The hairs have been found in South Africa

Feb 11, 2009 09:36 GMT  ·  By

The Gladysvale cave, in South Africa, has been the spot of one of the most important archaeological finds made over the past few years, namely a block of human hair that has been discovered in dung remains originating from a prehistoric hyena, or whatever animal the hyena developed from. The hairs, about 40 of them, have been found to be human, following a careful Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) analysis. It's now estimated that the strands of hair are anywhere between 195,000 and 257,000 years old, and that they most likely came from the Homo heidelbergensis, or other hominid ancestors of our race.

Because the find has been made while searching through the fossilized feces (coprolites), the researchers assume that, back in the days, humans had to face carnivorous predators such as the hyena face-to-face, and the scientists say that they didn't always emerge victorious from the fight. There are, as of now, two explanations as to how the hairs got in the hyena in the first place – either it killed a man or woman and ate his or her body, or it feasted on the corpses of ancient men and women left out in the open following their deaths.

After it ate, the hyena withdrew to its cave, where it eliminated all the remains. Human hairs would usually not have survived for more than 200,000 years, as evidenced by the fact that the oldest remains of hair known until now are those of the Chinchorro mummy, a 9,000 year-old corpse found in Arica, northern Chile.

Because of the excellent conditions in the African cave, the hairs in the dung fossilized thoroughly. “It is the high calcium content in hyena coprolites, together with the calcium-rich drip from the cave roof, which facilitated the fossilization process at Gladysvale,” University of Witwatersrand paleontologist Lucinda Backwell, the leader of the new study, says.

“The hairs could belong to either of them or, of course, to someone not yet recognized,” she adds. The animal's digestive system altered its chemical composition, and the long years in which it remained buried destroyed the original DNA, so no sequencing has been possible. However, SEM scans have showed beyond a doubt that the hairs are indeed human, and that their former bearer suffered a cruel fate in the paws of the hyena.