Jul 27, 2006, 14:31 GMT
Athens - A five million-year-old skull of a 'monkey-like' animal has been discovered in northern Greece, reports said Thursday.
Photo showing the intact cranium (skull) of a Mesopithecus ('middle monkey') that was unearthed during a dig on the slopes of a pine-covered hill on the Kassandra peninsula in Chalkidiki, northern Greece, Tuesday 25 July 2006. Experts said that the cranium - which is equal in size with that of the extinct Homo Floresiensis 'Flores man' the smallest species of human ever discovered -- is a rare find dating back to 5-7 million years ago (Late Miocene to Late Pliocene geological era). EPA/GEORGE FOTIADIS
The remains of the Mesophithecus Pentelicus were unearthed at Kryopigi, on the Kessandra peninsula, by a team of the Thessaloniki Artistotelion University Geology Department.
Professor Evangelia Tsoukala was quoted as saying the skull was a rare find because it was intact, including the teeth.
The Mesopithecus belongs to the Cercopithecidae family of the primate order. The animals were normally three feet long with a tail.
Geologists have been searching for such fossils of the Tyrolian age since 1998, following a chance find of a fossilised tooth of a Hipparion, a prehistoric horse with three toes on each hoof.
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