History

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Dinosaur ancestors 'may have been tiny'

Dinosaurs are often thought of as giant creatures, but new research adds to evidence they started out small.

The evidence comes from a newly described fossil relative found on Madagascar that lived some 237 million years ago and stood just 10cm tall.

The specimen may also help clarify the currently murky origins of pterosaurs, the winged reptiles that ruled the skies at the time of the dinosaurs.

The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"There's a general perception of dinosaurs as being giants," said co-author Christian Kammerer, from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

"But this new animal is very close to the divergence of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and it's shockingly small."

The specimen, named Kongonaphon kely, or "tiny bug slayer", was found in 1998 in Madagascar by a team of palaeontologists, led by John Flynn from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Dinosaurs and pterosaurs both belong to the group Ornithodira. Their origins, however, are poorly known, as few specimens from near the root of this lineage have been found.

Kongonaphon is not the first small fossil animal known near the root of the ornithodiran family tree but, previously, such specimens were considered isolated exceptions.

In general, scientists thought body size remained similar among the first archosaurs - the larger reptile group that includes birds, crocodilians, non-avian dinosaurs, and pterosaurs - and the earliest ornithodirans.

They are then thought to have increased to gigantic proportions in the dinosaur lineage.

"Analysing changes in body size throughout archosaur evolution, we found compelling evidence that it decreased sharply early in the history of the dinosaur-pterosaur lineage," Dr Kammerer said.

Wear on the teeth of Kongonaphon suggests it ate insects. A shift to this kind of diet, which is associated with small body size, may have helped early ornithodirans survive by occupying a niche different from their mostly meat-eating contemporaneous relatives.

The work also suggests that fuzz over the skin, ranging from simple filaments to feathers, known on both the dinosaur and pterosaur sides of the ornithodiran tree, may have originated for regulating body temperature in this small-bodied ancestor.

That's because heat retention in small bodies is difficult, and the mid-late Triassic Period, when the animal lived, was a time of climatic extremes. Researchers think there were sharp shifts in temperature between hot days and cold nights.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53319635

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Dromaeosaurid dinosaurs ‘not only lived in the Arctic but thrived there’

The findings are based on a ‘rare’ piece of dinosaur jawbone thought to a juvenile dromaeosaurid dinosaur.

Scientists believe they may have stumbled on new species of dinosaur that lived in the Arctic 70 million years ago when the region was warmer than it is now.

The findings are based on a “rare” piece of dinosaur jawbone thought to belong to a juvenile dromaeosaurid dinosaur, predatory animals closely related to birds.

Dromaeosaurids, whose members include the velociraptor, lived during the Cretaceous period, between 145-66 million years ago.

• 200 million-year-old fossil shows dinosaur ‘walked like a guineafowl’
• Asteroid impact ‘only plausible explanation’ for dinosaur extinction
• Revealed: the last supper of an armoured dinosaur

Teeth remains of these creatures have previously been found in North America, South America, and Asia but lack of bone fossil records have made it hard for palaeontologists to trace the paths the dromaeosaurids took as they dispersed between continents.

Many scientists believe the Arctic was a “migratory pathway” for many dinosaurs when they crossed between Asia and North America.

An artist’s impression of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs © Andrey Atuchin/Plos One

But researchers now say the discovery of the jawbone fossil of a juvenile appears to contradict these suggestions and believe the animals lived there all year round.

The palaentologists say that the early developmental stage of the bone suggests the young dromaeosaurid was born nearby, strong evidence that some of the dinosaurs were nesting there.

Fossil jawbone from Alaska is a rare case of a juvenile Arctic dromaeosaurid dinosaur © A. Chiarenza

Anthony R Fiorillo, of Southern Methodist University, and one of the authors of the study published in the journal Plos One, said: “Years ago when dinosaurs were first found in the far north, the idea challenged what we think we know about dinosaurs.

“For some time afterwards, there was a great debate as to whether or not those Arctic dinosaurs migrated or lived in the north year-round.

“All of those arguments were somewhat speculative in nature.

“This study of a predatory dinosaur jaw from a baby provides the first physical proof that at least some dinosaurs not only lived in the far north, but they thrived there.

“One might even say, our study shows that the ancient north was a great place to raise a family and now we have to figure out why.”

The location of Prince Creek Formation, where the dromaeosaurid jawbone fossil was found © SMU

The 14mm long fossil, which was found near the Arctic Ocean, is preserved at the Prince Creek Formation of northern Alaska, which hosts the world’s largest collection of polar dinosaur fossils.

It is the first known non-dental dromaeosaurid fossil from the Arctic.

Scientists say bones belonging to these dinosaurs are fragile and do not preserve well in the fossil record.

Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, of Imperial College London, and lead author on the study: “Even with such an incomplete jaw fragment, our team was not only able to work out the evolutionary relationships of this dinosaur, but also to picture something more on the biology of these animals, ultimately gaining more information on this Ancient Arctic ecosystem.”

Science Focus

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HS2 works unearth skeleton of possible iron age murder victim

Other finds include a lead-lined Roman coffin and Stonehenge-like wooden structure

 

 The skeleton discovered near Wellwick Farm with its hands bound. Photograph: HS2/PA

A skeleton believed to be a murder victim from the iron age has been discovered by archaeologists working on the HS2 project in Buckinghamshire.

HS2 said the find was made during excavation work at Wellwick Farm, near Wendover. Archaeologists found the skeleton of the adult male buried face down in a ditch with his hands bound together under his pelvis.

The unusual burial position suggested the man may have been the victim of a murder or execution, it said.

Osteologists were examining the skeleton for further evidence of foul play, HS2 said.

Work on the site for the high-speed rail project has also revealed a large circular monument of wooden posts 65 metres (213ft) in diameter, with features aligned with the winter solstice, similar to Stonehenge in Wiltshire; and a skeleton in a coffin lined in lead, an expensive material indicating high status.

Dr Rachel Wood, an archaeologist working on the project, said: “We already knew that Buckinghamshire is rich in archaeology, but discovering a site showing human activity spanning 4,000 years came as a bit of a surprise to us.

“The death of the Wellwick Farm man remains a mystery to us but there aren’t many ways you end up in a bottom of a ditch, face down, with your hands, bound. We hope our osteologists will be able to shed more light on this potentially gruesome death.”

She said the three discoveries helped to “bring alive the fact that people lived, worked and died in this area long before we came along”

The timber monument has features aligned to the winter solstice. Photograph: HS2/PA Media

The archaeological works had revealed evidence of human activity dating from the neolithic to the medieval period, HS2 said.

HS2’s lead archaeologist, Mike Court, said the discoveries would be shared with communities and the public through virtual lectures, open days, and in an upcoming documentary.

“We are uncovering a wealth of archaeology that will enrich our cultural heritage,” he said. “The sheer scale of possible discoveries, the geographical span and the vast range of our history to be  unearthed makes HS2’s archaeology programme a unique opportunity to tell the story of Buckinghamshire and Britain.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/11/hs2-works-unearth-skeleton-of-possible-iron-age-victim

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Aztec palace's remains uncovered off Mexico City's main Zócalo plaza

The remains of an ancient Aztec palace have been discovered under a stately building in Mexico City.

During renovations at the building off the capital's central Zócalo plaza, workers found basalt slab floors.

The floors were part of an open space in the palace of Aztec ruler Axayácatl, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said.

The palace was also used as the home of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés after the fall of the Aztec empire.

Excavators have found evidence of the home Cortés had at the palace site.

Archaeologists say it is likely to have reused materials from Axayácatl's palace - which, like other sacred Aztec buildings, was razed by the Spanish conquistadors.

Axayácatl reigned between 1469 and 1481 and was the father of Montezuma, one of the empire's last rulers.

"Below the subflooring of the house of Cortés, more than three metres deep, the remains of another floor of basalt slabs, but from pre-Hispanic times, were detected," INAH said.

"Given its characteristics, the specialists deduced that it was part of an open space in the former palace of Axayácatl, probably a courtyard."

Cortés arrived in what is now Mexico in 1518 as commander of a mission to explore the region - rumoured among Europeans to hold great wealth - for Spanish colonisation.

He and his men laid siege to the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán in 1521. When the city surrendered, the Spanish colonisers destroyed it.

The building which stands on the site now - the Nacional Monte de Piedad - is a historic pawnshop that was built in 1755.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-53397164

 

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The earliest evidence for humans in the Americas

Humans settled in the Americas much earlier than previously thought, according to new finds from Mexico.

They suggest people were living there 33,000 years ago, twice the widely accepted age for the earliest settlement of the Americas.

The results are based on work at Chiquihuite Cave, a high-altitude rock shelter in central Mexico.

Archaeologists found thousands of stone tools suggesting the cave was used by people for at least 20,000 years.

Ice age

During the second half of the 20th Century, a consensus emerged among North American archaeologists the Clovis people had been the first to reach the Americas, about 11,500 years ago.

The Clovis were thought to have crossed a land bridge linking Siberia to Alaska during the last ice age.

This land bridge subsequently disappeared underwater as the ice melted.

And these big-game hunters were thought to have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna - large mammals such as mammoth, mastodon and various species of bear that roamed the region until the end of the last ice age.

Break down

As the "Clovis First" idea took hold, reports of earlier human settlement were dismissed as unreliable and archaeologists stopped looking for signs of earlier occupation.

But in the 1970s, this orthodoxy started to break down.

In the 1980s, solid evidence for a 14,500-year-old human presence at Monte Verde, Chile, emerged.

And since the 2000s, other pre-Clovis sites have become widely accepted - including the 15,500-year-old Buttermilk Creek site in central Texas.

Now, Ciprian Ardelean, from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico, Tom Higham, from the University of Oxford, and colleagues have found evidence of human occupation stretching back far beyond that date, at the Chiquihuite site in the central-northern Mexican Highlands.

"This is a unique site, we've never seen anything like it before," Prof Higham said.

"The stone-tool evidence is very, very compelling.

"Anyone can see that these are deliberately manufactured stone tools and there are lots of them.

"The dating - which is my job - is robust.

"And so, it's a very exciting site to have been involved in."

Dating techniques

The team excavated a 3m-deep (10ft) stratigraphic section - a sequence of soil layers arranged in the order they were deposited - and found some 1,900 stone artefacts made over thousands of years.

Researchers were able to date bone, charcoal and sediment associated with the stone tools, using two scientific dating techniques.

The first, radiocarbon dating, relies on the way a radioactive form of the element carbon (carbon-14) is known to decay over time.

The second, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), works by measuring the last time sediments were exposed to light.

Using two different techniques "added a lot of credibility and strength, particularly to the older part of the chronology", Prof Higham said.

"The optical dates and [radiocarbon] dates are in good agreement," he said.

And the findings could lead scientists to take a fresh look at controversial early occupation sites elsewhere in the Americas.

"In Brazil, there are several sites where you have stone tools that look robust to me and are dated 26-30,000, similar dates to the Chiquihuite site," Prof Higham said.

"This could be an important discovery that could stimulate new work to find other sites in the Americas that date to this period."

Native Americans

The scientists also used "environmental DNA" techniques to look for human genetic material in the cave sediments.

But they could not find a strong enough signal.

Previous DNA evidence has shown the Clovis settlers shared many similarities with modern Native Americans.

And scientists will now want to understand how these older populations relate to later human groups who inhabited the continent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53486868

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NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland

Kelp found off Scotland dates back 16,000 years to last ice age

Scientists have discovered kelp off the coast of Scotland, Ireland and France that has survived since the last ice age, around 16,000 years ago.

Experts from Heriot-Watt University's Orkney campus analysed the genetic composition of oarweed from 14 areas across the northern Atlantic ocean.

The team found three distinct genetic clusters.

It is hoped the discovery could help show how marine plant life survives extreme changes in climate.

Dr Andrew Want collected samples from Kirkwall Bay, near his home.

The marine ecologist said the "refugee populations" managed to hang on and survive "amid dramatic changes".

'Critical role'

Dr Want, who is based at Heriot-Watt's International Centre for Island Technology in Orkney, said: "Oarweed in Scotland and Ireland is more closely related to populations in the high Arctic than to the Brittany cluster.

"As the ice sheets retreated from northern European shorelines at the end of the most recent ice age, oarweed distribution followed and recolonised the higher latitudes of the Atlantic.

"Kelp plays a critical role in the Atlantic so it is important to understand what affects its distribution and survival over time and how sensitive it is to change."

The research team, which included academics based in Portugal and France, found one distinct genetic cluster along the eastern seaboard of Canada and the US.

Another was discovered in central and northern Europe and a third compact population around Brittany.

'Rapidly-changing temperatures'

Dr Want said the "Brittany population" is once again close to the other populations but has managed to remain distinct.

He added: "Worryingly, this unique Brittany gene pool is projected to disappear under greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

"This provides further evidence of the loss of biodiversity expected with rapidly changing marine temperatures."

The team's findings have been published in the European Journal of Phycology.

Dr Joao Neiva, from Algarve's Centre of Marine Sciences, said: "Our study shows how marine organisms adjust to shifting climates by migrating polewards and even across the Atlantic when conditions are favourable.

"These migrations provide a mechanism by which marine life buffers the effects of global climatic shifts, and how they can compensate for predictable contractions at warmer limits as the modern climatic crisis unfolds.

"While the species may not be threatened at global scales, range contractions can have very negative impacts if vanishing ranges are composed of unique and diverse populations.

"This is certainly the case off the coast of Brittany."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-53558308

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Metal detector user uncovers ‘significant’ Bronze Age artefacts less than 2ft underground

‘I was shaking with happiness,’ says treasure hunter after discovering pre-Christian items 

A metal detectorist has discovered a rare hoard of Bronze Age artefacts, which experts describe as “nationally significant”, in the Scottish Borders.

Mariusz Stepien was searching a field near Peebles with friends when he found a bronze object buried half a metre (1ft 8in) underground.

Archaeologists spent 22 days investigating, building a shelter to protect the find from the elements. Mr Stepien and his friends camped out there.

They uncovered a complete horse harness, preserved by the soil, and a sword dated to 1,000 to 900 BC.

The Bronze Age in Britain ran from about 2,000BC to about 650BC.

Mr Stepien said: “I thought ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before’ and felt from the very beginning that this might be something spectacular, and I’ve just discovered a big part of Scottish history.

“I was over the moon, actually shaking with happiness.

“We wanted to be a part of the excavation from the beginning to the end.

“I will never forget those 22 days spent in the field. Every day there were new objects coming out which changed the context of the find, every day we learned something new.

“I’m so pleased that the earth revealed to me something that was hidden for 3,000 years. I still can’t believe it happened.”

All newly discovered ancient objects in Scotland belong to the Crown and must be reported to the Treasure Trove Unit, which Mr Stepien did.

The archaeologists also found decorated straps, buckles, rings, ornaments and chariot wheel axle caps.

Evidence of a decorative “rattle pendant” from the harness was also discovered — the first one to be found in Scotland and only the third in the UK.

Some of the pre-Christian objects found (PA)

The hoard has been taken to the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh.

Emily Freeman, head of the Treasure Trove Unit, said: “This is a nationally significant find — so few Bronze Age hoards have been excavated in Scotland.

“It was an amazing opportunity for us to not only recover bronze artefacts but organic material as well.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to assess the artefacts and understand why they were deposited.”

In 1990, a hoard of late Bronze Age items was found at St Andrews in Scotland. As well as at least 200 tools, it included weapons, ornaments, and specimens of plant fibre textiles.

In 2015 a major excavation in Cambridgeshire revealed the remains of a remarkably intact Bronze Age settlement, made up of timber roundhouses raised on stilts above the marshy ground.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/metal-detector-bronze-age-find-scotland-peebles-treasure-trove-a9661871.html

 

 

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Europe's earliest bone tools found in Britain

Archaeologists say they've discovered the earliest known bone tools in the European archaeological record.

The implements come from the renowned Boxgrove site in West Sussex, which was excavated in the 1980s and 90s.

The bone tools came from a horse that humans butchered at the site for its meat.

Flakes of stone in piles around the animal suggest at least eight individuals were making large flint knives for the job.

FULL REPORT

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New dinosaur related to T. rex discovered on the Isle of Wight

A new species of dinosaur has been discovered on the Isle of Wight.

Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton believe four bones found at Shanklin last year belong to a new species of theropod dinosaur.

It lived in the Cretaceous period, 115 million years ago, and is estimated to have been up to 4m (13ft) long.

It has been named Vectaerovenator inopinatus and belongs to the group of dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and modern-day birds.

The name refers to the large air spaces found in some of the bones - from the neck, back and tail of the creature - which is one of the traits that helped the scientists identify its theropod origins.

These air sacs, also seen in modern birds, were extensions of the lung, and it is likely they "helped fuel an efficient breathing system while also making the skeleton lighter", the University of Southampton said.

The fossils were found in three separate discoveries in 2019 and handed into the nearby Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown, where they are being displayed.

Robin Ward, a regular fossil hunter from Stratford-upon-Avon, was visiting the Isle of Wight with his family when they made their discovery.

"The joy of finding the bones we discovered was absolutely fantastic," he said.

James Lockyer, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, was also visiting the island when he found another of the bones.

"It looked different from marine reptile vertebrae I have come across in the past," he said.

"I was searching a spot at Shanklin and had been told, and read, that I wouldn't find much there.

"However, I always make sure I search the areas others do not, and on this occasion, it paid off."

Paul Farrell, from Ryde, added: "I was walking along the beach, kicking stones and came across what looked like a bone from a dinosaur.

"I was really shocked to find out it could be a new species."

'Delicate skeleton'

Chris Barker, who led the University of Southampton study, said: "We were struck by just how hollow this animal was - it's riddled with air spaces.

"Parts of its skeleton must have been rather delicate.

"The record of theropod dinosaurs from the 'mid' Cretaceous period in Europe isn't that great, so it's been really exciting to be able to increase our understanding of the diversity of dinosaur species from this time.

"You don't usually find dinosaurs in the deposits at Shanklin as they were laid down in a marine habitat. You're much more likely to find fossil oysters or driftwood, so this is a rare find indeed."

It is likely that the Vectaerovenator lived in an area just north of where its remains were found, with the carcass having washed out into the shallow sea nearby.

The university findings are due to be published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology and co-authored by those who discovered the fossils.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-53738762

 

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Tiny elephant shrew species, missing for 50 years, rediscovered

The speedy Somali sengi had been lost to science until an expedition to Djibouti

A mouse-sized elephant shrew that had been lost to science for 50 years has been discovered alive and well in the Horn of Africa.

The Somali sengi mates for life, can race around at 30km/h and sucks up ants with its trunk-like nose. But it had not been documented by researchers since 1968.

In 2019 scientists set out to search for the animal following tips from the region, but not in Somalia, from where the only past reports had come, but in neighbouring Djibouti. Locals were able to identify the creature from old photographs with Houssein Rayaleh, of Association Djibouti Nature, saying he had seen the animal before.

FULL REPORT

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Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey

Fragments of stone engraved with abstract designs found on Jersey are the earliest known art in the British Isles, researchers say.

They were made by hunter-gatherers who lived between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago.

The designs were scratched into small ornamental tablets known as plaquettes; similar examples have been found in France, Spain and Portugal.

The 10 plaquettes were unearthed at Les Varines, Jersey, between 2014 and 2018.

Since the discoveries in the south-east of the island, scientists from London's Natural History Museum, the University of Newcastle and University of York have been analysing the prehistoric markings.

The researchers, who have published their findings in the journal Plos One, now believe they represent the earliest evidence of artistic expression in the British Isles.

The designs consist of straight lines more or less in parallel and longer, curved incisions. The two types of marks were probably produced by the same tools, in short succession - perhaps by the same engraver.

FULL REPORT

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Ancient Egypt: Mummified animals 'digitally unwrapped' in 3D scans

VIDEO

Three mummified animals from ancient Egypt have been digitally unwrapped and dissected by researchers using high-resolution 3D scans.

The snake, bird and cat, from the Egypt Centre's collection at Swansea University, are at least 2,000 years old.

Ancient texts suggest they were offerings to the souls of the departed, but little was known of their fate.

Researchers said the details revealed by the scans were "extraordinary".

Using micro CT scanners, which generate 3D images with 100 times the resolution of medical CT scans, the animals' remains were analysed in previously unseen detail, giving an insight into how they were killed and the ritual behind it.

FULL REPORT

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Fossilised dinosaur skull reveals the adorable appearance of baby sauropods

The skull reveals surprising differences to adult sauropods.

The first 3D scan of a sauropod embryo’s skull has revealed what these gigantic dinosaurs looked like as tiny hatchlings.

Sauropods are a family of dinosaurs that are instantly recognisable from their small heads and their long, sweeping necks and tails – Diplodocus and Brontosaurus are two of the best-known examples.

The first sauropod embryos were discovered around 25 years ago in an 80-million-year-old nesting ground of titanosaurs (a group of especially large sauropods) at a site called Auca Mahuevo in the Patagonian region of Argentina.

The newly-analysed skull also belongs to a titanosaur from Patagonia, although the researchers don’t know exactly where, as the fossilised egg that it was found in was originally smuggled out of the country, and only came to the researchers’ attention later on.

The team used an X-ray imaging technology called synchrotron microtomography to analyse the inner structure of the skull’s bones, teeth and soft tissue. This uncovered hidden details such as tiny teeth preserved deeply in the jaw sockets, and what appear to be the remains of chewing muscles.

The Titanosaurian embryo skull along with a skull and head reconstruction © Kundrat et al. /Current Biology

The position of the embryo’s eye sockets also suggests that, unlike adults, the freshly hatched sauropods may have had a form of binocular vision, in which the slightly different images from each eye give an improved depth perception – perhaps helping it to better detect predators. The embryo also has an unusual horn at the tip of its face, which isn’t present in adults.

“Our study revealed several new aspects about the embryonic life of the largest herbivorous dinosaurs that lived on our planet,” said study leader Dr Martin Kundrát, a palaeobiologist at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Slovakia. “A horned faced and binocular vision are features quite different from what we expected in titanosaurian dinosaurs.”

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/fossilised-dinosaur-skull-reveals-adorable-appearance-of-baby-sauropods/

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Bear from Ice Age found 'completely preserved' in the Russian Arctic

The immaculately preserved remains of an Ice Age-era bear have been unearthed by reindeer herders in the Russian Arctic, researchers have said.

The bear was revealed by the melting permafrost on the Lyakhovsky Islands in north-eastern Russia.

With its teeth and nose intact, the bear is thought to be a species of brown bear that lived 22,000 to 39,500 years ago.

It will be studied at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in the city of Yakutsk.

FULL REPORT

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Vast DNA Analysis of Hundreds of Vikings Reveals They Weren't Who We Thought

What is a Viking? The word conjures an unmistakable mental image: the stereotype of bold Scandinavian invaders, fearsome marauders with white skin and pale hair, ruthlessly raiding and voyaging their way across the globe over 1,000 years ago.

Only, there is a mistake, after all, it seems – crucial details in this longstanding legend are wrong, new research reveals. According to a large genetic analysis of over 400 Viking skeletons scattered across Europe, many Vikings weren't of Scandinavian ancestry, and many would have had dark hair, not blonde.

FULL REPORT

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Egypt tomb: Sarcophagi buried for 2,500 years unearthed in Saqqara

A total of 27 sarcophagi buried more than 2,500 years ago have been unearthed by archaeologists in an ancient Egyptian necropolis.

An Egyptian official, Mostafa Waziri, inspecting one of the coffins, decorated with colourful ornate patterns. Photo: AFP/ Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The stone coffins were found inside a newly-discovered well at a sacred site in the ancient Saqqara burial ground, south of Cairo.

Thirteen coffins were discovered earlier this month, but a further 14 have followed, officials say. The discovery is now said by experts to be one of the largest of its kind.

Images released show colourfully painted well-preserved wooden coffins and other smaller artefacts.

Saqqara was an active burial ground for more than 3,000 years and is a designated Unesco World Heritage Site.

One of the coffins from a burial complex in the necropolis of Saqqara. Photo: AFP/ Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

"Initial studies indicate that these coffins are completely closed and haven't been opened since they were buried," Egypt's antiquities ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

'More secrets'

The statement adds that Egypt's Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani initially delayed announcing the find until he could visit the site himself, where he thanked staff for working in difficult conditions down the 11 metres deep well.

The ministry said it hoped to reveal "more secrets" at a press conference in the coming days.

One of the smaller artefacts found with the coffins in Saqqara. Photo: AFP/ Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

Other artefacts discovered around the wooden coffins also appeared to be well-crafted and colourfully decorated.

Saqqara, located around 30km south of Cairo, served as the necropolis for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt, for more than two millennia.

In recent years, Egypt has ramped up its promotion of its archaeological finds in a bid to revive its vital but flagging tourism industry.

One of the smaller artefacts found with the coffins in Saqqara. Photo: AFP/ Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/426559/egypt-tomb-sarcophagi-buried-for-2-500-years-unearthed-in-saqqara

 

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Mastodon fossil discovered in Colombian gold mine

Fossil remains of a mastodon found by miners inside a gold mine in Risaralda, Colombia.

Bogota (Reuters) - Fossils of a mastodon, a giant prehistoric relative of today's elephants, have been discovered at an artisanal gold mine in central Colombia in a find which researchers say could herald a trove of similar specimens.

Gold miners working a tunnel near the town of Quinchia, in Risaralda province, came across what they soon realized were bones on Tuesday.

The discovery is the first of its kind in the province but mastodon remains have also been found in Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca provinces, as well as along Colombia's Atlantic coast, said Carlos Lopez, an anthropologist at a university in Risaralda's capital Pereira.

"These animals attract attention due to their large size - a giant bone doesn't go unnoticed," Lopez said. "It really takes us in a time machine ... to think about what they were like and how they lived, and if humans lived alongside them."

Experts study the mastodon remains and remove those still inside the mine, where a complete tusk measuring 1 meter 10 centimetres (3.5 feet) long can still be seen.

"They sent us some photos, which we sent to expert anthropologists in the area and they determined they belonged to megafauna ... that died out between 2 million and 10,000 years ago," said Julio Gomez, director of the regional environmental authority for Risaralda.

The discovery could herald similar finds in the region.

"More (remains) could be found," Lopez said. "These animals lived in herds, they didn't live alone, a little like the herds of elephants we see in Africa today."

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/24/americas/colombia-mastadon-gold-mine-scn-intl/index.html

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Quote

Toothless dinosaur with just two fingers discovered

A new species of toothless dinosaur that had just two fingers on each arm has been discovered in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found multiple skeletons of the species, named Oksoko avarsan.

The feathered creature, which dates from about one hundred million years ago, also had a large, toothless beak.

The team said the discovery could help explain how animals lose fingers and toes through evolution.

They said the species had one fewer finger on each forearm compared with its close relatives, suggesting adaptability that enabled the animals to spread during the Late Cretaceous Period.

Several complete skeletons of the feathered, omnivorous creatures were unearthed.

The animals, which grew to two meters long, had a large, toothless beak similar to the type seen in parrots.

It is the first evidence of digit loss in the three-fingered family of dinosaurs, known as oviraptors.

The team said the discovery that the dinosaurs could evolve forelimb adaptations suggested they could alter their diets and lifestyles, and potentially diversify and multiply.

The team also discovered that Oksoko avarsan, like many other prehistoric species, were social as juveniles.

The fossil remains of four young dinosaurs were preserved resting together.

Dr Gregory Funston, of the University of Edinburgh's school of geosciences, said the discovery shed light on how a group of parrot-like animals thrived more than 68 million years ago.

"Oksoko avarsan is interesting because the skeletons are very complete and the way they were preserved resting together shows that juveniles roamed together in groups.

"But more importantly, its two-fingered hand prompted us to look at the way the hand and forelimb changed throughout the evolution of oviraptors, which hadn't been studied before.

"This revealed some unexpected trends that are a key piece in the puzzle of why oviraptors were so diverse before the extinction that killed the dinosaurs."

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, was funded by The Royal Society and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada.

It also involved researchers from the University of Alberta and Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum in Canada, Hokkaido University in Japan, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-54448253

 

 

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'Rare' Sir Isaac Newton work found on bookshelf sells for £22k

A first edition copy of Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in English has sold at auction for £22,000.

The "rare" volumes were found on a bookshelf in a house in South Wales during a lockdown clear out.

Auctioneer, Chris Albury said he "almost fell off" his chair when he realised it was "the greatest work of science in the English language".

He said: "It wasn't the best copy in the world but it was complete."

The book was sold to a buyer in New York and exceeded the £15,000 to £20,000 guide price.

Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy is generally described as the greatest work in the history of science.

In it, the physicist explains how objects move and lay the foundations of his theory of gravity.

Mr Albury, from Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, said it was "very hard to say" how many of the 1729 first edition in English were in existence but it was "rare".

"The print run must have been in the mid to high hundreds," he said.

"Obviously a lot are in institutions now so they don't turn up for auction anywhere in the world very often."

He said the "lucky seller" was "jumping around and punching the air" when they found out they had hit the "jackpot".

"It was on their shelves and they were looking for things to sell while they were in lockdown," he said.

"It's two volumes and if there's one page missing, it all goes out the window so they came and watched me collate it and spent 40 nervous minutes until I closed the second volume and said it's complete and worth £15k."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-54452971

 

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The world's earliest 'babies' were fish from Orkney

The earliest "babies" known to science have been uncovered in the remains of a primitive fish found in Orkney.

Researchers say the unborn embryos discovered in a fossil from the island of South Ronaldsay date from 385 million years ago.

The Watsonosteus fletti, now part of the National Museums of Scotland collection, gave birth to live young.

The tiny remains were discovered when scientists looked at slices cut through rock formed in the Mid-Devonian epoch.

They are at least three million years older than the previous record holders - fossilised embryos from Australia.

FULL REPORT

 

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12-year-old boy makes 'significant' dinosaur discovery

Discovery was made at Horseshoe Canyon in the Alberta Prairies

A 12-year-old boy in Canada has found fossils that palaeontologists have hailed as a “significant” dinosaur discovery.

The discovery was made at Horseshoe Canyon in the Alberta Prairies, according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“In July, 12-year-old aspiring palaeontologist Nathan Hrushkin and his father, Dion, discovered the partially exposed bones while hiking on the conservation site,” said the Nature Conservancy, in a statement last week. “They sent photos of their find to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, who identified that the bones belonged to a young hadrosaur, commonly known as a duck-billed dinosaur.”

The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of experts to the conservation site, who uncovered between 30 and 50 bones from the canyon’s wall.

“All of the bones collected belong to a single specimen, a juvenile hadrosaur approximately three or four years old,” the Nature Conservancy said, in the statement. “While hadrosaurs are the most common fossils found in Alberta’s Badlands, this particular specimen is noteworthy because few juvenile skeletons have been recovered and also because of its location in the strata, or the rock formation.”

INCREDIBLE DINOSAUR DISCOVERY: HERD OF OPAL-ENCRUSTED DINOS UNCOVERED

The fossils are believed to be 69 million years old.

12-year-old Nathan Hrushkin discovered the fossils. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and NatureConservancy.ca)

“My dad and I have been visiting this property for a couple of years, hoping to find a dinosaur fossil, and we’ve seen lots of little bone fragments,” said aspiring palaeontologist Nathan Hrushkin, in the statement. “This year I was exploring higher up the canyon and found about four bones. We sent pictures and to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and François, the palaeontologist who replied, was able to identify one of the bones as a humerus from the photos so we knew we’d found something this time.”

 

https://www.foxnews.com/science/12-year-old-boy-makes-significant-dinosaur-discovery

 

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Let the Eurasian games begin

Ball sports were played much earlier than thought.

This area of northwest China may have been the venue for Eurasia’s oldest ball games.

A team of Swiss, German and Chinese researchers has used radiocarbon dating to analyse three leather balls found in graves in a cemetery near the modern city of Turfan and dated them to between 1189 and 911 BCE.

That’s not old by global standards; the oldest balls currently known about were made in Egypt some 4500 years ago when field hockey was among the favoured pastimes.

However, the Turfan balls – which range in size from 7.4 to 9.2 centimetres – “predate other currently known antique balls and images of ball games in Eurasia by several centuries”, the authors write in a paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

There is insufficient evidence to suggest whether they were kicked, thrown or rolled, but the researchers, led by Patrick Wertmann from the University of Zurich, say it is likely they were part of team and goal games.

They also note that the age of the balls coincides with the spread of horse riding in Central Asia.

Two were found in the graves of horsemen, and one of the graves also included the preserved remains of a composite bow and a pair of trousers, which were made in the region at that time and are among the oldest in the world.

Both are signs, the researchers say, of a new era of horse riding, equestrian warfare and fundamental societal transformations which accompanied increasing environmental changes and a rising mobility in the region.

“Given that ball games from ancient times were considered an excellent form of physical exercise and military training, we suggest that balls (and ball games) appeared in the region at the same time as horseback riding and mounted warfare began to spread in the eastern part of Central Asia,” they write.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/let-the-games-begin/

 

 

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Ancrum Old Bridge rediscovered beneath the River Teviot

One of the "most important structures of medieval Scotland" has been rediscovered after being hidden beneath a Borders river for centuries.

Two years of work have led to the discovery of the "lost" medieval bridge in the River Teviot near Ancrum.

Experts, using radiocarbon dating, have confirmed it is from the mid-1300s.

They said that makes them the oldest scientifically-dated bridge remains found in their original position across one of Scotland's rivers.

FULL REPORT

 

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Study puts Denisovans on roof of the world

Findings expand understanding of humans in eastern Asia.

Excavation in Baishiya Karst Cave. Credit: All photos Yuanyuan Han, Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

DNA evidence has confirmed that a cave on the Tibetan Plateau was once home to Denisovans, an ancient species of humans whose remains had previously only been found in Siberia.

The research, led by China’s Lanzhou University and published in the journal Science, shows that these close cousins of Neanderthals occupied the cave from at least 100,000 years ago – possibly as far back as 190,000 years ago – and used it until at least 60,000 years ago.

This has interesting implications for the timing and movement of hominins through Asia.

“We have known that some modern human genomes contain fragments of DNA from Denisovans, suggesting that this species of human must have been widespread in Asia,” says Bo Li, co-author and dating specialist from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Denisovan DNA is found in a higher percentage in Austronesian populations, including Melanesians, Aboriginal Australians, and Papuans.

Actual physical remains of Denisovans are exceedingly rare, however: limited to teeth and some bone fragments in a single cave in Siberia.

Dry sieving in the excavation

Recently, a mandible (lower jawbone) was recovered from the Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau, 2800 kilometres away. A 2019 study tenuously identified the mandible as Denisovan based on a single amino acid position, but researchers wanted harder evidence and so embarked upon deeper studies of the cave site.

The international team, including archaeologists, geologists and geneticists from China, Germany, the US and Australia, did not find further hominin bones but did find Denisovan DNA within the soil of the cave. They also discovered a rich deposit of charcoal from fires, animal bones including from rhinos and hyenas, and 1310 simple stone tools.

The stone tool artefacts can be dated to more than 190,000 years ago and as recently as 45,000 years ago.

Li, who led the dating process with colleagues from the University of Wollongong, explains how the team was able to extract genetic information not from fossils, but from the cave’s soil.

“We detected ancient human fragments that matched mitochondrial DNA associated with Denisovans in four different layers of sediment deposited around 100,000 and 60,000 years ago,” he says.

“Interestingly, we found that the hominin DNA from 60,000 years ago share the closest genetic relationship to the Denisova 3 and 4 specimens sampled from Denisova Cave [in Siberia]. In contrast, the DNA dating to 100,000 years ago shows evidence that those Denisovans separated earlier from the lineage leading to Denisova 3 and 4.”

Together, the DNA and artefacts constitute firm evidence for the long-term habitation of Denisovans on the Tibetan Plateau.

Since this new site is not only geographically distant from the Siberian cave but also at a much higher altitude – 3280 metres above sea level – these ancient hominins likely lived across a range of environments and were far more widespread than current physical evidence represents.

This also indicates that the mixture of Denisovan genes into other hominin populations may have contributed to the high-altitude adaptations seen in modern Tibetan people.

According to Li, there is a lot more to learn from the site. “Our next target is to date more samples from the cave and try to answer when Denisovans started to occupy the cave and when they ‘disappear’ from the cave.”

Flakes found in Baishiya Karst Cave

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/study-puts-denisovans-on-roof-of-the-world/

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by CaaC (John)