A team of researchers from Wits University has discovered the oldest fossilised human hair in hyaena faeces from Gladysvale cave in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Until now, the oldest known human hair was from a 9,000 year old South American mummy. The coprolite (fossil dung) is part of a hyaena latrine preserved in calcified cave sediment dated to between 195,000 and 257,000 years ago. 
In an article published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Lucinda Backwell, Robyn Pickering, Prof. Lee Berger and Prof. Mike Witcomb from Wits University and a team of specialists from the UK, explain why the fossil hair morphology is most like that of humans, making it the first non-bony material in the early hominid fossil record. This time period covers just before modern humans emerged, and overlaps with the existence and end of Homo heidelbergensis. The hairs could belong to either of them, or of course to someone not yet recognised.
Based on the size and general shape of the Gladysvale fossil latrine and the coprolites and the fact that they contain traces of hair, the team feels confident in ascribing the midden to brown hyaena, which make latrines in caves in the region today. In accordance with modern brown hyaena behaviour they surmise that the human was more likely scavenged than hunted. The discovery of these hairs supports the hypothesis that hyaenas accumulated some of the early hominid remains in cave sites in South Africa, and provides a new source of information on fossil mammals in the Sterkfontein Valley.
To read the paper as it was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science click here.
An article on the discovery was also published in The Star on Tuesday, 10 February 2009. Click here to read the article.