 |
The oldest bones of a person with Down Syndrome They are 15,000 years old. Before this, the oldest bones were found in France. They were 1,500 years old. This shows that people with Down Syndrome This means they probably lived life included in their community. |
The earliest remains belonging to a person with Down Syndrome have been found, dating from 15,000 years ago.
The skeletal fragments were discovered by archeologists on the Indonesian island of Flores. The researchers had excavated the bones in October 2004, but a detailed reanalysis of the findings has shown that they probably belonged to a person with Down Syndrome.
This is not the first person with Down Syndrom whose remains were recently thoroughly analyzed s . An excavation in Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, northeastern France, in 1989, also brought to light a skeleton dated form 1,500 years ago. The bones belonged to a child aged 5 to 7, and are also the youngest remains of a person with Down Syndrom on record.
The Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes discovery is also important from an anthropological point of view. It shows that people with Down Syndrome were buried in the same way as all the others in the burial site, meaning they were most likely not out-casted and lived their lives included in their local communities.
Sources: Science Daily, Huffington Post
