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Categories: Anthropology: Cultures, Environmental: Wildfires
Published African smoke over the Amazon



Up to two-thirds of the soot above the central Amazon rainforest originates in Africa. Researchers differentiate soot particles using their relative properties and attribute them to their respective points of origin. They found that bush fires and burning savannah in the north and south of Africa make a substantial contribution to air pollution in the central Amazon all year round, thereby playing an important role in the earth radiation budget and water cycle. This is caused by the efficient transatlantic transport of particles through the atmosphere.
Published South Africa's desert-like interior may have been more inviting to our human ancestors



Lining the Cape of South Africa and its southern coast are long chains of caves that nearly 200,000 years ago were surrounded by a lush landscape and plentiful food.
Published Scientists discover fire records embedded within sand dunes



A new study shows that sand dunes can serve as repositories of fire history and aid in expanding scientific understanding of fire regimes around the world.
Published Human ancestors preferred mosaic landscapes and high ecosystem diversity



A new study finds that early human species adapted to mosaic landscapes and diverse food resources, which would have increased our ancestor's resilience to past shifts in climate.
Published Evidence of Ice Age human migrations from China to the Americas and Japan



Scientists have used mitochondrial DNA to trace a female lineage from northern coastal China to the Americas. By integrating contemporary and ancient mitochondrial DNA, the team found evidence of at least two migrations: one during the last ice age, and one during the subsequent melting period. Around the same time as the second migration, another branch of the same lineage migrated to Japan, which could explain Paleolithic archeological similarities between the Americas, China, and Japan.
Published Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals



Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study.
Published Archaeologists map hidden NT landscape where first Australians lived more than 60,000 years ago



Scientists have used sub-surface imaging and aerial surveys to see through floodplains in the Red Lily Lagoon area of West Arnhem Land in Australia. These ground-breaking methods showed how this important landscape in the Northern Territory was altered as sea levels rose about 8,000 years ago.
Published Research reveals longstanding cultural continuity at oldest occupied site in West Africa



Stone tools recovered from near the Senegalese coast extend occupation of the region back to 150 thousand years ago and are comparable to those seen across Africa at this time, but uniquely persist in the region until 10 thousand years ago.
Published Scientists recover an ancient woman's DNA from a 20,000-year-old pendant



An international research team has for the first time successfully isolated ancient human DNA from a Paleolithic artefact: a pierced deer tooth discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. To preserve the integrity of the artefact, they developed a new, nondestructive method for isolating DNA from ancient bones and teeth. From the DNA retrieved they were able to reconstruct a precise genetic profile of the woman who used or wore the pendant, as well as of the deer from which the tooth was taken. Genetic dates obtained for the DNA from both the woman and the deer show that the pendant was made between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago. The tooth remains fully intact after analysis, providing testimony to a new era in ancient DNA research, in which it may become possible to directly identify the users of ornaments and tools produced in the deep past.
Published Searching for ancient bears in an Alaskan cave led to an important human discovery



Genetic analysis links 3,000-year-old bone found in cave to modern Alaska Natives.
Published Long distance voyaging among the Pacific Islands



An international team of researchers has used geochemical fingerprinting to reconstruct long-distance voyages between central and western Pacific Islands during the last millennium A.D.
Published Methane from megafires: More spew than we knew



Using a new detection method, scientists found a massive amount of methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, coming from wildfires -- a source not currently being accounted for by California state air quality managers.
Published Wildfires and animal biodiversity



Wildfires. Many see them as purely destructive forces, disasters that blaze through a landscape, charring everything in their paths. But a new study reminds us that wildfires are also generative forces, spurring biodiversity in their wakes.
Published Researchers use 21st century methods to record 2,000 years of ancient graffiti in Egypt


Researchers are learning more about ancient graffiti -- and their intriguing comparisons to modern graffiti -- as they produce a state-of-the-art 3D recording of the Temple of Isis in Philae, Egypt.
Published Ancient DNA reveals Asian ancestry introduced to East Africa in early modern times


The largest-yet analysis of ancient DNA in Africa, which includes the first ancient DNA recovered from members of the medieval Swahili civilization, has now broken the stalemate about the extent to which people from outside Africa contributed to Swahili culture and ancestry.
Published Ancient genomes reveal immunity adaptation in early farmers


Research has revealed that diversity in genes coding for immunity may have facilitated adaptation to farming lifestyles in prehistoric periods.
Published Bushfire safe rooms may save lives


Researchers have built and tested a bushfire safe room that exceeds current Australian standards and could keep people alive or protect valuables when evacuation is no longer an option.
Published Cyprus's copper deposits created one of the most important trade hubs in the Bronze Age


The coveted metal copper and a sheltered location turned the Cypriot village of Hala Sultan Tekke into one of the most important trade hubs of the Late Bronze Age. Recent excavations confirm the importance of the Bronze Age city in the first period of international trade in the Mediterranean.
Published Indigenous Ashaninka DNA helps geneticists write new chapters of pre-colonial history in South America


Geneticists have written new chapters in the reconstruction of pre-colonial Americas history after using DNA from the indigenous Ashaninka people from Amazonian Peru. They have discovered previously unexpected levels of genetic variation in this group and uncovered a strong hint that these people were involved in a South-to-North migration that led to the transition from an archaic to ceramic culture in the Caribbean islands.
Published Uncovering the ritual past of an ancient stone monument in Saudi Arabia


A comprehensive analysis of an archaeological site in Saudi Arabia sheds new light on mustatils -- stone monuments from the Late Neolithic period thought to have been used for ritual purposes.