Discovery & Weird News

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Rare bone tool artefact revealed

Discovery on the Murray gives insight into ancient Australia.

Analysis of a crafted bone point unearthed on Ngarrindjeri country in South Australia is shedding new light on the behaviour and tool use of First Nations Australians, according to a new paper published in the journal Australian Archaeology.

The point was crafted out of kangaroo or wallaby bone and later discarded or lost in the sediment for thousands of years until it was painstakingly excavated in 2008 by Dr Chris Wilson – a Ngarrindjeri archaeologist from Flinders University – and his team.

The paper’s authors, from Flinders and Griffith universities, believe the point – which was radiocarbon dated to between 5300 and 3800 years old – was likely used to pierce soft materials, like cloaks made of possum fur, or was perhaps hafted onto a projectile for use in hunting.

The find is particularly unusual because Australia’s archaeology is dominated by stone tools and shell middens found on the surface, rather than vulnerable bones buried deep in the ground.

“Even one find of this kind provides us with opportunities to understand the use of bone technologies in the region and how such artefacts were adapted to a riverine environment,” says Wilson.

Despite the underrepresentation of bone tools in Australian archaeology, there is a rich and deep record of their use by First Nations peoples. The oldest known bone artefact in Australia is a stunning 46,000 years old, found at Carpenters Gap in Western Australia, while ethnographic accounts from Yaraldi/Ngarrindjeri descendants in South Australia point to bone tool use just a few generations ago.

The new research is part of a broad, ongoing project headed up by Wilson – with the support of the Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporation – that seeks to uncover the rich archaeology of Ngarrindjeri lands.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/rare-bone-tool-artefact-revealed/

 

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Skull of dinosaur called 'one who causes fear' found in Patagonia

Scientists in southern Argentina have found the skull of a large meat-eating dinosaur named "one who causes fear" in the local Mapuche language.

The horned Llukalkan aliocranianus was around 5 metres (16 feet) long and roamed South America 85 million years ago.

Researchers found remains nearby of another carnivorous dinosaur, something they said was highly unusual.

The findings from Patagonia were published on Tuesday.

Like the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Llukalkan dinosaur was two-legged with very short arms but was medium-sized compared to the giant T. rex.

It also had short horns and tiny fingers. It was estimated to weigh between one and five tonnes, slightly lighter than an adult African elephant.

It was probably a fearsome predator, with a large skull and a strong bite, according to the research published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

FULL REPORT

 

[Stan]

An article about dinosaurs but all I see is a picture of @Bluewolf?

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'Lost golden city' found in Egypt reveals lives of ancient pharaohs

The discovery of a 3,000-year-old city that was lost to the sands of Egypt has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds since Tutankhamun's tomb.

Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the "lost golden city" near Luxor on Thursday.

He said the find was the largest ancient city, known as Aten, ever uncovered in Egypt.

It was unearthed within weeks of the excavation starting in September 2020.

The city dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, who ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC.

The city continued to be used by pharaohs Ay and Tutankhamun, whose nearly intact tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

FULL REPORT

 

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Monkeydactyl: the new dinosaur with the oldest opposable thumbs

Newly discovered flying pterosaur found to have the oldest truly opposable thumbs.

Life reconstruction of K. antipollicatus. The opposed pollex could have been used for grasping food items, as well as clinging and hanging to trees.
Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

It flew through the skies on metre-wide wings, but this newly discovered, 160-million-year-old pterosaur shared an unexpected evolutionary quirk with primates: opposable thumbs.

Dubbed ‘Monkeydactyl’, the dinosaur Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, described in the journal Current Biology by an international team of researchers, was found in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, north-eastern China. The Tiaojishan Formation is a fossil bed that spans 2,420 metres of pyroclastic deposits and sediment, known for its richly preserved fossils from the late Jurassic.

FULL REPORT

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by CaaC (John)

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Remains of nine Neanderthals found in a cave south of Rome

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Italian archaeologists have unearthed the bones of nine Neanderthals who were allegedly hunted and mauled by hyenas in their den about 100km south-east of Rome.

Scientists from the Archaeological Superintendency of Latina and the University of Tor Vergata in Rome said the remains belong to seven adult males and one female, while another are those of a young boy.

Experts believe the individuals lived in different time periods. Some bones could be as old as 50,000 to 68,000 years, whereas the most ancient remains are believed to be 100,000 years old.

The Neanderthal remains, which include skullcaps and broken jawbones, were found in the Guattari cave, which had already gained notoriety for the presence of fossils of these distant human cousins, which were found by chance in 1939. Since then, no further human remains had been uncovered in Guattari.

“It is a spectacular find,” said Mario Rolfo, professor of archaeology at Rome’s Tor Vergata University. “A collapse, perhaps caused by an earthquake, sealed this cave for more than 60,000 years, thereby preserving the remains left inside for tens of thousands of years.”

Researchers found traces of vegetables alongside human remains and those of rhinoceroses, giant deer, wild horses and, of course, ferocious hyenas.

According to the researchers, most of the Neanderthals had been killed by hyenas and then dragged back to the cave they had transformed into their den. Once inside, the animals consumed their prey.

“Neanderthals were prey for these animals,” said Rolfo. “Hyenas hunted them, especially the most vulnerable, like sick or elderly individuals.”

Even before these ferocious predators took possession of the cave, experts do not exclude the possibility that Neanderthals had at one time made it their home.

Rolfo has announced that his team of researchers now intends to analyse the DNA of these individuals to understand their ways of life and history.

A preliminary analysis of dental tartar has revealed that their diet was varied. They consumed primarily cereals, which contributed to the growth of their brains.

“It is an extraordinary discovery that the whole world will talk about,” said Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini. “These findings will help to enrich studies on Neanderthals.”

Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia, from the Atlantic coast to the Ural mountains, from about 400,000 years ago until a little after 40,000 years ago, disappearing after our species established itself in the region. Last year, remains and tools found in Bulgaria, revealed that modern humans and Neanderthals were present at the same time in Europe for several thousand years, giving them ample time for biological and cultural interaction.

Often portrayed as the simple, stocky relatives of modern humans, Neanderthals had, in fact, similar brains and developed a rich culture. Beyond their complex stone tools and painted jewellery, the Neanderthals used to adorn caves in art, leaving hand stencils behind for modern humans to ponder long after they died out.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/remains-of-nine-neanderthals-found-in-cave-south-of-rome/ar-BB1gvt3S?li=AAnZ9Ug

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by CaaC (John)

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Solving one of Viking Age Britain’s greatest mysteries

Archaeologists have determined that a treasure cache, discovered by metal detectorists in Scotland seven years ago, is the richest and most complex Viking era hoard ever found in Britain.

The finding comes after three and a half years of detailed scientific analysis and sheds unprecedented new light on the geopolitical and religious realities of early medieval times.

Most of the major silver and gold items from the hoard will be on public display for the first time at the National Museum of Scotland from this Saturday.

Originally the treasure, unearthed in the Glenkens area of Galloway, south-west Scotland, was thought to be a Viking hoard, buried by pagan Viking warlords – but the emerging evidence is now beginning to suggest that it was, instead, probably an Anglo-Saxon hoard buried by Christian monks or priests.

FULL REPORT

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by CaaC (John)

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Prehistoric animal carvings found for the first time in Scotland

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Prehistoric carvings of animals have been discovered for the first time in Scotland

Thought to be up to 5,000 years old, dating to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, they depict two male red deer with fully grown antlers, while other carvings are suggestive of younger deer, said Historic Environment Scotland (HES).

The pictures were discovered by chance in an ancient burial site at Dunchraigaig Cairn, Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, by Hamish Fenton, who has a background in archaeology.

The images are the earliest known animal carvings in Scotland, and the first clear examples of deer carvings from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age in the whole of the UK, said HES.

Kilmartin Glen is known for its high concentration of ancient remains from the period, including some of the clearest cup and ring markings.

It is also the first time that animal carvings dating from this period have been discovered in an area with cup and ring markings in the UK, said HES.

Deer would have been a valuable source of bones, meat and hides, with their antlers used to craft a variety of tools.

Dr Tertia Barnett, the principal investigator for Scotland’s Rock Art Project at HES, said: “It was previously thought that prehistoric animal carvings of this date didn’t exist in Scotland, although they are known in parts of Europe so it is very exciting that they have now been discovered here for the first time in the historic Kilmartin Glen.

“This extremely rare discovery completely changes the assumption that prehistoric rock art in Britain was mainly geometric and non-figurative.

“It is remarkable that these carvings in Dunchraigaig Cairn show such great anatomical detail and there is no doubt about which animal species they represent.

“This also tells us that the local communities were carving animals as well as cup and ring motifs which is in keeping with what we know of other Neolithic and Bronze Age societies, particularly in Scandinavia and Iberia.

“This incredible discovery in Dunchraigaig Cairn makes us wonder if other animal carvings previously unknown to the UK are hidden in unexpected places in our ancient landscapes, waiting to be uncovered in the future.”

Mr Fenton said: “I was passing Dunchraigaig Cairn at dusk when I noticed the burial chamber in the side of the cairn and decided to slide inside with my torch.

“As I shone the torch around, I noticed a pattern on the underside of the roof slab which didn’t appear to be natural markings in the rock.

“As I shone the light around further, I could see that I was looking at a deer stag upside down, and as I continued looking around, more animals appeared on the rock.

“This was a completely amazing and unexpected find and, to me, discoveries like this are the real treasure of archaeology, helping to reshape our understanding of the past.”

There are more than 3,000 prehistoric carved rocks in Scotland, the vast majority of which are abstract markings of a central cup mark surrounded by concentric rings.

“While many of these mysterious carvings can still be seen in the open landscape today, we know little about how they were used, or what purpose they served”, said HES.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/scienceandtechnology/prehistoric-animal-carvings-found-for-first-time-in-scotland/ar-AAKyQgX?li=AAnZ9Ug

 

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The hidden worlds beneath the UK’s feet

If you live in one of the UK’s major towns or cities, you’ll probably be aware of the world beneath the soles of your shoes.

Train networks, car parks, shopping centres - many of them have been built below ground in recent years, but our history is packed with fascinating stories of subterranean curiosities, both natural and made by human hand. It’s a world of tunnels, treasures, underground rivers and even the occasional ghost story. They are parts of the UK we don’t always see - unless we dig a little deeper.

• A subterranean ‘city’ to shelter from the Blitz
• The secret river which name Belfast
• The Welsh tunnel which saved Leonardo
• The spookiest place in Scotland

 

 

 

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New species of ancient giant rhino

26 million-year-old fossil reveals new species from northern China

The giant rhino was one of the largest land animals to exist, but its evolutionary history in Asia has been a mystery – except now, scientists have found a new ancient species.

A team of researchers, led by Tao Deng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have recovered the remains of a previously undiscovered species and dubbed it Paraceratherium linxiaense, filling in gaps in our understanding.

“Since the 1980s, our team has been searching for mammalian fossils from the Linxia Basin in Gansu Province, in north-western China,” says Deng. “We found very abundant and complete specimens of various late Cenozoic mammalian groups, but only found rare giant rhino fossils in isolated or fragmentary situations.

“Since May 2015, the complete skull and mandible with the associated atlas, and an axis and two thoracic vertebrae of another individual, were discovered from the late Oligocene deposits near the village of Wangjiachuan in Dongxiang County.”

The rhino had a slender skull with a short nose trunk and long neck and had a deeper nasal cavity than other giant rhinos.

“When the specimens appeared, their huge size and completeness was a great surprise for us,” says Deng. “When I and my team began to think it was a new species, our first reaction was to establish its phylogenetic position in the giant rhino lineage.”

After analysis, the team placed the new rhino species on a phylogenetic tree with other giant rhinos, including the giant rhinos of Pakistan. Potentially, the rhinos travelled through the Tibetan region before it became elevated and hard to traverse, as it is today. After that, they may have continued their journey down to the Indian-Pakistani subcontinent during the Oligocene epoch.

“The giant rhino genus Paraceratherium was widely distributed, but many records comprise only fragmentary specimens,” says Deng. His team’s phylogenetic analysis places P. linxiaense as a derived giant rhino, nested within the monophyletic clade of the Oligocene Asian Paraceratherium.

“The extremely specialised nasal notch is unique to the giant rhino.”

The study was published in Communications Biology.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/new-species-of-ancient-giant-rhino/

 

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A new type of ancient human discovered in Israel

Researchers working in Israel have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human that lived alongside our species more than 100,000 years ago.

They believe that the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the "last survivors" of a very ancient human group.

The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Details have been published in the journal Science.

FULL REPORT

 

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Ancient viruses found in Tibetan glacier

Scientists uncover unknown viruses trapped in 15,000-year-old ice.

It sounds like the opening scene of an apocalyptic movie: scientists drilling ice cores from an ancient glacier uncover archaic, previously unknown viruses. But that’s exactly what a team of scientists from Ohio State University (OSU) has achieved by sampling 15,000-year-old ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau in China.

What they found, as reported this week in a study in Microbiome, was a hotbed of unusual and unknown viruses. It’s research that will help uncover the history of viruses – most easily done by accessing ancient, perfectly preserved pathogens – which is a core part of understanding how viruses evolve and change.

“These glaciers were formed gradually and, along with dust and gases, many, many viruses were also deposited in that ice,” says Zhi-Ping Zhong, lead author of the study and a researcher at OSU’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, US.

“The glaciers in western China are not well studied, and our goal is to use this information to reflect past environments. And viruses are a part of those environments.”

The researchers analysed ice cores taken in 1992 and 2015 from the Guliya ice cap in Tibet. According to the authors, the cores contained layers of ice that accumulated year by year, creating a ‘readable’ timeline that allowed them to pinpoint the antiquity of the viruses and other microbes found within.

In order to access the ‘clean’ ice inside the cores – which would have been contaminated with modern-day microbes at the time of removal – the team, led by Zhong, scraped away the exterior with a sterile bandsaw, rinsing the core with 95% ethanol to remove another five millimetres from the surface, and finally washing a final five millimetres away with sterile water. This painstaking method ensured that the inner ice studied was a pristine sample.

Of the viruses found locked within the ice and frozen in time, only four were known to science, with at least 28 new genera. Further, it was found that at least half of the viruses had survived because they were frozen, meaning they were well adapted to extreme environments.

“These viruses have signatures of genes that help them infect cells in cold environments – just surreal genetic signatures for how a virus is able to survive in extreme conditions,” says Matthew Sullivan, co-author of the study and a professor of microbiology at OSU.

Sullivan says the innovative method that Zhong developed to decontaminate the cores and study the microbes within could help scientists searching for the genetic signatures of microbial life in other extreme environments, such as the Atacama Desert or even on Mars.

The discovery of new, ancient viruses will help scientists piece together the history of viral evolution, which has typically been difficult to unravel because viruses don’t share a universal gene.

Lonnie Thompson, the senior author of the study, says the study of viruses in glaciers is relatively new, but it’s an area of science that will need greater focus as the climate warms.

“We know very little about viruses and microbes in these extreme environments, and what is actually there,” he says. “The documentation and understanding of that is extremely important: How do bacteria and viruses respond to climate change? What happens when we go from an ice age to a warm period like we’re in now?”

The ability of glacier ice to perfectly preserve these specimens raises alarming questions about the potential exposure of the viruses as the ice caps melt. The authors note that as glaciers globally are shrinking under the pressure of anthropogenic climate change, ice melt will begin to release new viruses into their surroundings.

Already, there have been cases of pathogens causing havoc after being released from permafrost – in 2016, for example, a Siberian boy died after being exposed to anthrax that had been housed in the carcass of a deer frozen in permafrost for 75 years.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/biology/ancient-viruses-found-in-tibetan-glacier/

 

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How a 310-million-year-old brain works

A well-preserved horseshoe-stone crab brain fills gaps in evolutionary knowledge.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/310-million-year-old-crab-brain/

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How new X-ray scanning technology is revealing the secret lives of ancient animals

Palaeontologists using synchrotron X-ray scanning are calling it 'the superhero of visualisation'.

Long perceived as the study of a bunch of irrelevant dead things, we are now seeing a radical transformation in palaeontology, the science of extinct life.

But the use of statistical methods to analyse big data, and the routine CT scanning of fossils to reveal their minute microstructures, have opened up entirely new fields of research, including how mammals became the warm-blooded milk-givers of the modern world.

Thanks to new technologies and big-data processing, knowledge of extinct life has exploded from the boundaries to which pen, paper and a keen eye had previously confined it. They reveal the origins of animals that define our planet, providing results used in everything from medicine to conservation and climate change mitigation.

Many of these methods are being deployed on fossils from the UK – such as the ones I work on from the Isle of Skye – contributing to wholesale revisions in our understanding of the evolution of major living groups, including our own lineage.

Using X-ray CT scanning (computed tomography) is a ubiquitous part of modern palaeontology. This is especially true for vertebrate animals, but it can be used for the study of invertebrates, plants and the rocks themselves.

Manual thin-sections are a long-established analytical tool in science, generated by slicing materials so finely that light can be passed through them. The advantage CT provides is a chance to observe the structure of fossils without damaging them.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/how-new-x-ray-scanning-technology-is-revealing-the-secret-lives-of-ancient-animals/

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by CaaC (John)
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New species of ancient four-legged whale discovered in Egypt

Scientists in Egypt have identified a new species of four-legged whale that lived around 43 million years ago.

The fossil of the amphibious Phiomicetus anubis was originally discovered in Egypt's Western Desert.

Its skull resembles that of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian jackal-headed god of the dead after which it was named.

The ancestors of modern whales developed from deer-like mammals that lived on land over the course of 10 million years.

Weighing an estimated 600kg and three metres (10ft) in length, the Phiomicetus anubis had strong jaws to catch prey, according to the study published by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Wednesday. The whale was able to walk on land and swim in water.

 

The partial skeleton was found in Egypt's Fayum Depression and analysed by scientists at Mansoura University. Although the area is now desert, it was once covered by sea and is a rich source of fossils.

"Phiomicetus anubis is a key new whale species, and a critical discovery for Egyptian and African palaeontology," the study's lead author, Abdullah Gohar, told Reuters news agency.

While this is not the first time the fossil of a whale with legs has been found, the Phiomicetus anubis is believed to be the earliest type of semi-aquatic whale to be discovered in Africa.

The first whales are thought to have first evolved in South Asia around 50 million years ago. In 2011, a team of palaeontologists in Peru discovered a 43-million-year-old whale fossil with four legs, webbed feet and hooves.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58340807

 

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Huge new fossil species uncovered in Canada

Half-billion-year-old critter belonged to an extinct group of animals.

Palaeontologists have dug up a brand new animal species from the Cambrian era, more than 500 million years ago. Remarkably, Titanokorys gainesi was about half a metre long – which is giant compared to most of the other, pinky-finger-sized species alive at the time.

“The sheer size of this animal is absolutely mind-boggling,” says Jean-Bernard Caron, from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada. “This is one of the biggest animals from the Cambrian period ever found.”

The Cambrian period spanned from around 541 to 485 million years ago. It was a critical time in the evolution of life on Earth because it marked a massive explosion in diversity, with most of the major groups of animals we know today emerging, from arthropods and molluscs to echinoderms and chordates (us).          

This new fossil, Titanokorys, belongs to a group of very early arthropods called radiodonts. It had compound eyes, a tooth-lined mouth, “flaps” for swimming, and spiny claws to capture prey.

According to co-author Joe Moysiuk from ROM and the University of Toronto, the species also had “an incredibly long head covered by a three-part carapace that took on myriad shapes. The head is so long relative to the body that these animals are really little more than swimming heads.”

A carapace is a hard shell – think of a tortoise, crab or lobster. Why some radiodonts developed a huge array of types of carapaces isn’t yet well-understood.

Since the carapace of Titanokorys was broad and flattened, palaeontologists think the creature lived on the seafloor.

“These enigmatic animals certainly had a big impact on Cambrian seafloor ecosystems,” says Caron. “Their limbs at the front looked like multiple stacked rakes and would have been very efficient at bringing anything they captured in their tiny spines towards the mouth.”

Radiodonts include some of the earliest large predators on Earth. One of the most famous representatives of the group is Anomalocaris (“abnormal shrimp”), an apex predator which would have dwarfed Titanokorys at nearly one metre in length. A fossil site at Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island in Australia has previously revealed excellent examples of this animal, including evidence for very early compound eyes.

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Read more: Qingjiang fossil site rivals Burgess Shale

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These new fossils of Titanokorys were discovered in the Burgess Shale formation in northern Kootenay National Park, in the Canadian Rockies. Palaeontologists have previously found another interesting species here: Cambroraster falcatus, named after the Millenium Falcon.

The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

This video shows a Cambroraster falcatus and then the even larger Titanokorys gainesi swimming along. Credit: Animation by Lars Fields, © Royal Ontario Museum

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/huge-new-fossil-species-titanokorys-uncovered-in-canada/

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by CaaC (John)
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Junior fossil hunters discover extinct giant penguin

A fossilised penguin found in New Zealand may have been 1.4 metres tall.

Back in 2006, children from the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club went on a fossil-hunting field trip and stBumbled across the bones of a giant fossil penguin. Little did they know that those bones belonged to an entirely new species.

Extinct giant penguin fossil was a new species

The fossilised penguin had to be cut out of the rock where it was found in Kawhia Harbour, in New Zealand (Aotearoa). It was dated to between 27–36.6 million years old, from a time when the region was underwater.

Now, researchers from Massey University in NZ have identified the bones as belonging to a 1.4-metre tall penguin – a new species.

“The penguin is similar to the Kairuku giant penguins first described from Otago but has much longer legs, which the researchers used to name the penguin waewaeroa – Te reo Māori for ‘long legs’,” says Daniel Thomas, senior author of the study, which was published in The Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.

“These longer legs would have made the penguin much taller than other Kairuku while it was walking on land, perhaps around 1.4 metres tall, and may have influenced how fast it could swim or how deep it could dive.”

Thomas says that it has been “a real privilege” to contribute to the study of this penguin.

“Kairuku waewaeroa is emblematic for so many reasons. The fossil penguin reminds us that we share Zealandia (ancient Aotearoa) with incredible animal lineages that reach deep into time, and this sharing gives us an important guardianship role. The way the fossil penguin was discovered, by children out discovering nature, reminds us of the importance of encouraging future generations to become kaitiaki [guardians].”

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Read more: Clues to the evolution of modern penguins

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The discovery also shows the power of citizen science and curiosity.

“It was a rare privilege for the kids in our club to have the opportunity to discover and rescue this enormous fossil penguin,” says Mike Safey, President of the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club.

“We always encourage young people to explore and enjoy the great outdoors. There’s plenty of cool stuff out there just waiting to be discovered.”

The junior naturalists thrilled their find was a new species

The new research is especially impactful to the kids who found the bones back in 2006.

Steffan Safey, who was there for both the discovery and rescue missions, adds: “It’s sort of surreal to know that a discovery we made as kids so many years ago is contributing to academia today. And it’s a new species, even!

“The existence of giant penguins in New Zealand is scarcely known, so it’s really great to know that the community is continuing to study and learn more about them. Clearly the day spent cutting it out of the sandstone was well spent!”

Another one of the other junior naturalists – Esther Dale – went on to become a plant ecologist in Switzerland.

“I’m excited to see what we can learn from it about the evolution of penguins and life in New Zealand,” she says.

“It was definitely one of those slightly surreal things to look back on – absolute bucket list moment for me,” says another former junior naturalist, Alwyn Dale.

“[It’s] a real testament to all the parents and volunteers who gave their time and resources to make unique and formative memories for the club members.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/junior-fossil-hunters-discover-extinct-giant-penguin/

 

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25-million-year-old eagle fossil adds new branch to family

“Exquisite” fossil, found in the desert, is previously unknown to science.

Artists impression. Credit Jacob Blokland

 

Palaeontologists have uncovered the fossilised bones of a 25-million-year-old eagle. It’s a previously unknown species – and one of the oldest eagles in the world.

“This species was slightly smaller and leaner than the wedge-tailed eagle, but it’s the largest eagle known from this time period in Australia,” says Ellen Mather, a PhD candidate at Flinders University and first author on a paper describing the fossil, published in Historical Biology.

“I have studied this system for many years now, and this is the most exquisite fossil we have found to date,” says Trevor Worthy, associate professor of palaeontology at Flinders and co-author on the paper. The partial skeleton has 63 bones.

“With eagles at the top of the food chain, they are always few in number – and so are infrequently preserved as fossils,” adds Worthy.

“It’s rare to find even one bone from a fossil eagle. To have most of the skeleton is pretty exciting, especially considering how old it is.”

The eagle has been named Archaehierax sylvestris, which translates from ancient Greek as “ancient hawk of the forest”.

“The foot span was nearly 15 cm long, which would have allowed it to grasp large prey,” says Mather.

“The largest marsupial predators at the time were about the size of a small dog or large cat, so Archaehierax was certainly ruling the roost.”

The researchers found the eagle bones on the shores of Lake Pinpa, in northwestern South Australia. Lake Pinpa has previously been the site of other 25-million-year-old fossil discoveries, like giant wombats.

During this time period – the late Ogliocene – the local environment would have been a verdant forest. Mather says that the bones of the eagle reflect this.

“The fossil bones reveal that the wings of Archaehierax […] were short for its size, much like species of forest-dwelling eagles today. Its legs, in contrast, were relatively long and would have given it considerable reach.”

The shorter wingspan means that the bird was less likely to collide with trees and branches mid-flight.

“The combination of these traits suggest Archaehierax was an agile – but not particularly fast – flier and was most likely an ambush hunter,” says Mather.

While fearsome, the ancient eagle is likely a distant relative of living eagle species.

“The completeness of the Archaehierax skeleton allowed us to determine where it fits on the eagle family tree. It shows a range of features unlike any seen among modern hawks and eagles,” says Mather.

“It’s unlikely to be a direct ancestor to any species alive today.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/news/25-million-year-old-eagle-fossil-adds-new-branch-to-family/

 

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New species of dinosaur unearthed by Isle of Wight fossil hunters

The discovery of two new species of dinosaur, which likely roamed the south of England 125 million years ago, has shed new light on the predators.

Palaeontologists have described one of the carnivorous reptiles as a " hell heron", comparing its hunting style to a fearsome version of the bird.

The remains of the three-toed dinosaurs were found on an Isle of Wight beach.

They belonged to the spinosaurid group and are thought to have been 9m (29ft) in length with 1m-long (3ft) skulls.

The collection of about 50 bones took several years to unearth.

The first specimen - named Ceratosuchops inferodios - has been labelled a " horned crocodile-faced hell heron".

With low horns and bumps around the brow region, the name also refers to the predator's heron-like hunting style.

The second has been called Riparovenator mineral, which translates as " Milner's riverbank hunter", in honour of British palaeontologist Angela Milner, who died recently.

Fossil collectors initially found parts of two skulls before a team from the island's Dinosaur Isle Museum uncovered a large section of a tail.

It comes after the last spinosaurid skeleton, which belonged to Baryonyx, was discovered in a quarry in Surrey in 1983. Only single bones and isolated teeth had been found since.

PhD student Chris Barker, author of the University of Southampton study, said: " We found the skulls to differ not only from Baryonyx but also from one another, suggesting the UK housed a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought."

Co-author Darren Naish, an expert in British theropod dinosaurs, said: " We' ve known for a couple of decades now that Baryonyx-like dinosaurs awaited discovery on the Isle of Wight, but finding the remains of two such animals in close succession was a huge surprise."

The study also suggested how spinosaurids might have first evolved in Europe, before dispersing into Asia, Africa and South America.

The collection of about 50 bones will go on display at the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown.

Curator Dr Martin Munt said the finds cemented the Isle of Wight's status as one of the top locations for dinosaurs remains in Europe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-58728161

 

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Stoke Mandeville: Roman sculptures HS2 find astounding, expert says

Archaeologists have uncovered an "astounding" set of Roman sculptures on the HS2 rail link route.

Two complete sculptures of what appear to be a man and a woman, plus the head of a child, were found at an abandoned medieval church in Buckinghamshire.

The discoveries at the old St Mary's Church in Stoke Mandeville have been sent for specialist analysis.

Dr Rachel Wood, lead archaeologist for HS2 contractor Fusion JV, said they were "really rare finds in the UK".

"To find one stone head or one set of shoulders would be really astonishing, but we have two complete heads and shoulders as well as a third head as well," said Dr Wood.

"They're even more significant to us archaeologically, because they've actually helped change our understanding of the site here before the medieval church was built."

A hexagonal glass Roman jug was also uncovered with large pieces still intact, despite being in the ground for what is thought to be more than 1,000 years.

A vessel on display in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is the only known comparable item.

Dr Wood added: "They are so significant and so remarkable that we would certainly hope that they will end up on display for the local community to see."

Archaeologists have been working on the site and about 3,000 bodies have been removed from the church, which dates back to 1080, and will be reburied elsewhere.

Since work began in 2018, the well-preserved walls and structural features of the church have been revealed, along with unusual stone carvings and medieval graffiti including markings believed to be sun dials or witching marks.

It is believed that the location was used as a Roman mausoleum before the Norman church was built.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-59077550

 

 

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Remarkably intact Mayan canoe discovered in deep sinkhole

Railway construction uncovers the canoe five metres underwater in a Yucatán cenote. 

Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved Mayan canoe in the depths of one of the Yucatán Peninsula’s many cenotes – sinkholes and vast underground pools formed by the collapse of the region’s limestone bedrock.

The canoe, measuring 1.6 metres by 80 centimetres, was found as part of an archaeological exploration of a site called San Andrés, near Chichen Itza, in preparation for the construction of the controversial Maya train line.

“While we were taking a break for decompression in the cenote, I noticed that five metres below the current water level, there was a dark imprint on the stone wall,” explains Helena Barba Meinecke, head of the INAH’s underwater archaeology unit.

It’s one of the most intact examples of a canoe of its kind ever discovered, according to the researchers.

“The relevance lies in the fact that it is the first canoe of this type that is complete and so well preserved in the Maya area,” they write in an INAH press release.

The canoe, which is estimated to date to between 830 CE to 950 CE, will undergo analysis to tease out its mysterious life history, but the researchers suspect the boat may have been used for ritual purposes, such as making offerings to the gods. Alternatively, it may have been used to gather water from the freshwater cenote.

This priceless vessel isn’t the only treasure to emerge from the dim depths of the San Andrés site’s cenote landscape, with other recent finds including skeletal remains, a mural on the walls of a cavern, broken pottery fragments and a ritual knife.

For this reason, the researchers believe the area was spiritually significant – a place the Maya came to commune with the spirits and conduct ceremony.

World Heritage–listed Chichen Itza was a vast, ancient city complex, a monumental Mayan site where culture thrived for 1000 years around the city’s iconic step pyramids. The city had deep ties to the surrounding cenote landscape, on which it depended for water – it was built close to two major cenotes, and the city’s name means ‘at the edge of the well of the Itzaes’.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/civilisations/mayan-canoe-discovered-in-deep-sinkhole/

 

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Cave stalagmites show that flooding destroyed Liangzhu City

How an ancient Chinese culture met its end.

The Liangzhu excavation site, on the Yangtze River Delta, southwest of Shanghai in China, is home to the remains of a 5,300-year-old civilisation. Liangzhu City was once an advanced culture, with hydraulic infrastructure including dams, reservoirs and canals. Despite not having metals, the Neolithic people of Liangzhu operated a complex water system that allowed agriculture to flourish.

There is still much to learn about Liangzhu, which was only declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. It was inhabited for 1,000 years, but it’s still not entirely clear what caused the city’s downfall, which was thought to be abrupt.

“A thin layer of clay was found on the preserved ruins, which points to a possible connection between the demise of the advanced civilisation and floods of the Yangtze River or floods from the East China Sea. No evidence could be found for human causes such as warlike conflicts,” says geologist Christoph Spötl, from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

“However, no clear conclusions on the cause were possible from the mud layer itself.”

But Spötl, along with Chinese, Austrian and US colleagues, have found more evidence to support this conclusion. They’ve spotted geological indicators in nearby caves that suggest that the city’s decline coincided with unusually wet weather conditions.

A paper describing their research is published in Science Advances.

“These caves have been well explored for years. They are located in the same area affected by the Southeast Asian monsoon as the Yangtze Delta, and their stalagmites provide a precise insight into the time of the collapse of the Liangzhu culture, which, according to archaeological findings, happened about 4,300 years ago,” Spötl explains.

Moisture affects stalagmite growth, so determining the age of specific parts of the stalagmites can help researchers to figure out wetter and drier periods in the caves’ history.

The researchers used carbon isotope analyses on the stalagmites to determine humidity levels when they were formed, and uranium-thorium dating to find their age. Uranium-thorium dating can determine a rock’s age to around a 30-year window.

“This is amazingly precise in light of the temporal dimension,” says Spötl.

The researchers found that between 4,345 and 4,324 years ago, there was a period of extremely high precipitation. This coincides with the decline of Liangzhu.

“The massive monsoon rains probably led to such severe flooding of the Yangtze and its branches that even the sophisticated dams and canals could no longer withstand these masses of water, destroying Liangzhu City and forcing people to flee,” says Spötl.

The researchers determined that the humid conditions persisted for another 300 years after these proposed floods.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/civilisations/liangzhu-city-flooding-stalagmites-caves/

 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by CaaC (John)
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Australian archaeologists discover ancient Arabian highways

Satellite studies reveal sophistication of the Bronze-Age inhabitants of the Middle East.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Western Australia has discovered a network of ancient super-highways – long-distance corridors linking oases and pastures – built by the Bronze-Age inhabitants of north-west Arabia.

“Funerary avenues were the major highway networks of their day, and show that the populations living in the Arabian Peninsula 4,500 years ago were far more socially and economically connected to one another than we previously thought,” says Matthew Dalton, lead author of the study and an archaeologist from UWA’s School of Humanities.

The research, published in the journal Holocene in December, involved taking satellite images of these avenues, which scar the countryside across an area of 160,000 square kilometres. The authors found more than 11,000 of the 17,800 “pendant” tombs found in the region were placed on these causeways, and that the highest concentration of funerary monuments on the avenues were located near permanent water sources.

Based on the locations and pathways of the ancient highways, the team think populations used them to travel long distances between major oases like Khaybar, Al-Ula and Tayma. Lesser avenues also trail into the surrounding landscapes, which the team thinks hints at herds of domestic animals being moved to nearby pastures with the swell and flow of seasons and drought.

“These oases, especially Khaybar, exhibit some of the densest concentrations of funerary monuments known worldwide,” says Dalton.

“The sheer number of Bronze-Age tombs built around them suggests that populations had already begun to settle more permanently in these favourable locations at this time.”

Hugh Thomas, director of the project, says the study is part of a swathe of information revolutionising traditional understandings of Bronze-Age Arabia.

“The papers published in 2021 have helped demonstrate that in ancient times Al-Ula and Khaybar were characterised by a rich and dynamic occupational landscape,” Thomas says.

“The archaeological finds coming out of these regions have the potential to profoundly change our understanding of the early history of the Middle East.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/arabian-ancient-highways/

 

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60 million icefish nests found in Antarctica

Massive fish breeding colony discovered in the chilly Weddell Sea.

2000 kilometres south of the southernmost tip of Antarctica lies the Weddell Sea. These cold, iceberg-filled waters are home to krill, Emperor Penguins – and a massive breeding colony of icefish.

Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, have just discovered 60 million active fish nests across 240 square kilometres of the Weddell Sea. This is the largest fish breeding colony yet discovered, and appears to be a globally unique ecosystem.

“A few dozen nests have been observed elsewhere in the Antarctic, but this find is orders of magnitude larger,” says deep-sea biologist Autun Purser, lead author of the paper published in Current Biology.

“The idea that such a huge breeding area of icefish in the Weddell Sea was previously undiscovered is totally fascinating.”

Known as Jonah’s icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah), these fish are found exclusively in the Southern Ocean and live between 20 and 900 metres below the surface, preying on other fish and krill.

Research vessel RV Polarstern. Credit: AWI – Tim Kavelage

The vast breeding colony was discovered while Purser and colleagues were surveying the Filchner ice shelf in the German research vessel, Polarstern. They were towing a camera “sled” called the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS), designed to survey the seafloor of extreme environments.

“Basically this is a large, towed device, weighing one ton, which we tow behind the icebreaker RV Polarstern at a speed of one to four kilometres per hour,” Purser explains. “We tow this at a height of about 1.5 to 2.5 metres above the seafloor, recording videos and acoustic bathymetry data.”

The team knew that this area of the seafloor has an upwelling of warm water so they thought they might see something interesting, but they certainly weren’t prepared to see thousands upon thousands of fish nests.

That, Purser says, came as a “total surprise”.

“After the spectacular discovery of the many fish nests, we thought about a strategy on board to find out how large the breeding area was – there was literally no end in sight,” he adds.

The team decided to tow the camera a little higher off the sea bed and increase their towing speed, allowing them to survey an area of 45,600 square metres.

In the photo and video footage, they directly observed more than 16,000 nests, each about 75 centimetres in diameter and 15 centimetres deep. Most of the nests they found were guarded by a single adult fish, protecting (on average) more than 1700 eggs.

The consistent density – about 0.26 nests per square metre – allowed the team to estimate that approximately 60 million nests span across 240 square kilometres.

“Numerous degraded fish carcasses within and near the nesting colony suggest that, in death as well as life, these fish provide input for local food webs and influence local biogeochemical processes,” Purser and colleagues write in their paper.

In fact, they suspect Weddell seals may take advantage of this colony.

“A great many Weddell seals spend much of their time in close proximity to the fish nests,” Purser says. “We know this from historical tracking data and fresh tracking data from our cruise. The nests are exactly where the warmer water is upwelling.

“These facts may be coincidence, and more work is needed, but the recorded seal data show seals do indeed dive to the depths of the fish nests, so may well be dining on these fish.”

When they left, the research team deployed two camera systems to monitor the nests, taking several photographs each day to track what the fish are up to.

Purser and colleagues plan to return in April 2022 to survey other areas of the Weddell Sea.

In the meantime, they say that this colony highlights the need for the area to be protected.

“We believe our discovery provides support for endeavours to protect the Weddell Sea from anthropogenic impacts by establishing a regional marine protected area,” they conclude.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/marine-life/60-million-icefish-nests-found-in-antarctica/