Million-year-old camel bone unearthed in Syria

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Archaeologists have unearthed a camel jawbone in Syria that might belong to an undiscovered tiny species of the desert-cruising animal and - at a million years old - be the oldest camel remains ever found. The jawbone was uncovered last month near the village of Khowm in the Palmyra region, about 150 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Damascus, said Heba al-Sakhel, one of the leaders of the team of Syrian and Swiss archaeologists. Last year, the same mission discovered the bones of a giant camel in Syria dating back 100,000 years. That animal, dubbed the "Syrian Camel" by its discoverers, stood between three and four meters tall - about twice the size of latter-day camels and the height at the shoulder of many African elephants. The new find, along with the remains of the giant camel, could offer important clues about the animal's evolution, the researchers said.