History

[CaaC (John)]

Recently Discovered Ancient Fossils May Be the 'Missing Link' Between Apes and Humans

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Fossils from a new species of ape have been discovered in Bavaria, and the discovery may shed light on how the ancestors of humans may have evolved to walk on two legs. 

The fossil of the great ape was unearthed with complete limb bones. He lived during the Miocene about 11.62 million years ago.

"The finds in southern Germany are a milestone in palaeoanthropology because they raise fundamental questions about our previous understanding of the evolution of the great apes and humans," Professor Madelaine Böhme from the University of Tübingen told BBC News.

Böhme also said this ape could be the best model we have to the "missing link" between apes and humans.

© Associated Press A man holds bones of the previously unknown primate species Danuvius Guggemos in his hand in Tuebingen, Oct.17, 2019.

The species was named Danuvius Guggemos by the palaeontologists. "Danuvius" is derived from the Celtic-Roman river god and "Guggemos" is to honour Sigulf Guggenmos, who discovered the site where they found the fossils.

Böhme said when Danuvius was alive, the area was a hot, flat landscape with forests and rivers not far from the Alps. 

A new study found that the ape creature may have used an unusual locomotion never seen until now, which could reveal how the ancestors of humans may have evolved to walk on two feet.

The fossils—two females, a juvenile and a male, who had the most complete set of limbs—were discovered in a clay pit in Bavaria between 2015 and 2018. 

© Atypeek/Getty Paleontologists unearthed 21 bones of the most complete partial skeleton of a male Danuvius.

The male animal's build, posture and locomotion are unique traits among primates. His strong ape-like arms were made for swinging from tree limbs but he also possessed human-like legs.

Researchers said Danuvius didn't favour either its arms or legs in movement but appeared to use them equally. Böhme and her colleagues suggested this newly identified type of locomotion—which they called "extended limb clambering"—could be the ancestral form of movement for both modern great apes and humans, reports Live Science.

One of the key traits that distinguish humans from our closest living relatives like modern great apes, chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans is how we walk upright on our feet. This allowed us to free our hands for using tools, which ultimately helped humanity spread across the planet.

In contrast, modern great apes possess long arms and traits that allow them to swing from branches using only their arms, which is called brachiation. Chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas practice knuckle-walking.

The new research and where the fossils were found suggests our upright posture could have originated in a common ancestor of great apes and humans who lived in Europe. For many years, scientists thought those ancestors originated from Africa. 

Understanding how humans came to walk on two feet promises to answer many of the fundamental questions about the evolution of our species.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/recently-discovered-ancient-fossils-may-be-the-missing-link-between-apes-and-humans/ar-AAJY8a4?ocid=chromentp

Edited November 7, 2019 by CaaC (John)
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Centuries-old warships linked to 'Vasa' found in Sweden

© STR Pictures released by the Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums show parts of the wrecks found in the waters outside Stockholm archipelago

Swedish maritime archaeologists have discovered two wrecks believed to be 17th-century warships, and at least one is likely the sister ship of the iconic Swedish vessel "Vasa", which sank on its maiden voyage, the Swedish Museum of Wrecks said Friday.

"When I came down as the first diver... I saw this wall 5-6 metres high and I came up and there was a massive warship,"  diver and maritime archaeologist Jim Hansson told AFP, adding that "it was a thrilling feeling."

The two wrecks were found in the Swedish archipelago outside the town of Vaxholm in a strait leading into Stockholm.

At least one of the ships is believed to be the sister ship Sweden's most famous warship the "Vasa," a 69-metre ship carrying 64 cannons, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628.

Named after one of Sweden's kings, it was originally meant to serve as a symbol of Sweden's military might but instead capsized after sailing just over 1,000 metres.

Vasa was salvaged in 1961 and is currently on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, one of Sweden's most popular tourist spots.

Three other ships were however ordered from the same shipwright: Applet (the Apple), Kronan (the Crown) and Scepter, and unlike their predecessor, they all served in the Swedish navy and participated in naval battles.

"We think that some of them were sunk in the area," Patrik Hoglund, another maritime archaeologist and diver at the newly established Museum of Wrecks.

The ships are believed to have been sunk on purpose after they were decommissioned, serving as underwater spike strips for enemy ships.

The divers took wood samples of the ships which will be sent to a laboratory for dating.

"Then we can even see where the timber has been cut down and then we can go back and look in the archives and I think we have good chances to tell exactly which ship this is," Hansson said.

Despite being centuries old, the wrecks -- just like the Vasa -- are in fairly good condition, thanks to the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea.

"We don't have saltwater and some organisms that live in other waters don't exist in the Baltic so it is very well preserved generally in our waters," Hoglund said.

As the wrecks are better preserved in the sea, there are currently no plans to salvage them.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/centuries-old-warships-linked-to-vasa-found-in-sweden/ar-BBWuRHP

[CaaC (John)]

World War II submarine found off the coast of Japan, ending the 75-year mystery

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A team of ocean explorers discovered the likely resting place of 80 U.S. sailors presumed dead when one of the most successful American submarines of World War II sank after leaving Pearl Harbor more than 75 years ago.

Private explorers found the USS Grayback about 1,400 feet below the ocean surface, off the coast of Japan, ending a decades-old mystery and bringing closure to relatives of those who went down with the ship.

Gloria Hurney, who lost her uncle Raymond Parks, an electrician's mate, first-class, and Kathy Taylor, who lost her uncle and Godfather John Patrick King, an electrician's mate, third class, were among the first to find out about the miraculous discovery.

"I committed from the very beginning, from a little girl, that I was gonna find him or follow him or keep his memory alive, whatever I could do," Taylor told ABC News in an interview. "I thought it was probably blown to pieces. That's what I thought. And obviously it's not." 

The Grayback, credited with sinking 14 enemy ships, was discovered south of Okinawa with much of its body still intact. Its plaque was still affixed to the front, but there was evidence that the sub likely was bombed.

Undersea explorers Tim Taylor and his wife Christine Dennison discovered the warship back in June and spent months searching for relatives of its crew who perished. Together, they've set out to find the wrecks of every American submarine lost in the war, an effort they dubbed the Lost 52 Project. So far, they've found five of 52 subs.

"We do not tell people that we're looking for these because we don't want to disappoint people, and we don't want to blast it across the internet until it's done properly through the Navy," Taylor told ABC News. "With the technology that we're using, and the ability to cover large swaths of ground, we're looking at the potential to find several more."

Researchers recently discovered a flaw in the translation of Japanese war records that misrepresented the spot where the Grayback may have sunk.

"The numbers that came out we're wrong, and that's how we found it," Taylor said. "It was mistranslated after post-WWII, and they changed one number -- an 8 to a 6 -- and our Japanese translator re-translated it, found it, put us 100 miles to a different area."

Dennison said the most important part of their work is about bringing closure to the families of those who died.

"It's very vital that we remember them, and that they feel that they haven't been forgotten, that their sacrifice wasn't in vain," Dennison said. "We are grateful for their sacrifices, and we will never forget our veterans. The most important thing is, they're here, now they can be celebrated again, they can be honoured again, and we know where they are."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/world-war-ii-submarine-found-off-coast-of-japan-ending-75-year-mystery/ar-BBWAhn7?li=AAnZ9Ug

[CaaC (John)]

23 Countries That No Longer Exist and the History Behind Them

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There are 195 countries in the world today, some of which the U.S. government prefers you not visit, but this number has changed over the centuries. Throughout history, borders have rarely remained static, with new countries forming and others ceasing to exist.

Many nations were created organically as a group of people had a common culture and language. Other countries were formed simply because of geography -- such as these 25 smallest countries and territories in the world.

Some were created following mass migrations, and some were established after the breakup of bigger empires or countries into smaller states, and others were established following wars and treaties.

To account for the changes in our world over time, 24/7 Wall St. has compiled a list of countries that no longer exist.

 

[CaaC (John)]

Secrets of the largest ape that ever lived

A fossilised tooth left behind by the largest ape that ever lived is shedding new light on the evolution of apes.

Gigantopithecus blacki was thought to stand nearly three metres tall and tip the scales at 600kg.

In an astonishing advance, scientists have obtained molecular evidence from a two-million-year-old fossil molar tooth found in a Chinese cave.

The mystery ape is a distant relative of orangutans, sharing a common ancestor around 12 million years ago.

"It would have been a distant cousin (of orangutans), in the sense that its closest living relatives are orangutans, compared to other living great apes such as gorillas or chimpanzees or us," said Dr Frido Welker, from the University of Copenhagen

Human evolution hopes

The research, reported in Nature, is based on comparing the ancient protein sequence of the tooth of the extinct ape, believed to be a female, with apes alive today.

• 'Astonishing' fossil ape discovery revealed
• Mystery ape found in an ancient tomb.

Obtaining skeletal protein from a two-million-year-old fossil is rare if not unprecedented, raising hopes of being able to look even further back in time at other ancient ancestors, including humans, who lived in warmer regions.

There is a much poorer chance of being able to find ancient DNA or proteins in tropical climates, where samples tend to degrade quicker.

"This study suggests that ancient proteins might be a suitable molecule surviving across most of the recent human evolution even for areas like Africa or Asia and we could thereby in the future study our own evolution as a species over a very long time span," Dr Welker told BBC News.

Extinction clues

Gigantopithecus blacki was first identified in 1935 based on a single tooth sample. The ape is thought to have lived in Southeast Asia from two million years ago to 300,000 years ago.

Many teeth and four partial jawbones have been identified but the animal's relationship to other great ape species has been hard to decipher.

The ape reached massive proportions, exceeding that of living gorillas, based on analysis of the few bones that have been found.

It is thought to have gone extinct when the environment changed from forest to savannah.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50409541

Edited November 14, 2019 by CaaC (John)

[CaaC (John)]

 

In a first, fossil dinosaur feathers found near the South Pole

© Illustration by Peter Trusler A cache of fossilized feathers found in Australia provides solid evidence that small carnivorous dinosaurs, like the one illustrated here, sported insulating plumage to help them survive life within the southern polar circle.

Ten exquisitely preserved fossil feathers found in Australia represent the first solid evidence that feathered dinosaurs lived at Earth’s poles, palaeontologists report in an upcoming study in the journal Gondwana Research.

The feathers date back 118 million years to the early Cretaceous period when Australia was much farther south and joined with Antarctica to form Earth’s southern polar landmass. Although the environment would have been warmer than Antarctica today, the dinosaurs that sported this plumage probably endured many months of darkness and potentially freezing temperatures during winter. (By the late Cretaceous, Antarctica was warm enough for South American sauropods to trek across the south polar region and into Australia.)

“Fossils feathers have never been found in polar settings before,” says study coauthor Benjamin Kear, a palaeontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden. “Our discovery … shows for the first time that a diverse array of feathered dinosaurs and flight-capable primitive birds inhabited the ancient polar regions.”

While the delicate bones of dinosaur-era birds have been found in polar places before, none have so far sported fossilized feathers. Fossils of an extinct type of penguin found in Peru included plumage, but they date to about 36 million years ago when that landmass was seated farther north. (Find out why today’s birds are the dinosaurs that didn’t die.)

Finding Cretaceous feathers in this part of Australia is, therefore, a vital clue to the many uses ancient animals found for these distinct body coverings, from mating displays to flight. In this case, feathers may have been important for insulation, allowing small carnivorous dinosaurs to survive the difficult winter months.

Related Slideshow: Treading the footsteps of giants - where in the world to see dinosaur tracks (Provided by StarInsider)

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“It makes perfect sense that these feathers would have helped to keep dinosaurs and primitive birds warm at high latitudes during the Cretaceous,” says Ryan McKellar, an expert on fossil feathers and a curator at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, Canada.

“It is spectacular to see data from rocks this old and this far south,” he adds. “The report provides a really important snapshot of early Cretaceous polar plumage.”

Lost to the lake

The newly described feathers were all found at a site called Koonwarra, about 90 miles southeast of Melbourne in the state of Victoria. A road cut into a hillside in the 1960s revealed a rich seam of fossils, and over the past 60 years, digs there have uncovered numerous fossil fish and plants, as well as the array of well-preserved plumage.

None of the feathers are currently associated with distinct dinosaur or bird bones. Instead, they were probably lost during moulting or preening and drifted on the wind onto the surface of an ancient lake, where they sank to the bottom and were preserved in the fine mud. (Also find out about a huge pterosaur that once soared over the Antarctic Peninsula.)

For the new study, Tom Rich of the Melbourne Museum and Patricia Vickers-Rich of Monash University, who have led digs at Koonwarra over the past 37 years, worked with an international team to analyze the finds, showing that the 10 feathers are highly diverse. The fossils include downy feathers for insulation, a fluffy protofeather that most likely belonged to a nonavian dinosaur, and one complex flight feather-like those on the wings of modern birds.

Most of these feathers are an inch or less in length and perhaps belonged to enantiornithines, an extinct group of primitive birds that were very diverse during this time in the early Cretaceous, Kear says. Some of the feathers are so tiny that there is the tantalizing possibility they came from hatchlings, he adds.

However, all but one of the feathers could not have sustained any kind of flight, further hinting that some of them may have belonged to ground-dwelling carnivorous dinosaurs, says lead author Martin Kundrát, a palaeontologist at of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Slovakia.

The protofeather “is entirely consistent with some of the tufted [dinosaur] protofeathers identified from the early Cretaceous rocks of China, and from Canadian Cretaceous amber,” McKellar says. (See a whole dinosaur-era bird found trapped in amber.)

Based on its size, the protofeather was probably left by a relatively small dinosaur-like a dromaeosaur, the group of speedy carnivores that includes Velociraptor and Deinonychus. A few fossil bones and teeth have been found in Victoria that belonged to slender-snouted dromaeosaurs called unenlagiids, which are well known from South America and may have eaten fish. It makes sense, then, for similar dinosaurs to have been hunting next to a Cretaceous lake.

“We know from the abundant fossil fish in the lake that there would have been possibly a food source for them,” says Stephen Poropat, a palaeontologist at Swinburne University in Melbourne.

Seasonal colours?

The study authors also found fossilized traces of packets of the pigment called melanosomes in the feathers, suggesting that many of the animals would have been black, grey, or brown, or that they had dark stripes.

This is somewhat surprising for polar animals since dark colouration wouldn’t have been good camouflage in snowy, wintery environments, Poropat noes. Maybe these dinosaurs and birds were changing colour seasonally, as Arctic ptarmigans do today, he says.

“But it’s also possible that it wasn’t getting that cold at the South Pole during this part of the Cretaceous, and they didn’t need to be pale-coloured to blend in with snowdrifts,” he says.

Solving the puzzle will require more fossils, and Rich is hopeful that one day the team may find entire fossilized dinosaurs or birds at Koonwarra similar to the beautifully preserved feathered dinosaurs of northeastern China.

“To actually find the skeleton of a feathered dinosaur here in Australia would be amazing,” Poropat says. “And as far as we know, Koonwarra is the site from which it is likely to come.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/in-a-first-fossil-dinosaur-feathers-found-near-the-south-pole/ar-BBWWkd8

[CaaC (John)]

Archaeologists found ancient babies wearing skulls like helmets

Archaeologists in Ecuador have uncovered the remains of babies buried over 2,000 years ago. It would be an interesting find no matter the context, but these infants are leaving researchers scratching their heads for a very specific reason: The children were buried in “helmets” made from the skulls of other, older children.

The discovery is the subject of a new paper published in Latin American Antiquity. The team studying the site, led by Dr Sara Juengst, was left struggling to explain the symbolism behind the apparently rare custom, as it’s the first time archaeologists have found anything like it.

A total of 11 bodies were discovered at the ancient gravesite. Most of the remains were “normal,” but two infants buried there were laid to rest wearing the “cranial vaults” of others, specifically other older children. The researchers believe that these skull “helmets” were added at the time of burial, but they have no idea why.

The archaeologists can only guess what the reason behind this bizarre custom may have been. As LiveScience notes, the authors of the research have offered some interesting theories. One possible explanation is that the bone helmets were applied to protect the souls of the infants, who never had a chance to live their own lives.

It’s worth noting that scientists have also been unable to determine the causes of death. It’s unclear how the infants died, and the researchers are equally unsure of the cause of death of the children whose skulls were used as helmets.

Rituals and burial customs vary dramatically from one culture to the next, and when you’re looking back 2,100 years, some of the traditions carried out after a person’s death can seem incredibly bizarre to us. Whatever belief system led to this strange circumstance is unclear, but the archaeologists are continuing to explore possibilities.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/archaeologists-found-ancient-babies-wearing-skulls-like-helmets/ar-BBWZpvu

[CaaC (John)]

German scientists find a 44-million-year-old caterpillar

Scientists say it's the first time a fossil from a large butterfly species has been discovered preserved inside an ancient block of amber. They've described it as an "exceptional" find.

German researchers discovered a 44-million-year-old caterpillar, according to a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday.

The critter is the first caterpillar of its kind to be discovered in Baltic amber, according to researchers from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich.

The 5-millimetre (0.2-inch) larva has been given the name Eogeometer vadens under the family of Geometridae butterflies, which comprises around 23,000 different species.

Scientists said the little caterpillar likely got trapped in a drop of tree resin, which ultimately hardened into amber and preserved the worm's unique structure over millions of years.

"Caterpillar finds in amber are rarities in any instance, and this is the first-ever large butterfly fossil to be found in Baltic amber," study co-author Axel Hausmann said. "This may be due to the nocturnal activity of most caterpillars," he added, given that resin would likely be closer to liquid in direct sunlight or warmer daytime temperatures.

Unlike most other butterfly species, Geometridae caterpillars only have two or three pairs of legs instead of the usual five pairs. This means they move forward with an unusual gait — by pushing their hind legs to their rear legs, then stretching out and repeating the action.

The researchers said the fossil would provide an insight into evolutionary processes during the Eocene period (about 34-56 million years ago) when flowering plants butterfly species would have been interacting with were already well established.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/german-scientists-find-44-million-year-old-caterpillar/ar-BBX6z7a

[CaaC (John)]

American History Myths You Probably Believe

 

One common American history myth many believe is that the iconic cowboy hat has always been wide-brimmed, high-crowned. Yet Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang donned bowler hats in the late 19th century.

 

[CaaC (John)]

Nodosaur Dinosaur ‘Mummy’ Unveiled With Skin And Guts Intact

"We don't just have a skeleton," said one of the nodosaur researchers involved. "We have a dinosaur as it would have been."

The nodosaur is the crown jewel of a dino exhibit at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada. 

You can’t even see its bones, but scientists are hailing it as perhaps the best-preserved dinosaur specimen ever unearthed. That’s because those bones remain covered by intact skin and armour — 110 million years after the creature’s death.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada recently unveiled a dinosaur so well-preserved that many have taken to calling it not a fossil, but an honest-to-goodness “dinosaur mummy.”

With the creature’s skin, armour, and even some of its guts intact, researchers are astounded at its nearly unprecedented level of preservation.

“We don’t just have a skeleton,” Caleb Brown, a researcher at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, told National Geographic. “We have a dinosaur as it would have been.”

A National Geographic video about the nodosaur, the best-preserved fossil of its kind ever discovered.

When this dinosaur — a member of a newly discovered species called nodosaur — was alive, it was an enormous four-legged herbivore protected by a spiky, plated armour and weighed in at approximately 3,000 pounds.

Today, the mummified nodosaur is so intact that it still weighs 2,500 pounds.

How the dinosaur mummy could remain so intact is something of a mystery, although as CNN says, researchers suggest that the nodosaur may have been swept away by a flooded river and carried out to sea, where it eventually sank to the ocean floor.

As millions of years passed, minerals may have eventually taken the place of the dinosaur’s armour and skin. This might help explain why the creature was preserved in such a lifelike form.

How “lifelike” are we talking? According to Science Alert, the preservation was so good that researchers were able to find out the dinosaur’s skin colour.

By using mass spectrometry techniques, researchers detected pigments on the scales of the dinosaur. Apparently, the nodosaur’s colouring was a dark reddish-brown on the top of the body — and lighter on the underside.

The dinosaur was about 18 feet long and apparently built like a tank.

Scientists think the colouring was an early form of countershading — a camouflage technique that uses two tones to protect an animal from predators. Considering this dinosaur was a herbivore, its skin colour likely played a role in protecting it from the enormous carnivores of the time.

“Strong predation on a massive, heavily-armoured dinosaur illustrates just how dangerous the dinosaur predators of the Cretaceous must have been,” said Brown.

As if the preservation of skin, armour, and guts weren’t impressive enough, the dinosaur mummy is also unique in that it was preserved in three dimensions — meaning that the original shape of the animal was retained.

“It will go down in science history as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved dinosaur specimens — the Mona Lisa of dinosaurs,” said Brown.

The nodosaur has been described by some scientists as the “rhinoceros of its day.”

Although the nodosaur dinosaur mummy was exceptionally well-preserved, getting it to its current display form was still difficult. The creature was, in fact, first discovered in 2011 when a heavy-machine operator accidentally found the specimen while digging through oil sands in Alberta.

Since that lucky moment, it has taken researchers 7,000 hours over the course of six years to test the remains and prepare them for display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Now, visitors finally have the chance to gaze upon the closest thing to a real-life dinosaur that the world has likely ever seen.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/nodosaur-dinosaur-mummy?fbclid=IwAR23G0BehOEsqa6ftT-phKVvaamG6gx1lH13gq3sQEfGllycuOzPLRVNqQg

 

 

[CaaC (John)]

@Mel81x @Harry @Devil-Dick Willie @Toinho Oye, cobbers, are you four related to the following?...

 

Genetic Testing Reveals That The Earth’s Oldest Civilization Is The Aboriginal Australians

Australia's Aborigines have a long and rich history that stretches back nearly 60,000 years.

For thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians have lived throughout the continent. But new evidence reveals that their existence in the continent’s deserts dates back much further than previously believed.

The Oldest Civilization In The World

Aboriginal Australians became genetically isolated 58,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years before other ancestral groups, making them the world’s oldest civilization. They then settled in Australia around that time.

But a September 2018 study has extended the group’s history in the interior deserts of Western Australia by 10,000 years. Indeed, the ancient group’s connection to the interior part of the continent goes back much further than once believed, with new estimates that the group had been in the desert region for at least 50,000 years— which blows away previous estimates.

Researchers came to this conclusion while excavating nearly 25,000 stone artefacts from the desert rock shelter of Karnatukul. The objects spanned different uses and purposes as well as timelines. One particularly interesting discovery was that of an early microlith, a pointed tool with one sharp edge blunted.

FULL REPORT

Edited November 24, 2019 by CaaC (John)
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[CaaC (John)]

Dinosaurs: Restoring Mongolia's fossil heritage

Eighty million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, Mongolia's Gobi Desert was a dinosaur's paradise of vast valleys, freshwater lakes and a humid climate.

Mammal-eating velociraptors, lizard-hipped sauropods and spike-armoured ankylosaurs could have been spotted roaming in what are now the Martian red sandstone spires of Bayanzag's Flaming Cliffs.

These prehistorically favourable conditions make the Gobi Desert the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world.

Over almost 100 years of palaeontological research in the Gobi, more than 80 genera have been found. But for many people living there, this scientific heritage remains unknown.

"Putting a fence up is not protection; protection is people's knowledge," Mongolian palaeontologist Bolortsetseg Minjin explains as we wind through the Flaming Cliffs in search of signs of fossil poaching.

It was here, nearly a hundred years ago, that the world's first dinosaur egg nests were found by American scientist Roy Chapman Andrews - the whip-wielding, trilby-wearing inspiration for Indiana Jones.

This discovery was a turning point in the palaeontological history of the world - the first proof that dinosaurs laid eggs.

FULL REPORT

[Mel81x+]

3 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

@Mel81x @Harry @Devil-Dick Willie @Toinho Oye, cobbers, are you four related to the following?...

 

Genetic Testing Reveals That The Earth’s Oldest Civilization Is The Aboriginal Australians

Australia's Aborigines have a long and rich history that stretches back nearly 60,000 years.

FULL REPORT

The guy 2nd from left looks just like my uncle does when he sees us behaving like muppets at a family gathering. But, no I doubt it since I am from India and the rest are probably closer to the Aborigines. Maybe you meant @Spike?

[CaaC (John)]

8 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

The guy 2nd from left looks just like my uncle does when he sees us behaving like muppets at a family gathering. But, no I doubt it since I am from India and the rest are probably closer to the Aborigines. Maybe you meant @Spike?

I forgot about @Spike he is another fair dinkum Aussie.  

[Spike]

37 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

I forgot about @Spike he is another fair dinkum Aussie.  

I am not. However, there were over 200 language groups, so it was never really one civilisation.

[CaaC (John)]

9 minutes ago, Spike said:

I am not. However, there were over 200 language groups, so it was never really one civilisation.

Do you just live out there then @Spike, whereabouts?

[Spike]

32 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

Do you just live out there then @Spike, whereabouts?

I grew up in a small rural town named Cunnamulla. It's just north of the NSW border but firmly in South-West Queensland. There is a significant Indigenous population in that part of QLD not just in my town but all over. If you've got any questions I'd be more than happy to answer.

[CaaC (John)]

27 minutes ago, Spike said:

I grew up in a small rural town named Cunnamulla. It's just north of the NSW border but firmly in South-West Queensland. There is a significant Indigenous population in that part of QLD not just in my town but all over. If you've got any questions I'd be more than happy to answer.

We emigrated out to Aussie land in 58 and I grew up in Melbourne in Victoria, I have been to Sydney and did some body surfing at Bondi then made my way to Surfers Paradise for some more surfing, I was young then, fit and free as the wind, today I am in my 70's with sciatica, asthma, COPD and on heart tablets but I still plod along and enjoy life, our son has just flung me a tenner and said "here you are you old fart, go and buy you and ma some wine...", that will do me.      

[Spike]

1 hour ago, CaaC (John) said:

We emigrated out to Aussie land in 58 and I grew up in Melbourne in Victoria, I have been to Sydney and did some body surfing at Bondi then made my way to Surfers Paradise for some more surfing, I was young then, fit and free as the wind, today I am in my 70's with sciatica, asthma, COPD and on heart tablets but I still plod along and enjoy life, our son has just flung me a tenner and said "here you are you old fart, go and buy you and ma some wine...", that will do me.      

Well with that resume you wouldn't really be needing much storytelling about Oz but you'd probably drop dead at what Surfers has become these days. It's terribly built up, high-rise after high-rise, over-priced shops in a crowded plaza, traffic congestion, a huge casino just off in Broadbeach, drug trafficking, etc. It's still a beautfiul place to visit but even in my lifetime it feels like a different place altogether, like it isn't real but a facade. The entire South-East corner is really just a metropolis now, stretch north into the Sunshine Coast all through Brisbane, and over the border to the Tweed Heads. Even the hinterlands around the Gold Coast like Tambourine Mountain have become tourtist hotspots pricing out the locals. What used to be a sleepy hidden town in paradise is now another tourist trap. It's all depressing really, how crowded and 'big' Australia is becoming, it's losing a lot of local charm to commericalisation, and it only gets worse everytime I go home. I miss it everyday however and now I'm getting all worked up, feeling trapped in a winter-hell of Chicagoland.

[Toinho]

11 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

@Mel81x @Harry @Devil-Dick Willie @Toinho Oye, cobbers, are you four related to the following?...

 

Genetic Testing Reveals That The Earth’s Oldest Civilization Is The Aboriginal Australians

Australia's Aborigines have a long and rich history that stretches back nearly 60,000 years.

For thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians have lived throughout the continent. But new evidence reveals that their existence in the continent’s deserts dates back much further than previously believed.

The Oldest Civilization In The World

Aboriginal Australians became genetically isolated 58,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years before other ancestral groups, making them the world’s oldest civilization. They then settled in Australia around that time.

But a September 2018 study has extended the group’s history in the interior deserts of Western Australia by 10,000 years. Indeed, the ancient group’s connection to the interior part of the continent goes back much further than once believed, with new estimates that the group had been in the desert region for at least 50,000 years— which blows away previous estimates.

Researchers came to this conclusion while excavating nearly 25,000 stone artefacts from the desert rock shelter of Karnatukul. The objects spanned different uses and purposes as well as timelines. One particularly interesting discovery was that of an early microlith, a pointed tool with one sharp edge blunted.

FULL REPORT

I am the first born in Australia from my family so nope unfortunately not.

As @Spike said, even though they’re all Aboriginal Australians, there are many many different tribes. I’ll find a map...

[Toinho]

This is a language map.

But the south west corner of Australia is all Noongar people. However, in that you can see different language and tribes. 

In the small town I live, unfortunately they’re so disconnected to their own culture that they don’t even speak their own language outside of limited slang. 

If any of the Aussies here have heard of Nicky Winmar or Leroy Jetta, they’re from the town I am in. 

[Spike]

5 hours ago, Toinho said:

I am the first born in Australia from my family so nope unfortunately not.

As @Spike said, even though they’re all Aboriginal Australians, there are many many different tribes. I’ll find a map...

And get this @CaaC (John). The term ol' Anton here used is inappropriate and could be considered offensive. 'Language Nation' is the correct nomenclature

 

5 hours ago, Toinho said:

This is a language map.

But the south west corner of Australia is all Noongar people. However, in that you can see different language and tribes. 

In the small town I live, unfortunately they’re so disconnected to their own culture that they don’t even speak their own language outside of limited slang. 

If any of the Aussies here have heard of Nicky Winmar or Leroy Jetta, they’re from the town I am in. 

 

It's completely normal really. Which ultimately makes sense due to the sheer number of languages. They aren't as 'disconnected' as you think, their cultures just have changed to the modern world, just because they aren't dressed in paint doing a corroboree doesn't mean they don't understand their heritage or history, or practise others things like avoidance, dreamtime stories, music, art, sports, and so on. They have just had the unfortunate job to integrate into a modern world that didn't really want them, and to do it in a very short amount of time. But in my experiences most have a latent pride and understanding of their people, even if they have fallen into the wrong crowd or made the wrong choices. 

I mean if I were to emulate my heritage entirely, I'd either be a black-lunged coal miner or a serf digging a ditch somewhere in England, ahaha.

[CaaC (John)]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

As @Spike said, even though they’re all Aboriginal Australians, there are many many different tribes. I’ll find a map...

 

1 hour ago, Spike said:

And get this @CaaC (John). The term ol' Anton here used is inappropriate and could be considered offensive. 'Language Nation' is the correct nomenclature

 

Lol, I am sure Anton didn't mean it that way and believe it or not we use that expression here in Scotland when we have family or friends visiting and we will say " [whoever] is visiting [whenever] and bringing the tribe with them..." meaning all the family and kids. 

[CaaC (John)]

Mummified lion and dozens of cats among rare finds in Egypt

SLIDES - 1/3

A rare discovery of mummified big cats, cobras and crocodiles has been unveiled by Egyptian authorities.

Egyptologists are thrilled at the cache, which includes dozens of mummified cats, 75 wooden and bronze cat statues, mummified birds, and an enormous mummified beetle three to four times the normal size.

Egyptian officials hoped that the announcement would help to boost the country’s image abroad and encourage more tourists to return. “It’s a wonderful promotion for Egypt,” said Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s antiquities minister.

Of five large mummified wildcats, two have been identified as lion cubs; the remaining three will be analysed to determine their species.

“If it’s a cheetah, a leopard, a lioness, a panther – whatever, it will be one of its kind,” said Mostafa Waziry, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities.

The mummified large cats were found close to the remains of an adult mummified lion discovered beneath the Saqqara necropolis in 2004, and provide more information about the ancient Egyptians’ use of animals in worship.

Worshippers either believed that the mummified animals were deities to be worshipped, or mummified the creatures in order to offer them to the gods. “People would make devotional offerings in the form of animals as mummies,” said Dr Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist and mummy expert at the American University of Cairo. “This would have more potency as a blood sacrifice, compared to stone or wooden images.”

Ikram was elated by the new finds, which she estimated the date from the Ptolemaic period that ended in 30BCE. “I think it’s one of the most exciting series of finds in the world of animal mummies ever,” she said.

Egyptian officials hope the new discoveries will spark curiosity among potential visitors to the country in the run-up to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum close to the Saqqara necropolis. The long-delayed opening is expected next year, amid fervent hopes the project will help draw tourist numbers back to the highs of over 14 million visitors who came to the country in 2010, before the 2011 revolution which overthrew former autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Political instability and concerns about security drove down tourist numbers in the years following, dipping to record lows after the downing of Metrojet flights 7K9268 close to the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2016. In recent year there has been a surge in arrivals, with 11.3 million people visiting Egypt last year, according to local news reports. The UK recently lifted a ban on flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, that had been in place since 2016.

Egyptian officials are eager to promote cultural tourism to the country, attempting to sidestep its draconian international image following a recent crackdown on protests. At least 4,427 people were arrested following a brief spate of anti-government protests in September according to the Cairo-based NGO the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms. Egypt’s public prosecutor insisted that 1,000 were arrested.

Shortly before the finds on the Saqqara necropolis were unveiled to the public, Egyptian security forces raided the home of an editor at Egypt’s sole surviving independent news outlet Mada Masr.

Shady Zalat, who has worked at Mada Masr since 2014, was detained incommunicado. The outlet has come under intense pressure from the Egyptian authorities for its critical coverage, and access to its website has been blocked from inside Egypt since 2017.

“He has done nothing more than use words to report the news,” said Mada Masr in a statement. “His arrest marks yet another escalation in the crackdown against journalism in Egypt.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/mummified-lion-and-dozens-of-cats-among-rare-finds-in-egypt/ar-BBXeK1p

[Toinho]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

And get this @CaaC (John). The term ol' Anton here used is inappropriate and could be considered offensive. 'Language Nation' is the correct nomenclature

 

It's completely normal really. Which ultimately makes sense due to the sheer number of languages. They aren't as 'disconnected' as you think, their cultures just have changed to the modern world, just because they aren't dressed in paint doing a corroboree doesn't mean they don't understand their heritage or history, or practise others things like avoidance, dreamtime stories, music, art, sports, and so on. They have just had the unfortunate job to integrate into a modern world that didn't really want them, and to do it in a very short amount of time. But in my experiences most have a latent pride and understanding of their people, even if they have fallen into the wrong crowd or made the wrong choices. 

I mean if I were to emulate my heritage entirely, I'd either be a black-lunged coal miner or a serf digging a ditch somewhere in England, ahaha.

I don’t think you can generalize, you don’t know this community. They’re completely disconnected. They have no understanding or pride in their people. I can only talk about my town and the surrounds. Which I did. I don’t disagree with you though completely, what you’ve said is definitely a reflection of those around our cities over here. Or so it appears. Ie. Changing to modern world etc 

Sounds like I’m generalising myself (could argue I am!!) but this is what is happening here. This is what their own people say. I’m not here to argue, just trying to paint part of the picture for John. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Toinho