For Those Interested in Archaeology

Stonehenge: Archaeologists unearth 10,000-year-old hunting pits

Thousands of pits believed to have been used by prehistoric hunters have been unearthed near Stonehenge.

The find, by University of Birmingham and Ghent University researchers, included sites over 10,000 years old.

The researchers said the pits, dating from between around 8,200 BCE and 7800 BCE, showed hunter-gatherers had roamed the landscape during the early Mesolithic period, when Britain was re-inhabited after the last Ice Age.

Stonehenge: Archaeologists unearth 10,000-year-old hunting pits

 

"A 150,000-year-old tooth discovered in Southeast Asia once belonged to a young Denisovan girl, a new study claims.
The ancient molar, found in the Cobra Cave in northern Laos, is thought to have come from a young, female Denisovan who died young for unknown reasons.
The authors say the molar 'only recently completed development' and likely belonged to a girl aged somewhere between 3.5 and 8.5 years when she died.
She likely lived between 164,000 and 131,000 years ago in the warm tropics of northern Laos, analysis suggests.
Researchers say the Cobra Cave tooth is similar to Denisovan teeth found on the Tibetan Plateau – the only other location where Denisovan fossils have ever been found.
So the new study shows Southeast Asia was a 'hotspot' of diversity, as remains of five different hominid species have now been found there, including Denisovans.
Denisovans are a group of extinct hominins that diverged from Neanderthals about 400,000 years ago, and possibly only went extinct about 20,000 years ago."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10825529/Ancient-tooth-Asia-belonged-Denisovan-girl-study-finds.html

 

Please a DNA comparison if you find some. I would think that would give more precise results?!!

 

They weren't able to find any DNA, Kai. Apparently the humid climate destroyed it.

 

Thought so. Sometimes PCR can multiply small amounts of DNA but I guess there was none anymore.

 

If this is what they found in the Borders, can't wait 'til they get the rest of the surveys done.
"More than 130 new indigenous settlements have been discovered north of Hadrian's Wall from the time of Rome's occupation.
Work on the 73-mile (118km) structure started in AD 122, which was to mark the northernmost border of the Roman Empire for around 20 years.
But Rome expanded further and built the Antonine Wall across the centre of what is now Scotland to defend these new gains.
This occupation only lasted for a brief period and the frontier line ultimately moved back to Hadrian's Wall.
Previous research on the region between these two walls has focused predominantly on the Roman perspective, studying the forts, roads, camps, and walls they used to control northern Britain.
Now, a team of archaeologists have set out to better understand the indigenous communities living in this frontier region.
Although part of the area had been extensively studied in the past, the team discovered 134 previously unrecorded Iron Age settlements in the region, bringing the total to over 700."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10849845/Over-130-new-indigenous-settlements-discovered-north-Hadrians-Wall.html

 

Didn't know these existed-
"Archaeologists are in a race against time to save a collection of undersea Stone Age cave art from rising sea levels and plastic pollution.
To get to the 30,000-year-old paintings, they first have to dive to the bottom of the Mediterranean off southern France, before navigating a 450ft (137m) tunnel and eventually reaching a huge cavern that is now mostly submerged.
It is the only place in the world where cave paintings of prehistoric marine life have been found.
However, the art is now under threat from climate change and pollution...
...Around 600 signs, images and carvings – some of aquatic life never before seen in cave paintings – have been found on the walls of the immense cave 121 ft (37m) below the azure waters of the breathtaking Calanques inlets east of Marseille."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10871763/France-races-save-30-000-year-old-undersea-Stone-Age-cave-art.html

"The lost city of 'Zakhiku' has resurfaced after spending decades underwater in the Mosul reservoir on the River Tigris in Iraq.
The 3,400-year-old settlement emerged earlier this year, after a months-long period of extreme drought in the country resulted in large amounts of water being drawn from the reservoir to irrigate crops, causing water levels to fall.
This resulted in ancient city buildings becoming exposed, including a huge fortification, a multi-storey storage building and an industrial complex, all dating back 3,400 years to the time of the Empire of Mittani (1550–1350 BC).
A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists first excavated the Mittani Empire-era city during a dry spell in 2018, but were not able to fully investigate before it became submerged underwater again.
So this latest unforeseen dry spell put them under pressure to excavate and document as much of the Bronze Age city as possible, before the water level rose once more."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10870737/Ruins-3-400-year-old-submerged-city-Iraq-reappear-river-surface-dam-dries-up.html

 

"before navigating a 450ft (137m) tunnel and eventually reaching a huge cavern that is now mostly submerged."

Couldn't they block off the smallest part of the tunnel and pump the water out...dig down and its saved?

 

"A single amorous Neanderthal may be to blame for transmitting a genetic quirk to up to a million people who died from Covid.
To date, worldwide, around 6.3 million people have died from the coronavirus which caused the pandemic.
A huge number have lost their lives because they have a relatively common genetic quirk which makes the lungs more susceptible to infection.
Now the expert whose research identified the effect of the genetic difference on the lungs has said it came from just one single 'romantic liaison' between a Neanderthal and a member of our own human species.
Had this one sexual act not happened 60,000 years ago, many lives would have been saved from the deadly virus...
...The role of the Neanderthals in making humans more susceptible to Covid was first revealed in 2020.
But the one-off 'romantic liaison' behind it was revealed by careful analysis of 'letters' in our genetic code."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10900691/Randy-NEANDERTHAL-blame-gene-caused-million-people-die-Covid.html?

 

"A cave hidden beneath one of Wales' finest castles could hold secrets dating back to the Stone Age, experts think. Wogan Cavern, a limestone cave beneath Pembroke Castle, is set to be dug up by a team of archaeologists who are hoping to uncover fresh evidence of how the cave was used by humans and Ice Age animals thousands of years ago.
A team of up to 20 archaeologists, led by Dr Rob Dinnis of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Jenni French of the University of Liverpool, will begin the three-week excavation at the end of June . Funded by the Natural History Museum and the British Cave Research Association it's hoped they'll uncover parts of the cave that have remained undisturbed for more than 10,000 years.
Preliminary work was carried out in summer 2021 after Dr Dinnis and John Boulton, of the Devon Spelæological Society, realised some important clues of early human civilisation could be hidden under the layers of earth beneath the Pembrokeshire castle famous for being the birthplace of Henry VII. Their suspicions proved correct when they discovered bones of reindeer and woolly mammoth showing it was likely an important place for the Mesolithic period."
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cave-hidden-under-welsh-castle-24234878?fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR2Y-FWGaG_nR8_2kQQElba7N2O6QGpAP4A4Rp4_Tkd-4N6LMOXESu93UNM

 

"A preserved baby mammoth that lived more than 30,000 years ago has been discovered in Yukon, Canada and experts say it is 'the most complete find' in North America.
The calf, named 'Nun cho ga', meaning 'big baby animal' in the Hän language, was frozen in permafrost, resulting in its remains being mummified.
The baby mammoth was found by miners working in the Klondike gold fields within Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory and images of the remains shows its skin still intact with bits of hair still clinging to the body.
A further analysis revealed the calf is female and lived alongside wild horses, cave lions and giant steppe bison that once roamed Yukon thousands of years ago."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10951119/Most-complete-baby-mammoth-North-America-FOUND.html

 

"A jawbone fragment pulled from the dirt last month in Spain is believed to be 1.4 million years old – making it the oldest known fossil of human ancestry found in Europe.
Until now, the oldest hominid fossil found in Europe was a jawbone found at the same site in 2007 that was determined to be 1.2 million years old.
The fossil was found at an archaeological site on June 30 in the Atapuerca mountain range, which is known its richest records of prehistoric human occupation in Europe.
Paleoanthropologists have not done an officially dating on the new bone, but since it was found more than six feet deeper in the ground than the previous specimen they say it is 'logical and reasonable to assume it is older.'
The jawbone is about is about three inches long.
Researchers have been working on this archaeological site since 1978 and were thrilled when they found the 1.2-million-year-old jawbone in 2007."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10996153/Ancient-jawbone-glimpse-Europes-earliest-humans.html

 

Butterfly effect...

 

But wasn't sex invented in 1963, between the Beatles and TW3?!

 

"Warm-bloodedness is a key trait of mammals, but a new study shows the first creatures to produce their own body heat and regulate body temperature were part of the late lizard lineage.
Researchers from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits University) determined this evolutionary event arose during a time of climatic instability some 233 million years ago. This was when averagely cold regions became extremely warmer.
The discoveries were made by analyzing the inner ear of hundreds of fossils. This area was chosen because it consists of small tubes for a fluid to run through that helps with balance and navigation.
High temperatures cause this fluid to become runnier and warm-blooded creatures evolved to have smaller ear canals to make use of the less viscous liquid.
The study also notes that true mammals did not walk the Earth until 30 millions after the first warm-bloodedness creates evolved."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11032769/Scientists-reveal-origin-mammal-evolution-milestone-warm-bloodedness.html

 

"Approximately 88 human 'ghost tracks' have been discovered in salt flats of Utah's Great Salt Lake desert that are believed to be more than 12,000 years ago and only appear when there is just the right amount of moisture – and then disappear when there it is not.
A team of researchers led by Cornell University determined the prints belonged to adults and children who were walking through shallow water during the Ice Age, when the now dry landscape was cloaked in wetlands. The sand in the water quickly filled in their footprints, but mud underneath kept the prints intact.
Because the sand holds more moisture than the surrounding sediment, the right amount of water will make the footprints stand out among the tan colored ground - but then disappear again when the ground dries up.
However, the group found much more than they bargained for – a half-mile away was the oldest evidence of human tobacco use."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11050239/Human-footprints-dating-12-000-years-ICE-AGE-discovered-salt-flats-Utah-desert.html

 

Submerging it in the first place was sheer bloody vandalism IMHO.
"A Roman settlement that was flooded to create a reservoir is now visible in its entirety after a prolonged drought caused water levels to drop in Spain.
The archaeological remains of the entire Roman camp, known as Aquis Querquennis, were revealed after water levels plunged at the As Conchas Reservoir in Galicia, northwest Spain.
Spain has been suffering the worst drought in decades following a summer of heatwaves that have seen rivers and reservoirs plunge to dangerously low levels.
The Roman settlement in northern Spain, believed to be built in 75AD by the Romans before being abandoned in around 120AD, was flooded to form the As Conchas Reservoir in 1948 and has since been largely submerged by the water.
Only parts of the site are usually visible throughout the year, but this month, after weeks of record-breaking temperatures, the Roman camp has been revealed in its entirety."
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11161091/Roman-settlement-flooded-create-reservoir-visible-entirety-drought-Spain.html

 

Great one from Australia-shire-
"An ancient coral reef preserved for millions of years has been discovered hiding in plain sight in a vast Australian desert.
The Nullarbor Plain in southern Australia is now an extremely flat and almost featureless expanse of limestone bedrock that extends over 600 miles.
But it once contained a vast, prehistoric ocean that led to the formation of the coral when the Plain was underwater.
The surprising find was made using new high-resolution satellite imagery by an international team of scientists.
'Unlike many parts of the world, large areas of the Nullarbor Plain have remained largely unchanged by weathering and erosion processes over millions of years, making it a unique geological canvas recording ancient history in remarkable ways,' said Dr Milo Barham, of Curtin University in Australia.
'Through high-resolution satellite imagery and fieldwork we have identified the clear remnant of an original sea-bed structure preserved for millions of years, which is the first of this kind of landform discovered on the Nullarbor Plain.'
The reef-like landform is made up of a circular elevated ring about 4,265ft (1,300m) wide with a dome in the centre. It could be the first primary depositional structure ever discovered on the plain."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11192833/Ancient-coral-reef-vast-Australian-desert.html