Scientists have unearthed a jawbone from an ancient human ancestor in a cave in Serbia.

The jawbone, which may have come from an ancient Homo erectus or a primitive-looking Neanderthal precursor, is more than 397,000 years old, and possibly more than 525,000 years old. The fossil, described Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, is the oldest hominin fossil found in this region of Europe, and may change the view that Neanderthals, our closest extinct human relatives, evolved throughout Europe around that time.

Awesome! But, I wish they hadn't used the word human in the title. A lot of anti-evolution people will jump all over this, "See! Humans have been around forever! There is no evolution!"

I missed the part in the article where DNA analysis determined this to be a hominid bone. How do we know it's not from some other mammal? Too little scientific "meat" to even believe this story.

Always fascinating to see new discoveries, especially in anthropology since that field appears to be dying out in colleges and in general.