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Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
 Significance'Hobbits' are a new human species -- according to the statistical analysis of fossils Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, published by Wiley-Blackwell. Contact: Dawn Peters
Public Release: 17-Nov-2009
American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2009 JAMAHeart disease found in Egyptian mummies Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too. 
St. Luke's Hospital Foundation
Contact: Tom Vasich
Public Release: 10-Nov-2009
Trends in GeneticsAncient penguin DNA raises doubts about accuracy of genetic dating techniques Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Dee Denver
Public Release: 9-Nov-2009
Remains of Minoan-style painting discovered during excavations of Canaanite palace The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, recognizable by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others of Aegean style that have been uncovered during earlier seasons at the Canaanite palace in Kabri. "It was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city's rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture." Contact: Rachel Feldman
Public Release: 5-Nov-2009
Southeastern Archaeological ConferenceAtlanta's Fernbank Museum tracks infamous conquistador through Southeast Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History has discovered evidence of Hernando de Soto's 1540 journey through the Southeast. No evidence of De Soto's path from Tallahassee to North Carolina has been found until now, and few sites have been located anywhere. Fernbank archaeologist Dennis Blanton has amassed an impressive collection of objects revealing a probable stop in today's Telfair County, Ga. He'll present his findings at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference on Nov. 5 in Mobile.
Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Contact: Brandi Berry
Public Release: 4-Nov-2009
Zoological Journal of the Linnean SocietyThe humble beginnings of a king A long forgotten fossil skull in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London has now provided crucial clues to the early stages of the lengthy evolutionary history of Tyrannosaurus rex and related large carnivorous dinosaurs.
European Union
Contact: Dr. Oliver Rauhut
Public Release: 2-Nov-2009
Nature GeneticsThe entwined destinies of mankind and leprosy bacteria Leprosy still affects hundreds of thousands of people today throughout the entire world. An international team headed by EPFL professor Stewart Cole has traced the history of the disease from ancient Egypt to today and in doing so has made a public health study essential for combating the disease. Contact: Stewart Cole
Public Release: 2-Nov-2009
Current BiologyNew clues to the Falklands wolf mystery Ever since the Falklands wolf was described by Darwin himself, the origin of this now-extinct canid found only on the Falkland Islands far off the east coast of Argentina has remained a mystery. Now, researchers reporting in the Nov. 3 issue of Current Biology who have compared DNA from four of the world's dozen or so known Falklands wolf museum specimens to that of living canids offer new insight into the evolutionary ancestry of these enigmatic carnivores. Contact: Cathleen Genova
Public Release: 27-Oct-2009
Angewandte Chemie InternationalNew look for antiques Italian researchers working with Piero Baglioni at the University of Florence have developed a technique to effectively remove old polymer layers from sensitive historic artworks. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the new cleaning system involves only a tiny proportion of volatile organic compounds. Contact: Piero Baglioni
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Cretaceous ResearchAncient 'monster' insect offers Halloween inspiration Just in time for Halloween, researchers have announced the discovery of a new, real-world "monster" -- what they are calling a "unicorn" fly that lived about 100 million years ago and is being described as a new family, genus and species of fly never before observed. Contact: George Poinar
Public Release: 25-Oct-2009
Geological Society of America BulletinTsunami waves reasonably likely to strike Israel "There is a likely chance of tsunami waves reaching the shores of Israel," says Dr. Beverly Goodman of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Studies at the University of Haifa, following encompassing geoarchaeological research at the port of Caesarea. "Tsunami events in the Mediterranean do occur less frequently than in the Pacific Ocean, but our findings reveal a moderate rate of recurrence," she says. Contact: Rachel Feldman
Public Release: 21-Oct-2009
Pavlopetri -- the world's oldest known submerged town The world's oldest known submerged town has been revealed through the discovery of late Neolithic pottery. The finds were made during an archaeological survey of Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece. Contact: Dr. Rory Howlett
Public Release: 18-Oct-2009
Geological Society of America's 2009 Annual Meeting & ExpositionFracture zones endanger tombs in Valley of Kings Ancient choices made by Egyptians digging burial tombs may have led to today's problems with damage and curation of these precious archaeological treasures, but photography and detailed geological mapping should help curators protect the sites, according to a Penn State researcher. Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
Public Release: 16-Oct-2009
World's oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the Final Neolithic. Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago -- at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought. Contact: Lindsay Brooke
Public Release: 15-Oct-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesPlant fossils give first real picture of earliest Neotropical rainforests A team of researchers including a University of Florida paleontologist has used a rich cache of plant fossils discovered in Colombia to provide the first reliable evidence of how Neotropical rainforests looked 58 million years ago. Contact: Fabiany Herrera
Public Release: 15-Oct-2009
Technology brings new insights to one of the oldest Middle Eastern languages still spoken New technologies and academic collaborations are helping scholars at the University of Chicago analyze hundreds of ancient documents in Aramaic, one of the Middle East's oldest continuously spoken and written languages. Members of the West Semitic Research Project at the University of Southern California are helping the University's Oriental Institute make high-quality electronic images of Aramaic administrative documents. The texts were incised on clay tablets with styluses or inked on with brushes or pens.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Contact: William Harms
Public Release: 14-Oct-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesA 200,000-year-old cut of meat New findings from the Qesem Cave archaeological dig in Israel indicate that during the Lower Paleolithic Period people prepared and shared meat differently than in earlier times, providing new clues into our evolutionary development, economics and social behaviors. Contact: George Hunka
Public Release: 13-Oct-2009
Proceedings of the Royal Society BNew type of flying reptile discovered Discovered by scientists at the University of Leicester and the Geological Institute, Beijing, Darwin's pterodactyl preyed on flying dinosaurs and shows how a controversial type of evolution may have powered the origin of major new groups. Contact: Dave Unwin
Public Release: 8-Oct-2009
ScienceEarly hominid first walked on 2 legs in the woods Among the many surprises associated with the discovery of the oldest known, nearly complete skeleton of a hominid is the finding that this species took its first steps toward bipedalism not on the open, grassy savanna, as generations of scientists -- going back to Charles Darwin -- hypothesized, but in a wooded landscape. Contact: Diana Yates
Public Release: 7-Oct-2009
Molecular EcologyLoyal alligators display the mating habits of birds Research published in Molecular Ecology reveals that alligators display the same loyalty to their mates as birds, a discovery which may give a better understanding of dinosaur mating. Contact: Ben Norman
Public Release: 1-Oct-2009
Powerful lasers, futuristic digital cameras, 3-D television and more The latest technology in optics and lasers will be on display at the Optical Society's Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, which takes place Oct. 11-15 at the Fairmont San Jose Hotel and the Sainte Claire Hotel in San Jose, Calif. Contact: Angela Stark
Public Release: 1-Oct-2009
ScienceOldest hominid skeleton provides new evidence for human evolution A Los Alamos National Laboratory geologist is part of an international research team responsible for discovering the oldest nearly intact skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus, who lived 4.4 million years ago. The discovery reveals the biology of the first stage of human evolution better than anything seen to date. Contact: James Rickman
Public Release: 29-Sep-2009
PLoS ONERediscovering the dragon's paradise lost The world's largest living lizard species, the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), is vulnerable to extinction and yet little is known about its natural history. New research by a team of palaeontologists and archaeologists from Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia, who studied fossil evidence from Australia, Timor, Flores, Java and India, shows that Komodo Dragons most likely evolved in Australia and dispersed westward to Indonesia.
Australian Research Council
Contact: Jen Laloup
Public Release: 24-Sep-2009
Current BiologyScandinavians are descended from Stone Age immigrants Today's Scandinavians are not descended from the people who came to Scandinavia at the conclusion of the last ice age but, apparently, from a population that arrived later, concurrently with the introduction of agriculture. This is one conclusion of a new study straddling the borderline between genetics and archaeology, which involved Swedish researchers and which has now been published in the journal Current Biology. Contact: Anders Götherström
Public Release: 22-Sep-2009
Journal of Quaternary ScienceEnd of an era: New ruling decides the boundaries of Earth's history After decades of debate an international body of earth scientists has formally agreed to move the boundary dates for the prehistoric Quaternary age by 800,000 years. Contact: Ben Norman
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