The bone fragments were found in Polish cave and are believed to have belonged to a Neanderthal child who died 115,000 years ago.

They may be tiny, but these bone fragments tell quite a story.

Found in Jaskinia Ciemna, a cave in Ojcowski National Park, the 1cm bone fragments belonged to a young Neanderthal child who lived roughly 115,000 years ago.

The porous, dotted surface of the bones have led archaeologists to a grizzly explanation: they were eaten by an ancient creature.

And it wasn’t just any ancient creature, experts reckon it was a gigantic bird.

This revelation comes from a research project led by Professor Paweł Valde-Nowak from the Jagiellonian University of Kraków.

(PAP/Paweł Valde-Nowak)

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In a yarn for Polish science news site PAP, Valde-Nowak told Szymon Zdziebłowski he wasn’t quite sure how the youngster died.

It’s possible that a bird attacked and killed the child.

But it’s just as likely the bird was a scavenger and had only came across the Neanderthal’s body after they died.

The bones were too damaged to conduct any DNA testing, which only cements the theory that they were once ingested.

“The analysis shows that this is the result of the transition of both bones through the digestive system of a large bird,” Valde-Nowak said.

(Radio Krakow)

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According to a report from Aleksander Nowacki at The First News, the bones are the oldest hominid remains ever found in Poland.

“We can count the remnants of a Neanderthal from Poland on the fingers of one hand,” Valde-Nowak said.

The other bones were three molars dating between 52,000 and 54,000 years old.

The fingerbones were found several years ago, among other animal bones buried in the cave.

Valde-Nowak said he had “no doubts” the fingers belonged to a Neanderthal as they were found several metres below the current ground level among typical Neanderthal stone tools.