Ancient news stories

German researchers uncover Neanderthal hunting tool in rare find
27th July 2021 | jpost.com | Ancient, Humans

A team from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment found a 65,000-year-old Neanderthal leaf point at Hohle Fels Cave in southern Germany, a press release announced on Sunday.

Stone Age tools, cave paintings discovered in Haryana could be clues to ‘prehistoric factory’
27th July 2021 theprint.in | Ancient, Humans

Haryana archaeology dept is yet to carry out a full survey, but believe they’ve discovered possibly the largest Paleolithic site in the Indian subcontinent.

Audio long-read: How ancient people learned to love carbs
27th July 2021 | nature.com | Ancient, Humans

Archaeological evidence shows that ancient people ate bread, beer and other carbs, long before domesticated crops.

Image from: Gugatchitchinadze (Wiki Commons)

Mexican Archaeologists Forced to Bury an Unusual Discovery Made in Old Aztec Capital
26th July 2021 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Humans

In a strange turn of events, researchers in Mexico have announced they plan to rebury an unusual archaeological monument found in the outskirts of Mexico City – covering up an important historical discovery until some unknown time in the future.

When an ancient volcanic ‘supereruption’ caused sudden cooling, early humans got lucky
21st July 2021 theconversation.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Around 74,000 years ago, a “supereruption” on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, blasted out an estimated 5,000 cubic kilometres of magma.

Oldest ever methane-cycling microfossils discovered
21st July 2021 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Researchers have discovered the fossilised remains of 3.4-billion-year-old methane-cycling microbes that lived in a hydrothermal system beneath the ancient seafloor – the oldest microfossils of this type found to date.

‘Jurassic Pompeii’ yields thousands of ‘squiggly wiggly’ fossils
21st July 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Palaeontologist Tim Ewin is standing in a quarry, recalling the calamity that’s written in the rocks under his mud-caked boots.

Just 7% of our DNA is unique to modern humans, study shows
19th July 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Humans, Tech

What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.

Why local legends about birds matter
15th July 2021 | bbc.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

The stories of enigmatic birds told in indigenous folklore aren’t just fascinating tales, they may be a way to preserve languages and cultures at risk of extinction.

Book of the Dead fragments, half a world apart, are pieced together
15th July 2021 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans, Tech

A torn 2,300-year-old mummy wrapping — covered with hieroglyphics from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead — has been digitally reunited with its long-lost piece that was ripped away.

Oldest known cosmetics found in ceramic bottles on Balkan Peninsula
13th July 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

A trio of researchers from Slovenia’s Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia at the Centre for Preventive Archaeology and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, in Germany, has found evidence of the oldest known use of cosmetics at a dig site in the Balkans.

DNA from dirt can offer new view of ancient life
13th July 2021 | sciencemag.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

For almost 2 decades, genomes isolated from fossils have galvanized the study of human evolution. Yet despite vast improvements in retrieving and analyzing that DNA, researchers have deciphered whole genomes from just 23 archaic humans, 18 of them Neanderthals. This week, however…

Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life
12th July 2021 | eurekalert.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that changes in Earth’s orbit may have allowed complex life to emerge and thrive during the most hostile climate episode the planet has ever experienced.

Winchcombe meteorite gets official classification
12th July 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Earth, Humans, Space

Early work by UK scientists indicates the Winchcombe object dates back to the very beginning of the Solar System, some 4.6 billion years ago.

Were Neanderthals making ‘art’ in Europe’s fabled Unicorn Cave?
6th July 2021 | nationalgeographic.com | Ancient, Humans

A chess-sized piece of bone crafted before modern humans are believed to have arrived in the area sparks questions about artistic expression beyond Homo sapiens.

Image from: Fährtenleser (Wiki Commons)

Stonehenge: Did ancient ‘machine’ move stones from Wales?
5th July 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Humans, Tech

It is a mystery that has confounded experts for centuries – how were huge stones transported 180 miles (290km) from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge?

 

News stories covering history, archaeology, ancient Egypt, and mysteries of the past.