A skull discovered in Ethiopia could fill the gap in the search for the origins of the human race. Scientists say it could be the missing link between the extinct Homo erectus and modern man.

The skull is estimated to be 200,000 to 500,000 years old.

Homo erectus, which many believe was an ancestor of modern Homo sapiens, is thought to have died out 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

The cranium dates to a time about which little is known - the transition from African Homo erectus to modern humans. The fossil record from Africa for this period is sparse and most of the specimens poorly dated, project archaeologists said.