Scientists have identified the oldest known human remains in northern Britain as those of a girl who lived about 11,000 years ago. The child, nicknamed the Ossick Lass, was between 2.5 and 3.5 years old when she died.
The remains were found in Heaning Wood Bone Cave near Great Urswick in Cumbria during excavations led by local archaeologist Martin Stables. An international team extracted DNA from the bones three years after the discovery, confirming the child was female and providing the clearest evidence yet of Mesolithic burials in the region.