Working with Philippa Langley, of the Richard III Society, a University of Leicester team uncovered a skeleton in September 2012 and its identity was confirmed earlier this month.

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It was here he and his team unearthed the most complete skeleton of Australopithecus ever found.

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"That's Uhlaender, " says Joy Bryant, a skeleton teammate who, like everyone else on the national team, refers to her by her last name.

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So the team set about seeing if they could extract viable DNA from the skeleton, and they succeeded.

CNN: February 4, 2013 -- Updated 1805 GMT (0205 HKT)