Typically ranging from 5 to 500 micrometers in size and anywhere from a couple of million years to over 500 million years old, these tiny fossils are found mostly in sedimentary rocks, making them invaluable both to geologists and paleontologists. They help determine the age of rock layers, reconstruct past environments, and understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth. For instance, the presence of certain microfossils can indicate whether a rock layer was formed in a marine or terrestrial environment, providing insights into past climate conditions and geological events. Simply put, they offer a glimpse into what a specific area was like all those years ago.

Fossil specimen (left) and diagram (right) of Gangtoucunia aspera preserving soft tissues, including the gut and tentacle. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

Fossil specimen of Gangtoucunia aspera preserving soft tissues, including the gut and tentacles (left and middle). The drawing at the right illustrates the visible anatomical features in the fossil specimens. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

According to the researchers, Gangtoucunia would have looked similar to modern scyphozoan jellyfish polyps, with a hard tubular structure anchored to the underlying substrate. The tentacle mouth would have extended outside the tube, but could have been retracted inside the tube to avoid predators. Unlike living jellyfish polyps however, the tube of Gangtoucunia was made of calcium phosphate, a hard mineral that makes up our own teeth and bones. Use of this material to build skeletons has become more rare among animals over time.

Corresponding author Dr. Luke Parry, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, said, "This really is a one-in-million discovery. These mysterious tubes are often found in groups of hundreds of individuals, but until now they have been regarded as 'problematic' fossils, because we had no way of classifying them. Thanks to these extraordinary new specimens, a key piece of the evolutionary puzzle has been put firmly in place."

The new specimens clearly demonstrate that Gangtoucunia was not related to annelid worms (earthworms, polychaetes and their relatives) as had been previously suggested for similar fossils. It is now clear that Gangtoucunia's body had a smooth exterior and a gut partitioned longitudinally, whereas annelids have segmented bodies with transverse partitioning of the body.

The fossil was found at a site in the Gaoloufang section in Kunming, eastern Yunnan Province, China. Here, anaerobic (oxygen-poor) conditions limit the presence of bacteria that normally degrade soft tissues in fossils.

Ph.D. student Guangxu Zhang, who collected and discovered the specimens, said, "The first time I discovered the pink soft tissue on top of a Gangtoucunia tube, I was surprised and confused about what they were. In the following month, I found three more specimens with soft tissue preservation, which was very exciting and made me rethink the affinity of Gangtoucunia. The soft tissue of Gangtoucunia, particularly the tentacles, reveals that it is certainly not a priapulid-like worm as previous studies suggested, but more like a coral, and then I realized that it is a cnidarian."

Although the fossil clearly shows that Gangtoucunia was a primitive jellyfish, this doesn't rule out the possibility that other early tube-fossil species looked very different. From Cambrian rocks in Yunnan province, the research team have previously found well-preserved tube fossils that could be identified as priapulids (marine worms), lobopodians (worms with paired legs, closely related to arthropods today) and annelids.

Co-corresponding author Xiaoya Ma (Yunnan University and University of Exeter) said, "A tubicolous mode of life seems to have become increasingly common in the Cambrian, which might be an adaptive response to increasing predation pressure in the early Cambrian. This study demonstrates that exceptional soft-tissue preservation is crucial for us to understand these ancient animals."

The paper "Exceptional soft tissue preservation reveals a cnidarian affinity for a Cambrian phosphatic tubicolous enigma' will be published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Nov. 2.

Traditionally, the classification of microfossils has been a manual, time-consuming process requiring expert knowledge, with scientists staring into a microscope or at a computer screen for hours at a time. Given the sheer volume of data—potentially billions of microfossils from numerous slides—manual classification is tedious work, and attempting to classify all these microfossils is an insurmountable and impossible task. There are just too many of them, hence the advantage of letting AI assist in that process.

Spearheaded by a team from the University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway, researchers have developed a novel method to automate the classification of microfossils. 

The study introduces a two-stage AI-driven pipeline to automate the detection and classification of microfossils from microscope images. 

The first stage involves using a pre-trained object detection model, YOLOv5, to identify and extract individual microfossils from high-resolution slide images. This model efficiently generates bounding boxes around each microfossil, a task that would be labor-intensive if done manually.

In the second stage, the researchers employ self-supervised learning (SSL) techniques to train models that can extract features from the detected microfossils. SSL is particularly advantageous in scenarios with limited labeled data, as it allows the model to learn useful representations from unlabeled data. The study compares two SSL frameworks, SimCLR and DINO, and finds that both significantly improve classification performance.

An image of the same slide of microfossils. On the left, the Machine learning approach. On the right, the pipeline of standard image processing methods. As the study notes, more fossils are separated with the machine learning approach as it is better able to differentiate the various fossil types.

(Image: Artificial Intelligence in Geosciences)

Basically, the AI is able to differentiate between different fossils and classify them. According to the study, this method is fast and computationally light, making it feasible to process and classify millions of microfossils efficiently. This scalability is crucial for handling the vast datasets typical in geological research. Moreover, as the AI classifies more fossils, it labels them and learns from its data, continuously adding to its own knowledge base. 

“This work shows that there is great potential in utilizing AI in this field,” explained Iver Martinsen, one of the study’s authors, in a press statement. “By using AI to automatically detect and recognize fossils, geologists might have a tool that can help them better utilize the enormous amount of information that wellbore samples provide.”

The ability to automate microfossil classification has profound implications for earth sciences. It can accelerate research in subsurface exploration, aiding in oil and gas exploration and carbon capture and storage projects. Moreover, the insights gained from microfossil analysis can contribute to broader scientific inquiries, such as studying past climate changes and mass extinction events. Understanding these historical patterns is essential for predicting future environmental changes and developing strategies to mitigate their impacts.

Close up photograph of the mouth region of Gangtoucunia aspera showing the tentacles that would have been used to capture prey. Image credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

Credit: Luke Parry and Guangxu Zhang.

“We are very happy with our results,” Martinsen concluded. “Our model exceeds previous benchmarks available out there. We hope that the present work will be beneficial for geologists both in industry and academia.”

• MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/

https://phys.org/ }

29-06-2024 om 00:50 geschreven door peter  

Originally discovered among the wreckage of a shipwreck along the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, the mysterious mechanism has long intrigued modern scientists and engineers, primarily because it appears to be a singular invention, with no other similar devices from this period known to exist.

Now, researchers with the University of Glasgow have employed statistical modeling techniques originally developed for analyzing ripples in spacetime to determine how many holes likely existed in one of the famous Antikythera mechanism’s broken rings.

At the time of its discovery, the Antikythera mechanism was in a highly eroded state, having spent close to two thousand years amidst the wreckage of a ship that sank near the Aegean Island of Antikythera, the device’s namesake.

Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.

Fast forward to 2020, when X-ray images of one of the device’s components, which researchers identify as its calendar ring, unveiled new features that included a series of regularly spaced holes beneath the ring. Given its highly eroded state, the presence of rings could be discerned, although the number remained unclear, with estimates suggesting anywhere between 347 and 467 of the holes having once existed along this damaged portion of the device.

Now, in new research published in the Horological Journal, Glasgow researchers outline their use of a pair of statistical techniques in a new effort to refine the previously estimated number of holes that once existed in this region of the Antikythera mechanism. Applying Bayesian analysis and, notably, new techniques from gravitational wave research, the team determined that the ring likely contained 354 holes.

This is significant since the 354 holes on the device would have perfectly aligned with the Greek lunar calendar, as opposed to the Egyptian calendar’s 365 holes. Based on the new analysis, the presence of 354 holes is hundreds of times more probable than the previously considered 360-hole count.

Professor Graham Woan, a co-author of the paper, explained that he became interested in the problem after being introduced to data by YouTuber Chris Budiselic, who was creating a replica of the calendar ring.

“Towards the end of last year, a colleague pointed to me to data acquired by YouTuber Chris Budiselic, who was looking to make a replica of the calendar ring and was investigating ways to determine just how many holes it contained.”

Woan said Budiselic’s conundrum “struck me as an interesting problem, and one that I thought I might be able to solve in a different way during the Christmas holidays.” Woan then went to work employing statistical techniques to see if a definitive answer could be obtained.

Dr. Joseph Bayley, a colleague of Woan’s at the University’s Institute for Gravitational Research, further refined the research by adapting techniques used in analyzing LIGO gravitational wave data to study the calendar ring. Their combined approaches, including Markov Chain Monte Carlo and nested sampling, confirmed the probability of 354 or 355 holes with a precision of about 1/3 mm.

Additionally, the new analysis also reveals the extraordinary accuracy of the holes’ placement, with an average radial variation of just 0.028mm. According to Bayley, the use of these dual approaches to resolving the lingering questions about the Antikythera mechanism showcases the truly remarkable skill employed by the device’s mysterious builder(s).

“It’s given me a new appreciation for the Antikythera mechanism and the work and care that Greek craftspeople put into making it,” Bayley said. “[T]he precision of the holes’ positioning would have required highly accurate measurement techniques and an incredibly steady hand to punch them.”

Professor Woan says using contemporary techniques to study an ancient device designed to track celestial events will enhance the research community’s appreciation of ancient technological achievements like the Antikythera mechanism, which represents a singularly unique and innovative construction.

“We hope that our findings about the Antikythera mechanism, although less supernaturally spectacular than those made by Indiana Jones, will help deepen our understanding of how this remarkable device was made and used by the Greeks,” Woan said in a statement.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/tech/ }

28-06-2024 om 22:03 geschreven door peter  

Existence of lost temple dedicated to the Greek goddess of war is discovered in 2,500-year-old graffiti

• READ MORE: 'Miracle plant' used by the ancient Greeks rediscovered in Turkey

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Archeologists have discovered a lost ancient Greek temple dedicated to the goddess of war, after translating a newly found case of 2,500-year-old graffiti. 

Among over 2,000 remnants of ancient Greek graffiti, one scholar has uncovered a diagram of this lost temple to Athena, ancient Greece's goddess of war and wisdom.

The graffiti, which experts said was made by a shepherd or herder, depicts a now bygone temple on the very same site as Athens' historic, still-standing Parthenon.

'The structure,' according to the University of Tennessee classics professor who made the discovery, 'is identified by its inscription as 'the Hekatompedon' and was produced by an individual named Mikon.'

Among over 2,000 remnants of ancient Greek graffiti, one scholar has uncovered a diagram (above) of a lost temple to Athena, ancient Greece's goddess of war and wisdom 

'The structure,' according to the University of Tennessee classics professor who made the discovery, ' is identified by its inscription as 'the Hekatompedon' and was produced by an individual named Mikon.' Above, the professor's sketch of Mikon's 2,500-year-old graffiti

Hekatompedon was once the official ancient name for the temple to Athena, but it translates literally to '100-footer' in ancient Greek, a reference to the temple's size.

Crucially, however, the alphabet used in this graffiti dates it back to the 6th century BC — at least 50 years before the construction of the Parthenon structure, also dedicated to Athena, even began.

'Mikon's graffito supports the scenario that the Hekatompedon in the decree was an operational temple on the south side of the Acropolis,' classics professor Merle Langdon wrote in his new study, published in the American Journal of Archaeology.

This earlier temple would have been dismantled, and many of its columns and other structures could have been reused, for the ancient Greek structures still standing atop the hill where the Parthenon rests today, within the Acropolis of Athens. 

Translated from this ancient Greek alphabet, the engraved inscription simply reads 'the Hekatompedon [—] of Mikon,' according to Langdon who was the first to discover the graffiti.

The professor noted that there are two possible temple 'candidates' known to archeologists that could match the diagram that Mikon drew in his graffiti.

One nicknamed 'the Bluebeard Temple' by archeologists and another called 'the Gigantomachy Temple,' a neutral temporary term used while scholars still debate what the remnants of these historic structures might have once really been.

The Bluebeard Temple, which is theorized to have been built on the north side of the Acropolis around the second quarter of the 6th century, was named by archeologists for a prominent three-headed serpent with a blue beard, found among in its ruins.

The Gigantomachy Temple, also called the Old Temple of Athena by some scholars, dates back to roughly the same 6th century period. 

It's remnants were also found on the Acropolis in Athens, but its exact original location is still debated by scholars.

Langdon and his co-author, archeologist Jan van Rookhuijzen, said they would stop short of trying to definitively identify 'the drawn temple' any further, as 'the debate on the architectural history of the Archaic Acropolis has not come to a resolution.'

Hekatompedon, ancient Greek for '100-footer,' was the official ancient name for the temple to Athena. But the alphabet used in this graffiti dates it back to the 6th century BC, over 50 years before construction on the Parthenon even began. Above, on the hill, the Parthenon today

Above, a closer look at the Parthenon today - sitting atop the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

In other words, the complete history of the lost temple to Athena, that Mikon called 'the Hekatompedon' is still shrouded in mystery and remains yet to be written. 

For years, the team has studied the 6th century BC sketches, scrawlings and graffiti made by the ancient Greek's in this region — drawings that include ships, horses, and 'erotic scenes.'

'Why the shepherds produced so many graffiti is not known,' van Rookhuijzen wrote in an article at The Conversation, discussing he and Langdon's new study.

'It may have simply been a form of escapism during the dull moments of their job.'

The hill where Mikon's graffiti was located, along the north and east of Vari, Attica, is now a southern suburb of Athens. 

The landscape has become a boon to scholars as it is literally covered in ancient shepherd graffiti.

Langdon and van Rookhuijzen employed high-resolution photographs and detailed reproductions to analyze the long-dead shepherd's writing style, hunting for clues in his letter forms, handwriting, and spelling to better date and authenticate the find.

Above, the site where Langdon and his co-author found Mikon's ancient graffiti (red arrow). the shepherd's inscription - made on the exposed marble of Vari's Barako Hill near Athens - has now suffered from two millennia's worth of erosion

The team compared the Mikon drawing and its writing style to other previously discovered architectural drawings and inscriptions from the wider Athens area.

Mikon's sketch of the temple, they concluded is 'the earliest known testimony of admiration of the architecture of the Acropolis,' based on its faithful and favorable depiction of the structure's columns and roof-like entablature.

They also noted that Mikon's graffiti is now the earliest recorded instance of a person using 'Hekatompedon' to mean a large temple or building.

'Our occurrence is earlier than the 37 other known examples of this name in the Greek world,' the team wrote in their new study, 'including 12 from Attica.'

But the ancient graffiti still has some mysteries left to decode, as the shepherd's inscription — made on the exposed marble of Vari's Barako Hill — has now suffered from over two millennia's worth of erosion

'This impedes a full appraisal of both the drawing and the inscription,' the researchers noted, 'of which some letters are illegible.'

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22-06-2024 om 00:23 geschreven door peter  

“Mikon is not otherwise known, but he was most likely a shepherd who made the graffito while grazing his flocks,” explained Janric van Rookhuijzen, an archaeologist and co-author of the study, in a recent article. “The version of the Greek alphabet used is very ancient, making it clear that the drawing was made as early as the 6th century BCE.”

Photograph of the graffiti 

(American Journal of Archaeology/Langdon et al)

Close-up view of the words τὸ hεκατόµπεδον.

Credit: Langdon et al., American Journal of Archaeology (2024)

Sketch of the graffiti, indicating reasonably secure lines and letters 

(American Journal of Archaeology/Langdon et al)

The graffito (a term sometimes used to describe a singular piece of graffiti) was found among over 2,000 ancient engravings on marble outcrops in the hills north and east of Vari. These engravings, typically created by local herders, include simple drawings of animals, ships, and buildings, as well as short inscriptions. The particular graffito in question looks like a building facade, showing at least five

The term “Hekatompedon” refers to a structure approximately 100 feet in length. In ancient Greek architecture, this term was often used to describe large temples. But, it also means something else.

“The term is known to be the official ancient name of the famous temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena – later known as the Parthenon,” van Rookhuijzen explained. “It is likely that Mikon wanted to depict a building on the Acropolis of Athens.”

However, the inscriber, Mikon, pre-dated the Parthenon by several decades.

Patch of bedrock where the graffito is located (arrow); the earthen road is visible in the background 

(American Journal of Archaeology/Langdon et al)

“Because the alphabet he used can be firmly dated to the 6th century BCE, the drawing must be at least 50 years older than the Parthenon, which was begun around 450 BCE,” van Rookhuijzen wrote.

According to the researchers, they believe that the graffito likely depicts an archaic temple on the Acropolis of Athens, possibly the so-called Bluebeard Temple or the Gigantomachy Temple. These temples are thought to have stood on the Acropolis at the end of the sixth century BCE, but were destroyed by the Persians in 480 BCE.

The Acropolis of Athens.

(Image: Unsplash)

Utilizing high-resolution photographs and detailed sketches, the work of this long-dead shepherd was analyzed for the various letter forms, orthography, and layout to determine its authenticity. The team compared this drawing and writing style to other known examples, as well as other known architectural drawings and inscriptions from the area.

Based on their research, they note this is the earliest written record of the term “Hekatompedon” being used to describe a large temple or building. Moreover, noting the style of the graffito, as it features lines for columns and a cross line that represents an entablature (the horizontal lintel that sits on top of the columns), the study argues that this was probably some kind of symbolic gesture of admiration for the temple.

In simple terms, Mikon probably just dug big buildings, and shepherds and herders were notorious for their graffiti. The hill where this drawing was discovered is covered in ancient shepherd graffiti, including images of horses, boats, and, of course, ancient erotica.

“Why the shepherds produced so many graffiti is not known – it may have simply been a form of escapism during the dull moments of their job,” van Rookhuijzen mused.

“However, the graffito made by Mikon shows how a small scribble may be the key to tackling the historical riddles behind one the world’s most iconic archaeological sites.”

• MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

21-06-2024 om 23:53 geschreven door peter  

Meet the 'richest man who ever lived': Scientists recreate the face of Tutankhamun's grandfather, Amenhotep III, for the first time in 3,400 years

• Amenhotep III ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, 3,400 years ago
• Using the skull of his mummy, his true likeness has been revealed for first time 

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE 

He ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, was worshipped as a living god, and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun. 

And now the true face of Amenhotep III has been revealed.

The pharaoh, described by one archaeologist as 'one of the richest men that ever lived', led Egypt through a period of unprecedented prosperity and international power.

He's considered one of the greatest pharaohs and has more surviving statues than any other, yet a scientific reconstruction of his face had never been made.

Now, using data from the skull of his mummy, a multinational team has revealed his true likeness for the first time in almost 3,400 years.

He ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, was worshipped as a living god, and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun. And now the true face of Amenhotep III has been revealed

Michael Habicht, an archaeologist at Flinders University in Australia, said he looked quite different to the pharaoh seen on statues.

He said: 'It's a placid face for a man who promoted peace and lived in a time of the greatest economic prosperity.

'He might well have been one of the richest men that ever lived, at least in his epoch.'

He continued: 'It is difficult to know the cause of death by analysing the available remains.

'Research carried out in the 1970s described Amenhotep III as an obese, sick, and sedentary man, who was almost bald, and suffered from dental problems in the last years of his life.

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who brought the face back to life, said the reconstruction began by digitally recreating the pharaoh's skull, using images and data from his mummy

The mummy of Amenhotep III is now kept at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo

'Although he was one of the truly great kings of Egypt, his body height is about 156cm, making him one of the smallest kings we know from their preserved mummies.

'This rather small body height is not reflected in art – in artworks he is famous for his gigantic statues.'

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who brought the face back to life, said the reconstruction began by digitally recreating the pharaoh's skull, using images and data from his mummy.

Additional data from living donors was then used to inform the likely dimensions and position of the king's nose, ears, eyes, and lips.

Mr Moraes said: 'Based on historical knowledge, Amenhotep III had a robust appearance, which is why we used data from individuals with a high body mass index.'

He added: 'If we are not mistaken, this is the first facial approximation of Amenhotep III.

'Compared to other approximations of pharaohs that I have participated in, this was the most complete too, as we modelled the clothes and accessories.

'We were amazed with the final result; seeing a complete bust with these colours and the facial serenity is quite satisfying.

'It is our gift to all those who appreciate history.'

The pharaoh was worshipped as divine in his lifetime, and he claimed the god Amun was his real father – with the name Amenhotep meaning 'Amun is satisfied'.

He is thought to have died between the ages of 40 and 50, leaving his successor a kingdom at the height of its power and wealth.

Data from living donors was used to inform the likely dimensions and position of the king's nose, ears, eyes, and lips

The pharaoh was worshipped as divine in his lifetime, and he claimed the god Amun was his real father – with the name Amenhotep meaning 'Amun is satisfied'. Pictured: a bust of Amenhotep III in the Cleveland Museum of Art

Dr Habicht said: 'Diplomatic letters by foreign potentates begged him to send them some gold as a present, 'as gold shall be abundant in Egypt as sand'.

'It's the usual overexaggeration for such a letter, but nevertheless hints towards extreme wealth.'

He added: 'There are speculations that the mummy of Amenhotep III may have been entirely covered with gold leaf, so that he must have looked like a statue of a god.'

The archaeologist said the pharaoh may also have been something of a womanizer.

'He was apparently very interested in women; he imported hundreds of foreign harem ladies and collected them as other people collect postal stamps,' he said.

On his death, Amenhotep III was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep IV.

The new pharaoh would rebel against the powerful Amun priesthood, installing the sun god Aten as the top Egyptian deity.

He changed his name to Akhenaten – meaning 'beneficial to Aten' – and even moved his capital away from Thebes – the 'city of Amun' – to a new city honouring the sun god, Akhetaten.

But his son, Tutankhaten, would restore the cult of Amun to prominence, changing his name to Tutankhamun – meaning 'the living image of Amun'.

Tutankhamun would become one of history's most famous pharaohs thanks to the discovery of his tomb in 1922, which was largely intact and contained many of its original artifacts.

Dr Habicht, Mr Moraes, and their colleagues Elena Varotto from Flinders University, and Francesco Galassi from the University of Lodz in Poland, plan to publish their findings in a scientific journal.

WERE KING TUTANKHAMUN'S PARENTS ALSO COUSINS?

The complex family arrangements of Tutankhamun has been one of the great mysteries surrounding the young king.

While his father was known to have been Pharaoh Akhenaten, the identity of his mother has been far more elusive.

DNA testing has shown that Queen Tiye, whose mummy is pictured above, was the grandmother of the Egyptian Boy King Tutankhamun

In 2010 DNA testing confirmed a mummy found in the tomb of Amenhotep II was Queen Tiye, the chief wife of Amenhotep III, mother of Pharaoh Akhenanten, and Tutankhamun's grandmother.

A third mummy, thought to be one of Pharaoh Akhenaten wives, was found to be a likely candidate as Tutankhamun's mother, but DNA evidence showed it was Akhenaten's sister.

Later analysis in 2013 suggested Nefertiti, Akhenaten's chief wife, was Tutankhamun's mother.

However, the work by Marc Gabolde, a French archaeologist, has suggested Nefertiti was also Akhenaten's cousin.

This incestuous parentage may also help to explain some of the malformations that scientists have discovered afflicted Tutankhamun.

He suffered a deformed foot, a slightly cleft palate and mild curvature of the spine.

However, his claims have been disputed by other Egyptologists, including Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

His team's research suggests that Tut's mother was, like Akhenaten, the daughter of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. 

Hawass added that there is 'no evidence' in archaeology or philology to indicate that Nefertiti was the daughter of Amenhotep III.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

07-06-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

While previous studies have revealed that Egyptians from these periods were able to identify, describe, and treat diseases and traumatic injuries, build prosthetics, and even place dental fillings, this study is the first to show that these surprisingly advanced ancient people may have tried to treat cancer around the same time they were building the pyramids.

“This finding is unique evidence of how ancient Egyptian medicine would have tried to deal with or explore cancer more than 4,000 years ago,” said Prof Edgard Camarós, a paleopathologist at the University of Santiago de Compostela and the study’s lead author. “This is an extraordinary new perspective in our understanding of the history of medicine.”

CUT MARKS ON 4,000-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN SKULL LEAVE RESEARCHERS STUNNED

To conduct their analysis, the researchers were able to procure two separate skulls that showed signs of cancerous lesions. The first, dubbed “Skull and mandible 236,” has previously been dated to between 2687 and 2345 BCE, while the second, “Skull E270,” has been dated to between 663 and 343 BCE. For comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built over a period of about 27 years, sometime around 2,600 BCE.

The skulls were examined using microscopic analysis and CT scanning.

Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024. CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

When examining the roughly 30 small, metastasized lesions and one large lesion likely caused by neoplasm spread across Skull 236 under a microscope and also using a CT scanner, the researchers say they were “stunned” to discover something unexpected: clear cutmarks around a number of the lesions.

Cutmarks found on skull 236, probably made with a sharp object. Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

“When we first observed the cutmarks under the microscope, we could not believe what was in front of us,” said Tatiana Tondini, a researcher at the University of Tübingen and first author of the study.

In fact, according to Tondini, they weren’t even looking for things like cutmarks in the first place. “We wanted to learn about the role of cancer in the past, how prevalent this disease was in antiquity, and how ancient societies interacted with this pathology,” the researcher explained.

SIGNS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAY HAVE RECEIVED AND SURVIVED CANCER SURGERY

After finding evidence of cutmarks on the 4,000-year-old Egyptian Skull known as 236, the team performed a similar analysis of Skull E270. Like the older sample, E270 also had a large lesion the researchers described as “consistent with a cancerous tumor that led to bone loss.” However, unlike the other skull, this specimen had two smaller, “healed” lesions likely caused by traumatic injuries. Furthermore, one of the smaller lesions appears to be the result of a “close-range violent event” involving some sort of sharp instrument.

A closer analysis showed that this second lesion appeared to have healed after encountering a sharp object. Such a finding hints at the possibility that this person had surgery to remove cancer and then survived the treatment. “These healed lesions could mean that the individual potentially received some kind of treatment and, as a result, survived,” the press release announcing the study expl

Skull E270, dating from between 663 and 343 BCE, belonged to a female individual who was older than 50 years. Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

The researchers concede that the injury could be the result of combat. However, they also point out that E270 belonged to a roughly 50-year-old woman. In ancient Egypt, it was rare to find evidence of women in any form of combat, especially one of such an advanced age, meaning either answer could have the potential to rewrite the history books.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

31-05-2024 om 22:44 geschreven door peter  

Story by Andrea Vacchiano

Wisconsin historians recently announced the discovery of at least 11 ancient canoes in a Badger State lake – including one boat that dates back to 2500 BC.

The findings were announced in a press release by the Wisconsin Historical Society on May 23. The canoes were found in Lake Mendota, which is located outside of Madison.

The Wisconsin Historical Society explained that two ancient canoes were found in a cache in the lake in 2021 and 2022. Since then, historians have found at least 11 other ancient canoes, along what they believe was an ancient shoreline that became submerged over time. 

Not all the canoes will be removed from the lake due to their fragility. In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society Dr. Amy Rosebrough explained the significance of the discovery.

• WOMAN OUT FOR A WALK STUMBLES UPON ONCE-IN-A-DECADE DISCOVERY

The discovery of ancient canoes was announced in a press release by the Wisconsin Historical Society last week.

Fox News© Wisconsin Historical Society

"The Indigenous peoples of Wisconsin and the wider United States fished, traveled, and traded extensively on inland lakes and streams, and until now we have not had a clear look at the canoes used in the Great Lakes region," she explained.

"To put it in modern terms, it’s like trying to understand life in the Midwest without ever seeing a real pickup truck in person. Canoes allowed people to fish in deeper lakes, to transport goods over hundreds of miles, and to travel to far-away places. "

Rosebrough added that they believe an ancient village site is located under the waters, although it has not been found yet. Divers have found stone tools in the water, and experts believe that the lake is filled with other hidden sites.

"Lake Mendota is a hard lake to work in, however," Rosebrough admitted. "There is a limited window of visibility for diving missions, and we are exploring non-destructive remote sensing techniques that might help this summer."

• MICHIGAN RESEARCHERS DISCOVER EERIE 1909 SHIPWRECK AT BOTTOM OF LAKE SUPERIOR

Archaeologists discovered the ancient canoes in the murky waters of Lake Mendota.

Fox News© Fox News

"Even without finding the village, the discovery of these canoes and the tools found within the first canoe that was found, human-worked stone tools called net sinkers, reminds us that people have lived and worked alongside the lake for thousands of years."

Radiocarbon dating found that the oldest canoe dates back to 2500 B.C., which would mean it was built around the time Stonehenge was constructed. The canoe was constructed more than 1,700 years before Ancient Rome was first settled and 2,500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

All the canoes varied in age, with the youngest one dating back to 1250 AD. The archaeologist explained that the canoes "may have been intentionally cached in the water during the winter months, a standard practice to keep canoes safe from freezing and warping."

All the canoes varied in age. Not all will be removed from the lake due to their fragility.

Fox News© Fox News

"Either this practice of storing canoes for winter was carried out in roughly the same spot over generations – perhaps because of a living area nearby – or we are only seeing a window into a much larger site that might span much of the lakeshore," she described.

Rosebrough added that, though the Great Lakes dwarf Lake Mendota, the south central Wisconsin lake is small but mighty when it comes to archaeological potential.

Archaeologists conduced carbon dating to determine age of canoes.

Fox News© Fox News

"The Great Lakes oftentimes receive more funding for maritime archaeology but smaller bodies of water like Lake Mendota have their own distinct histories and stories to tell us about the people who lived here hundreds and thousands of years ago," she said. "We are proud to work in partnership with Native Nations in Wisconsin to discover all we can about Tee Waksikhominak and to share these stories now and in the future at the new Wisconsin History Center set to open in early 2027."

• For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
• Original article source: Prehistoric discovery in US lake leaves experts in shock and awe

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30-05-2024 om 13:00 geschreven door peter  

Ondergrondse structuur ontdekt bij de piramides van Gizeh: het dateert van meer dan 4000 jaar geleden

 Door Janine

Egypte is een land met een eeuwenoude geschiedenis, rijk aan archeologische vindplaatsen en artefacten die duizenden jaren oud zijn. Ondanks de vele vondsten zijn er echter nog veel mysteries die moeten worden opgelost en die geleidelijk aan de oppervlakte komen. Onlangs hebben archeologen bijvoorbeeld sporen gevonden van een ondergrondse structuur die nog nooit eerder is ontdekt: deze bevindt zich in de buurt van de piramides van Gizeh.

Ondergrondse structuur ontdekt bij de piramides van Gizeh

Sato et al./Archaeological Prospection

Een onderzoeksteam van Japanse en Egyptische archeologen heeft sporen ontdekt van een bouwwerk in de vlakte van Gizeh. Het zou gaan om een tweedelige ondergrondse constructie die verborgen ligt onder de Westelijke Necropolis, een van de meest bestudeerde archeologische vindplaatsen in Egypte van de afgelopen decennia.

Als we de resultaten lezen die gepubliceerd zijn in het tijdschrift Archaeological Prospection, gebruikten de onderzoekers bodemradar en elektrische resistiviteit tomografie. De scans onthulden een L-vormige structuur die zich uitstrekte over een gebied van 10 bij 15 meter en ongeveer een meter onder het zand begraven lag. Maar dit is niet de enige ontdekking, want er kan een nog grotere structuur onder liggen op een diepte tot 10 meter onder het woestijnoppervlak. Het is de vraag waar deze structuren voor werden gebruikt, maar op dit moment kunnen archeologen er alleen maar naar gissen.

Hoe slaagden ze erin een ondergrondse structuur te vinden zonder te graven?

Sato et al./Archaeological Prospection

Het vinden van een ondergrondse structuur zonder te graven is niet eenvoudig: archeologen zijn weliswaar bekend met de Westelijke Necropolis, en de vlakte van Gizeh ligt vol met locaties om onderzoek uit te voeren, maar het is niet allemaal zo eenvoudig als het lijkt. Daarom maakten de onderzoekers gebruik van bodemradar en elektrische resistiviteit tomografie. De eerstgenoemde methode, ook bekend als Ground-penetrating Radar of GPR, is een methodologie die in de geofysica wordt gebruikt om de ondergrond te bestuderen. In de praktijk worden elektromagnetische golven naar de grond gestuurd en net als bij een radar worden hun reflecties gemeten om de ondergrond te reconstrueren. De tweede is in plaats daarvan een methodologie die veranderingen in de elektrische weerstand van ondergrondse materialen detecteert.

Met behulp van deze twee technologieën, die beloven een revolutie teweeg te brengen in de archeologie, hebben onderzoekers gebieden met verschillende dichtheden geïdentificeerd onder een deel van de Westelijke Necropolis. Op het eerste gezicht is het een gebied dat niet bedekt is met graven; ondergronds zijn er echter twee structuren die moeten worden bestudeerd.

Wat was het doel van de twee verborgen structuren?

Nina Aldin Thune/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED

De twee structuren waarvan het onderzoeksteam de sporen heeft ontdekt, zijn niet van natuurlijke oorsprong maar door mensenhanden gemaakt. Toch is er, zoals we al zeiden, weinig bekend over hun daadwerkelijke doel: ze kunnen zo'n 4000 jaar oud zijn, zoals een groot deel van de rest van de Westelijke Necropolis, maar ze kunnen ook ouder zijn. En verder, niets. Op dit moment hebben archeologen opgemerkt dat er mogelijk een kamer is in de diepste structuur, maar gezien het ontbreken van andere informatie hebben ze besloten om het een “anomalie” te noemen.

Verder onderzoek zal nodig zijn om echt te begrijpen waar de twee verborgen structuren voor werden gebruikt. Na alle opgravingen van de afgelopen twee eeuwen is Egypte nog steeds de hoofdrolspeler van verrassende ontdekkingen en onverwachte vondsten. En zoals zo vaak het geval is, staan we nog maar aan het begin.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

28-05-2024 om 19:33 geschreven door peter  

Majority of Egyptian Pyramids Was Built along Long-Lost Branch of Nile, Archaeologists Say

Archaeologists in Egypt have identified segments of a 64-km-long extinct branch of the river Nile, which they name the Ahramat Branch, running at the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, where the majority of the ancient Egyptian pyramids lie. Many of the pyramids, dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms, have causeways that lead to the branch and terminate with Valley Temples which may have acted as river harbors along it in the past. The researchers suggest that the Ahramat Branch played a role in the monuments’ construction and that it was simultaneously active and used as a transportation waterway for workmen and building materials to the pyramids’ sites.

The water course of the ancient Ahramat Branch of the Nile.

Image credit: Ghoneim et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7.

The Egyptian pyramid fields between Giza and Lisht, built over a nearly 1,000-year period starting approximately 4,700 years ago, now sit on the edge of the inhospitable Western Desert, part of the Sahara.

Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places.

Archaeologists have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not been confirmed.

Dr. Eman Ghoneim from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and colleagues studied satellite imagery to find the possible location of a former river branch running along the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, very near to the pyramid fields.

The researchers then used geophysical surveys and sediment cores to confirm the presence of river sediments and former channels beneath the modern land surface, indicating the presence of a former branch, which they propose naming Ahramat (meaning ‘pyramids’ in Arabic).

They suggest that an increased build-up of windblown sand, linked to a major drought which began approximately 4,200 years ago, could be one of the reasons for the branch’s migration east and eventual silting up.

The discovery may explain why these pyramid fields were concentrated along this particular strip of desert near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, as they would have been easily accessible via the river branch at the time they were built.

Additionally, the authors found that many of the pyramids had causeways which ended at the proposed riverbanks of the Ahramat Branch, which they suggest is evidence the river was used for transporting construction materials.

The findings reiterate the importance of the Nile as a highway and cultural artery for ancient Egyptians, and also highlight how human society has historically been affected by environmental change, according to the authors.

Future research to find more extinct Nile branches could help prioritize archaeological excavations along their banks and protect Egyptian cultural heritage.

“Revealing this extinct Nile branch can provide a more refined idea of where ancient settlements were possibly located in relation to it and prevent them from being lost to rapid urbanization,” the scientists said.

“This could improve the protection measures of Egyptian cultural heritage.”

“It is the hope that our findings can improve conservation measures and raise awareness of these sites for modern development planning.”

“By understanding the landscape of the Nile floodplain and its environmental history, archeologists will be better equipped to prioritize locations for fieldwork investigation and, consequently, raise awareness of these sites for conservation purposes and modern development planning.”

“Our finding has filled a much-needed knowledge gap related to the dominant waterscape in ancient Egypt, which could help inform and educate a wide array of global audiences about how earlier inhabitants were living and in what ways shifts in their landscape drove human activity in such an iconic region.”

• The team’s paper was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
• E. Ghoneim et al. 2024. The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch. Commun Earth Environ 5, 233; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

21-05-2024 om 23:13 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Kathleen Heylen

Al eeuwenlang spreken de Egyptische piramides tot de verbeelding. Ze werden gebouwd ten tijde van het oude Egypte en dienden als grafmonumenten voor de farao's, de heersers van het oude Egyptische rijk. Na hun dood werden de farao's gemummificeerd en samen met tal van schatten en persoonlijke bezittingen in het hart van de piramide begraven.

Enkele tientallen piramides zijn nog bewaard gebleven. Daarvan zijn de piramides van Gizeh waarschijnlijk de beroemdste. Die liggen in de necropolis van Gizeh, vlak bij de Egyptische hoofdstad Caïro. Meer dan 4.000 jaar geleden was dat een belangrijke begraafplaats voor de Egyptenaren.

De piramides zijn niet alleen een belangrijke toeristische trekpleister, maar ook een bron van vragen en mysterie. Hoe de oude Egyptenaren er precies in geslaagd zijn om zo'n majestueuze bouwwerken neer te zetten in de woestijn, is nog altijd niet helemaal duidelijk. Een team van internationale wetenschappers zegt nu een stap dichter bij de oplossing van het raadsel te zijn.

"Begraven rivieren en oude bouwconstructies"

Een van de huidige theoriëen is dat de oude Egyptenaren een waterweg hebben gebruikt om materialen te vervoeren. Zoals de massieve blokken natuursteen en kalksteen die nodig waren om de piramides te bouwen. Maar tot nu was niemand echt zeker van de locatie, de vorm, de grootte en de nabijheid van deze waterweg tot de sites waar de piramides staan.

Een team van de University of North Carolina Wilmington is er nu in geslaagd om een lang verloren gewaande oude tak van de rivier de Nijl te lokaliseren. De riviertak zou duizenden jaren geleden verdwenen zijn door grote droogte en zandstormen. Nu ligt hij verborgen onder woestijn en landbouwgrond.

De wetenschappers zijn erin geslaagd om "door te dringen onder het zandoppervlak en met radartechnologie beelden van verborgen structuren te zien". Die structuren omvatten "begraven rivieren en oude bouwconstructies" aan de voet van de heuvels waar de overgrote meerderheid van de piramides uit het oude Egypte stonden.

Het team maakte gebruik van radarsatellietbeelden, historische kaarten, geofysische onderzoeken en sedimentboringen. Bij geofysisch onderzoek wordt de bodem onderzocht zonder invasieve opgravingen, bijvoorbeeld met metingen van de elektrische weerstand in de bodem en van het aardmagnetisch veld. Bij sedimentboringen wordt bewijsmateriaal gezocht in stalen van de bodem.

Het lichtblauwe lijntje is de oude zijtak van de Nijl, dicht bij enkele bekende sites met piramides en grafmonumenten liggen.

© Foto: Nature/UNCW

"Actief en operationeel"

De oude riviertak van de Nijl zou volgens de onderzoekers ongeveer 64 kilometer lang geweest zijn, en tussen de 200 en 600 meter breed. De waterweg liep dicht in de buurt van 31 piramides die tussen de 4.700 en 3.700 jaar geleden gebouwd zijn.

De nabijheid van de riviertak tot die sites suggereert dat de tak "actief en operationeel was tijdens de bouwfase van deze piramides", zegt het onderzoek. Op dat moment zouden de piramidevelden makkelijk bereikbaar zijn geweest via het water.

Het team kon bovendien vaststellen dat veel piramides verhoogde wegen hadden, die eindigden bij de veronderstelde oevers van de zijtak. Volgens hen ook een bewijs dat de rivier gebruikt werd voor het transport van materiaal.

Ahramat

De onderzoekers hebben de riviertak niet toevallig Ahramat genoemd, 'piramides' in het  Arabisch. Volgens hen kan de aanwezigheid van die tak een verklaring zijn voor de vele piramides tussen Gizeh en Lisht, op zo'n 60 kilometer van Caïro. In een periode van 1.000 jaar zijn daar tal van piramides en andere monumenten gebouwd, te beginnen vanaf 4.700 voor Christus.  

Vandaag liggen die sites in een dor en onherbergzaam gebied in de Sahara-woestijn. De onderzoekers vermoeden dat een toenemende ophoping van zand, samen met een enorme droogte die zo'n 4.200 jaar geleden begon, de reden zou kunnen zijn waarom de Ahramat-tak verdwenen is.

Professor Enam Ghoneim onderzoekt de topografie bij de oude riviertak, met op de achtergrond de piramide van Cheops en de sfinx in Gizeh.© Foto: Eman Ghoneim/UNCW

"Het kost gewoon veel minder moeite"

"Velen onder ons die geïnteresseerd zijn in het oude Egypte, zijn zich ervan bewust dat de Egyptenaren een waterweg gebruikt moeten hebben om hun enorme monumenten te bouwen, zoals de piramides en de tempels in de valleien", zegt hoofdonderzoeker Enam Ghoneim.

"Ons onderzoek toont de eerste kaart van een van de belangrijkste oude riviertakken van de Nijl op zo'n grote schaal, en kan die linken aan de grootste piramidevindplaatsen in Egypte."

Aan de Britse openbare omroep BBC vertelt co-auteur Suzanne Onstine over het belang van het lokaliseren van die riviertak. "Dat we gegevens hebben waaruit blijkt dat er een waterweg was die gebruikt kon worden voor het transport van zware blokken, uitrusting, mensen... Dat helpt ons echt om te helpen verklaren hoe piramides gebouwd zijn."

"De oude Egyptenaren konden de energie van de rivier gebruiken om zware blokken te dragen, in plaats van menselijke arbeid", zegt Ostine. "Het kost gewoon veel minder moeite".

Meer lezen?

• Gondeim, E. et al. The E0gyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch. Gepubliceerd in Nature - Communications earth & environment.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ } 

17-05-2024 om 18:44 geschreven door peter  

Unable to decipher the strange set of inscriptions along the face of the artifact, Senior reached out to a local archaeologist for assistance with the unique find. Soon, experts were able to determine that the object he retrieved from his garden bore inscriptions in an Early Medieval alphabet that was once used in the British Isles to convey early variants of the Irish language.

THE OGHAM ENIGMA

Today, historians and archaeologists are aware of just a few hundred ogham inscriptions throughout Ireland and parts of Britain, with the largest concentrations located in southwestern Ireland around Munster and in a few locations in Great Britain, including Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Existing examples of this ancient language show that it was used to convey individuals’ names in most cases. Sources in early Irish literature that detail two-word kennings offering explanations for the meanings of words in the Ogham alphabet indicate that most of the markings are named for various trees found in the British Isles.

The stone artifact unearthed by Senior near Coventry, bearing examples of the ancient language known as Ogham

(Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust).

The surprise discovery prompted him to reach out to a relative who specialized in archaeology, which eventually brought Senior to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, an organization run jointly by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales which, according to its website, was established to “encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales.”

Each year, thousands of objects of significance to the heritage of England and Wales are discovered, particularly by individuals who, like Senior, are “gardening or going about their daily work.”

Teresa Gilmore, an archaeologist and finds liaison officer with Birmingham Museums, called Senior’s discovery an “amazing find,” telling The Guardian that the discovery could potentially offer archaeologists new insights into early medieval activity in the area that experts are still working to decipher.

Celtic Studies professor Katherine Forsyth, who was shown the artifact by Gilmore, believes it dates from sometime between the fifth and sixth centuries.

DECIPHERING THE STONE’S MESSAGE

Although the Ogham script is somewhat obscure and unrecognizable by most today, the message on the object Senior discovered is decipherable. According to Forsyth, the inscription reads “Maldumcail/S/Lass,” the first part of which may refer to a person by the name of Mael Dumcail, and the final portion possibly referring to a location.

So who was Mael Dumcail, and why was this individual’s name inscribed on this stone? Although details about this individual and their relevance to the stone will likely remain a mystery, equally curious is the location where it was discovered since ogham stones of this variety are rarely discovered outside of Ireland and Scotland.

According to Gilmore, it is possible that the discovery may have had a relationship to the early medieval monasteries, and one interpretation of its significance includes that the object may have been a keepsake that had belonged to someone traveling from Ireland, perhaps during a visit to one of these religious centers.

“AN EXCITING MYSTERY”

Presently, the artifact is residing at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has permanently donated his find. Beginning on May 11, the ogham stone will appear as part of an exhibition hosted at the museum.

Ali Wells, curator of the forthcoming exhibition, expressed excitement over the rare find, calling it an “exciting mystery” that a stone featuring language with origins in Ireland would be found hidden beneath several inches of soil in Coventry.

Wells notes that urban development and other operations in and around Coventry have led to much of the earth being worked over time, particularly near the city center, which reduces the number of archaeological discoveries that are made with time.

The fact that such a find was made, and one so seemingly out of place, “was quite unexpected,” Wells told The Guardian.

emphasized that discovering this unique ogham stone in Coventry offers a rare glimpse into the region’s historical mysteries, especially given the city’s extensive archaeological excavation over the years.

The forthcoming exhibition, “Collecting Coventry,” will be held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and is open to the public.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

14-05-2024 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

New Rock Art Sites Discovered in Sudanese Eastern Desert

Archaeologists from Macquarie University and Polish Academy of Science’s Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Culture have discovered 16 new rock art sites in the Sudanese Eastern Desert or the ‘Atbai.’ Almost all of the newly-discovered artwork, which dates back 4,000 years, features the presence of cattle.

Painted rock art at a site around Gebel Nahoganet in the Sudanese Eastern Desert.

Image credit: Cooper et al., doi: 10.1177/03075133231211.

“It was puzzling to find cattle carved on desert rock walls as they require plenty of water and acres of pasture, and would not survive in the dry and arid environment of the Sahara today,” said Dr. Julien Cooper, a researcher at Macquarie University.

“The presence of cattle in ancient rock art is one of the most important pieces of evidence establishing a once ‘green Sahara’.”

The rock art discovered in Eastern Sudan also paints the desert as a grassy savannah, brimming with pools, rivers, swamps and waterholes and home to a variety of African savannah fauna such as the giraffe and elephant.

The idea of a ‘green Sahara’ has been proven in previous archaeological and climatic fieldwork and research, with experts referring to this as the ‘African humid period’ — a time of increased summer monsoon rainfall which began approximately 15,000 years ago and ended roughly 5,000 years ago.

Depictions of humans alongside the cattle could indicate the act of milking, suggesting the region was once occupied by cattle pastoralists until as late as the second or third millennium BCE.

After this point, decreasing rainfall rendered cattle pastoralism impossible.

Today, this region receives almost no annual rainfall.

Following the end of the ‘African humid period’, around 3000 BCE, lakes and rivers began to dry up, sand covered dead pastures and most of the human population left the Sahara for refuge closer to the Nile.

“The Atbai Desert around Wadi Halfa, where the new rock art was discovered, became almost completely depopulated. For those who remained, cattle were abandoned for sheep and goats,” the archaeologists said.

“This would have had major ramification on all aspects of human life — from diet and limited milk supplies, migratory patterns of herding families and the identity and livelihood of those who depended on their cattle.”

• The team’s paper was published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
• Julien Cooper et al. 2023. Rock Art Surveys in the Sudanese Eastern Desert: Results of the 2018-2019 Atbai Survey Project. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 109 (1-2); doi: 10.1177/03075133231211

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

09-05-2024 om 00:26 geschreven door peter  

No lettering or numbers appear on any of the Roman dodecahedrons that have currently been discovered, although similar objects that include 20-sided icosahedrons of comparable design have also been found. Like many curiosities of the ancient past, their distinctive appearance is strongly suggestive that they were created as devices designed with a specific purpose. Why else would one go to all the trouble of crafting them otherwise?

Although there is still no explanation that researchers agree on in terms of what the objects may have been intended for, several theories have propelled the debate now for decades, and archaeologists may be closing in on discoveries that could provide much-needed context for answering the remaining questions about these ancient Gallo-Roman curiosities.

HISTORY

The earliest known discovery of a Roman dodecahedron is believed to have occurred in 1739 near Aston, Hertfordshire, England. According to an 1849 catalog entry in the miscellaneous collections of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a bronze Roman dodecahedron “found with copper coins at Aston, in Hertfordshire, in a field called Hagdale, was exhibited to the Society by Mr. North [on] June 28, 1739.”

The 1849 entry also discusses the discovery of a similar dodecahedral object nearly three decades later, unearthed from a depth of close to 8 feet on the grounds of St. Peter’s Church at Carmarthen that occurred in May 1768. Described as a “singular object of bronze, in form of a hollow dodecahedron,” the artifact featured “a ball attached to each angle” and a circular opening on “each of its pentagonal sides … the diameters of these perforations increasing gradually from six-tenths to about 1 ½ inch. Each side measures, in diameter, 2 1/5 inches.”

“Several pieces of copper, curiously laid in flag-bricks, were found at the same time, but they crumbled to dust,” the entry states, although it is unclear whether these bricks had any specific relationship to the dodecahedron. Finally, the 1849 catalog entry mentions the discovery of a third dodecahedron “but of smaller size and without balls at the angles, found near Fishguard,” which was delivered to the Society of Antiquaries by the Rev. Edward Harries of Llandysilio, Pembrokeshire, on March 12, 1846.

Over the ensuing centuries, dozens more of the objects have been found in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, and surrounding countries. Curiously, the objects have remained absent amidst archaeological discoveries made in Italy, where one might otherwise presume a concentration of objects of Roman provenance would be located, further adding to the mystery of their purpose.

THEORIES

Given that there is virtually nothing to provide historical context for what these objects may have been designed and used for, a range of theories have emerged over the years that could offer potential solutions to the mystery of the dodecahedrons.

One of the earliest proposed theories among scholars in the 19th century had been that the objects may have been implements of warfare, perhaps serving as a mace head, a component of a net or bolas-type throwing weapon, or even a projectile. However, the hollow design of the dodecahedrons would seem to impose obvious limitations on their effectiveness if used for such purposes.

More recent theories about the Roman dodecahedra involve their possible use as measurement gauges or as a surveying instrument, while other theories hold that they may have had an artistic or decorative purpose. Other theories put forward over the decades have argued that the dodecahedrons may have served as everything from candlestick holders to gaming implements, devices used for determining sowing dates, calibration tools for water pipes, or possibly army standard bases used by Roman soldiers.

According to Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a researcher with the Department of Applied Science and Technology at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, one novel possibility is that the Roman dodecahedrons served as dioptrons (i.e., rangefinders). ​Drawing from sources based entirely online, Sparavigna concluded in a 2o12 paper that features common among all the known Roman dodecahedrons point to their use as optical instruments for the measurement of angles and estimating distances.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

04-05-2024 om 22:34 geschreven door peter  

Inside the Quest to Confirm A Strange 60-Year-Old Theory About Stonehenge

Archaeological evidence suggests Stonehenge also aligns with moonrise and moonset.

BY THE CONVERSATION, ERICA ELLINGSON, AMANDA CHADBURNANDFABIO SILVA

 

Chris Clor/Tetra images/Getty Images

When it comes to its connection to the sky, Stonehenge is best known for its solar alignments. Every midsummer night, tens of thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate and witness the rising sun in alignment with the Heel stone standing outside of the circle. Six months later, a smaller crowd congregates around the Heel stone to witness the midwinter Sun setting within the stone circle.

However, a hypothesis has been around for 60 years that part of Stonehenge also aligns with moonrise and moonset at what is called a major lunar standstill. Although a correlation between the layout of certain stones and the major lunar standstill has been known about for several decades, no one has systematically observed and recorded the phenomenon at Stonehenge.

This is what we are aiming to do in a project bringing together archaeologists, astronomers, and photographers from English Heritage, Oxford, Leicester, and Bournemouth universities, as well as the Royal Astronomical Society.

There is now an abundance of archaeological evidence that indicates the solar alignment was part of the architectural design of Stonehenge. Around 2500 BC, the people who put up large stones and dug an avenue into the chalk seemed to want to cement the solstice axis into the architecture of Stonehenge.

Archaeological evidence from nearby Durrington Walls, the place where scientists believe the ancient people who visited Stonehenge stayed, indicates that of the two solstices, it was the midwinter one that drew the largest crowd.

But Stonehenge includes other elements, such as 56 pits arranged in a circle, an earthwork bank and ditch, and other smaller features, such as the four station stones. These are four sarsen stones, a form of silicified sandstone common in Wiltshire, that were carefully placed to form an almost exact rectangle encompassing the stone circle.

Only two of these stones are still there, and they pale in comparison to their larger counterparts, as they are only a few feet high. So, what could their purpose be?

LUNAR STANDSTILL

The rectangle that they form is not just any rectangle. The shorter sides are parallel to the main axis of the stone circle, and this may be a clue as to their purpose. The longer sides of the rectangle skirt the outside of the stone circle.

It is these longer sides that are thought to align with the major lunar standstill. If you marked the position of moonrise (or set) over the course of a month, you would see that it moves between two points on the horizon. These southern and northern limits of moonrise (or set) change on a cycle of 18.6 years between a minimum and a maximum range – the so-called minor and major lunar standstills, respectively.

The major lunar standstill is a period of about one and a half to two years when the northernmost and southernmost moonrises (or sets) are furthest apart. When this happens, the Moon rises (and sets) outside the range of sunrises and sets, which may have imbued this celestial phenomenon with meaning and significance.

The strongest evidence we have for people marking the major lunar standstill comes from the US southwest. The Great House of Chimney Rock is a multi-level complex built by the ancestral Pueblo people in the San Juan National Forest, Colorado, more than 1,000 years ago.

It lies on a ridge that ends at a natural formation of twin rock pillars – an area that has cultural significance to more than 26 native American tribal nations. From the vantage point of the Great House, the Sun will never rise in the gap between the pillars.

However, during a major standstill the Moon does rise between them in awe-inspiring fashion. Excavations unearthed preserved wood that meant researchers could date to the year episodes of construction of the Great House.

Of six cutting dates, four correspond to major lunar standstill years between the years AD1018 and AD1093, indicating that the site was renewed, maintained, or expanded on consecutive major standstills.

Returning to southern England, archaeologists think there is a connection between the major lunar standstill and the earliest construction phase of Stonehenge (3000-2500 BC), before the sarsen stones were brought in.

Several sets of cremated human remains from this phase of construction were found in the southeastern part of the monument in the general direction of the southernmost major standstill moonrise, where three timber posts were also set into the bank. It is possible that there was an early connection between the site of Stonehenge and the Moon, which was later emphasized when the station stone rectangle was built.

The major lunar standstill hypothesis, however, raises more questions than it answers. We don’t know if the lunar alignments of the station stones were symbolic or whether people were meant to observe the Moon through them. Neither do we know which phases of the Moon would be more dramatic to witness.

A SEARCH FOR ANSWERS

In our upcoming work, we will be trying to answer the questions the major lunar standstill hypothesis raises. It’s unclear whether the Moon would have been strong enough to cast shadows and how they would have interacted with the other stones. We will also need to check whether the alignments can still be seen today or if they are blocked by woods, traffic, and other features.

The Moon will align with the station stone rectangle twice a month from about February 2024 to November 2025, giving us plenty of opportunities to observe this phenomenon in different seasons and phases of the Moon.

To bring our research to life, English Heritage will livestream the southernmost Moonrise in June 2024 and host a series of events throughout the year, including talks, a pop-up planetarium, stargazing, and storytelling sessions.

Across the Atlantic, our partners at the US Forest Service are developing educational materials about the major lunar standstill at Chimney Rock National Monument. This collaboration will result in events showcasing and debating the lunar alignments at both Stonehenge and Chimney Rock.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Fabio Silva and Amanda Chadburn at Bournemouth University and Erica Ellingson at the University of Colorado Boulder. Read the original article here.

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29-04-2024 om 22:12 geschreven door peter  

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER A 10,000-YEAR-OLD MAN-MADE MEGASTRUCTURE UNDER THE BALTIC SEA

This might be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure.

BY STEPHANIE PIPER AND THE CONVERSATION

 

United Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure, submerged 21 meters below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. This structure – which has been named the Blinkerwall – is a continuous low wall made from over 1,500 granite stones that run for almost a kilometer. The evidence suggests it was constructed by Palaeolithic people between 11,700 and 9,900 years ago, probably as an aid for hunting reindeer.

The archaeologists investigating the Bay of Mecklenburg used a range of submarine equipment, sampling methods, and modeling techniques to reconstruct the ancient lake bed and its surrounding landscape. This revealed that the Blinkerwall stands on a ridge running east to west, with a 5km-wide lake basin a few meters below the ridge to the south.

The human, rather than natural, origin for the Blinkerwall was confirmed by an archaeological diving team who photographed sections of the wall. These show that it is made up of 288 very large boulders, which were probably dropped in that location by the retreating glacier, connected by 1,673 smaller stones.

These smaller stones appear to have been collected from the immediate vicinity, as the area just to the north of the wall has many fewer stones than the areas even further north. The resulting structure stands a little under a meter in height and up to two meters wide, with remarkable regularity over its 971-meter length.

A DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE

At the time of its construction, the landscapes and seascapes of northwest Europe were very different from today. The climate was beginning to warm as the colder Pleistocene era ended and the warmer Holocene era began. Sea levels were much lower, and large glaciers sat over much of Fennoscandia.

The land around the Baltic Sea basin rose rapidly, released from the weight of the retreating glaciers, and transformed into a brackish body of water known as the Yoldia Sea into freshwater Ancylus Lake. Great Britain was a peninsula of the European continental landmass, with a vast lowland plain known as Doggerland stretching from Norfolk to the Netherlands. Herds of reindeer, European bison, and wild horses migrated across its sparsely forested landscape.

In cultural terms, this period, known as the Late Upper Palaeolithic, is marked by significant hallmarks in technological innovation by the people who lived at this time. Dogs have recently been domesticated; there are regionally distinct forms of stone projectile points, and there is frequent use of decorated bone and antler harpoons, as well as specialist hunting strategies employed to target migrating prey.

The identification of the Blinkerwall now demonstrates that Palaeolithic hunters were managing their landscape to aid their hunting activities more deliberately than was previously thought.

The construction of walls and other features in the landscape is familiar to us, particularly in the context of land enclosure for farming. Both contemporary and ancient societies that have traditionally subsisted by hunting and gathering wild resources are also known to alter their environments by constructing features such as stone walls. These are used for a variety of purposes, including fishing, shellfishing, and hunting.

The researchers compared the Blinkerwall to other archaeologically documented structures of a similar length and construction type that have been identified in the Middle East, North America, Canada, and Greenland. These structures are interpreted as having been built for the purpose of game drive hunting. In this strategy, hunters use landscape and built features to gain an advantage over their prey by directing its movements to a location where they are more vulnerable to attack by other hunters.

The similarity of the Blinkerwall to these other structures, and its construction adjacent to a body of water, led to the suggestion that the wall had been created for the same purpose. The lake itself may also have been used in this strategy.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

One archaeological site from Germany that supports this interpretation is Stellmoor, located just north of Hamburg and which dates to the latest time that the Blinkerwall could have been constructed.

The site is located at the end of a narrow valley where thousands of reindeer bones – some bearing hunting impact traces, flint points, and even pinewood arrow shafts – were found preserved in the ancient lake sediments. The hunting evidence at Stellmoor shows the reindeer were shot by arrows as they were driven down the valley into the lake.

While there is no archaeological evidence at Stellmoor to suggest people had deliberately created or changed the landscape to enhance their hunting success, it shows how the topography of the landscape was used to the hunters’ advantage. The Blinkerwall construction provides evidence that Palaeolithic people took this level of planning and coordination a step further.

It shows they recognized and understood the instincts of their prey so well that they were able to predict their movements – and how they would react when faced with an artificially created obstacle like the Blinkerwall.

The discovery of this monumental piece of hunting architecture is unique in Europe. At a maximum of 11,700 years old, it is one of the oldest examples in the world, potentially predating a desert hunting “kite” at Jibal al-Gadiwiyt in Jordan by over a thousand years.

The Blinkerwall adds a new element to our understanding of the highly skilled and specialized hunting strategies engineered by people at the end of the last glacial period – strategies that have continued to be used in different landscapes for millennia. And the discoveries are unlikely to stop here.

The Bay of Mecklenburg has the potential to reveal further archaeological evidence of equal significance. The researchers do not rule out the possibility that another wall or other associated features could be found buried under later sedimentation of the ancient lake.

If weapons, tools, or animal remains were to be recovered at the site, this would reveal information about the nature and duration of their use – and far greater insights into the sophisticated subsistence strategies of the Palaeolithic hunters of the Baltic.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Stephanie Piper at University of York. Read the original article here.

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29-04-2024 om 22:02 geschreven door peter  

De mysterieuze stad die wetenschappers al jaren verbijstert

©Shutterstock

De mysterieuze stad die wetenschappers al jaren verbijstert

In een afgelegen gebied van de westelijke Stille Oceaan ligt een verbluffend en spookachtig onopgelost mysterie: de ruïnes van de oude stad Nan Madol. Gelegen naast de oostelijke oever van het Micronesische eiland Pohnpei, bestaat deze ooit zo grote, prehistorische stad uit bijna 100 geometrisch gevormde kunstmatige stenen eilanden, en het is de enige oude stad die bovenop een koraalrif is gebouwd.

Niemand is zeker van de oorsprong, noch waarom iemand een stad zou willen bouwen op deze desolate plek. Rond de ruïnes hangt een zweem van mysterie, legendes en spookverhalen. Klik verder en ontdek deze vreemde

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Het Venetië van de Stille Oceaan
De ruïne bestaat uit 92 kunstmatige eilandjes gebouwd bovenop koraalriffen, die verbonden zijn door een netwerk van kanalen, waardoor het de bijnaam 'Venetië van de Stille Oceaan' heeft gekregen.

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De betekenis van de echte naam
'Nan Madol' betekent 'de ruimte ertussen', wat verwijst naar de kanalen. Echter doet het ook een beroep op de geschiedenis van de stad en de reputatie van het huisvesten van geesten.

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De hamvraag
Waarom zou iemand een stad bouwen in het midden van de oceaan, zo ver weg van een andere bekende beschaving?

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Een ding is zeker
Het is een technisch wonder, volledig gebouwd van gigantische basaltplaten in een tijd waarin gereedschappen zoals we die kennen, nog niet bestonden.

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Indrukwekkende schaal
De massieve basaltmuren zijn naar verluidt op sommige plaatsen 7,6 meter lang en 5 meter dik.

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Megalithische architectuur
Koolstofdatering geeft aan dat sommige van de structuren ongeveer 900 jaar oud zijn, maar de eilandjes zelf dateren nog verder terug: naar de 8e en 9e eeuw n.Chr.

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Mensen waren daar al eerder
Bewijs van de vroegste menselijke activiteit dateert volgens Atlas Obscura uit de eerste of tweede eeuw voor Christus. Er is weinig bekend over het oude ras dat het gebied bewoonde.

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Waar komt al dat basalt vandaan?
De basaltstenen zijn naar verluidt afkomstig van de andere kant van Pohnpei, van een vulkanische plug waar magma was uitgehard in de opening van een actieve vulkaan.

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Hoe werd het vervoerd?
Moderne archeologen hebben geen idee hoe de massieve stenen van de ene kant van Pohnpei naar de andere zijn verplaatst en vervolgens zo hoog zijn gestapeld, gezien de primitieve technologie die destijds beschikbaar zou zijn geweest.

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Het wedijvert met het werk van de piramides
De inspanning die nodig was om de megalithische structuren te bouwen, zou die van de Egyptische piramides hebben geëvenaard, aangezien de rotsen een geschat totaal gewicht hadden van 750.000 ton.

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Theorieën over transport
Experts hebben gesuggereerd dat vlotten kunnen zijn gebruikt om de enorme rotsen naar het rif te transporteren, maar hoe ze oorspronkelijk uit hun verre steengroeven werden getakeld of hoe ze tot die indrukwekkende structuren zijn gemaakt blijft tot op de dag van vandaag onduidelijk

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De locatie alleen al is verbijsterend
Waarom zou iemand een locatie zo ver van de bewoonde wereld kiezen, ergens op een koraalrif, om al die gigantische rotsen naar toe te slepen?

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De vreemde eilandjes
De 92 eilandjes lijken erg op elkaar en zijn geometrisch gevormd, maar niemand weet waarom

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Mythologie komt om de hoek kijken
Mythe vult de kloof, waar de wetenschap geen antwoord op weet. De Pohnpeiaanse legende zegt dat de stad werd gebouwd door twee tovenaarsbroers, Olisihpa en Olosohpa.

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Een plek voor aanbidding
De broers wilden een plek om een altaar te bouwen zodat ze Nahnisohn Sahpw, de god van de landbouw, konden aanbidden, wat enigszins ironisch is omdat de eilanden niet geschikt zijn voor landbouw.

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Hoe hebben ze de stenen verplaatst?
De legende zegt dat de broers rituelen uitvoerden en de hulp van een vliegende draak gebruikten om het massieve basalt te vervoeren, om daarmee de eilandjes van Nan Madol te creëren.

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Natuurlijk waren zij de heersers van de stad
Olosohpa werd uiteindelijk de eerste Saudeleur en markeerde het begin van een dynastie die tot ongeveer 1628 over Nan Madol regeerde.

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Tovenarij
De meeste inwoners van Pohnpei geloven naar verluidt nog steeds dat de oude stad het werk van tovenarij was, aangezien er geen andere levensvatbare theorie is opgedoken voor hoe mensen 750.000 ton basalt hebben verplaatst.

©Shutterstock

Een heilige plek
Hoe het ook is ontstaan, het wordt erkend als een heilige plaats gesticht door de Saudeleur-dynastie, die ooit werd bevolkt door stamhoofden en priesters, evenals gewone mensen om hen te dienen. Afgebeeld is het graf van de Saudeleur-dynastie.

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Politieke zetel van macht
De Saudeleur-heersers gaven lokale stamhoofden het mandaat om in Nan Madol te verblijven, zodat ze hun activiteiten konden volgen en de controle konden behouden.

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Verschillende toepassingen voor de eilandjes
Hoewel de meeste eilandjes woonwijken waren, waren sommige speciaal gewijd aan voedselbereiding, kokosolieproductie of kanobouw.

©iStock

Het had een vrij aanzienlijke populatie
Er wordt geschat dat de bevolking van Nan Madol meer dan 1.000 bedroeg in een tijd dat de hele bevolking van Pohnpei amper 25.000 bereikte.

©iStock

Geen eten of water
De onderworpen inwoners moesten voedsel en water naar de stad brengen, omdat er geen middelen waren om gewassen te verbouwen of zoet water op het rif op te slaan.

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Een logistiek probleem om te overleven
Dit probleem heeft mogelijk geleid tot het verlaten van deze indrukwekkende stad.

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Verschillende verhalen over hoe het eindigde
Er zijn veel verhalen over hoe het bewind van Saudeleur eindigde, maar ze schrijven het allemaal toe aan de legendarische krijger Isokelekel in de 15e eeuw, die naar verluidt een nieuw systeem van stamhoofddom implementeerde.

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Het wordt soms 'de spookstad' genoemd
Het mysterie van de oorsprong en het doel van de oude stad heeft natuurlijk heel wat legendes geïnspireerd over geesten. Sommigen zijn bang om te bezoeken, terwijl anderen juist voor de paranormale ervaring gaan.

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Geïnspireerde HP Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was een beroemde Amerikaanse schrijver wiens fictieve verzonken stad R'lyeh, te zien in zijn Cthulhu-mythos, blijkbaar was geïnspireerd door Nan Madol.

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'Roep van Cthulhu'
Zijn korte verhaal vermeldt het echte eiland Pohnpei en gebruikt de mythologie van Nan Madol in zijn beschrijving van 'De nachtmerrieachtige lijkstad van R'lyeh', die 'in onmetelijke eeuwen achter de geschiedenis werd gebouwd'.

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Het wordt nog maar net als 'beschermd gebied' behandeld
In 2016 werd Nan Madol toegevoegd aan de lijst van UNESCO-werelderfgoederen.

©Shutterstock

Maar het wordt ook bedreigd
De ruïnes worden bedreigd door klimaatverandering, stijgende zeespiegels, oprukkende mangroven en het temperamentvolle weer in de Stille Oceaan, waardoor het ook een plaats krijgt op de Werelderfgoedlijst van bedreigde plekken.

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25-04-2024 om 21:39 geschreven door peter  

1.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Ukraine Document Earliest Hominin Occupation of Europe

by Sergio Prostak

 

Archaeologists have dated an assemblage of ancient stone tools excavated from the archaeological site of Korolevo on the Tysa River in western Ukraine at 1.42 million years old. As such, these artifacts — which are associated with Homo erectus — provide the earliest evidence of hominins in Europe and support the hypothesis that the continent was colonized from the east.

A stone tool from Korolevo I, Ukraine.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

“To the east of Europe stands the key site of Dmanisi, Georgia, where layers containing hominin skull remains and stone tools are dated securely to around 1.85-1.78 million years,” said first author Dr. Roman Garba, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology and the Nuclear Physics Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues.

“A trail from Africa to Dmanisi via the Levantine corridor accords with the Mode-1 stone artifacts documented in Jordan’s Zarqa Valley, as early as around 2.5 million years ago.

“The earliest precisely dated evidence of humans in Europe occurs at two southwestern sites: Atapuerca, Spain, where the oldest human fossils at Sima del Elefante are reported at around 1.2-1.1 million years; and Vallonnet Cave, southern France, where stone artifacts are constrained to around 1.2-1.1 million years.”

“However, the vast spatial and temporal gap that separates the Caucasus and southwestern Europe leaves key aspects of the first human dispersal into Europe largely unresolved.”

The Korolevo site was first discovered by the Ukrainian archaeologist Vladyslav Gladylin in 1974.

It lies close to where the Tysa River — a tributary of the Danube — leaves the eastern Carpathian Mountains and spreads southwestward across the Pannonian Plain.

“We know that the layer of accumulated loess and paleosol here is up to 14 m deep and contains thousands of stone artifacts. Korolevo was an important source of raw material for their production,” said co-author Dr. Vitalii Usyk, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

“We identified seven periods of human occupation in the stratigraphic layers, although at least nine different Paleolithic cultures were recorded at the locality: hominins lived here from 1.4 million years ago to about 30,000 years ago.”

Selected stone tools from Korolevo I, Ukraine: (a) chopper core; (b) flake with bifacial treatment; (c) multi-platform core; (d) Kombewa flake; (e) flake with parallel scar pattern. Scale bars – 3 cm.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

The Korolevo stone tools were made in the Oldowan style, the most primitive form of tool-making.

“We applied two complementary dating approaches to calculate the age from the measured concentrations of cosmogenic beryllium-10 and aluminum-26,” said senior author Dr. John Jansen, a researcher with the Institute of Geophysics at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

“But the most precise age came from our own method based on mathematical modeling, known as P-PINI.”

“This study is the first time our new dating approach has been applied in archaeology.”

“I expect our new dating approach will have a major impact on archaeology because it can be applied to sedimentary deposits that are highly fragmented, meaning there are lots of erosional gaps.”

“In archaeology we nearly always find fragmented records, whereas the traditional long-range dating method, magnetostratigraphy, relies on more continuous records.”

First peopling of Europe: (a) archaeological sites and dispersal routes noted in the text; the maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheets is indicated with gray dashes; blue arrows indicate possible early human dispersal routes; (b) Korolevo I, Gostry Verkh, viewed from the Beyvar hill with excavation XIII (red box), Ukraine.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

According to the team, the Korolevo site is the northernmost known presence of Homo erectus.

“The radiometric dating of the first human presence at the Korolevo site not only fills in a large spatial gap between the Dmanisi site and the Atapuerca site, but also confirms the hypothesis that the first pulse of hominin dispersal into Europe came from the east or southeast,” Dr. Garba said.

“Based on a climate model and field pollen data, we have identified three possible interglacial warm periods when the first hominins could have reached Korolevo following most likely the Danube River migration corridor.”

• A paper on the findings was published in the journal Nature.
• R. Garba et al. East-to-west human dispersal into Europe 1.4 million years ago. Nature, published online March 6, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

08-03-2024 om 17:01 geschreven door peter  

Ancient texts and archaeological findings offer compelling evidence of giants once roaming the earth, while some argue that there were no Nephilim or giants in Antarctica due to a lack of research.

It's not only conceivable that giants inhabited Antarctica before the continent separated from ancient Gondwana and shifted to its current polar position, rendering it inhospitable but that evidence by discoveries, such as giant bones and skulls, may have already been made but kept secret. 

By using Google Earth going back to satellite imagery from 2004 it shows a remarkable image what appears to be a giant skull. Moreover, the presence of what looks like a person photographing the skull and surrounding tracks and equipment hints at an exciting discovery. 

Despite the fact that it is said that giants never inhabited Antarctica at the time, the imagery of the alleged giant skull seem to prove the opposite in such a way that it warrants further investigation and challenges established beliefs about the history of the continent. 

Google Earth coordinates: 66°37'31.61"S 110°15'8.42"E

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

28-02-2024 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

A team including University of Wyoming anthropologists works at the site of a circular plaza that was built around 4,750 years ago in the Cajamarca Basin of northern Peru.

CREDIT: Jason Toohey.

While no inscriptions describing the intended function of the ancient megalithic structure have been found at the site, the researchers say that they have retrieved many clues as to its purpose and origin.

“It was probably a gathering place and ceremonial location for some of the earliest people living in this part of the Cajamarca Valley,” explained Toohey. “These people were living a primarily hunting-and-gathering lifestyle and probably had only recently begun growing crops and domesticating animals.”

A biological anthropologist specializing in bioarchaeology who has been working in the area since 2003, Toohey was joined by fellow project leader Patricia Chirinos Ogata from the University of California-Santa Barbara as well as fellow UW staffer Professor Melissa Murphy. Together, the researchers have been working to reconstruct Peru’s ancient past while also collaborating with local authorities to preserve the history of the indigenous peoples.

University of Wyoming Associate Professor Jason Toohey stands at the Callacpuma archaeological site in the Andes.

CREDIT: Sarah Stagg

“As part of our community outreach, we collaborate and work with the residents of the towns on and adjacent to the site of Callacpuma about our findings and their importance,” Toohey says. “We highlight the importance of cultural heritage and, working together, we can continue the scientific investigations and help to preserve the site.”

A detailed accounting of the team’s findings and methods is published in the journal Science Advances under the title: ‘A monumental stone plaza at 4750 B.P. in the Cajamarca Valley of Peru.’

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org
  

Plan of the circular plaza and its construction.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

One of the entrances to the plaza.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

Detailed example of the stratigraphic layer from which the dated samples were collected.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

21-02-2024 om 22:02 geschreven door peter  

Stone Age Hunting Megastructure Discovered in Baltic Sea

 by Sergio Prostak

A team of archaeologists from Germany has discovered a submerged Stone Age megastructure in the Western Baltic Sea at a water depth of about 21 m. The structure was likely constructed by hunter-gatherer groups more than 10,000 years ago and ultimately drowned around 8,500 years ago; since then, it remained hidden at the seafloor, leading to a pristine preservation that will inspire research on the lifestyle and territorial development in the larger area.

An artist’s reconstruction of the Blinkerwall in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany.

Image credit: Michał Grabowski.

The Stone Age megastructure was discovered in the Bay of Mecklenburg, about 10 km northwest off Rerik, Germany.

The stonewall is made of 1,673 individual stones which are usually less than 1 m in height, placed side by side over a distance of 971 m in a way that argues against a natural origin by glacial transport or ice push ridges.

Dubbed Blinkerwall, it was built by hunter-gatherers that roamed the region after the retreat of the Weichselian Ice Sheet.

Enlarge / Morphology of the southwest–northeast trending ridge that hosts the Blinkerwall and the adjacent mound.

Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleolake (or bog), whose youngest phase was dated to 9,143 years ago, the structure was likely used for hunting the Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

“At the time, the entire population across northern Europe was likely below 5,000 people,” said Dr. Marcel Bradtmöller, a researcher at the University of Rostock.

“One of their main food sources were herds of reindeer, which migrated seasonally through the sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscape.”

“The wall was probably used to guide the reindeer into a bottleneck between the adjacent lakeshore and the wall, or even into the lake, where the Stone Age hunters could kill them more easily with their weapons.”

Morphology of the southwest-northeast trending ridge that hosts the Blinkerwall and the adjacent mound.

Image credit: Geersen et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

The Blinkerwall represents one of the oldest documented man-made hunting structures on Earth, and ranges among the largest known Stone Age structure in Europe.

“Our investigations indicate that a natural origin of the underwater stonewall as well as a construction in modern times, for instance in connection with submarine cable laying or stone harvesting are not very likely,” said Dr. Jacob Geersen, also from the University of Rostock.

“The methodical arrangement of the many small stones that connect the large, non-moveable boulders, speaks against this.”

Using modern geophysical methods, the researchers created a detailed 3D model of the Blinkerwall and reconstructed the ancient landscape.

The site was also visited and inspected by a team of scientific divers from Rostock University and the State Authority for Culture and Monuments in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania on one occasion.

The dives primarily aimed at assessing the nature of the stonewall and to survey the surrounding seabed for the presence of possible archeological artifacts.

They concentrated on two locations, namely the western end of the structure and a large stone in the center where the Blinkerwall changes direction.

While neither artifacts or dateable organic material was found in the immediate vicinity of the two dive locations, a small timber sample was retrieved from the Holocene sediments about 10 m to the south of the structure.

3D model of a section of the Blinkerwall adjacent to the large boulder at the western end of the wall. Photographs were taken by Philipp Hoy, Rostock University. The scale bar at the top-right edge of the image is 50 cm.

Image credit: Geersen et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

“Although numerous well-preserved archaeological sites from the Stone Age are known from the Bay of Wismar and along the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, these are located in much shallower water depths and mostly date to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (7,000-2,500 BCE),” said Dr. Jens Auer, a researcher at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation.

“We have evidence for the existence of comparable stonewalls at other locations in the Mecklenburg Bight. These will be systematically investigated as well,” added Dr. Jens Schneider von Deimling, a researcher at Kiel University.

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19-02-2024 om 23:27 geschreven door peter