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Parthenon centaur has a mystery head feature

A centaur head from Parthenon temple, National Museum of Denmark. Note the brown stain over half of the face Credit: John Lee, National Museum of Denmark

A marble head belonging to a centaur statue from the ancient Greek Parthenon has a substance on it that continues to stump scientists.

The head, which has been housed in Denmark since 1688, is partly coated with a thin brown film that matches similar coatings found on parts of the Parthenon.

 

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Garden cities, 2500 years old, concealed in the upper Amazon

The Upano river, in Ecuador. Credit: JarnoVerdonk / Getty Images

Archaeologists have used a combination of fieldwork and LIDAR technology to uncover evidence of a 2,500-year-old settlement in the upper Amazon.

The dense network of urban centres, the largest known in Amazonia, sits in the Upano Valley of Ecuador, in the eastern foothills of the Andes.

It was occupied from about 500 BCE to 300-600 CE, according to evidence from the sites.

 

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Human fossil discovery upends history of Palaeolithic Europe

 A surprise discovery of human remains in a German cave has “fundamentally changed” the story of our species’ migration into Europe.

It suggests that Homo sapiens likely made it to Northern Europe 47,500 years ago, overlapping humans’ presence with Neanderthals.

The detailed analysis of stone tools from a re-excavated cave near the German village of Ranis, about 240km southwest of Berlin, was conducted by a large group led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Their findings were published today across three major research papers in the journal Nature.

 

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Rare 3D tree fossil “unlike any alive today”

 A 352-million-year-old tree fossil has been discovered in Canada which resembles nothing that we have ever seen before.

The find is also very rare because, unlike most fossilised trees, it shows what the overall tree’s form would have looked like. Usually, only the trunks of trees fossilise. This doesn’t reveal the tree’s canopy or how it might have looked overall.

 

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Pterosaur: Unique flying reptile soared above Isle of Skye

 A unique species of flying reptile, or pterosaur, that lived 168-166 million years ago has been discovered on the Isle of Skye.

Its wings, shoulders, legs and backbone were found in a rock on a beach, but the fossil's skull was missing.

Scientists were surprised to find a pterosaur from this period - they were thought to mostly live in China.

 

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Dinosaur Island: 40 years of discoveries on Skye

Forty years ago a scientific paper written by a young student revealed for the first time the presence of dinosaur fossils on the Isle of Skye.

Since then, a whole host of discoveries have been made including a "dinosaur disco" made up of dozens of footprints, a bone from an ancestor of the T-rex and the fossils of winged reptiles called pterosaurs.

 

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Dolphin which imprisoned fish 22 million years ago found in New Zealand

 A newly discovered prehistoric dolphin appears to have had a unique method for catching its prey.

Aureia rerehua was found in the Hakataramea Valley in the South Canterbury region of New Zealand’s south island. It was uncovered in a limestone quarry in a layer of sediment that dates to 22–23 million years ago (mya).

It is described in a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

 

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Fossil reveals 240 million year-old 'dragon'

Scientists have revealed a new, remarkably complete fossil - a 16ft (5m)-long aquatic reptile from the Triassic period.

The creature dates back 240 million years and has been dubbed a "dragon" because of its extremely long neck.

It is called Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, a species that was originally identified back in 2003.

 

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Newly discovered Australian beetle almost mistaken for bird poo

What's red, black, and hairy all over? A new species of bug discovered in Australia, dubbed by some as a "punk beetle" for its shaggy white locks.

A Queensland researcher spotted the fluffy specimen by chance while camping and initially mistook it for bird poo.

"It's very unique. There are not many insects out there that have that trait," James Tweed told the BBC.

 

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Fossil of largest ever river dolphin found in Amazon

Researchers have found the fossilised skull of the largest ever river dolphin. While found in the Peruvian Amazon, the ancient dolphin’s closest living relatives are in South Asia.

Pebanista yacuruna would have measured between 3 and 3.5 m. The skull of the extinct animal was found in 2018 along the Rio Napo near Peru’s border with Colombia, more than 1,000 km northeast of the capital Lima. It is described in a paper published in the journal Science Advances......

 

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93 million-year-old crocodile fossil discovered with baby dinosaur in its stomach

The fossil of a  93 million year-old crocodile was discovered by scientists in Queensland, Australia - and it had a baby dinosaur in its stomach. The archaeology experts dubbed the ancient creature Confractosuchus Sauroktonos, which means 'broken crocodile dinosaur killer'.

Gondwana Research's report says the huge crocodile could have grown to about 2.5m and may have died in a flood. The fossil is thought to be around 35 per cent preserved, with a "near-complete skull" and scary teeth still there for us to see.

 

 

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Pompeii: Breathtaking new paintings found at ancient city

The frescos depict Greek mythology: Paris kidnaps Helen which triggers the Trojan War

Stunning artworks have been uncovered in a new excavation at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried in an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

Archaeologists say the frescos are among the finest to be found in the ruins of the ancient site.

 

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Giant raptor found in China

Massive dinosaur fossil footprints have been found in southern China. They were left behind by a raptor which might be among the largest ever.......

 

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Roman object that baffled experts to go on show at Lincoln Museum

A mysterious Roman artefact found during an amateur archaeological dig is going on public display in Lincolnshire for the first time.

The object is one of only 33 dodecahedrons ever found in Britain, and the first to have been discovered in the Midlands.

It was found in Norton Disney, near Lincoln, in the summer of 2023.

The artefact is also one of the largest ever found, measuring about 3in (8cm) tall and weighing half a pound (245g).

The 12-sided object was unearthed by a group of local volunteers......

 

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The 1.6 million-year-old discovery that changes what we know about human evolution

New research has pinpointed the likely time in prehistory when humans first began to speak.

Analysis by British archaeologist Steven Mithen suggests that early humans first developed rudimentary language around 1.6 million years ago – somewhere in eastern or southern Africa.

 

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Massive Neolithic settlement found in Serbia

 A 7,000-year-old Neolithic settlement has been found in Serbia. It is among largest Late Stone Age settlements found in the country.

The settlement was found near the Tamiš River in northeast Serbia’s Banat region which it shares with Hungary and Romania. The Serbian part of the Banat is flat and marshy. It includes the largest area of sandy terrain in Europe – a 300-km2 area called the Deliblato Sands which used to be part of a prehistoric desert.

The newly discovered settlement is only 40 km northwest of the sands, outside the village of Jarkovac.......

 

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A brief history of the Persian polymath who gave his name to algorithms

 Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without algorithms.

So, we’ve all heard of them, but where does the word “algorithm” even come from?

Over 1,000 years before the internet and smartphone apps, Persian scientist and polymath Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī invented the concept of algorithms.

In fact, the word itself comes from the Latinised version of his name, “algorithmi”. And, as you might suspect, it’s also related to algebra.

Largely lost to time..........

 

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Edinburgh workie unearths historic artefacts in attic 'walled up for 60 years'

An Edinburgh resident was amazed after discovering a 105-year-old newspaper while renovating an old building on Manor Place in the New Town.

The paper dates back to 1919 and its headline advertises the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the First World War.......

 

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New dinosaur is only the fourth to be described in Zimbabwe

 

Fossils found on the shore of Lake Kariba in northwest Zimbabwe have been identified as a new dinosaur which lived about 210 million years ago.

Musanka sanyatiensis is described in a paper published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

The creature is known from the remains of a single hind leg which includes its thigh, shin and ankle bones......

 

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Photographic history nearly lost in WWII a window into the future of East Antarctica

A nearly 100-year history of East Antarctic aerial photos has given a unique perspective to the region’s history amid the greatest challenge for the southernmost continent.

Combining historical photos, including some dating back 87 years, researchers have compiled a short-term evolutionary history of glaciers in East Antarctica, generally considered the more stable Antarctic half.

The photography of 2,000km of coastline overlayed with current satellite technology shows two contrasting stories.

 

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Pipe dig reveals Roman and Bronze Age settlements

Evidence of settlements dating back 3,000 years have been discovered near a reservoir.

They have been unearthed by archaeologists digging ahead of the construction of a 19.5km (12-mile) water pipeline close to Abberton Reservoir, near Colchester.

Artefacts found include Roman coins and pottery from the Iron and Bronze Ages.......

 

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Meet the new horned dinosaur with blade-like horns and an asymmetrical frill

A predecessor of Triceratops horridus with a fancy set of headwear has been discovered just south of the US-Canada border in the Badlands of Montana.

Lokiceratops rangiformis is described in a paper published in the journal PeerJ.

The ancient creature lived 78 million years ago, toward the end of the reign of dinosaurs, during the Cretaceous period (145–66 million years ago). Lokiceratops is estimated to have been nearly 7 metres long and 5 tonnes in weight – much smaller than Triceratops which could grow to 9m and 6–12 tonnes.

 

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World's oldest cave art found showing humans and pig

The oldest example of figurative cave art has been discovered in the Indonesian Island of South Sulawesi by Australian and Indonesian scientists.

The painting of a wild pig and three human-like figures is at least 51,200 years old, more than 5,000 years older than the previous oldest cave art.

The discovery pushes back the time that modern humans first showed the capacity for creative thought......