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Categories: Archaeology: General, Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
(via sciencedaily.com) An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.
Published DNA from archaeological remains shows that immigration to Scandinavia was exceptional during the Viking period
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia -- encompassing the Roman Age, the Viking Age and later periods. A surprising increase of variation during the Viking period indicates that gene flow into Scandinavia was especially intense during this period.
Published How evolution works
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What genetic changes are responsible for the evolution of phenotypic traits? This question is not always easy to answer. A newly developed method now makes the search much easier.
Published Mayas utilized market-based economics
(via sciencedaily.com) More than 500 years ago in the midwestern Guatemalan highlands, Maya people bought and sold goods with far less oversight from their rulers than many archeologists previously thought. Overtime, the availability of obsidian resources and the prevalence of craftsmen to shape it resulted in a system that is in many ways suggestive of contemporary market-based economies.
Published When our vertical perception gets distorted: Body pitch and translational body motion
(via sciencedaily.com) Taking Hong Kong's famous Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak offers stunning views of its central business district, Victoria Harbor, and the surrounding islands. But a team of international scientists has recently discovered that the trams winding journey provides a previously unrecognized situation where our vertical perception gets distorted.
Published Bering Land Bridge formed surprisingly late during last ice age
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study that reconstructs the history of sea level at the Bering Strait shows that the Bering Land Bridge connecting Asia to North America did not emerge until around 35,700 years ago, less than 10,000 years before the height of the last ice age (known as the Last Glacial Maximum). The findings indicate that the growth of the ice sheets -- and the resulting drop in sea level -- occurred surprisingly quickly and much later in the glacial cycle than previous studies had suggested.
Published Archaeologists uncover oldest known projectile points in the Americas
(via sciencedaily.com) Archaeologists have uncovered projectile points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than any previously found in the Americas, helping to fill in the history of how early humans crafted and used stone weapons.
Published Glassfrogs achieve transparency by packing red blood cells into mirror-coated liver
(via sciencedaily.com) New research shows that glassfrogs -- known for their highly transparent undersides and muscles -- perform their 'disappearing acts' by stowing away nearly all of their red blood cells into their uniquely reflective livers. The work could lead to new avenues of research tied to blood clots, which the frogs somehow avoid while packing and unpacking about 90 percent of their red blood cells into their livers on a daily basis.
Published Which animals perceive time the fastest?
(via sciencedaily.com) New research reveals that the animals that perceive time the fastest are those that are small, can fly, or are marine predators.
Published New theory on timing for human settlement of some parts of tropical Pacific
(via sciencedaily.com) Spread across vast distances, the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean are thought to have been populated by humans in two distinct migrations beginning approximately 3,330 years ago. The first followed a northern route out of what is today the Philippines and the second followed a southern route from Taiwan and New Guinea. People arrived on the islands between these routes -- now making up the Federated States of Micronesia -- about 1,000 years later. But a new finding by sea-level researchers suggests that the islands in Micronesia were possibly settled much earlier than supposed and that voyagers on the two routes may have interacted with one another.
Published Fossil CSI: Giant extinct marine reptile graveyard was likely ancient birthing grounds
(via sciencedaily.com) An international research team examines a rich fossil bed in the renowned Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada's Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, where many 50-foot-long ichthyosaurs (Shonisaurus popularis) lay petrified in stone. The study offers a plausible explanation as to how at least 37 of these marine reptiles came to meet their ends in the same locality -- a question that has vexed paleontologists for more than half a century. The research presents evidence that these ichthyosaurs died at the site in large numbers because they were migrating to this area to give birth for many generations across hundreds of thousands of years.
Published Wood-eating clams use their feces to dominate their habitat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers didn't know what to make of sunken pieces of wood that were so thoroughly chewed-up by clams that the wood crumbled in their hands. It turns out, the super-chewer wood-eating clams had a secret weapon for forcing out other species. The clams, who have special adaptations that let them survive in dirty, low-oxygen water, built chimneys out of their own feces, making the wood a 'crappy' home for any animal except them.
Published Drought encouraged Attila's Huns to attack the Roman empire, tree rings suggest
(via sciencedaily.com) Hunnic peoples migrated westward across Eurasia, switched between farming and herding, and became violent raiders in response to severe drought in the Danube frontier provinces of the Roman empire, a new study argues.
Published Producing 'green' energy -- literally -- from living plant 'bio-solar cells'
(via sciencedaily.com) Though plants can serve as a source of food, oxygen and décor, they're not often considered to be a good source of electricity. But by collecting electrons naturally transported within plant cells, scientists can generate electricity as part of a 'green,' biological solar cell. Now, researchers have used a succulent plant to create a living 'bio-solar cell' that runs on photosynthesis.
Published Fossil site reveals giant arthropods dominated the seas 470 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Discoveries at a major new fossil site in Morocco suggest giant arthropods -- relatives of modern creatures including shrimps, insects and spiders -- dominated the seas 470 million years ago.
Published Precise solar observations fed millions in ancient Mexico
(via sciencedaily.com) Without clocks or modern tools, ancient Mexicans watched the sun to maintain a farming calendar that precisely tracked seasons and even adjusted for leap years.
Published Extinct 'monkey lemur' shows similarities to fossil humans
(via sciencedaily.com) Analysis of teeth of extinct lemurs has revealed fascinating clues to the evolution of humans, a new study has found.
Published True giant wombat gives Diprotodon podium a wobble
(via sciencedaily.com) While the Diprotodon -- the extinct megafauna species that is distantly related to wombats but was the size of a small car -- is commonly (but incorrectly) thought of as Australia's 'giant wombat', researchers have shed light on a large species that does belong in the modern-day wombat family. The complete skull of this true fossil giant wombat, found in a Rockhampton cave in Queensland, Australia and estimated to be around 80,000 years old, has been described for the first time.
Published Microplastic pollution swirling in city air: Millions of plastic bottles per year
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers calculated that 74 metric tons of microplastics are dropping out of the atmosphere onto the city annually, the equivalent of more than 3 million plastic bottles falling from the sky.
Published Reliance on moose as prey led to rare coyote attack on human
(via sciencedaily.com) Wildlife researchers have completed a study that may settle the question of why, in October 2009, a group of coyotes launched an unprovoked fatal attack on a young woman who was hiking in a Canadian park. Researchers concluded that the coyotes were forced to rely on moose instead of smaller mammals for the bulk of their diet -- and as a result of adapting to that unusually large food source, perceived a lone hiker as potential prey.