Tailor Made Holidays in Syria: In the News

The world's oldest camel: 15-09-2008

Travellers in African countries often look to experience camel rides while abroad, but few could imagine how much history is bouncing around between their knees while they are perched on the animals.

Scientists in Syria may have discovered a new species after finding what is believed to be the world's oldest camel remains.

The camel jawbone is thought to have belonged to a desert-dwelling animal around one million years ago.

It was found near the village of Khowm around 250km north-east of Damascus.

Jean-Marie Le Tensorer leads part of the Swiss/Syrian team of archaeologists working at the site and explained that it could play a key role in mapping the evolution of camels.

''Until now, the evolution of camels has been absolutely unknown in the world,'' he said.

''In central Syria, we have several sites with a long stratigraphic sequence about one million years. We can see the evolution of these animals.''

The news comes a year after archaeologists at the same site found the remains of a 100,000 year-old giant camel, believed to have been around twice the size of modern day beasts.