EurekAlert! - Archaeology

Research: Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Arizona State University) Although many anthropologists believe that modern humans ancestors "wiped out" Neanderthals, it's more likely that Neanderthals were integrated into the human gene pool thousands of years ago during the Upper Pleistocene era as cultural and climatic forces brought the two groups together.

Geneticist receives EU funding to build DNA data matrix of ancient domestic animals

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Trinity College Dublin) The project will use state-of-the-art genetic tools to build up a DNA data matrix of domestic animals over the last 10,000 years.

First plants caused ice ages

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Exeter) New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. The research reveals the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during the Ordovician Period, which ended 444 million years ago. During this period the climate gradually cooled, leading to a series of 'ice ages'. This global cooling was caused by a dramatic reduction in atmospheric carbon, which this research now suggests was triggered by the arrival of plants.

Construction starts on new marine research vessel

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(CSIRO Australia) Construction of Australia's new $120 million Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator has started in Singapore.

Warming in the Tasman Sea a global warming hot spot

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(CSIRO Australia) Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.

What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) In a study published in the journal Geology, Dr. Peter Swart if the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science suggests that the large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events.

ASU center ensures access to archaeological data that otherwise may be lost

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Arizona State University) The ASU Center for Digital Antiquity contains the world's largest repository of worldwide archaeology data. A new grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation enables the center to expand content, thereby preserving archaeological records, some of which have been lost because of degradation, software obsolescence and inadequate documentation. It is an especially tragic loss with archaeological data, representing a loss of irreplaceable information about our heritage. "You can't dig a site twice," says professor Keith Kintigh.

Following genetic footprints out of Africa

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Leeds) A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over sixty thousand years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world.

Following the first steps out of Africa

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Cell Press) A new study uses genetic analysis to look for clues about the migration of the first modern humans who moved out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago. The research, published Jan. 26 by Cell Press in the American Journal of Human Genetics provides intriguing insight into the earliest stages of human migration and suggests that modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world.

More than 7,500-year-old fish traps found in Russia

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) A team of international archeologists, led by the Spanish National Research Council, has documented a series of more than 7,500-year-old fish seines and traps near Moscow. The equipment found, among the oldest in Europe, displays a great technical complexity. The survey will allow us to understand the role of fishing among the European settlements by early Holocene (10,000 years ago), especially in those areas where inhabitants did not practice agriculture until nearly the Iron Age.

With a little help from our ancient friends

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Harvard Medical School) The social networks of the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, show evidence that many elements of social network structure may have been present at an early point in human history; that early humans may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin, based in part on their tendency to cooperate; and that social networks may have contributed to the emergence of cooperation.

'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists say

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University College Dublin) Scientists have traced the origin of the "speed gene" in thoroughbred racehorses back to a single British mare that lived in the United Kingdom around 300 years ago, according to findings published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The origin of the speed gene was revealed by analyzing DNA from hundreds of horses, including DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of 12 celebrated thoroughbred stallions born between 1764 and 1930.

Dog skull dates back 33,000 years

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Arizona) A 33,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in a Siberian mountain cave presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and indicates that modern dogs may be descended from multiple ancestors, with advancing glaciers thwarting early domestication efforts.

Waiting for Death Valley's Big Bang

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(The Earth Institute at Columbia University) In California's Death Valley, death is looking just a bit closer. Geologists have determined that the half-mile-wide Ubehebe Crater, formed by a prehistoric volcanic explosion, was created far more recently than previously thought -- and that conditions for a sequel may exist today.

Ancient dinosaur nursery -- the oldest nesting site ever found

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of the Witwatersrand) An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus -- revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behavior in early dinosaurs.

Ancient popcorn discovered in Peru

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

The fermented cereal beverage of the Sumerians may not have been beer

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) 4000-year-old cuneiform writings from Mesopotamia tell us little about the brewing techniques used at the time.

Scientists confirm tobacco use by ancient Mayans

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Wiley-Blackwell) Archaeologists examining late period Mayan containers have identified nicotine traces from a codex-style flask, revealing the first physical evidence of tobacco use by ancient Mayans. The study published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry reveals the flask is marked with Mayan hieroglyphics reading, "y-otoot 'u-may," ("the home of its/his/her tobacco,") making it only the second case to confirm that the text on the exterior of a Mayan vessel corresponds to its ancient use.

Scientists discover the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Scientists have discovered the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container. Their discovery represents new evidence on the ancient use of tobacco in the Mayan culture and a new method to understand the ancient roots of tobacco use in the Americas.

Weizmann Institute and Max Planck Society establish a joint center for archaeology and anthropology

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Weizmann Institute of Science) The agreement for the establishment of new Max Planck -- Weizmann Institute of Science Center in the Field of Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology is being signed today at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

Earth's massive extinction: The story gets worse

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Calgary) Scientists have uncovered a lot about the Earth’s greatest extinction event that took place 250 million years ago when rapid climate change wiped out nearly all marine species and a majority of those on land. Now, they have discovered a new culprit likely involved in the annihilation: an influx of mercury into the eco‑system.

In ancient Pompeii, trash and tombs went hand in hand

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Cincinnati) Trash and tombs went hand in hand in ancient Pompeii. That's according to UC research that provides new insights into daily life of that city before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

Scientists crack medieval bone code

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Michigan State University) Michigan State University researchers are the first to confirm the existence of brucellosis, an infectious disease still prevalent today, in ancient skeletal remains.

Irikaitz archaeological site -- host to a 25,000-year-old pendant

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

(Elhuyar Fundazioa) The recent discovery of a pendant at the Irikaitz archaeological site in Zestoa has given rise to intense debate: it may be as old as 25,000 years, which would make it the oldest found to date at open-air excavations throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.

Science Magazine honors cutting-edge DNA web sites

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) Because of their remarkable scope and value as educational tools, Science magazine is honoring the DNA Learning Center Web sites with a Science Prize for Online Resources in Education.