Tests find human skull age exceeds 10,000 years

A human skull found near China's border with Mongolia and Russia is more than 10,000 years old, researchers announced on Saturday.

A carbon-14 dating study on four skull samples discovered in the Jalainur district of Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region confirmed that the oldest dated to about 10,113 years ago. The other three were found to be 7,400 years, 1,600 years and 1,000 years old, Wu Xiaohong of Peking University's school of archaeology and museology, told a news conference in Beijing.

"These findings prove that humans had lived in the Jalainur area for 10,000 years," said Wu, a team member involved in the study. The study, which began in March, was conducted by researchers from Peking University and the archaeology school at Jilin University.