Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) lived in Eurasia from about 300,000 to about 35,000 years ago and are modern humans' closest extinct relatives. Hide Caption 4 of 50 
 
 Photos: Ancient finds Kebara 2 is the most complete Neanderthal fossil recovered to date. Researchers have been studying Ciemna Cave for decades, and while they found the child's bones (as well as a few ancient animal bones) there a few years ago, it wasn't until 2018 that a new analysis revealed that these bones belonged to a Neanderthal. Either way, it appears that the child's phalanges (finger bones) passed "through the digestive system of a large bird," Paweł Valde-Nowak, a professor of archaeology at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, said in a statement. Hide Caption 30 of 50 
 
 Photos: Ancient finds These perforated shells were found in Spain's Cueva de los Aviones sea cave and date to between 115,000 and 120,000 years ago. Hide Caption 38 of 50 
 
 Photos: Ancient finds An artist's reconstruction shows Macrauchenia patachonica, which roamed South America thousands of years ago. Hide Caption 40 of 50 
 
 Photos: Ancient finds The oldest fossil remains of Homo sapiens, dating back 300,000 years, were found at a site in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. "Only single fragments of fossil bones belonging to relatives of modern man (Homo sapiens) have survived to our times in Poland." "This is a unique discovery" - emphasises the scientist.
– Two tiny finger bones found in a cave in Poland tell a pretty grim story: Sometime about 115,000 years ago, a "large bird" ate a Neanderthal child, Live Science reports. According to CNN, scientists determined the fate of the child based on the bones' porous surface, which, per researcher Pawel Valde-Nowak, resulted from the bones "passing through the digestive system of a large bird." What isn't known is whether the bird killed and ate the child, thought to be 5 to 7 years old, or if the child was already dead and the bird was a scavenger. Either way, Valde-Nowak says in a statement, "This is the first known example from the Ice Age." Because of the poor condition of the bones, DNA analysis is not an option, according to reports. Nonetheless, the bones, discovered in Ciemna Cave, are an important find in Poland, as they are the oldest human remains unearthed in the country. Previously, the oldest human remains found in Poland were three Neanderthal molars dated to be about 52,000 years old. The finger bones, which measure just a centimeter in length, were found among animal bones a few years ago about 9 feet below the cave's current surface, per CNN. It wasn't until the bones were analyzed this year that researchers realized they were from a human. (Read how a bit of cave dirt has changed archaeology.)