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Article: Who cares? Oldest Europeans. (Homo heidelbergensis fossil found in West Sussex, England)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 21, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WITH a becoming lack of chauvinism, the British press is referring to him as the oldest European, not the oldest Englishman. But that does not stop them giving his height as six foot three inches, rather than 190cm, and devoting almost that length of newsprint to him. Had the ancient man in question been able to understand anything about the fuss that a fragment of his leg was causing (and who can know?) he would doubtless have been amazed at his fame.
The shin bone ludicrously hyped by English Heritage, the government agency that paid for its excavation, as "one of the most important archaeological finds in history", has been lying around for half a million years. ...