Discovery & Weird News

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48212442

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See the face of a man from the last gasps of the Roman Empire

Kristin Romey

3D-printed copy of the skull was used as the base of the facial reconstruction. Adelasius had unusually good teeth for the time.

Adelasius Ebalchus has a decidedly Latin name for a man who lived in Switzerland around 700 A.D., centuries after the western Roman Empire fell apart. That choice of name was deliberate, explains Mirjam Wullschleger of the Solothurn state archaeology department. It was at this time that Germanic peoples were moving into the Swiss Plateau in the country’s north, changing the language and culture of the remnant Roman empire to that of the German-speaking Alemanni tribe.

Adelasius’ name, and most of what we think we know about him, however, is speculation. His face was reconstructed from a skeleton discovered in 2014, recovered from one of 47 early medieval graves excavated ahead of building construction in the town of Grenchen in northern Switzerland. He was interred in a Roman-style burial, in a grave lined and covered with rocks and his feet pointing north.

© Photograph by Oscar Nilsson

Adelasius Ebalchus, who lived in northern Switzerland 1,300 years ago. He was in his late teens or early twenties when he died.

Based on his remains, researchers determined Adelasius was between 19 and 22 years old and about 5 feet, 6 inches tall. He suffered from chronic osteomyelitis, a bone infection, and vitamin deficiencies—the combination of which likely led to his early death. His rock-lined grave may indicate a higher social status than other people living in Grenchen at the time.

When Oscar Nilsson, an archaeological facial reconstructor, was commissioned to reconstruct the face of Adelasius Ebalchus, he was struck not only by the quality of the 3D-printed skull he had to work with, but also the state of his historical model’s dental work.

“I’ve never seen more even or perfect teeth,” says Nilsson, who has worked on facial reconstructions from remains going back to the Paleolithic. “It’s not the typical case for me. Quite often, I have to start reconstructing the teeth by looking at what’s around them.”

© Photograph courtesy Department of Archaeology of the Canton Solothurn, Switzerland

Adelasius was buried in a grave lined with rocks, which may indicate he was of high social status.

Nilsson knew that he wanted to highlight Adelasius’ teeth and decided that the reconstructed face would smile—a decision he doesn’t take lightly.

When doing facial reconstructions—especially for law enforcement work—it’s not advisable to give your subject a smile, says Nilsson. It distracts from the overall physical impact of the reconstruction, he explains, while creating “an unconscious assumption that it’s a happy person.”

“I don’t want to describe a personality I know nothing about,” he says. “At the same time, though, I need to create a face that gives the impression that this person was once alive and has a soul.”

Nilsson has worked on individuals from many regions and time periods, but early medieval Switzerland was a first for him. “It’s quite exciting and quite underexplored. I hope I can put some light into this period of history.”

Adelasius will be exhibited at Grenchen’s Kultur-Historischen Museum through early June, and then in November be put on permanent display at Solothurn’s state museum of archaeology in Olten.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/see-the-face-of-a-man-from-the-last-gasps-of-the-roman-empire/ar-AABrB0p?li=AAnZ9Ug

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Scientists unearth 'most bird-like' dinosaur ever found

© OLIVER RAUHUT, OLIVER RAUHUT The notches in the wing bones of the new specimen point to muscles which would have allowed it to actively flap its wings

Researchers in Germany have unearthed a new species of flying dinosaur that flapped its wings like a raven and could hold vital clues as to how modern-day birds evolved from their reptilian ancestors.

For more than a century and a half since its discovery in 1861, Archaeopteryx -- a small feathered dinosaur around the size of a crow that lived in marshland around 150 million years ago -- was widely considered to be the oldest flying bird.

Palaeontologists from Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich and the University of Fribourg examined rock formations in the German region of Bavaria, home to nearly all known Archaeopteryx specimens.

They came across a petrified wing, which the team initially assumed to be the same species. They soon found several differences, however.

"There are similarities, but after detailed comparisons with Archaeopteryx and other, geologically younger birds, its fossil remains suggested that we were dealing with a somewhat more derived bird," said lead study author Oliver Rauhut from LMU's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Related slideshow: The world's most valuable dinosaurs ever found (provided by Lovemoney)

They called the new bird-like dinosaur Alcmonavis poeschli -- from the old Celtic word for a nearby river and the scientist who discovered the fossil, excavation leader Roland Poeschl.

The study, published in the journal eLife Sciences, said Alcmonavis poeschli was "the most bird-like bird discovered from the Jurassic".

As well as being significantly larger than Archaeopteryx, the new specimen had more notches in its wing bones that pointed to muscles which would have allowed it to actively flap its wings.

Significantly, this "flapping" trait found in Alcmonavis poeschli is present in more recent birds, but not in Archaeopteryx.

"This suggests that the diversity of birds in the late Jurassic era was greater than previously thought," Rauhut said.

The discovery is likely to fuel debate among dinosaur experts over whether birds and dinosaurs developed the ability to flap their wings from earlier gliding species.

"Its adaptation shows that the evolution of flight must have progressed relatively quickly," said Christian Foth, from the University of Fribourg, and a co-author of the research.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/scientists-unearth-most-bird-like-dinosaur-ever-found/ar-AABoSDM

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Modern humans split from Neanderthals far earlier than thought: study

afp.com

© Aida Gomez-Robles This undated image released by the University College London shows teeth samples of hominins found at the Sima de los Huesos cave site in Spain

Scientists seeking to unlock the mysteries of human evolution have in recent years relied on increasingly sophisticated DNA techniques that provide "molecular clocks" to date the remains of our ancient ancestors.

But a new analysis that instead examines fossil teeth provides an alternative approach -- and one which yields a significantly earlier date for the divergence between modern humans and Neanderthals.

The study by Aida Gomez-Robles from University College London proposes that the two species' last common ancestor may have lived 800,000 years ago, entering a debate that is hotly contested among anthropologists.

The new timeline is between 200,000 to 400,000 years earlier than current estimates, and if correct would rule out Homo heidelbergensis, another extinct human species, as the last common ancestor between Homo sapiens and our nearest relatives the Neanderthals, as some scientists presently posit.

According to Gomez-Robles, whose paper was published in Science Advances on Wednesday, recent research on hominin teeth has shown that while size varied greatly across various human species, the shape of teeth was more homogeneous and evolved at stable rates across the board.

Gallery: A handful of recent discoveries has transformed our entire understanding of human history

She examined the molars and pre-molars of around 30 fossils thought to be early Neanderthals from the Sima de los Huesos cave site in Spain as well as of seven other extinct hominin species in order to determine how much they changed over time.

A 2014 study using luminescence techniques and palaeomagnetism was said to have reliably dated the cave site, in Spain's Atapuerca Mountains, to 430,000 years ago, which already hinted that sapiens and Neanderthals went their separate ways before this time.

Using computer modelling, she found that early Sapiens and Neanderthals would have had to have diverged 800,000 years ago for the Sima teeth to have had time to achieve their particular features, barring strong environmental factors that caused the species to evolve at a quicker rate.

"The major implication is Homo heidelbergensis cannot be the last common ancestor between modern humans and Neanderthals," she told AFP.

No clean split 

The findings may not put an end to the longstanding debate, not least because of its variance with some of the DNA-based dating, which also relies on assumptions about how quickly genetics change over time.

© getty Giant image of Neanderthal for Tour de France

Gomez-Robles said that while no method was perfect, studying anatomical variation "gives us a more accurate picture" partly because it is still not possible to extract DNA from most ancient fossils.

Moreover, differing timelines could point to growing body of evidence that there are no clean splits between species.

"When we are talking about the divergence between Neanderthals and modern humans, or between any two species, that is not something that happens at one specific moment of time," she told AFP.

"And something that we know today as well is that, you know, there was a hybridization between Neanderthals and modern humans" she continued. "So this is also adding noise to all these studies."

Praise and pushback 

Gomez-Robles' work was praised by Mirjana Roksandic, a biological anthropologist at the University of Winnipeg who recently co-authored her own paper which described H. heidelbergensis as non-Neanderthal.

"She is pinpointing a time when Neanderthals must have moved their own way and that is a very, very significant result," said Roksandic.

"Teeth are born fossils, they carry so much information. They're just absolutely brilliant that way," she added.

 

© getty Group of Homosapiens, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Neanderthal.

The new methodology was also described as "useful" by Harvard anthropologist Bridget Alex, who nevertheless added that it raised the tension between genetic change against physical and physiological changes in evolution, which may not occur at the same rate.

But the study was criticized by Susan Cachel, a professor in human evolution at Rutgers University, who asked: "If the ancestors of anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals do not come from the taxon Homo heidelbergensis, then where do they come from? Some unknown, shadowy ancestor?"

Cachel added that "there is an astonishing amount of dental variation in living humans," which she said undercut one of the key assumptions used by Gomez-Robles' statistical model, pointing to the example of how some Native Americans have a distosagittal ridge, known as the "Uto-Aztecan premolar."

This trait "is globally very rare and geographically restricted, must have appeared within the last 15-20,000 years -- since the divergence between Native Americans and their ancestral population," she said.

"I, therefore, question the idea that rates of dental evolution are invariably slow."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/modern-humans-split-from-neanderthals-far-earlier-than-thought-study/ar-AABqBXd?li=AAnZ9Ug

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Archaeologists discover bizarre ‘Jars of the Dead’ hidden in Laos

Mike Wehner

© Provided by Penske Media Corporation VARIOUS

Just like today, people who lived hundreds of years ago had rituals and traditions associated with death. Methods of burial or tributes to deceased individuals often vary greatly from one culture to the next, and archaeologists are learning more about one of the more mysterious ancient customs originating in present-day Laos.

Researchers from the Australian National University recently discovered over a dozen new locations in Laos where thousand-year-old jars were once used in some kind of death ritual that remains poorly understood. The team documented the existence of over a hundred of the so-called “jars of the dead,” but the discovery ultimately creates more questions than it answers.

© Provided by Penske Media Corporation Megalithic-Laos-jars-in-forest-ANU-920-x-518

Past research has suggested that the jars were used in some kind of end-of-life custom, though what role they may have played in burial or disposal of human remains is still unknown.

“These new sites have really only been visited by the occasional tiger hunter,” Nicholas Skopal, a PhD student at the university who helped discover the jars, said in a statement. “Now we’ve rediscovered them, we’re hoping to build a clear picture about this culture and how it disposed of its dead.”

It’s believed that the jars were constructed out of large single rocks, carved into their bowl shapes miles away and then brought to various remote forest locations where they were used and then lost for centuries before being found once more by scientists.

Along with the jars, carved discs depicting various images were also found near the same locations, and the team believes those to be burial markers. The decorative sides of the stone discs were placed face-down, only adding to the mystery of whatever custom or tradition was being carried out.

Explaining what went on in these locations will be difficult, but as more artefacts are discovered, archaeologists may be able to slowly piece together a long-lost ritual that is now lost to time.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/archaeologists-discover-bizarre-jars-of-the-dead-hidden-in-laos/ar-AABCe4Y

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Like humans, this dinosaur crawled before it walked

Jason Bittel

© Illustration by González

As a hatchling, the dinosaur Mussaurus patagonicus walked on all fours. But as the dinosaur grew, its center of mass changed and it shifted to two-legged locomotion.

It’s a special moment when a baby learns how to go from crawling on all fours to walking on two legs, especially considering how rare this transition is in the animal kingdom. Only a few other species are thought to make the shift from crawling to upright walking as they age—and they’re all dinosaurs.

Now, researchers have added compelling new evidence for one member on that list: a sauropod named Mussaurus patagonicus. (Also see fossil footprints from sauropods that lived in what’s now Scotland)

When Mussaurus hatched, it would have been small enough to fit cosily inside a human hand, earning it a genus name that means “mouse lizard.” But after just eight years of gobbling up ferns and other plants, the same creature would have weighed more than a ton.

This dramatic explosion in body size and shape brought with it a shift in the way the animal moved, scientists argue in a new study published today in the journal Scientific Reports.

A baby Mussaurus patagonicus was small enough to fit in human hands.

Using a remarkable series of nearly complete fossils that depict three key stages of life, the scientists were able to create interactive 3-D models of the early Jurassic dinosaur and work out where its centre of body mass would have been as it aged.

Early in life, the animal’s large head and neck would have tilted its body forward onto the support of well-developed forearms. But as its tail grew, the centre of gravity would have shifted to the pelvic region, drawing the animal upward into a stance that allowed for walking on two legs.

Related Slideshow: The world's most valuable dinosaurs ever found (Provided by Lovemoney)

“We don’t know if this pattern applied to all sauropods,” says study leader Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist at the La Plata Museum in Argentina. “But the fact that this [group of animals] shifted their movements in a way so similar to humans is fascinating.”

Snapshots of prehistory

One of the things that makes studying extinct animals so difficult is that scientists can usually only see a tiny snapshot of each creature’s life. Often, that snapshot does not include hatchlings or juveniles, which are smaller and less likely to fossilize. (Find out how fossil eggs are revealing more about dinosaur parenting styles.)

Paleontologists have what's known as an ontogenetic series for Mussaurus patagonicus, a set of nearly complete fossils that depict three key stages of life, including this juvenile skull.

“There are few dinosaurs for which we have a good series from eggs or babies to adults, and Mussaurus has become one of those, which opens up some exciting new questions not feasible 20 years ago,” says study coauthor John Hutchinson, a professor of evolutionary biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London.

It’s taken over half a century to assemble the set of fossils that informed the current study, for instance. Scientists call these ontogenetic series, and they are highly prized.

“We typically think of each species of dinosaur represented by one monolithic entity, but like every other animal, they have a growth series that we usually just don't get a chance to see, since dinosaur fossils are so rare,” says Shaena Montanari, a paleontologist and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow who was not involved in the study.

Dinosaurs did it first

Mussaurus is just one branch on the dinosaur family tree that may have switched locomotion modes as the animals aged.

“Several dinosaurs have been hypothesized to do it, including Maiasaura, Iguanodon, Psittacosaurus, Dryosaurus, and Massospondylus,” says Kimi Chapelle, a PhD candidate studying locomotion shifts in dinosaurs at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

What’s more, some species displayed shifts in the opposite direction, going from walking on two legs to walking on four, says Chapelle, who was not part of the new study. A propensity for switching things up is even reflected in dinosaur evolution.

“Ancestral dinosaurs are bipedal, but quadrupedality evolved independently across two major lineages,” Chapelle says. That includes the Ornithischia branch, which produced many famous quadruped dinosaurs, such as Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Ankylosaurus. (See a stunning ankylosaur fossil found by accident in a Canadian mine.)

Despite all this shifting around among dinosaurs, the scientists had a really difficult time finding an example of such behaviour in living animals.

“Humans ended up being the best and probably the only really well-known example,” says study coauthor Andrew Cuff, a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London. “It’s a really rare thing to see, which is why it’s so exciting to see it in the fossil record of this species.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/like-humans-this-dinosaur-crawled-before-it-walked/ar-AABF21l

Edited May 21, 2019 by CaaC - John
Spelling corrections

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Ancient Egypt: Archaeologists Uncover Remains of Long-lost Temple

Callum Paton

Archaeologists working in Cairo have uncovered remains of ancient buildings and a haul of artefacts thousands of years old.

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement released Sunday that a joint German and Egyptian excavation team had recovered relics and the remnants of a temple and other structures at a site dating back to between the 6th and 2nd centuries B.C.

The excavation area, known as Area 251 on Mutasim Street in Cairo’s al-Matareya neighbourhood, was found to contain remnants of a temple to Nakhtenbo I—a ruler from Egyptian antiquity—as well as royal statues believed to be far older.

The statues date back to Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. That was the first dynastic period of Egypt’s New Kingdom when the ancient civilization reached its apotheosis. The era spanned from 1549 to 1292 B.C., making the statues at least 3,300 years old.

The head of Egypt’s Ministry for Antiquities, Ayman Ashmawy, revealed that several other features, including carved limestone blocks and a structure from the Ptolemaic period (beginning in 305 B.C.), that housed ovens for making bread, were also recovered. The Ptolemaic period was ushered in following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and ended with the Roman conquest in 30 B.C. and the death of Cleopatra.

Within the temple area recovered in Cairo, German archaeologists reported finding a number of basalt tablets bearing inscriptions and a limestone structure that may indicate the presence of an older temple at the site dating back to the era of King Merneptah. Merneptah, the fourth pharaoh of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty, ruled for ten years, dying in 1203 B.C. according to historical records.

On the southwestern side of the excavation site, the archaeologists uncovered a thick brick wall covered in a layer of white mortar. Within the wall, they found a number of engraved stones, one of which was made from quartz. Considered the most important of the engraved stones discovered at the site, the quartz artefact shows Pharaoh Amenhotep as a sphinx raising his hands upwards.

In recent years, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has been working to publicize the ongoing archaeology work in the country in a bid to attract tourism. Following Egypt’s 2011 revolution and the extended period of instability that followed, tourist numbers to the North African nation have dwindled. 

ttps://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/ancient-egypt-archaeologists-uncover-remains-of-long-lost-temple/ar-AABJjM5

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Storm Hannah unearths 'sunken' forest from more than 4,500 years ago

Laura Elvin & Danya Bazaraa

© Getty Images BORTH, WALES - MAY 24: A general view of petrified ancient trees on May 24, 2019, in Borth, Wales. A prehistoric forest which was buried under water and sand more than 4,500 years ago has been uncovered on the beach between Ynys-las and Borth in mid-Wales. The forest has become associated with the myth of a sunken civilization, known as Cantrer Gwaelod, or the Sunken Hundred, and devotees believe the area was a once-fertile land and township stretching for 20 miles. The remains of the forest's trees, preserved in the local peat, have been exposed by low tides and high winds from the recent Storm Hannah. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Storm Hannah is believed to have uncovered a 'drowned' forest from more than 4,500 years ago. 

The forest of Borth used to stretch for two to three miles along the shore between Ynys-las and Borth in Wales before it was buried under layers of peat, sand and saltwater.

Now, after low tides and a storm, the prehistoric forest of hundreds of trees has been revealed on the beach.

© Getty Images The forest of Borth used to stretch for two to three miles

Massive thick trunks, sprawling roots and much more of the trees can be seen for the first time in thousands of years.

Locals think it's the most of the forest ever to have been uncovered and speculate Storm Hannah dug out the roots, now revealed by a lower than usual tide.

© Getty Images Massive thick trunks can be seen for the first time in thousands of years

Amateur photographer Wayne Lewis, 38, from Welshpool was walking on the beach when he spotted the uncovered beach.

He said: "The trees really are stunning. 

"It's breathtaking that these trees were part of a Bronze Age forest that extended almost to Ireland but have not been seen for thousands of years. 

"It first emerged in 2014, but was then partially recovered, and usually you are only able to see the tips of the tree stump

© Getty Images The prehistoric forest of hundreds of trees has been revealed

"It seems it has been uncovered again recently.

"I don't know for sure, but it is probably due to a combination of 'Storm Hannah' with the 80mph winds last month, and the tides have been very low, making more of the forest visible."

Archaeologists knew the Bronze Age forest existed on the beach because small stumps were sometimes visible along parts of it at low tide.

In 2014, shin-high stumps were visible for the first time, but locals said they were soon mostly recovered by sand.

© Getty Images The forest has become associated with the myth of a sunken civilization

Experts have found the submerged forest contains pine, alder, oak and birch.

The skeletal trees have led to the local legend of a lost kingdom - called Cantre'r Gwaelod - which folklore says drowned beneath the waves.

It is understood the trees stopped growing between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago, as the water level rose and a thick blanket of peat formed.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/storm-hannah-unearths-sunken-forest-from-more-than-4500-years-ago/ar-AABVqGX

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Entire 18-acre Ancient Roman town discovered next to major motorway

Isabel Dobinson & Ellis Stephenson & Laura Forsyth

© KMG / SWNS.com The Roman settlement found in Newington, Kent. See SWNS copy NNroman: An 18-acre settlement containing rare coins, pottery and jewellery dating back as early as 43 AD has been uncovered next to a major motorway in Newington, Kent. The site close to the A2 includes remains of a temple which has since been named Watling Temple - making it one of only 150 sites recorded in England. Archaeologists also uncovered an ancient seven-metre road which is believed to have been an alternative route to the A2 which runs from London to Kentish coast.

An entire Ancient Roman town including a temple and main road has been uncovered buried next to a major motorway.

This discovery has been hailed one of the most significant finds in regional archaeological history.

The 18-acre settlement, which contains rare coins, pottery and jewellery, dates back as early as 43 AD.

It has been uncovered next to the A2 in Newington, Kent.

The site includes remains of a temple which has since been named Watling Temple - making it one of only 150 sites recorded in England.

Archaeologists also uncovered an ancient seven-metre road which is believed to have been an alternative route to the A2 which runs from London to Kentish coast.

Experts have hailed the discovery as one of the most significant finds in the region - but the newly revealed settlement is destined to become new homes as part of a Persimmon Homes new development.

Chairman of Newington History Group Dean Coles said: "This is very exciting. The scale of this site, with the huge number and quality of finds, changes our knowledge of Newington's development.

"We already had evidence of a Roman burial ground and Roman occupation in the immediate vicinity and this excavation shows there was a thriving manufacturing site in the heart of our village.

"The temple and major road are massive discoveries. It proves the A2 wasn't the only Roman road through the village.

"As a group, we are keen to trace the route and destination of this new 'highway' which may have connected with another temple excavated 50 years ago on the outskirts of Newington and a villa unearthed in 1882."

Experts will analyse the findings and publish a report but the ancient remains will once again be covered up to make way for the housing development.

Archaeological director at Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey, Doctor Paul Wilkinson said: "This is one of the most important discoveries of a Roman small town in Kent for many years with the preservation of Roman buildings and artefacts exceptional."

Archaeology project manager Peter Cichy added: "This is one of the most significant sites in Kent but it's only the beginning of months and months of work.

"We will be analysing and dating our finds, sorting and piecing together thousands of pottery shards and writing up our report."

Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD and remained for almost 400 years.

Remains of their occupation have been found scattered across the UK - including Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland and the Roman Baths in Bath.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/entire-18-acre-ancient-roman-town-discovered-next-to-major-motorway/ar-AABXk8C

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2,000-year-old marble head of god Dionysus discovered under Rome

Nick Squires

Archaeologists in Rome have stumbled on a large marble head of Dionysus, also known as Bacchus, the ancient Roman god of wine, dance and fertility.

The discovery was made during excavations in the heart of the city, near the remains of the ancient Roman Forum.

The head would have belonged to a large statue of the god dating back to the imperial era.

The archaeologists were digging around the remains of a medieval wall when they found the marble head, which they believe represents Dionysus, who the Romans knew as Bacchus.

“The archaeologists were excavating a late medieval wall when they saw, hidden in the earth, a white marble head,” said a statement from the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum, which encompasses the Roman Forum.

Related slideshow: Amazing discoveries the year you were born (Provided by Stacker)

“It was built into the wall and had been recycled as a building material, as often happened in the medieval era. Extracted from the ground, it revealed itself in all its beauty.

“The face is refined and gracious, young and feminine. All of which makes us think this could be a depiction of Dionysos.”

The marble head will be cleaned and eventually put on display

“Rome continues to surprise us every day,” said Virginia Raggi, the mayor of the capital. The head of the statue… is in excellent condition. It’s a marvel.”

The head dates to between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, according to Claudio Parisi Presicce, director of Rome's archaeological museums.

“The hollow eyes, which were probably filled with glass or precious stones, date it to the first centuries of the Roman Empire,” he said.

“The surface is not completely visible because we haven't yet given it a thorough clean. We think that there could still be traces of the original colour conserved in the band around the hair."

Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, the mortal daughter of the king of Thebes.

He was known as the god of wine, winemaking and grape cultivation, as well as of fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy.

He was worshipped by the ancient Greeks as one of the 12 Olympians before being incorporated into the Roman pantheon of gods as Bacchus.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/2000-year-old-marble-head-of-god-dionysus-discovered-under-rome/ar-AAC1AQr

Edited May 28, 2019 by CaaC - John

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The craziest destinations you can actually visit

If you have the money, the time, the constitution, and you enjoy a calculated risk, here are 25 trips to awaken the globetrotter within you. The Antarctic, the Titanic, a desert island, or the dark side of the Moon—you can visit them all if you’re willing to pay the price. Don’t forget your sunscreen and remember to water your plants before you leave. Prices are in US dollars.

 

1/26 SLIDES

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Researchers accidentally discover nearly 200-year-old shipwreck while testing new equipment

N'dea Yancey-Bragg

Ocean researchers made an “unexpected and exciting” discovery while testing new remotely operated vehicle equipment earlier this month.

Four days into a  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sea-trial expedition, sonar equipment on the ROV named Deep Discoverer detected something in the shape of a shipwreck. The mission team investigated and discovered what researchers believe to be a mid-19th-century wooden sailing vessel at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Typically when we find/explore shipwrecks, we have some basic information that allows us to search for a target,” Emily Crum, a spokeswoman for the NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research, told the Charlotte Observer.“In this instance, there was no information to suggest the wreck was there. The team just stumbled upon it."

The discovery required a “swift change in operations” and the ship’s Commanding Officer and mission team extended the dive by three hours to examine the ship.

“After a flurry of phone calls and emails to marine archaeologists around the country, experts tuned in to live video from the seafloor, lending their expertise as they virtually joined the dive,” according to a press release from NOAA.

The new ROVs recorded high definition video of the wreck which marine archaeologists believe is a schooner or brig, measuring roughly 124 feet long with copper sheathing covering the bottom of its hull which is relatively intact up to the water line.

Experts were able to infer the time period the vessel was built based on the construction features, but its rig, trade, nationality and crew remain unidentified.

A number of copper and iron artefacts were observed at the site, but researchers noted a lack of personal possessions. All structure above the water line is missing as well, and some of the timbers appeared charred which may indicate the vessel caught fire before sinking.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/researchers-accidentally-discover-nearly-200-year-old-shipwreck-while-testing-new-equipment/ar-AACbgE0

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Ancient Siberia was home to previously unknown humans, say scientists

Nicola Davis

© Getty Landscape with forest mountains. Altai, Siberia. High fir on the slopes of the Altai mountains. The harsh Russian landscape.

It was cold, remote and involved picking fights with woolly mammoths – but it seems ancient Siberia 30,000 years ago was home to a hardy and previously unknown group of humans. Scientists say the discovery could help unpick longstanding mysteries about the ancestors of native North Americans.

While it is commonly believed the ancestors of native North Americans arrived from Eurasia via a now-submerged land bridge called Beringia, exactly which groups crossed and gave rise to native North American populations has been difficult to unpick.

Now scientists say they might have found some answers to the conundrums.

Writing in the journal Nature, Eske Willerslev and colleagues reveal how they drew on existing data from modern populations as well as analysing ancient DNA from the remains of 34 individuals obtained from sites around north-eastern Siberia, dating from more than 31,000 years ago up to 600 years ago.

The key remains were fragments of two tiny human milk teeth, shed by males, found at a place in Russia called Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site. First excavated in 2001, the site offers the earliest direct evidence of humans in north-eastern Siberia, with finds also including bone items and stone tools. Indirect evidence of human populations in north-eastern Siberia goes back to more than 40,000 years ago.

While it had previously been thought that these remains might be from the ancestors of native North Americans, the DNA data suggests otherwise.

“What we see here is a much more complex story than what we believed was the case,” said Willerslev, director of the Lundbeck Foundation Centre for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen.

The results reveal these individuals were part of a previously unknown yet widespread group, dubbed the Ancient North Siberians by the team, who were genetically distinct from both Eurasians and East Asians. The researchers say they split off from the former 38,000 years ago – in other words, very shortly after Eurasians and East Asians themselves became genetically distinct. “They were living as big game hunters of woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros,” said Willerslev.

But, crucially, this population does not appear to be the direct ancestor of Native Americans.

Instead, analysis of the collection of genomes suggests the population that became the ancestors of native North Americans was the result of liaisons about 20,000 years ago between East Asians, who travelled north, and a group distantly related to the Ancient Northern Siberians. The East Asians also mixed with other descendants of Ancient Northern Siberians to give rise to another group, who the team dubbed the Ancient Paleo Siberians, who went on to supplant the existing group.

“[Ancestors of] Native Americans are not the first people in north-eastern Siberia as most people, if not everybody thought,” said Willerslev, adding that DNA recovered in north-eastern Siberia from what is believed to be an Ancient Paleo Siberian was crucial to the work. “This is the first evidence we have, real evidence, of something very close genetically to Native Americans,” he said.

The team add that one possibility is that the mixing involving the East Asians occurred in southern Beringia – one of the areas that could have offered respite from harshening conditions at the time.

They Ancient Paleo Siberians were themselves supplanted by another band of East Asians heading north about 10,000 years ago that gave rise to a group dubbed the “Neo-Siberians”. “The vast majority of the genetic makeup of present-day Siberians comes from this last push,” said Willerslev. “This is also the reason you don’t have any very close connection between contemporary Siberians and Native Americans.”

John Hoffecker from the University of Colorado Boulder, who was not involved in the study, welcomed the research, saying a striking feature of the study is that humans were faring well in north-eastern Siberia, even in very difficult conditions, 30,000 years ago – with the genetic data from the teeth suggesting the males belonged to a population of about 500 people.

Related: What the ancient DNA discovery tells us about Native American ancestry

“That’s a pretty healthy population,” he said. “We had no idea 30 years ago that we had this robust healthy hunter-gatherer population thriving up in the high Arctic 30,000 years ago – it is amazing.”

Hoffecker added the presence of the group suggests it was the ice sheets in North America, not hostile conditions in Beringia, that kept people from reaching the Americas sooner.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/ancient-siberia-was-home-to-previously-unknown-humans-say-scientists/ar-AACtNa2

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Fossil 'sea monster' found in Antarctica was the heaviest of its kind

Joshua Rapp Learn

An illustration shows an elasmosaur swimming through rough waters. A fossil from Antarctica is now the heaviest known animal in this group of prehistoric marine reptiles.

It took decades of struggling with the weather on a small, desolate island off the Antarctic Peninsula. But now,  finally unearthed the heaviest known elasmosaur, an ancient aquatic reptile that swam the seas of the Cretaceous period alongside the dinosaurs. The animal would have weighed as much as 15 tons, and it is now one of the most complete ancient reptile fossils ever discovered in Antarctica.

Elasmosaurs make up a family of the plesiosaurs, which represent some of the largest sea creatures of the Cretaceous. Plesiosaurs generally look a little like large manatees with giraffe necks and snake-like heads, though they have four flippers rather than a manatee’s three.  (Find out about a plesiosaur fossil found with a baby preserved in its body.)

The team thinks the newly described heavyweight belongs to the genus Aristonectes, a group whose species have been seen as outliers to other elasmosaurs, since they differed so much from fossilized specimens discovered in the U.S. This genus, found in the Southern Hemisphere, is characterized by shorter necks and larger skulls.

“For years it was a mystery ... we didn’t know if they were elasmosaurs or not,” says José O’Gorman, a paleontologist with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) who is based at the Museum of La Plata near Buenos Aires. “They were some kind of weird plesiosaurs that nobody knew.”

Researchers needed a more complete specimen, and as it happened, William Zinsmeister of Purdue University had discovered a potential candidate on Seymour Island—just south of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula—during a 1989 expedition. At the time, though, he didn’t have the resources to excavate the fossil find, but he informed researchers in Argentina about the discovery.

Glacial excavations

The Argentina Antarctic Institute got involved and started excavating the fossil as part of its annual summer research expeditions, but the giant reptile was uncovered at a glacial pace due to weather and logistics.

O’Gorman, who was five years old when the fossil was discovered, went on the first of these trips starting in 2012. Work could only happen for a few weeks in January and early February, and some years the dig didn’t happen at all because of conditions and limited resources. On active days, the team had to wait for the sun to defrost the soil before they could excavate, and every piece wrested from the dirt would then need to be shipped by helicopter to the Argentine Marambio Base a few miles away.

“The weather is one of the problems. The weather controls all. Maybe one day you can work, and the next day you cannot because you have a snowstorm,” O’Gorman says.

“It takes a little more effort and logistics in the first place, and not just everyone stumbles into those fossils,” agrees Anne Schulp, vertebrate palaeontologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center who was not involved in the research.

A colossus among giants

The excavation finally finished in 2017, yielding a substantial portion of the animal’s skeleton, which O’Gorman and his colleagues describe in their recent paper in Cretaceous Research.

“We don’t have a skull, but we have a lot of pieces of the specimen,” O’Gorman says.

They estimate that the as-yet-unnamed elasmosaur weighed between 11.8 tons and 14.8 tons, with a head-to-tail length of nearly 40 feet. While some previously known Aristonectes have weighed about 11 tons or so, most other elasmosaurs only come in at around five tons.

“That guy is big!” Schulp says from looking at photos of the bones.

He thinks the work is well done, and he’s happy that the team hasn’t jumped to hasty conclusions—O’Gorman even hesitates to say whether the species is definitely from the Aristonectes genus, since further evidence may put the species in a new genus entirely.

Last call of the Cretaceous

Schulp has worked on some plesiosaurs from the Netherlands, but he says the aquatic reptiles are very different in the Southern Hemisphere. The new specimen is also very interesting because it dates so close to the end of the Cretaceous—just 30,000 years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.

A lot of marine life would have needed to thrive there to satisfy the appetite of such a large creature, so the fact that these animals continued to exist so late in the Cretaceous adds to the evidence that the aquatic world, at least, was doing just fine right up until the sudden mass extinction. (Would the dinosaurs have died out if not for that asteroid? Here’s the science.)

“Even in Antarctica, there were lots of happy elasmosaurs,” Schulp says. The different morphology of this species also shows that specialization was still happening at this late point in the existence of plesiosaurs. “It’s definitely an indication that toward the end of the Cretaceous, [plesiosaurs] managed to expand their feeding repertoire,” Schulp says.

While the animal’s exact diet can’t be known without fossilized stomach contents or other evidence, O’Gorman says that it likely fed on crustaceans and small fish, based on the small size of its teeth. And work on the bones unearthed over the past few decades has just begun; now that they are housed in a museum, O’Gorman says there is a lot of other research that can be done on this ancient specimen.

Schulp adds that the work moves our knowledge of plesiosaurs forward, and he is excited to see Argentine paleontologists go back out there and find more fossils.

“The Southern Hemisphere—at least the plesiosaurs—could definitely use some attention,” he says.

And for his part, O’Gorman seems thrilled with the whole experience: “It was quite cold, and quite cool, too. It was an adventure.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/fossil-sea-monster-found-in-antarctica-was-the-heaviest-of-its-kind/ar-AACxsfq

 

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40,000-year-old Ice Age wolf head found in Siberia

Alec Luhn

© Maria Turchenkova/For The Telegraph Albert Protopopov examines a woolly mammoth that was preserved in the permafrost during a visit by The Telegraph in March

Russian and Japanese scientists have unveiled the first intact adult head of an Ice Age wolf species, which was preserved in permafrost for 40,000 years.

They hope that the unique find will help them learn more about an ancient predator that roamed Europe and Asia alongside the woolly rhinoceros and mammoth, including its ultimate fate.

"We want to answer the question of whether these wolves disappeared or turned into modern wolves, how much they are related to modern wolves," Albert Protopopov, head of mammoth fauna studies at the Yakutia academy of sciences, told The Telegraph.

Still covered in thick fur and sporting a vicious-looking set of fangs, the 40-centimetre head was made public at a woolly mammoth exhibition in Tokyo last week. The wolf was between two and four years old when it met its end. 

© Provided by Telegraph Media Group Limited Researchers at the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo performed tomographic scans of the wolf and cave lion heads Credit: Naoki Suzuki

The head was found on the Tirekhtyakh river by locals hunting for lucrative mammoth tusks in the remote Siberian region of Yakutia last year. Well-preserved infant cave lions have been previously discovered nearby. 

The soil in most of Yakutia remains frozen year round, preventing ancient tusks and carcasses from decomposing. Specimens have been emerging ever more frequently as climate change gradually thaws this permafrost.

The mammoth tusk industry, which has been booming after China banned the carving of elephant ivory, has become the main source of palaeontological finds in the region, and the hunters gave the head to Mr Protopopov.

Unsure if it was thousands of years old or just a few hundred, he passed a sample to the museum of natural history in Stockholm, where the head was found to date to 40 millennia ago.

© Albert Protopopov The first intact head of an adult Pleistocene wolf was found by a group looking for woolly mammoth tusks in Siberia

Researchers at the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo performed tomographic scans to map muscles and tissue in the specimen. 

Both the Stockholm and Tokyo facilities will continue to study the DNA and internal anatomy of the head, which includes a fully preserved brain. Working with Russian scientists, they plan to compare the animal's genetic makeup and morphology to the wolves of today. 

It is not clear whether the “Pleistocene wolf” was larger than contemporary wolves, but its jaws were definitely stronger. 

“They could kill bigger animals. Probably the biggest was a bison,” Mr Protopopov said. 

“It's important for science because wolves in the Pleistocene were broadly dispersed like cave lions,” he said. “There were lots of wolves but we don't know much about them.”

Several species of wolves lived during the Pleistocene ice age, including the celebrated dire wolf in the Americas. Based on bones found in Siberia, both dogs and modern wolves are believed to have split off from a wolf ancestor at least 27,000 years ago. 

Siberian huskies carry some genes of this ancient wolf even today. 

The Tokyo exhibition also featured a new Siberian cave lion cub specimen named Spartak, which weighs less than two pounds. 

It is in near-pristine condition, like the wolf head, and will be compared to modern lions.

Scientists from Yakutia and Japan also hope to one day clone a woolly mammoth from tissue discovered in the Siberian permafrost, although such a project is not possible with current techniques. 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/40000-year-old-ice-age-wolf-head-found-in-siberia/ar-AACIRgl?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

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Artificial islands in Scotland date back to 3700BC, scientists discover

Harry Cockburn

Mysterious man-made islets found in lochs on Scotland’s remote Outer Hebridean islands may be thousands of years older than previously realised, a study has revealed.

The artificial structures, which are typically between 10 and 30 metres in diameter, are known as crannogs and are now usually covered with vegetation as no grazing animals can reach them.

There are numerous examples of crannogs on Scotland’s rugged west coast and on the islands of the Outer Hebrides. They are frequently made of timber and stone and are occasionally built on existing rocky structures.

While it had been thought they dated from no earlier than the Iron Age – around 1400 – 500BC – new research indicates crannogs were a common feature in bodies of water during the Neolithic epoch, which covers the time period from around 4000 to 2500 BC.

But the late 20th Century discovery that the crannog of Eilean Dòmhnuill on the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist dated from around 3700BC prompted speculation among historians that the age of many other Scottish crannogs could have been severely underestimated.

Now, mounting evidence suggests other crannogs in the area are equally as old.

In 2012, a former Navy diver named Chris Murray discovered numerous examples of well-preserved pottery made in a style dating from the Neolithic period while diving at a crannog on the nearby Outer Hebridean Isle of Lewis.

After the find, he teamed up with Dr Duncan Garrow from the University of Reading and they found further Neolithic pots at other Outer Hebridean crannogs.

© Provided by Independent Digital News & Media Limited The crannog of Eilean Dòmhnuill on the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist dates from the Neolithic period (Richard Law)

Since 2012 hundreds of pots have been found in the waters around the artificial islands, many of them well preserved.

Eight radiocarbon dating measurements were taken from the structural timbers used in the building of four crannogs on the Isle of Lewis, with six falling within the Neolithic era ranging from 3640–3360BC. 

The research also reveals for the first time that the pots were likely to have been intentionally placed in the water around the crannogs – though it is not yet known why.

The paper says: “The quantities of material now identified around several sites, and the position of these vessels in relation to the islets, suggests that pots were intentionally deposited into the water. Many vessels had substantial sooting on their external surfaces, and some had internal charred residues; they had clearly been used before deposition. The large fragment sizes of these vessels suggest that at least some, and possibly all, of the vessels, were complete when they entered the water.”

Recent scholars assessing the original function of the crannogs “have suggested that they could have been special places associated with social gatherings, ritualised feasting and commensality (eating together),” the study says.

“They would have required a huge investment of labour to build and probably remained significant places for a long time. Such islets may well have represented substantial symbols for, and of, the communities that constructed them,” Dr Garrow writes.

“These islets could also have been perceived as special places, their watery surroundings creating separation from everyday life.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/artificial-islands-in-scotland-date-back-to-3700bc-scientists-discover/ar-AACMESX

 

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THAT'S IT, proves that everyone has been doing it!!!!  

 

The earliest evidence for cannabis smoking discovered in ancient tombs

Michelle Z. Donahue

 

2,500-year-old burials at Jirzankal Cemetery in western China feature wooden braziers that burned cannabis plants containing an unusually high level of the psychoactive chemical THC.

The earliest direct evidence for human consumption of cannabis as a drug has been discovered in a 2,500-year-old cemetery in Central Asia, according to a research paper published today in the journal Science Advances.

While cannabis plants and seeds have been identified at other archaeological sites from the same general region and time period—including a cannabis ‘burial shroud’ discovered in 2016—it’s been unclear in each context whether the versatile plant was used for psychoactive reasons or for other ritual purposes.

An international team of researchers analyzed the interiors and contents of 10 wooden bowls excavated from burials at Jirzankal Cemetery, a site on the Pamir Plateau in what is now far-western China. The bowls contained small stones that had been exposed to high heat, and archaeologists identified them as braziers for burning incense or other plant matter.

When chemical analysis of the braziers revealed that nine of the ten once contained cannabis, the researchers compared the chemical signature of the samples against those of cannabis plants discovered 1,000 miles to the east at Jiayi Cemetery, in burials dating from the eighth to the sixth century B.C.

They saw that the Jirzankal cannabis had something the Jiayi hemp did not: Molecular remnants of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—the chemical responsible for cannabis’ psychoactive effects. The strain of cannabis found at Jiayi does not contain THC and would have been primarily been used as a source of fibre for clothing and rope, as well as a nutrient-rich oilseed.

The Jirzankal cannabis features higher levels of mind-altering compounds that have yet been found at any ancient site, suggesting that people could have been intentionally cultivating certain strains of cannabis for a potent high, or selecting wild plants known to produce that effect.

Cannabis is known for its “plasticity,” or ability for new generations of plants to express different characteristics from earlier generations depending on exposure to environmental factors such as sunlight, temperature, and altitude. Wild strains of cannabis growing at higher altitudes, for instance, can have a higher THC content.

While the researchers are unable to determine the actual origin of the cannabis used in the Jirzankal burials, they suggest that Jirzankal’s elevation some 10,000 feet on the Pamir Plateau may have put people in close proximity to wild strains with higher THC content—or that the cemetery could have been sited at that elevation for ease of access to desirable strains.

Robert Spengler, director of paleoethnobotany laboratories at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and study co-author, says that the constant stream of people moving across the Pamir Plateau—an important crossroads connecting Central Asia and China with southwest Asia—could have resulted in the hybridization of local cannabis strains with those from other areas. While hybridization is another factor known to increase psychoactive cannabis strains’ THC potency, the question of whether it was intentional, or just by happy accident, is also still unclear.

According to Spengler, this new study demonstrates that already 2,500 years ago, humans were potentially targeting specific plants for their chemical production.

“It’s a wonderful example of how closely intertwined humans are and have been with the biotic world around them, and that they impose evolutionary pressures on the plants around them,” he says.

The discovery at Jirzankal also provides the first direct evidence that humans inhaled combusted cannabis plants in order to obtain its psychoactive effects. No evidence of smoking pipes or similar apparatus has been found in Asia before contact with the New World in the modern era, but the inhalation of cannabis smoke from a heat source is described by the fifth-century B.C. Greek historian Herodotus, who described in his Histories how the Scythians, a nomadic tribe living on the Caspian Steppe, purified themselves with cannabis smoke after burying their dead: “The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and, crawling in under the mats, throw it on the red-hot stones, where it smoulders and sends forth such fumes that no Greek vapour-bath could surpass it. The Scythians howl in their joy at the vapour-bath.”

Herodotus also notes that the cannabis plant “grows both of itself and having been sown,” which University of North Carolina classics expert Emily Baragwanath says is usually interpreted as meaning the plant was cultivated—lending credence to the researcher’s ideas about purposeful cannabis hybridization.

“People have been sceptical of Herodotus’ ethnographies of foreign peoples," she adds, "but as archaeology looks closer, it keeps finding affinities between the real world and what’s in the Histories.”

Mark Merlin, an ethnobotanist and cannabis historian at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says the wide diversity in cannabis around the world today is a testament to how long people have been involved with the plant and harnessed its many uses. “It’s a real indication of how long humans have been manipulating cannabis,” he says.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/earliest-evidence-for-cannabis-smoking-discovered-in-ancient-tombs/ar-AACNJxA

Edited June 13, 2019 by CaaC (John)
Spelling corrections

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Explorers find species thought to be extinct amid ancient ruins of 'Lost City of the Monkey God' deep in the rainforests of Honduras

Explorers penetrating deep into the Mosquitia rainforest of Honduras have rediscovered species thought to be extinct at ancient ruins known as the 'Lost City of the Monkey God'.

The three-week mission, carried out by a team of scientists led by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program, discovered a veritable ecological treasure trove at the hidden ruins, scientists announced on Thursday.

The three rediscovered species which were believed extinct are: 

More

Edited June 23, 2019 by CaaC (John)
Spelling corrections

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Construction Workers Stumbled Upon a 68-Million-Year-Old Triceratops Fossil in Colorado

Michele Debczak

In May 2019, a construction crew working outside Denver, Colorado uncovered what appeared to be the fossilized remains of a dinosaur. As The Denver Postreports, paleontologists have traced the bones back to triceratops—the three-horned dinosaur that walked the Earth more than 65 million years ago.

The construction workers were digging up land in Highlands Ranch near the Wind Crest retirement center when they struck upon the fossils. The partial skeleton they found includes a limb bone and several ribs.

After studying the remains, paleontologists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Scienceconfirmed that they once belonged to an adult triceratops. The rock layer containing the fossil was dated 65 million to 68 million years old. Triceratops went extinct 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period—they were among the last dinosaurs alive leading up to the mass extinction event that killed them.

After stumbling upon the prehistoric specimen, the construction team and Wind Crest have agreed to allow the museum to fully excavate the site in search of more bones. Meanwhile, the uncovered fossils have been wrapped in burlap and plaster and transported to the Denver museum to be examined further.

The exciting find isn't a first for Colorado. Triceratops accounts for most of the fossils found in the state. In 2017, a different construction crew working near Denver discovered a skeleton of the dinosaur that included its skull.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/construction-workers-stumbled-upon-a-68-million-year-old-triceratops-fossil-in-colorado/ar-AADoSpZ

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Related Slideshow: Best places to see fossils of dinosaurs and other extinct species (Provided by Photo Services)

Slides 1/17

Edited June 26, 2019 by CaaC (John)

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Ancient Roman shipwreck discovered undisturbed in the Mediterranean

Samuel Osborne

An ancient Roman-era shipwreck has been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Cyprus.

Divers found it was still loaded with transport amphorae – large clay jars typically used for holding wine and other liquids.

It is thought to be the first well-preserved discovery of its kind in the island nation’s history.

File video: Deadly 102-year-old shipwreck discovered (Fox News)

Cyprus’ Antiquities Department said the ship was most probably from Syria and ancient Cilicia on modern-day Turkey‘s southern coast.

Underwater archaeologists were working to examine the ship, the department added.

The wreck was found by a pair of volunteer divers with the University of Cyprus’ archaeological research unit.

20 haunting shipwrecks around the world  

The Antiquities Department said a study of the vessel was "expected to shed new light on the breadth and the scale of seaborne trade between Cyprus and the rest of the Roman provinces of the eastern Mediterranean".

A number of ancient vessels have been found off the island's coast including one dating back the Greek era in the middle of the 4th century BC which is thought to be one of the region's best preserved/

Archaeologists working on that wreck said they had gained insights into the evolution of ancient boat-building in the region.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ancient-roman-shipwreck-discovered-undisturbed-in-mediterranean/ar-AADwBuk?li=AAnZ9Ug

Edited June 28, 2019 by CaaC (John)
Spelling corrections

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Big birds: Giant, 1,000-pound birds once roamed around Europe

Doyle Rice

Talk about your big bird.

At 1,000 pounds and over 10 feet tall, it was one of the largest birds that ever lived in Earth's history. And almost 2 million years ago, early Europeans lived alongside some of these huge birds, according to new research published Wednesday.

Bones of the huge, long-extinct bird were recently discovered in a cave in Crimea.

"We estimate it weighed about 1,000 pounds," said study lead author Nikita Zelenkovof the Russian Academy of Sciences. "This formidable weight is nearly three times the largest living bird, the common ostrich, and nearly as much as an adult polar bear."

The bird would have towered above early humans. Scientists speculate that it was likely flightless but was probably able to run quite fast.

Speed may have been key to the bird's survival, the study said. Alongside its bones, scientists also found fossils of huge carnivores such as giant cheetah, giant hyenas and sabre-toothed cats.

According to the study, the bird may have also been a source of meat, bones, feathers and eggshells for early humans.

It was previously thought that such giant birds only lived on the islands of Madagascar and New Zealand as well as Australia. This is the first giant bird ever discovered in the Northern Hemisphere.

What current bird might it most resemble? "We don't have enough data yet to say whether it was most closely related to ostriches or to other birds," Zelenkov said.

The bones were discovered during the construction of a new highway in Crimea. "Last year, mammoth remains were unearthed (there) and there may be much more the site will teach us about Europe's distant past," he said.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/big-birds-giant-1000-pound-birds-once-roamed-around-europe/ar-AADu1QJ

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Desert-dwelling carnivorous dinosaur found in Brazil

afp.com

© Heitor MARCON State University of Maringa paleontologists work at the site where fossilised bones of a dinosaur were found in Maringa, Parana state, Brazil

A desert-based carnivorous dinosaur that used claws to capture small prey 90 million years ago has been unearthed in southern Brazil, scientists said Wednesday.

Just over a meter and a half in length (five feet), the fossil remains of the Vespersaurus paranaensis were found in Cruzeiro do Oeste municipality of Parana state, a team of paleontologists from Brazil and Argentina said in a statement.

© Heitor MARCON A hitherto unknown type of carnivorous dinosaur measuring just over a meter and a half long that lived 90 million years ago has been identified in the Cruzeiro do Oeste municipality of southern Brazil

The Vespersaurus was a theropod, a group of two-footed, meat-eating dinosaurs that included the better-known tyrannosaurus and velociraptor.

Footprints now believed to belong to this new species of dinosaur were discovered in Cruzeiro do Oeste in the 1970s.

"It's incredible that, nearly 50 years later, it seems that we have discovered what type of dinosaur would have produced those enigmatic footprints," said Paulo Manzig of the Paleontology Museum of Cruzeiro do Oeste.

The northeastern region of Parana was once a desert and the dinosaur's remains suggest that the Vespersaurus was well adapted to that type of climate.

Other dinosaur species have been found there and, according to the scientists, the latest discovery must "catapult" paleontological investigations in the region.

"It is a rich but little explored area that would surely bring great news to the world of paleontology," said Neurides Martins of the Paleontology Museum of Cruzeiro do Oeste.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/desert-dwelling-carnivorous-dinosaur-found-in-brazil/ar-AADuf7L

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Palaeolithic Murder Where Victim's Skull Was Bashed in 33,000 Years Ago Revealed by Scientists

Hannah Osborne

Around 33,000 years ago, a man was bludgeoned to death in a cave in Romania, a team of scientists has said. After examining fractures on a fossilized skull dating to the Upper Paleolithic, the team say they have "indisputable hard evidence" of violence among Upper Paleolithic Europeans at this time, indicating murder was part of these ancient human's lives.

The skull, known as Cioclovina calvaria, was uncovered by miners in a cave in South Transylvania in 1941. It was found alongside cave bear fossils and ancient stone tools. It is thought to be one of the earliest, well-preserved fossils of a modern human in Europe.

Since its discovery, researchers have studied the skull, which belonged to an adult male, extensively. Katerina Harvati, from Germany's Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, told Newsweek: "He would have been a member of a hunter-gatherer population, living under probably relatively harsh climatic conditions...He probably belonged to the Aurignacian culture, a stone tool industry associated with the earliest Upper Paleolithic modern humans across Europe."

He also suffered several skull fractures—two small ones at the front that were inflicted before death and another, large fracture on the right side of the skull. The timing of the latter fracture has been disputed, with researchers split over whether it happened before death or after.

In a study published in PLOS One, the trauma has been reassessed using forensic science and experimental simulations, allowing scientists to work out how and when the injury was inflicted. Using synthetic models of the skull, the team threw it from heights and hit it with rocks and bats.

Results showed there were two injuries that took place before or at the time of death. One fracture at the base of the skull, and another at the right side of the skull—the latter of which was inflicted with a bat-like object. Positioning indicates the fracture on the right of the skull was inflicted in a face-to-face confrontation, with the perpetrator striking the victim with the bat either in the left hand, or being held by both hands. The injuries did not heal, suggesting the blows were fatal.

The team also notes that only the skull was recovered from the cave. It is possible that more bodily injuries were sustained in the attack and these could also have contributed to the man's death.

Concluding, researchers say the injuries sustained do not fit with post-mortem damage, a fall or accidental injury: "Rather, they were sustained from multiple blows to the head with a club-like instrument, or from a combination of a fall and a blow to the head," they wrote.

"The lack of any signs of healing associated with these fractures indicates that the Cioclovina individual did not survive these lesions. It is not clear whether the [fracture] alone could have caused his death. However, a depressed fracture of the extent and magnitude…would have caused fatal brain injuries resulting in a quick demise.

"The location of this lesion suggests that it was inflicted by a blow from a likely left-handed perpetrator facing the victim. This may have been a result of a one to one conflict or murder by one or more perpetrators. Severe interpersonal conflict leading to death is, therefore, the hypothesis that is best supported by our findings."

The point at which the man was killed was a period of intense technological innovation, cultural complexity and increased symbolic behaviour—for example, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic is considered the point where religion emerged. Understanding social relationships at this time are important in understanding how societies would later emerge.

"Upper Paleolithic modern humans are often described in terms of innovation, art, and competitive cultural advantage when compared, for example, to Neanderthals," Harvati said. "We show that they were also capable of violence and murder, and thus also showed the darker sides of human nature."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/paleolithic-murder-where-victims-skull-was-bashed-in-33000-years-ago-revealed-by-scientists/ar-AADP2ix

Edited July 4, 2019 by CaaC (John)
Spacing correction

[CaaC (John)+]

Viking Burial Ships Uncovered in 'Sensational' Archaeological Find

Aristos Georgiou

Archaeologists have discovered two Viking burial ships in the Swedish municipality of Uppsala.

A find of this type is rare in the country. In fact, only around ten discoveries of this kind have been made to date in the Scandinavian nation, according to researchers.

"This is a unique excavation, the last burial ship was examined 50 years ago," Anton Seiler, an archaeologist who works with several Swedish museums, told The Local.

The two vessels—which Saeiler describes as a "sensational" find—were excavated near the grounds of a vicarage in the village of Gamla Uppsala last fall.

These types of burials, where individuals were placed in full-sized boats, were not available to the common folk. They are thought to have been reserved for individuals with high status.

"It is a small group of people who were buried in this way," Seiler said. "You can suspect that they were distinguished people in the society of the time since burial ships, in general, are very rare."

The archaeologists only found the remains of one individual. However, as is common with other burial ships in the region, this person was laid to rest beside several objects—including weapons, shields and a comb—they may have been given to take into the afterlife. The team also found the remains of animals, including a horse and a dog.

© John van Hasselt/Sygma via Getty Images) The individuals were buried in a boat like this one.

Although it remains unclear when this burial took place, most grave ships of this type originate from the Viking Age (793–1066 A.D.) of Scandinavian history or the era immediately preceding it, which is known as the Vendel Period (500-793 A.D.)

In recent months, researchers also discovered another ship associated with a burial practice in the Scandinavian region.

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) discovered a huge 66-foot-long Viking ship using an advanced new ground-penetrating radar technique in Østfold County, southeastern Norway.

The radar data that the NIKU team collected indicated that the ship was once embedded within a large burial mound which was gradually destroyed by farming activity over time. Surprisingly, the ship appeared to have survived totally intact, despite lying just 20 inches below the topsoil.

"This find is incredibly exciting as we only know three well-preserved Viking ship finds in Norway, [all] excavated a long time ago," Knut Paasche, head of the Department of Digital Archaeology at NIKU and an expert on Viking ships, said in a statement.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/viking-burial-ships-uncovered-in-sensational-archaeological-find/ar-AADS4vH