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A fragment of human jaw unearthed in a prehistoric cave in Torquay is the earliest evidence of modern humans in north-west Europe, scientists say. The tiny piece of upper jaw was excavated from Kents Cave on the town's border in the 1920s but its significance was not fully realised until scientists checked its age with advanced techniques that have only now become available. The fresh analysis at Oxford University dated the bone and three teeth to a period between 44,200 and 41,500 years ago, when a temporary warm spell lasting perhaps only a thousand years, made Britain habitable. The age...

An ultra modern search at Kents Cavern hopes to uncover clues missed by the Victorians. Two archaeologists are planning to excavate a small part of Kents Cavern, Torquay, to unravel their quest to see if modern man lived alongside Neanderthals... The dig is the first excavation at the cave in more than 80 years. A two metre by one metre trench is to be opened in the Great Chamber of the Cave, so named by Victorian archaeologist William Pengelly in the 1860s... They plan to use modern techniques of almost 150 years of improvements in archaeology to determine what conditions...

Delving deep into Britain's past By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News Neanderthals probably made this hand axe from Swanscombe in Kent Scientists are to begin work on the second phase of a project aimed at piecing together the history of human colonisation in Britain. Phase one of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project (AHOB) discovered people were here 200,000 years earlier than previously thought. Phase two has now secured funds to the tune of £1m and will run until 2010. Team members hope to find out more about Britain's earliest settlers and perhaps unearth their fossil remains. They...

Labour rebels claimed yesterday that up to 160 backbenchers will vote against Tony Blair if Britain launches an attack without a fresh UN security council resolution. Amid a growing belief that Robin Cook is planning to resign from the cabinet, a leading rebel predicted that the 122 Labour MPs who voted against the government last month would be joined by a further 40. MPs are expected to vote on Iraq, possibly as early as tomorrow, after the failure of Britain to secure a second resolution. Tony Lloyd, a former Foreign Office minister, told Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "I...