Kenya (AP) - French researchers unveiled yesterday what they believe is humanity's oldest known ancestor, more human-like than the remains known as Lucy and, at six millions years, nearly twice her age -- a finding bound to fuel controversy over human origins.

The team that unearthed the twelve bones and teeth in central Kenya late last year say the remains suggest that fossils such as those of Lucy, known scientifically as australopithecines, are not in the direct line of human ancestry.

The findings were presented at a news conference at the prestigious College de France, which funded the work. They are to be released later this month in Les Comptesrendus de l'Academie des Sciences, the publication of France's science academy. The Millennium Ancestor, as it is dubbed, will then be given a scientific name.

The group contends that the jaw, teeth, arm, hand and leg bones show their Millennium Ancestor is the earliest known bipedal, or upright, hominid -- and likely a direct precursor of humans. The previously oldest hominid remains are dated at 4.5 million years.

The researchers also say their fossils suggest that Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old hominid discovered in Ethiopia, is not a direct human ancestor -- as most researchers contend.

Scientists are comparing the Millennium Ancestor to Lucy because her remains are the most complete of what many paleoanthropologists believe is a likely human ancestor.

The more intersting news, and what the researchers fail to mention in the original article is what ELSE the scientists at the dig site found around the remains. The remains were found in a cave covered in non-sensical cave paintings. Positioned next to the bones were what many scientists called the world's first known pair of glasses, and what is also believed to be the world's first "Due Date" card. Created from nothing more than an uneven rock, the scientists discovered seven crude scratchings on the sides, what they believed to be the due date.

Scientists have no explanation for these items, which only lends credence to the idea of an actual Caveman Librarian.

Associated Press