Rhine River 5 million years older

Evidence from fossils suggests the Rhine, one of Europe's major rivers, is 5 million years older than previously believed, German researchers say. "Up to now it has been assumed that the Proto-Rhine is around 10 million years old," said Madelaine Bohme at the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology at the University of Tubingen. "But based on our examination of fossils from a site near Sprendlingen we now believe that the river is at least 5 million years older," Bohme said in a release from the center Wednesday. The age of the sands in the area, which contain numerous fossils, has often been the subject of scientific debate, she said. "For this reason we examined a new sample with over 300 mammalian fossils, leaves and fossilized wood," she said. "In the process we found the teeth and bones of different deer species that lived in Central Europe at the beginning of the Middle Miocene -- in other words, in the period between 14 and 16 million years ago." Because the findings were made in the oldest known deposits of the Rhine, she said, the river must be at least 5 million years older. "The results of the examinations of fossil plant residues that were found above and below the mammalian sites reinforce our conclusions" about the river's age, she said.