SCIENTISTS have announced that a bone found on a North-East beach was shown to belong to a prehistoric deer.
The discovery of the leg bone at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, earlier this month prompted pathologists to claim it had belonged to a large monkey or gorilla.
The announcement fuelled speculation that the bone may have come from a monkey said to have been sentenced to death in Hartlepool during the Napoleonic wars after locals thought it was a French spy.
However, experts from the University of Durham carried out tests showing it was a prehistoric deer bone.
Peter Rowe, from Tees Archaeology, said: "We think this discovery is at least as exciting as the monkey myth.
"The bone belongs to an animal that would have been here when the British Isles were joined to mainland Europe.
"It was much bigger than today's deer, probably six or seven feet tall."
The leg bone, thought to be at least 6,000 years old, will now go on display in The Curiosity Shop, in Hartlepool, from next month.
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