World's oldest twins found in Stone Age grave

The world's oldest pair of identical twins have been discovered in a grave in Europe, a new study has found.

The grave, near Krems on the Danube in Austria, was discovered in 2005.

Dating back 31,000 years to the Palaeolithic Era, the Stone Age grave held the remains of three infants.

According to a study published last week in the Communications Biology journal, two of the babies were identical twins.

One is believed to have died shortly after childbirth, while the other lived for about six to seven weeks.

The third infant is believed to be their cousin.

The  Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OAW) said in a statement the twins were both boys, and their grave had been protected by a mammoth's shoulder-blade.

They were buried with goods including ivory beads and mollusc shells. Red ochre was also found in the grave.

Ron Pinhasi from the University of Vienna said it was the "first genetically verified and earliest proof of twin birth".