Category: Palaeontology
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Iron Age treasure hoard found in Anglesey | HeritageDaily
An Iron Age hoard of gold coins found in Anglesey has been declared treasure by the HM Senior Coroner for North West Wales. The hoard was found near the village of Llangoed, located on the island of Anglesey in north-west Wales. Upon determining the significance of the find, detectorists, Peter Cockton, Lloyd Roberts and Tim…
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Key role of ice age cycles in early human interbreeding — ScienceDaily
A study published in Science indicates that climatic shifts over the past 400,000 years have influenced Neanderthal and Denisovan interbreeding. Recent paleogenomic research revealed that interbreeding was common among early human species. However, little was known about when, where, and how often this hominin interbreeding took place. Using paleoanthropological evidence, genetic data, and supercomputer simulations…
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China’s oldest water pipes were a communal effort — ScienceDaily
A system of ancient ceramic water pipes, the oldest ever unearthed in China, shows that neolithic people were capable of complex engineering feats without the need for a centralised state authority, finds a new study by UCL researchers. In a study published in Nature Water, the archaeological team describe a network of ceramic water pipes…
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Elephant ancestors´ teeth evolved in response to long term changes in diet and climate in Africa — ScienceDaily
A new study shows that the cheek teeth of proboscideans (elephants and their ancient relatives) evolved in response to dietary changes due to vegetation changes and climate change in East Africa during the last 26 million years. The latest study about of proboscideans (elephants and their ancient relatives) from the University of Helsinki provides proof…
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Archaeologists uncover the material culture of slavery on São Tomé island | HeritageDaily
Archaeologists conducting excavations at a 16th century sugar plantation estate on São Tomé island have uncovered the material culture of slavery. São Tomé is an island located in the Central African country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for “Saint Thomas and Prince”, having first been settled by the Portuguese following the…
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127 Million Years Old – First Side-Necked Turtle Ever Discovered in UK
An amateur fossil collector discovered the first side-necked turtle fossil in the UK on the Isle of Wight, dated to 127 million years ago. Using new radiometric dating and CT scanning techniques, researchers from the University of Portsmouth confirmed its age and examined its internal structure. The accompanying image depicts a Hilaire’s side-neck turtle. An…
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Fluctuating climate and dietary innovation drove ratcheted evolution of proboscidean dental traits
Environmental change drove behavioural exploration of diet To determine the pattern and causality of these changes (Figs. 1–4 and Extended Data Figs. 2–10), we compared trends in proboscidean dental traits (Figs. 3 and 4, Extended Data Figs. 6 and 7 and Supplementary Information Section 2) with a metric (dental mesowear angles16) that can be used…
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Mesophotic foraminiferal-algal nodules play a role in the Red Sea carbonate budget
The NEOM mesophotic foraminiferal-algal nodules The examined nodules (n = 42 alive, n = 3 dead, Supplementary Table 2) are complex macroids, each supports at least one colony of the zooxanthellate hard coral genus Leptoseris (Fig. 3a, b). Thin living CCA crusts occur at the surface together with encrusting foraminifers, small azooxanthellate corals (e.g., Polycyathus), bryozoans, annelids, endolithic mollusks and brachiopods…
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Archaeologists uncover Olmec ceremonial centre | HeritageDaily
Archaeologists excavating in the Juan N. Méndez Municipality, located in the in the Mexican state of Puebla, have uncovered an Olmec ceremonial centre and evidence of a possible pyramid. The Olmec are the earliest known Mesoamerican civilisation (also referred to as the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica). The name ‘Olmec’ comes from the Nahuatl word: Ōlmēcatl…
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The Ma’nene Ceremony | HeritageDaily
In the Tana Torajan Tribal culture on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, death is not the end for some, but part of a journey that is shared with direct family members. When a person dies, relatives mourn the passing by treating the body as a living entity. They believe that by keeping the deceased…