Neandertahl Man Walked by Loch Ness

Staggering new evidence of the presence of Neanderthal Man has been discovered by Loch Ness.

The bones of an adult male have been preserved for thousands of years in peat bogs located some 300m above Loch Ness. Dr. Arie Ziman of the California Institute of Pre-Historic Data Analysis told the Loch Ness Inquirer that he stumbled across the find after accidentally straying away from the Great Glen Walk.

"I was extremely tired and lost my way. I thought that I would perish with exhaustion but luckily I discovered a track leading through one of the area's many peat bogs.

The recent heavy rains had uncovered a number of bones, which I first took to be deer or sheep. But I collected them up and took them to my colleague, Professor Hasmin Agrean FH dip MU of the London Institute for Acute Studies. We were able to date them to the Neanderthal Period and, once cleaned up, there was no doubt that the bones belonged to a male of that period who would have been about 25 - 30 years old.

The find proves that peats around Loch Ness may be perfect for preserving remains. The acidity and texture of the peats, lack of 20th century pollution and scarcity of population are all helping to protect ancient artefacts.

A new Loch Ness project to uncover the secrets of the peat bogs will soon be launched - it is hoped that dinosaur bones may also be preserved deeper within the soil substrate.

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