Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 7,200-year-old skeleton from a female hunter-gatherer in Indonesia that has a “distinct human lineage” never found anywhere in the world, according to research published this week.
The relatively intact fossil, which belonged to a teenager aged 17 or 18, was buried in the foetal position inside Leang Panninge, a limestone cave in South Sulawesi.
It was found among artefacts from the Toalean people, an early culture of hunter-gatherers in the region. The remains are the first known skeleton of a Toalean.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, was a collaboration between Indonesian and international researchers. Excavation began in 2015.
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