"Remains dating back 11,000 years were found at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria's Great Urswick in 2023. Initially, scientists suggested the ancient remains belonged to a man. However, experts from the University of Lancashire have now managed to extract enough DNA from the bones to identify who they really belonged to. According to their analysis, they are actually of a female child, aged between 2.5 and 3.5-years-old."
"'It is the first time we have been able to be so specific about the age of a child whose remains are so old and be certain that they are from a female,' said Dr Rick Peterson, lead author of the study. While earlier human remains have been found in southern England and Wales, this marks the oldest discovery in Northern England."
"'It's nearly 10 years since I started the excavations in July 2016 and I couldn't have envisaged the journey I have undertaken,' Mr Stables said. 'Effectively, I was the first to bear witness to the obviously caring burial of someone's child that occurred over 11,000 years ago.' In total, eight humans have been found in the cave, with the others dated to the Bronze Age (4,500 to 2,500 years ago)."
Remains dating to about 11,000 years ago were recovered at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria's Great Urswick in 2023. DNA extracted from the bones identified the individual as a female child aged between roughly 2.5 and 3.5 years, nicknamed the 'Ossick Lass'. Excavations at the site since 2016 produced human and animal bones, stone tools, prehistoric pottery, and jewellery. Eight human individuals were uncovered overall, most dated to the Bronze Age or Neolithic periods, while the child predates the others and represents one of the earliest people to reoccupy Britain after the last Ice Age.
Read at Mail Online
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