Archaeologists reconstruct an ancient Aryan bow
A unique compound bow from the Bronze Age nearly 2 meters tall was reconstructed from authentic materials by SUSU specialists as part of an international team. This weapon had the greatest accuracy, shooting distance and killing power in its time......»»
Fossil unearthed in New Zealand contains the largest fossil crab claw ever found
A pair of researchers, one a paleoecologist with Utrecht University, the other an independent ancient crab enthusiast, have identified the largest known crab fossil claw ever discovered. In their paper published in the journal New Zealand Journal of.....»»
Archaeologists unearth abandoned townsite at Washington on The Brazos
A short walk from the banks of the Brazos River in Washington County, members of a small crew dressed in sun hats and gardening gloves push buckets of mud through metal sieves, picking out nails, bits of glass and ceramic, and other traces of a log c.....»»
Mercury rising: Study sheds new light on ancient volcanoes" environmental impact
Massive volcanic events in Earth's history that released large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere frequently correlate with periods of severe environmental change and mass extinctions. A new method to estimate how much and how rapidly carbon was r.....»»
Scientists identify burned bodies using technique devised for extracting DNA from woolly mammoths, Neanderthals
A technique originally devised to extract DNA from woolly mammoths and other ancient archaeological specimens can be used to potentially identify badly burned human remains, according to a new study from Binghamton University, State University of New.....»»
Becoming human: An ancient genome perspective
Writing a commentary in the 50th anniversary issue of Cell, Fu Qiaomei and E. Andrew Bennett, both of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explored the contribution of paleogenomics.....»»
Findings in Australia unveil fossil trove of Cambrian mollusks
A team of researchers led by Alexander Pohle has unveiled a treasure trove of ancient fossils from Queensland, Australia's Black Mountain. The findings, published in PeerJ, shed new light on the complex three-dimensional siphuncle morphology of Plect.....»»
Seeing the wood for the trees: How archaeologists use hazelnuts to reconstruct ancient woodlands
If we could stand in a landscape that our Mesolithic ancestors called home, what would we see around us? Scientists have devised a method of analyzing preserved hazelnut shells to tell us whether the microhabitats around archaeological sites were hea.....»»
Change in gene code may explain how human ancestors lost tails
A genetic change in our ancient ancestors may partly explain why humans don't have tails like monkeys, finds a new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine......»»
Tsunami on the plains: Researchers find that sea waves once swept Canadian Prairie Provinces
Hundreds of millions of years ago, an earthquake sent a series of massive waves across the ancient sea that covered part of Western Canada and the northern United States......»»
New species of ancient vampire squid unearthed in Luxembourg
A trio of paleontologists in Germany has found a fossilized vampire squid that they dated to 183 million years ago. In their paper published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, Robert Weis, Ben Thuy and Dirk Fuchs describe where the fossil was fou.....»»
What ancient farmers can really teach us about adapting to climate change—and how political power influences outcomes
In dozens of archaeological discoveries around the world, from the once-successful reservoirs and canals of Angkor Wat in Cambodia to the deserted Viking colonies of Greenland, new evidence paints pictures of civilizations struggling with unforeseen.....»»
Ancient DNA reveals children with Down syndrome in past societies. What can their burials tell us about their lives?
After analyzing DNA from almost 10,000 people from ancient and pre-modern societies, our international team of researchers have discovered six cases of Down syndrome in past human populations......»»
Larger-than-expected prehistoric mammal species uncovered in Patagonia
A multi-institutional team of archaeologists and paleontologists has unearthed and identified a new species of mammal from the Maastrichtian age. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers note that the mammal was muc.....»»
Little groundwater recharge in ancient Mars aquifer, according to new models
Mars was once a wet world. The geological record of the Red Planet shows evidence for water flowing on the surface—from river deltas to valleys carved by massive flash floods......»»
Word inscribed on ancient bronze hand resembles modern Basque word
A team of archaeologists with the Aranzadi Science Society has found a word inscribed on an ancient Basque bronze hand that resembles a modern Basque word. Their paper is published in the journal Antiquity......»»
Utah"s Bonneville Salt Flats has long been in flux, new research finds
It has been long assumed that Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats was formed as its ancient namesake lake dried up 13,000 years ago. But new research from the University of Utah has gutted that narrative, determining these crusts did not form until several.....»»
"You can"t imagine the damage": Dam threatens historic Laos town
A short boat ride upstream from the ancient Laotian royal capital of Luang Prabang, a massive dam is under construction that critics say threatens the riverside town's allure and heritage status......»»
Old joke: Apes also like to tease, meaning trait could be ancient
A boisterous young chimpanzee slaps an adult in his family on the back, then scampers away and looks back to see the response to his cheekiness......»»
Stone Age "megastructure" under Baltic Sea sheds light on strategy used by Paleolithic hunters over 10,000 years ago
Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe's oldest human-made megastructure, submerged 21 meters below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. This structure—which has been named the Blinkerwall—is a continuous low wall made fr.....»»
AI will let us read "lost" ancient works in the library at Herculaneum for the first time
On 19 October 1752, a discovery was made 20 meters underneath the town of Resina, near Naples in Italy. Peasants digging wells in the area around Mount Vesuvius had struck marble statuary and mosaic pavements—and they also found lumps of carbon......»»