Er is een "Pompeii van de zee" ontdekt met perfect bewaarde fossielen: het dateert van 515 miljoen jaar geleden

Abderrazak El Albani, University of Poitiers

Allerlei families van trilobieten verschijnen plotseling in het Cambrium en zien er al direct zeer complex uit. Van evolutionaire voorouders is vooralsnog geen spoor te bekennen.

Overblijfselen van trilobieten bewaard gebleven dankzij gevonden vulkanische as: de studie

We zijn in Aït Youb, in de regio Souss-Massa in Marokko. Hier heeft een team onderzoekers onder leiding van Abderrazak El Albani fossielen ontdekt van twee nieuwe soorten trilobieten die gedateerd kunnen worden op ongeveer 515 miljoen jaar geleden. Tot zover niets vreemds, behalve dat de staat van bewaring van deze trilobieten de beste is die ooit is gevonden.

Zoals we in de inleiding al zeiden, was het tot nu toe onmogelijk om de interne structuren van trilobieten goed te bestuderen: meestal fossiliseert alleen het exoskelet. In het geval van Aït Youb daarentegen heeft vulkanische as van uitbarstingen uit het Precambrium het mogelijk gemaakt om exemplaren te vinden die bijna perfect bewaard zijn gebleven, zo goed zelfs dat ze doen denken aan de vondsten in Pompeii. Aan de andere kant, zo stelt El Albani, is de dynamiek die ten grondslag ligt aan het behoud ervan vrijwel hetzelfde.

Wat is er gebeurd met de trilobieten die ontdekt zijn in Aït Youb?

Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Volgens El Albani en zijn team hebben we de uitstekende conservering van de trilobieten in feite te danken aan een snelle vulkaanuitbarsting, die de exemplaren begroef en in zeer korte tijd gevangen hield. Sommige trilobieten zijn al opgerold, terwijl andere zich voorbereiden om te ontsnappen, en er zijn enkele exemplaren die zelfs het spijsverteringskanaal vol sediment laten zien dat kort voor de uitbarsting is ingenomen. Als je bedenkt dat het tot voor kort niet mogelijk was om de interne anatomie van een trilobiet te bestuderen, begrijp je heel goed de revolutionaire betekenis van deze ontdekking.

Om deze fossielen beter te kunnen bestuderen, gebruikten de onderzoekers röntgenmicrotomografie, zodat ze een driedimensionale weergave konden bekijken zonder de exemplaren uit de rotsmatrix te halen.  Dit is een innovatieve techniek waarmee anatomische details kunnen worden bekeken zonder de vondsten in gevaar te brengen. Het onderzoek, gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift Science, onthulde ook tot nu toe onbekende anatomische structuren van trilobieten, waaronder sporen van mondaanhangsels en zacht weefsel.

Een bijna perfecte bewaring... zoals in Pompeii

El Albani zelf noemde de vondst in Marokko een “Pompeii van de zee”, en met een goede reden. Zoals we hebben gezien, creëerde de vulkanische as driedimensionale mallen van de trilobieten, waardoor ze in feite bevroren werden in de tijd. Maar terwijl er in het geval van Pompeii zo'n 2000 jaar is verstreken, is er hier 515 miljoen jaar verstreken en daarom was het gebruik van röntgenmicrotomografie bijzonder nuttig.

Ontdekkingen zoals deze zorgen voor een beter begrip van het belang van vulkanische asafzettingen voor het behoud van fossielen, maar tegelijkertijd testen ze de technologische vooruitgang in het bestuderen van het verleden. In staat zijn om trilobieten van 515 miljoen jaar geleden te analyseren vertegenwoordigt een onmisbare kans, die in het verleden onmogelijk was: vanuit een bepaald oogpunt is het ook een vorm van respect voor deze oude fossielen. Laten we niet vergeten dat ze een groot deel van de geschiedenis van onze planeet hebben overbrugd en bijna perfect bewaard zijn gebleven.

Allerlei families van trilobieten verschijnen plotseling in het Cambrium en zien er al direct zeer complex uit. Van evolutionaire voorouders is vooralsnog geen spoor te bekennen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl}

14-07-2024 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologists Discover 4,000-Year-Old Temple and Theater in Peru

Field Museum scientist Luis Muro Ynoñán with the carving of a mythological bird creature in La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas. 

Ucupe Cultural Landscape Archaeological Project

The newly-discovered structures predate the famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu by roughly 3,500 years, and were made long before the Inca and their predecessors, according to a team of archaeologists with the Ucupe Cultural Landscape Archaeological Project.

The newly-discovered archaeological site, including carving of a mythological bird creature, at La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas, Peru.

Image credit: Ucupe Cultural Landscape Archaeological Project.

“It was amazing. This discovery tells us about the early origins of religion in Peru,” said Dr. Muro Ynoñán, an archaeologist at the Field Museum.

“We still know very little about how and under which circumstances complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, and now we have evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that people were creating in this part of the world.”

“We don’t know what these people called themselves, or how other people referred to them.”

Dr. Ynoñán and his team discovered the new archaeological site at La Otra Banda in Peru in 2023.

They selected a plot roughly 10 by 10 m (33 by 33 feet) and began slowly removing the sediment that had piled up over the millenia.

Just 1.8 m (6 feet) deep, they found signs of ancient walls made of mud and clay.

“It was so surprising that these very ancient structures were so close to the modern surface,” Dr. Ynoñan said.

As they dug deeper, the archaeologists found evidence that the site once housed a temple.

“We think that a large temple was built into the side of the mountain, and we’ve found one section of it,” Dr. Ynoñan said.

“One of the most exciting things we found was a small theater, with a backstage area and a staircase that led to a stage-like platform.”

“This could have been used for ritual performances in front of a selected audience.”

A team of archaeologists work on what appear to be parts of a 4,000-year-old ceremonial temple buried in a sand dune of northern Peru, in Lambayeque, Peru, Jun 27, 2024.

(Photo: Pontifical Catholic University via Reuters)

Flanking one of the theater’s staircases, the archaeologists found mud panels decorated with elaborate carved designs showing a bird-like creature.

“It’s a very beautiful and, at the same time, intriguing design, of a mythological creature — it’s like an anthropomorphic bird, but with some reptilian features,” Dr. Ynoñán said.

“This figure stood out to us because it gives important clues as to when the temple was built and how this construction relates to other ancient temples built by early groups from the Andes.”

“Other images of mythological creatures similar to the one found by our team have been found in Peru, dating to what archaeologists call the Initial Period, roughly 4,000 years ago.”

“Despite the name, the people of the Initial Period were not the first to live in the region: people have inhabited Peru for 15,000 years.”

Close-up of the carving of a mythological bird creature in La Otra Banda, Cerro 

“Around 5000-3000 BCE, called the Preceramic Period, people in coastal Peru began creating societies and complex political systems.”

“The Initial Period came next, starting around 2,000 BCE and lasting until 900 BCE.”

“The Initial Period is important because it’s when we first start to see evidence of an institutionalized religion in Peru.”

“The bird creature at this temple resembles a figure known from the Chavín region, nearly 500 years later. This new site could help reveal the origins of this religion

VIDEOS:

• https://youtu.be/id4R4lT1qEc

• https://youtu.be/76dTXIB9eRw

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

11-07-2024 om 20:28 geschreven door peter  

Story by James Dorman

©Noah's Ark Discovered Project / Facebook

Archeologists Believe They've Located the Remains of Noah's Ark
The story of Noah’s Ark is perhaps one of the most universally known Bible tales. The biblical patriarch used his enormous eponymous vessel to allow his family and a menagerie of animals to survive a great flood and repopulate the earth in its aftermath.

Researchers examining a peculiar geological formation in modern Turkey believe they may have in fact found the remains of Noah’s Ark, which would shine a whole new light on our understanding of the ancient world.

©Grant Whitty/Unsplash

Biblical Flood
The story of Noah’s Ark is one of the more memorable tales from the Bible. Ahead of a great flood, God chooses a man and instructs him to build an enormous boat and populate it with two of every animal, alongside his family.

The story goes that God observed man’s corruption, violence and weakness. Abhorred by the actions of his creation, God looked to wipe the slate clean with a cleansing flood and restore man’s goodness.

©Elias Null/Unsplash

Hunt for the Ark
The story is known all around the world. Many view it, along with other stories in the bible, as simple metaphor and myth, perhaps inspired by some natural calamity like a devastating flood of some kind.

Others believe the event occurred exactly as described in the Bible, and finding the remains of the Ark would prove their stance correct. Scholars, archaeologists and even amateur adventurers have tried, and failed, to locate the Ark over the years.

©Daniel Born/Unsplash

The Ark’s Location
The Bible states that the Ark arrived on Turkey’s “mountains of Ararat” after the 150-day flood sent by God. Since 2021, archaeologists have been working at a geological formation in the Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı in eastern Turkey, which aligns well with the description in the Bible.

The Durofeiner formation looks, from above, to have a boat-like outline. Some suggest this could in fact be the fossilized remains of the Ark.

©Wikimedia Commons

Noah’s Ark Research Team
Many have believed Mount Ararat to be the Ark’s final resting place for some time now. Recent work at the Durofeiner site has been carried out by a collaboration between Turkish and American universities, the “Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark Research Team.”

Researchers have taken samples from the rock formation, and tests revealed seafood, clay and marine materials. Some claim this as evidence of human activity in the region.

©Rod Long/Unsplash

Age of the Site
The 500-foot-high rock formation sits just 3 miles from the Turkey/Iran border. It’s composed primarily of limonite.

Researchers have determined that test samples from the site are around 3,500 to 5,000 years old. Biblical archaeologists and scholars put the time of the 150-day flood from the Noah’s Ark tale at around 3,000 BC, meaning the samples align well with this time frame.

©Julia Koblitz/Unsplash

Human Activity in the Region at the Time of the Flood
Dr. Faruk Kaya of the Agri Ibrahim Chechen University claims the data gathered from the samples is proof of human activity in the area during the period following the biblical flood.

In her words: “According to the preliminary findings of our research, we believe that human activity occurred in this region during the Chalcolithic period (Stone and Copper Age), specifically between 5,500 and 3,000 BC.”

©Scott Graham/Unsplash

Too Early to Draw Conclusions
Dr. Kaya was careful to stress that while these findings are promising for Ark hunters, they are far from conclusive, and it’s too early to tell whether they could lead to the discovery of Noah’s Ark.

In the same study, Dr. Kaya says: “Noah’s flood is believed to have taken place 5,000 years ago, and our findings indicate the presence of life in this region during that time. However, it is too early to draw definitive conclusions.”

©Trust “Tru” Katsande/Unsplash

Dispute of the Findings
Not everyone supports the suppositions of the Mount Ararat team, and many geologists in particular have pushed back against their claims. Far from being evidence of human activity, they believe the formation at the Durofeiner site is simply ancient rocks.

It would take something far more substantial than the current findings to convince many in the geological community that researchers have found the fossilized remains of Noah’s Ark.

©Lukas Hron/Unsplash

Flood Myths and Actual History
Many ancient cultures share narratives of massive, cataclysmic floods. They likely represent a shared symbolic representation in mythical narratives of survival, rebirth and intervention of the divine.

These stories may indicate how ancient cultures responded to natural disasters. If we examine flood myths alongside geological evidence, we can start to get an idea of what actually happened and what is mythical embellishment.

©Dan Dimmock/Unsplash

Future Research
Through multidisciplinary research of things like the Durofeiner site by archaeologists, Bible scholars and geologists working in tandem, we may be able to start to recontextualize the myth of Noah’s Ark into an established, historical narrative.

Researchers are far from done with the Durofeiner site and are planning excavations to conduct detailed analysis and hopefully uncover new artifacts. They hope to get greater insight into the history of the region, particularly ancient civilizations in the area, and hopefully firmly establish the existence of Noah’s Ark.

©Ben White/Unsplash

Transparency Is Key in Future Research
Whatever the findings at the Durofeiner site ultimately mean, future research is probably warranted. It will be crucial to keep this research transparent, though, so that it’s properly framed.

Things can sometimes get contentious when science meets faith. Having a multidisciplinary team can help to give findings proper context without a skewed narrative one way or the other. If findings don’t completely support the myth of the great flood and Noah’s Ark, there is still meaningful significance to finding proof of human activity in an area of biblical importance.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

09-07-2024 om 16:32 geschreven door peter  

Scientists investigate Grand Canyon's ancient past to predict future climate impacts

by Keyonna Summers, Tony Allen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The Grand Canyon's valleys and millions of years of rock layers spanning Earth's history have earned it a designation as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. But, according to a new UNLV study, its marvels extend to vast cave systems that lie beneath the surface, which just might hold clues to better understand the future of climate change—by studying nature's past.

(Credit: sumikophoto/Shutterstock)

A research team—led by UNLV paleoclimatologist and professor Matthew Lachniet—pulled an ancient stalagmite from the floor of an undisturbed Grand Canyon cave. By studying the mineral deposits' geochemistry, they were able to analyze precipitation patterns during the rapidly warming period following the last Ice Age to improve understanding about the potential impact of future climate change on summer monsoon rains in the U.S. Southwest and northwestern Mexico.

Their findings, published Oct. 2 in Nature Geoscience, revealed that increasing levels of water seeped into the cave between 8,500 and 14,000 years ago, during a period known as the early Holocene when temperatures rose throughout the region. Using a paleoclimate model, the researchers determined that this was likely caused by intensified and expanded summer rainfall stemming from atmospheric impacts on air circulation patterns that more quickly melted the winter snowpacks and sped up the evaporation process that fuels monsoon rains.

Recent photograph of Grand Canyon from Walhalla Plateau, with the red line showing the Great Unconformity between the metamorphic Proterozoic basement complex and the Paleozoic sediment strata.

This is significant, authors say, because most of the water currently infiltrating through the bedrock and into caves and aquifers—and contributing to groundwater recharge—comes from winter snowmelt. During the early Holocene, however, when peak temperatures were only slightly warmer than today, both summer and winter moisture contributed to groundwater recharge in the region.

The authors suggest that future warming, which could cause temperatures to rise above those of the early Holocene, may also lead to greater rates of summer rainfall on the high-elevation Colorado Plateau and an intensifying North American monsoon, the pattern of pronounced and increased thunderstorms and precipitation that typically occur between June and mid-September.

"What was surprising about our results is that during this past warm period, both the summer monsoon and infiltration into the cave increased, which suggests that summer was important for Grand Canyon groundwater recharge, even though today it is not an important season for recharge," said Lachniet, who personally retrieved the stalagmite from a cave in the Redwall Formation on the South Rim of eastern Grand Canyon in 2017. "While we still expect the region to dry in the future, more intense summer rainfall may actually infiltrate into the subsurface more than it does today."

Stalagmites are common cave formations that act as ancient rain gauges that record historic climate change. They grow as mineral-rich waters seep through the ground above and drop from the tips of stalactites on cave ceilings. Calcite minerals from tiny drops of water accumulate over thousands of years, and much like tree rings, accurately record the rainfall history of an area. Three natural forms of oxygen are found in water, and the quantity of one form decreases as rainfall increases. This information is locked into the stalagmites over time.

Because of the distinct difference in the oxygen isotope composition between summer and winter precipitation, it is possible to estimate the relative contributions from each season. Variation in uranium-234 isotope and changes in the growth thickness of stalagmite give indication of the change in the amount of precipitation.

"We were able to validate the oxygen record with the growth data, with the uranium isotope data to confirm that in fact, we see significant increases in summer moisture during this warm period, which we attribute to the monsoon," said the University of New Mexico professor Yemane Asmerom. "Unfortunately, effective moisture is the balance between precipitation and evaporation. Unlike the more temperate Grand Canyon climate, the dry southern part is likely to be drier, as a result of the increased temperatures."

The research team used stalagmite samples to reconstruct groundwater recharge rates—or, the amount of water that penetrates the aquifers—in the Grand Canyon area during the early years of the Holocene period. High groundwater recharge rates likely occurred on other high-elevation plateaus in the region, too, they said, though it's unclear how the activity applies to hotter, low-elevation deserts.

What is clear is that ongoing human-caused climate change is leading to hotter temperatures throughout southwestern North America, including the Grand Canyon region. Alongside population growth and agricultural pressures, this warming can reduce the infiltration of surface water into groundwater aquifers. Groundwater recharge rates also depend on the frequency and intensity of summer rains associated with monsoon season.

Though summer infiltration isn't a significant contributor to groundwater recharge in the region today, these latest findings suggest that could change in the future as the climate warms and monsoonal moisture increases. What's unknown is how a projected decrease in winter precipitation and snowpack could impact overall groundwater reserves.

In addition to Lachniet and Asmerom, the following researchers collaborated on the report: Xiaojing Du and Sylvia G. Dee of Rice University; Victor Polyak of the University of New Mexico; and Benjamin W. Tobin of the University of Kentucky.

• Provided by University of Nevada, Las Vegas 

{https://phys.org/ }

08-07-2024 om 01:30 geschreven door peter  

Denisovans Survived on Tibetan Plateau until 48,000-32,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists have found a new hominin rib specimen in Baishiya Karst Cave, one of the only two places where Denisovans are known to have lived. Dated to 48,000-32,000 years old, the specimen also belongs to the Denisovan lineage, extending their presence at the cave well into the Late Pleistocene.

A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps.

Image credit: Maayan Harel.

Denisovans are an extinct hominin group initially identified from a genome sequence determined from a fragment of a finger bone found in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.

Subsequent analyses of the genome have shown that Denisovans diverged from Neanderthals 400,000 years ago and that at least two distinct Denisovan populations mixed with ancestors of present-day Asians.

In 2019, a 160,000-year-old jawbone from Baishiya Karst Cave, a limestone cave at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau, was identified to be of Denisovan origin.

In 2020, archaeologists found Denisovan mtDNA in the sediments of this cave d indicating their presence at about 100,000 years ago, 60,000 years ago, and possibly 45,000 years ago.

The new rib bone of a Denisovan from Baishiya Karst Cave dates to approximately 48,000-32,000 years ago.

“Together, the fossil and molecular evidence indicates that Ganjia Basin, where Baishiya Karst Cave is located, provided a relatively stable environment for Denisovans, despite its high-altitude,” said Dr. Frido Welker, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen.

“The question now arises when and why these Denisovans on the Tibetan Plateau went extinct.”

In their research, Dr. Welker and colleagues studied more than 2,500 bones from Baishiya Karst Cave.

“We were able to identify that Denisovans hunted, butchered and ate a range of animal species,” said Dr. Geoff Smith, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Reading.

“Our study reveals new information about the behavior and adaptation of Denisovans both to high altitude conditions and shifting climates.”

“We are only just beginning to understand the behavior of this extraordinary human species.”

The Baishiya Karst Cave is revealing the resilience of the Denisovans who endured a harsh climate.

Credit...Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University

An artist's impression of the Stone Age landscape of Ganjia Basin where Baishiya Karst Cave is located, depicting some of the animals which were identified by archaeologists via bone analysis. 

Xia Li© Provided by CNN

Many of the bones recovered from Baishiya Karst Cave, like this spotted hyena vertebra, contain traces of human activities such as cut marks. 

Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University© Provided by CNN

Many of the bones recovered from the Baishiya Karst Cave, such as this hyena vertebra, have cut marks most likely made by Denisovans using stone tools.

Credit...Dongju Zhang’s group/Lanzhou University

Bone remains from Baishya Karst Cave were broken into numerous fragments preventing identification.

The researchers used a novel scientific method that exploits differences in bone collagen between animals to determine which species the bone remains came from.

“Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) allows us to extract valuable information from often overlooked bone fragments, providing deeper insight into human activities,” said Dr. Huan Xia, a researcher at Lanzhou University.

The scientists determined that most of the bones were from blue sheep, known as the bharal, as well as wild yaks, equids, the extinct woolly rhino, and the spotted hyena.

They also identified bone fragments from small mammals, such as marmots, and birds.

“Current evidence suggests that it was Denisovans, not any other human groups, who occupied the cave and made efficient use of all the animal resources available to them throughout their occupation,” said Dr. Jian Wang, also from Lanzhou University.

“Detailed analysis of the fragmented bone surfaces shows Denisovans removed meat and bone marrow from the bones, but also indicates the humans used them as raw material to produce tools.”

• This research is described in a paper in the journal Nature.
• H. Xia et al. Middle and Late Pleistocene Denisovan subsistence at Baishiya Karst Cave. Nature, published online July 3, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07612-9

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

06-07-2024 om 18:20 geschreven door peter  

Tibetaanse grot vertelt over oude uitgestorven mensen: Denisoviërs leefden hier 100.000 jaar

Door Janine

Dongju Zhang/Wikimedia commons -

CC BY-SA 4.0

De Denisoviërs zijn oude, uitgestorven mensen die voor het eerst werden geïdentificeerd in 2010: een nieuw onderzoek heeft meer ontdekt op de plek waar ze meer dan honderdduizend jaar leefden.

De Denisoviërs zijn recenter dan gedacht

De wetenschap weet nog steeds niet veel over de oude Denisoviërs, mensen die duizenden jaren geleden uitstierven, maar een nieuwe studie heeft iets meer ontdekt: deze groep leefde meer dan 100.000 jaar op het Tibetaans Plateau. Archeologen onderzochten 2500 fossiele botfragmenten van verschillende diersoorten, die werden ontdekt in de karstgrot van Baishiya, in Tibet, op een hoogte van 3.280 meter. De grot ligt nabij Xiahe, in de Chinese provincie Gansu. Het is een van de slechts drie plaatsen ter wereld waar bewijs is gevonden van hun bestaan op aarde.

Uit het nieuwe onderzoek is gebleken dat de Denisoviërs in staat waren om te jagen en een grote groep dieren van verschillende grootte te verwerken voor consumptie en het maken van gereedschappen, waaronder vogels, wolharige neushoorns, marmotten en blauwe schapen. De onderzoekers vonden ook een menselijk fossiel overblijfsel van tussen 48.000 en 32.000 jaar geleden, het meest recente van de fossielen van Denisoviërs die tot nu toe zijn ontdekt. Dit betekent dat deze soort later uitstierf dan eerder werd gedacht.

De Denisoviërs van Tibet waren veerkrachtige mensen

Nature

De beperkte hoeveelheid fossiel bewijs heeft het moeilijk gemaakt om informatie te verkrijgen over deze mensen, maar dankzij het nieuwe onderzoek weten we nu dat de Denisoviërs die de karstgrot Baishiya bewoonden een grote veerkracht hadden en zich aanpasten aan een van de meest barre omgevingen op aarde. Dongju Zhang, hoofdauteur van het onderzoek, archeoloog en professor aan de Universiteit van Lanzhou, zei: "Ze gebruikten alle dieren die ze tot hun beschikking hadden, wat betekent dat hun gedrag flexibel was."

Het gevonden fossiel was hoogstwaarschijnlijk een tijdgenoot van de moderne mens en de Neanderthalers die destijds in Eurazië leefden, volgens Frido Welker, professor aan de Biomolecular Paleoanthropology Group van het Globe Institute aan de Universiteit van Kopenhagen en co-auteur van het onderzoek.

Denisoviërs: de ontmoeting met Neanderthalers en moderne mensen

Nature

Zoals we al zeiden, werden Denisoviërs voor het eerst geïdentificeerd in 2010 door DNA-sequenties te onderzoeken die in het laboratorium werden verkregen uit het eerste fossiele fragment dat werd gevonden. Sindsdien zijn er slechts een dozijn overblijfselen gevonden op de hele planeet, waarvan de meeste in de Denisova-grot in het Altaigebergte in Siberië, waar deze uitgestorven soort zijn naam aan te danken heeft.

Op basis van genetische analyse hebben wetenschappers ontdekt dat zij zich, net als de Neanderthalers, bij de moderne mens hebben gevoegd: zelfs vandaag de dag overleven sporen van Denisovan-DNA in de mens en dit duidt op hun geconcentreerde aanwezigheid in Azië. Het eerste fossiel buiten de grot werd in 2019 door een monnik ontdekt in de aartsgrot Baishiya, die door Tibetaanse boeddhisten als heilig wordt beschouwd en meer dan 160.000 jaar oud is. De duizenden fragmenten van dierlijke botten werden onderzocht met behulp van de meest recent uitgevonden techniek genaamd Archeozoölogie die erin slaagde individuele dieren te identificeren. Tegenwoordig herbergt dit gebied voornamelijk blauwe schapen, geiten en jakken.

Naast de Denisoviërs leefden er verschillende groepen mensen in de Denisova grot, waaronder de Neanderthalers en de eerste moderne mensen: in de karstgrot Baishiya  leefden echter alleen de eersten en hier zijn alle “geheimen” over hun uiterlijk, gedrag en de redenen voor hun uitsterven verborgen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

06-07-2024 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

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

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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