Scientists find fossil of 3.3 million year old girl

A 3.3-million-year-old skeleton of a young child curled into a ball no bigger than a cantaloupe -- a unique fossil described as ``a bright beam of light'' on human evolution -- was unveiled Wednesday by paleontologists working in the sun-baked badlands of Ethiopia.

The tiny bundle of bones may be the best fossil yet found of the primitive human ancestor Australopithecus afarensis. That is the same species as the superstar fossil dubbed Lucy, an adult female discovered nearby in 1974.

The skeleton, described in the British scientific journal Nature and National Geographic magazine, represents the first juvenile remains of these ancient humanlike creatures, making the fossil the oldest child by far ever found.

Researchers estimate the child may have been 3 years old.