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Categories: Anthropology: General, Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published Feathers, cognition and global consumerism in colonial Amazonia
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Amazonia is the home of the largest variety of birds in the world. In such a unique environment, craft cultures have flourished by translating the beauty and creativity of environmental materials like feathers into stunning pieces of art. A new article examines artisanal featherwork within the context of early modern colonialism and globalization.
Published Revised dating of the Liujiang skeleton renews understanding of human occupation of China
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have provided new age estimates and revised provenance information for the Liujiang human fossils, shedding light on the presence of Homo sapiens in the region. Using advanced dating techniques including U-series dating on human fossils, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on fossil-bearing sediments, the study revealed new ages ranging from approximately 33,000 to 23,000 years ago. Previously, studies had reported ages of up to 227,000 years of age for the skeleton.
Published Scientists show ancient village adapted to drought, rising seas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have unveiled evidence for ancient human resilience to climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Published How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' early migration patterns into Australia
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have applied a dynamic model of the landscape to patterns of human migration into Sahul, the combined continent of Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.
Published More plants on the menu of ancient hunter-gatherers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source It has long been thought that meat played an important role in the diet of hunter-gatherers before the Neolithic transition. However, due to the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from Paleolithic sites, little information exists about the dietary habits of pre-agricultural human groups. A new study challenges this notion by presenting compelling isotopic evidence of a strong preference for plants among 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Morocco. This is the first time a significant amount of plant consumption has been measured for a pre-agricultural population, shedding new light on the dietary practices of ancient human societies.
Published Ancient Maya blessed their ballcourts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using environmental DNA analysis, an international team of researchers identified a collection of plants used in ceremonial rituals in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah in Mexico. The plants, known for their religious associations and medicinal properties, were discovered beneath a plaza floor where a ballcourt was built.
Published Decoding Avar society
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A multidisciplinary research team has combined ancient DNA data with a clear archaeological, anthropological and historical context to reconstruct the social dynamics of Avar-period steppe descent populations that settled in Europe's Carpathian Basin in the 6th century.
Published Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago in a group of marine invertebrates called octocorals, according to the results of a new study. The study focuses on an ancient group of marine invertebrates that includes soft corals, pushes back the previous oldest dated example of trait by nearly 300 million years.
Published 'Forgotten city:' the identification of Dura-Europos' neglected sister site in Syria
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The Dura-Europos site in modern-day Syria is famous for its exceptional state of preservation. Like Pompeii, this ancient city has yielded many great discoveries, and serves as a window into the world of the ancient Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman periods. Yet despite the prominence of Dura-Europos in Near Eastern scholarship, there is another city, only some miles down the Euphrates river, that presents a long-neglected opportunity for study.
Published First evidence of human occupation in lava tube cave in Saudi Arabia
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has highlighted an area in Arabia that once acted as a key point for cultural exchanges and trades amongst ancient people -- and it all took place in vast caves and lava tubes that have remained largely untapped reservoirs of archaeological abundance in Arabia. Through meticulous excavation and analysis, the international team uncovered a wealth of evidence at Umm Jirsan, spanning from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age periods (~10,000-3,500 years ago).
Published Genetic variant identified that shaped the human skull base
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified a variant in the gene TBX1 as key in the development of the unique morphology at the base of the skull. TBX1 is present at higher levels in humans than in closely related hominins. Low TBX1 also occurs in certain genetic conditions causing altered skull base morphology. This study provides a greater understanding of human disease and evolution.
Published Interspecies competition led to even more forms of ancient human -- defying evolutionary trends in vertebrates
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Competition between species played a major role in the rise and fall of hominins -- and produced a 'bizarre' evolutionary pattern for the Homo lineage -- according to a new study that revises the start and end dates for many of our early ancestors.
Published Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors cooked up the animal kingdom
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A series of whole genome and gene duplication events that go back hundreds of millions of years have laid the foundations for tissue-specific gene expression, according to a new study. The 'copy-paste' errors allowed animals to keep one copy of their genome or genes for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree and enabled traits and behaviours as diverse as insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition.
Published Pacific cities much older than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New evidence of one of the first cities in the Pacific shows they were established much earlier than previously thought, according to new research. The study used aerial laser scanning to map archaeological sites on the island of Tongatapu in Tonga, showing Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300.
Published The hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists shed light on the relationship between the Milky Way and the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut. The paper draws on ancient Egyptian texts and simulations to argue that the Milky Way might have shone a spotlight, as it were, on Nut's role as the sky. It proposes that in winter, the Milky Way highlighted Nut's outstretched arms, while in summer, it traced her backbone across the heavens.
Published The evolving attitudes of Gen X toward evolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As the centennial of the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 approaches, a new study illustrates that the attitudes of Americans in Generation X toward evolution shifted as they aged.
Published Birdfeeders are designed to keep unwanted guests away
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The first birdfeeders were made in the 19th century, and their design rapidly evolved during the 20th century. Researchers at the consider the evolution of the birdfeeder to be an example of multispecies design, where unwanted guests have shaped the human-made artifact.
Published Humans can increase biodiversity, archaeological study shows
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Through the ages, the presence of humans has increased the heterogeneity and complexity of ecosystems and has often had a positive effect on their biodiversity.
Published Early medieval money mystery solved
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Byzantine bullion fueled Europe's revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne's Francia a century later, new tests reveal. The findings could transform our understanding of Europe's economic and political development.
Published Finds at Schöningen show wood was crucial raw material 300,000 years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source During archaeological excavations in the Schoningen open-cast coal mine in 1994, the discovery of the oldest, remarkably well-preserved hunting weapons known to humanity caused an international sensation. Spears and a double-pointed throwing stick were found lying between animal bones about ten meters below the surface in deposits at a former lakeshore. In the years that followed, extensive excavations have gradually yielded numerous wooden objects from a layer dating from the end of a warm interglacial period 300,000 years ago. The findings suggested a hunting ground on the lakeshore.