Japan's Most Ancient "Human Fossils" Are From A Bear: Researchers

What were once considered the oldest human fossils found in Japan, known as the "Ushikawa man," have been identified as the bones of a bear, researchers recently announced, Yu Kajiwara reported for Mainichi Japan.

The study revealed that the fossils matched the shape and curvature of a bear's radius (forearm) and femoral head. I Photo: University of Tokyo's University Museum

The fossilized bones were discovered in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, in 1957 and 1959 and were named after the surrounding Ushikawa district.

A team of researchers, including paleoanthropologist Gen Suwa, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo's University Museum, published their findings on Dec. 1 in a thesis titled "Pinpointing the Parts and Species Classification of the 'Ushikawa Man' and a Brief Review of Its Scientific History."

The fossils, originally thought to be the humerus and femoral head of a human from the Middle Pleistocene era (774,000 to 129,000 years ago), were reassessed using CT scans and comparisons with 24 bear bone samples (11 from brown bears and 13 from Asian black bears).

The study revealed that the fossils matched the shape and curvature of a bear's radius (forearm) and femoral head.

Further analysis determined that the bones were from a brown bear and dated to the Late Pleistocene era, approximately 20,000 years ago. Replicas of the fossils displayed at the Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History now include a note acknowledging the revised findings.