New human species claim

MADRID - A group of Spanish scientists said yesterday they had discovered a new species of human beings in a 780,000-year-old…

MADRID - A group of Spanish scientists said yesterday they had discovered a new species of human beings in a 780,000-year-old fossil, possibly the oldest known European.

"We believe this is a new species that we have called Homo antecessor," Dr Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro of the Natural Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid said.

His team found the fossilised remains of a boy with a remarkably modern face in a cave in Spain's Atapuerca mountains.