Where skeletons are rare, isolated teeth can flesh out our understanding of ancient reptile-dominated ecosystems, according to a study published September 8, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ariana Paulina-Carabajal of INIBIOMA (Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente) and CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Argentina, and colleagues.

Rice University scientists uncover how natural archives recorded Atlantic hurricane frequency over the past 1,000 years. More data is needed to help model how climate change will affect storms in the future.

International and Saudi researchers have discovered archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia associated with the remains of ancient lakes formed when periods of increased rainfall transformed the region into grassland. The researchers found that early humans spread into the region during each ‘Green Arabia’ phase, each bringing a different kind of material culture. The new research establishes northern Arabia as a crucial migration route and a crossroads for early humans.

Alcoholic beverages have long been known to serve an important socio-cultural function in ancient societies, including at ritual feasts. A new study finds evidence of beer drinking 9,000 years ago in southern China, which was likely part of a ritual to honor the dead. The findings are based on an analysis of ancient pots found at a burial site at Qiaotou, making the site among the oldest in the world for early beer drinking. The results are reported in PLOS ONE.

New archaeological research highlights major blind spots in Australia’s environmental management policies, placing submerged Indigenous heritage at risk. The Deep History of Sea Country (DHSC) project team have uncovered a new intertidal stone quarry and stone tool manufacturing site, as well as coastal rock art and engravings, during a land-and-sea archaeological survey off the Pilbara coastline in Western Australia alongside a separate study focused on the Northern Territory which identified underwater environments dating back to the Pleistocene that could provide cultural insights into ancient Indigenous migration.

Recent archaeogenetic studies have shown that human movements like migrations and expansions played a major role in driving the spread of cultures and genes in ancient Europe. However, it is only now with detailed regional studies and dense sampling that researchers start to better understand the magnitude, rate and social implications of these changes. In a new study published in Science Advances, an international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for the Science of Human History (Jena) and Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig), together with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague) and other collaborators analysed the genomes of 271 individuals who lived in Bohemia in today’s Czech Republic between 7,000 and 3,500 years ago and identified at least another three migratory events which shaped central European prehistory.