News by Subject Archaeology

An ape maxilla (upper jaw) from the Late Miocene found in the Kutch basin, in western India, significantly extends the southern range of ancient apes in the Indian Peninsula, according to a study published in Nov. 14, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ansuya Bhandari from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India, and colleagues.

A group led by Professor WANG Xin from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (NIGPAS) describe a flower, Lijinganthus revoluta, embedded in Burmese amber dating to 99 million years ago. The fossil is exquisite and complete, including all parts of a perfect pentamerous flower, namely, the calyx, corolla, stamens, and gynoecium, and belongs to the Pentapetalae of Core Eudicots.

A new study from The Australian National University (ANU) has revealed new insights into ancient fishing throughout history, including what type of fish people were regularly eating as part of their diet.

The first high quality ancient DNA data from Central and South America -- 49 individuals some as old as 11,000 years -- has revealed a major and previously unknown exchanges between populations. For the first time, researchers have archaeological and genetic evidence linking some of the oldest humans in Central America to the earliest known populations to arrive in the New World.

The teeth of Changchunsaurus parvus, a small herbivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of China, represent an important and poorly-known stage in the evolution of ornithopod dentition, according to a study released Nov. 7, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jun Chen of Jilin University in China and colleagues.

New research shows for the first time how the changing climate in Asia, from 5,000 to 1,000 years ago, transformed people's ability to produce food in particular places. The model enables the co-authors to get at the causes of some dramatic historic and cultural changes.

Classical scholars from Münster explore rare Roman bathing facility and magnificent early Christian basilica in southeastern Turkey -- Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence make new archaeological findings in the ancient town of Doliche -- northern Syrian town flourished across epochs and religions -- Roman and Christian influences can be proven

An international team, which included researchers from universities in Spain, Israel, and the United States, including the University of Washington, has completed the first 3D virtual reconstruction of the ribcage of the most complete Neandertal skeleton unearthed to date. Using CT scans of fossils from an approximately 60,000-year-old male skeleton, researchers were able to create a 3D model of the chest -- one that is different from the longstanding image of the barrel-chested, hunched-over 'caveman.'

A new study suggests that early hominin dispersals beyond Africa did not involve adaptations to environmental extremes, such as to arid and harsh deserts. The discovery of stone tools and cut-marks on fossil animal remains at the site of Ti's al Ghadah provides evidence for hominins in Saudi Arabia at least 100,000 years earlier than previously known. Stable isotope analysis indicates a dominance of grassland vegetation at the site, similar to other early hominin environments.