Archaeology

Credit: Image by DING Wenna The alpine biome harbors distinctive communities adapted to stressful environmental conditions. For plants, the world's most species-rich temperate alpine biota occurs in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP),…

Origins of the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge Most of the hulking sandstone boulders - called sarsens - that make up the United Kingdom's famous Stonehenge monument appear to share a common origin 25 kilometers away in West Woods,…

Results suggest similar decline may be happening across equivalent sitesCredit: Boethius et al (2020)--PLOS ONE, CC BY 4.0 Alarming results from a 2019 survey of well-known archaeological site Ageröd reveal drastic bone and organic…

Credit: Alida Bailleul A research team led by Dr. Alida Bailleul from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has put one controversy to rest: whether or not remnants…

Credit: Senckenberg Research Institute Paleontologists have described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology a large owl that killed medium-sized mammals with its feet and claws some 55 million years ago. "Today, owls kill with…

The animal was approximately 10 cm long and lived more than 130 million years ago in what is now the state of Minas Gerais. Its morphology differs from that of all other known lizard species.Credit: Jonathas Bittencourt Fossil remains…

While we all try to understand the new reality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many look to the past for historical precedents such as the Spanish flu of 1918 and the Black Plague of the 14th century. The first historically attested…

New paper squares economic choice with evolutionary survival If given the chance, a Kenyan herder is likely to keep a mix of goats and camels. It seems like an irrational economic choice because goats reproduce faster and thus offer higher…

Isotope analysis suggest clues to the manufacture and distribution of qerosCredit: Alyson Thibodeau (Carlisle, Pa.) - Researchers studying lead white pigments on Andean ceremonial drinking vessels known as qeros have found new…

From a historical perspective, the conversion of religiously and politically charged buildings such as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is no new phenomenon, branching back to antiquity. "The background and context of such transformations always…

Credit: The Swedish National Heritage Board Scientists have discovered extinct strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons - proving for the first time that the killer disease plagued humanity for at least 1400…

Stone tools move back the arrival of humans in America thousands of years Findings of stone tools move back the first immigration of humans to America at least 15,000 years. This is revealed in a new international study from the…

Ancient fox diets might be good indicators of human impact on past ecosystemsCredit: Baumann et al, 2020 (PLOS ONE, CC BY 4.0) The diets of ancient foxes were influenced by humans, and these small carnivores might be tracers of…

A cave in a remote part of Mexico was visited by humans around 30,000 years ago - 15,000 years earlier than people were previously thought to have reached the Americas. A cave in a remote part of Mexico was visited by humans around…

Credit: Photo: O. Lacarbonara Homo Neanderthaliensis did not become extinct because of changes in climate. At least, this did not happen to the several Neanderthals groups that lived in the western Mediterranean 42,000 years ago. A…

New method used in Bay Area excavation A new method for estimating the biological sex of human remains based on reading protein sequences rather than DNA has been used to study an archaeological site in Northern California. The…

Credit: Dr Martin Bates, UWTSD Thousands of years ago the UK was physically joined to the rest of Europe through an area known as Doggerland. However, a marine inundation took place during the mid-holocene, separating the…

Indigenous people remained in southeastern US for nearly 150 years, study showsCredit: WUSTL In American history, we learn that the arrival of Spanish explorers led by Hernando de Soto in the 1500s was a watershed moment resulting…

Local paleontologist and professor Dr. Julia McHugh authors new studyCredit: Brian Engh Top predators dinosaurs like the Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus devouring dinosaur remains isn't all that surprising, but the smaller creatures…

Chemical analysis reveals Egypt was a multi-cultural hub for centuriesCredit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0) The Hyksos, who ruled during the 15th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, were not foreign invaders, but a group who rose to…