????Archeologists
have unearthed a giant animal fossil in central China's Henan
Province, which proved that prehistoric people might have taken
the elephant meat as their food.
????The fossil was excavated in early March in Houzhai town of
Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province.
????Experts believed that the fossil could
date back to over 10,000 years ago and was the leg of an ancient
elephant.
????After making a careful study of the
fossil, an archeologist by the name of Li Zhanyang said that
the leg has been completely petrified. But the weathering
condition of the surface of the fossil showed that the elephant
was not buried immediately after death.
????Archeologists also found scrapes made
by stone knives on the surface of the joint of the leg and
13-14 parallel cuts on one of the bone scraps.
????Li concluded that the scrapes and cuts
are the most direct proof that the prehistoric people cooked
and ate the elephant. It is also the first time that signs
of prehistoric people's activities were found on the outskirts
of Zhengzhou.
????(Xinhua 03/29/2001)
