Mungo Man challenges evolution theory

Scientists in Australia are challenging the prevalent theory that modern humans evolved solely from a common African ancestor.

Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have carried out DNA tests on a fossilised skeleton which they say is the oldest human genetic material ever found.

They say the skeleton -- nicknamed Mungo Man after the area Lake Mungo where it was found in New South Wales -- is sixty-thousand years old.

Their findings show that an anatomically modern group of Aboriginal people lived in Australia far earlier than had been believed.

The Mungo Man skeleton and DNA have no links to human ancestors of the waves of homo sapiens which moved from Africa to other parts of the world.

The researchers say that, if Mungo Man had African ancestors, it would have been revealed in its DNA.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service