In Spain’s “pit of the bones” lies proof that euthanasia may not be a natural, human, act: the deformed skull of a child who was cared for many years.
Doctors today encourage moms to terminate their pregnancies once the disease that afflicted “Cranium 14″ is detected.
They pieced together a 530,000-year-old fossil cranium and discovered it belonged to a child who lived to between five and 12 years old despite being born with a rare birth defect known as craniosynostosis, in which the skull segments close too early, producing facial deformities and interfering with brain development.
via Early humans ‘did not kill deformed offspring’ – Telegraph.
A bit more about the site where the skull was found:
Cranium 14 was discovered in the famous archeological site of Atapuerca. Scattered throughout several caves in the area are the bones and tools of the earliest humans found in Europe. Sima de los Huesos (the pit of the bones) contains the most interesting findings. This site is located at the bottom of a 13-metre (50-foot) deep chimney which has to be accessed by scrambling through caves. It contains thousands of bone fragments belonging to 28 people of both sexes.
