s) - skull , homo sapiens , paleontology , context (archaeology) , anatomy , taphonomy , geology , pleistocene , biology , evolutionary biology , geography , archaeology
On 14th October 2001 a suspected fossil was discovered within theferricet at Oldai in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu in South India. In order to provethe existence of a faunal fossil with the ferricrete it was subjected to variousradiological methodology such as X-ray, Scanning 2D, 3D, and 3D software, and ScanningElectron Microscopy (SEM). X-ray had identified, for the first time, the presence of afaunal fossil within the ferricrete. Subsequently 2D scanning was applied, and coulddistinguish the human cranium within the ferricrete. Then with the 3D scanning hundredsof images were taken that identified it as a human baby skull. It was further scannedwith 3D software which identified three cervical vertebrae with the skull. Then SEM wasapplied to understand various characteristics of the skull in detail that recordedperfect nature of fossilized cranial bone structure, blood vessels, membranous tissues,brain tissues, RBC etc. It shows a peculiar type of preservation of the fossil withinthe ferricrete. In this context the absence of any micro organisms within the skull issignificant. In order to make one to one comparison a human foetus skull has beenexamined under SEM and proved beyond doubt that the entombed fossil is that of a humanchild