Oldest Human Hair Discovered In Fossilized Poop

goran72 writes "A new study has suggested that strands discovered in fossil hyena poop found in a South African cave could be the oldest-known human hairs. According to a report in National Geographic News, researchers discovered the rock-hard hyena dung near the Sterkfontein caves, where many early human ancestor fossils have been found."

Re:Could be?

[Dr. Hellno]

the article is actually pretty careful about not asserting this as fact. The article only asserts that hairs were found with "wavy bands of scales" which suggest modern primates. Human hairs closest resemble these hairs, so it's possible that they come from an early human species.

Re:Could be?

[jd]

It was discovered not long ago that hair itself contains cells, not just the follicles, and that the hair protects those cells against damage. This has been a massive boon to archaeological DNA studies, as it massively reduces contamination as well as reducing loss of information.

The discovery was made during studies of the hair of woolly mammoth [sciencedaily.com]. It's a fascinating line of research and one that is under-utilized at present