Ice Age babies set to rewrite history books

Archaeologists in Austria have discovered the bodies of two Ice Age babies, estimated to be 27,000 years old. Buried in 18ft of earth, the preservation of the skeletons is said to be "near perfect". They were buried beneath the shoulder blade of a hairy mammoth on a hillside overlooking the Danube, in northern Austria, near Krems. It is the first time that a grave of babies from the Ice Age has been discovered, according to Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, the dig leader.

The site had previously been identified as a settlement for early man. The grave also contained a necklace made with 31 separate pieces of ivory from mammoth tusk.

The Viennese Institute for Natural Sciences will carbon-date the remains of the children to find out their exact age and how they died.

The perfectly preserved skeletons, measuring 15.8in, bore no signs of violence and there was speculation that the children died of a natural disease.

However, the care and attention taken over their burial indicates that they were the offspring of people of stature in their tribe.

Ms Neugebauer-Maresch said: "They may have been twins, but we have not yet been able to establish that. The bodies were buried high on a hillside.

"The site was well chosen and the artefacts interred with them indicate they were possibly the children of a chief or warriors.

"The act of placing a mammoth shoulder bone over them, as if to protect them in the afterlife, denotes great care and attention at their funeral."

The remains have already been classified as homo sapiens fossilis, who came out of Asia during the Ice Age as Neanderthal man was dying out and mastered stone and wood, but did not discover metal.