What Can 460-Million-Year-Old Bivalves Tell Us About Evolution And Extinction?
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Every so often, life on Earth steps onto a nearly empty playing field and faces a spectacular opportunity. Something major changes—in the atmosphere or in the oceans, or in the organisms themselves —and the existing species begin to branch out into a brand-new world. Scientists are fascinated by this process, […]
Giant Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery Discovered In Salisbury, England
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists excavating at Netherhampton Road, on the edge of Harnham, a southern suburb of Salisbury, England have unearthed a giant Bronze Age barrow cemetery. Wiltshire is well known for its Bronze Age barrows, especially those that survive within the landscape of the World Heritage site of Stonehenge and on the […]
Rare Ancient Drawings Offer Evidence Moluccan Boats Visited Australia From Indonesia?
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists at Flinders University have identified rare images of Moluccan vessels from Indonesia’s eastern islands in rock art paintings that may provide the first archaeological evidence of visitors from Southeast Asia from somewhere other than Makᴀssar on Sulawesi. The rock art offers new evidence of elusive and previously unrecorded encounters between Indigenous […]
Quarter-Ton Marsupial Roamed Long Distances Across Australia’s Arid Interior, Reveals 3D-Scanning Study
Eddie Gonzales Jr. – AncientPages.com – One of Australia’s first long-distance walkers has been described after Flinders University paleontologists used advanced 3D scans and other technology to take a new look at the partial remains of a 3.5 million year old marsupial from central Australia. They have named a new genus of diprotodontid Ambulator, meaning […]
Unique 15th-Century ‘Bawdy Bard’ Act Sheds New Light On British Comedy
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – An unprecedented record of medieval live comedy performance has been identified in a 15th-century manuscript. Raucous texts—mocking kings, priests and peasants; encouraging audiences to get drunk; and shocking them with slapstick—shed new light on Britain’s famous sense of humor and the role played by minstrels in medieval society. Scribe’s note […]
Study Finds 107-Million-Year-Old Pterosaur Bones Are Oldest In Australia
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A team of researchers have confirmed that 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones discovered more than 30 years ago are the oldest of their kind ever found in Australia, providing a rare glimpse into the life of these powerful, flying reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs. Reconstruction of an Australian pterosaur by Peter […]
Neanderthals Invented Or Developed Birch Tar Making Technique Independently From Homo sapiens
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Birch tar is the oldest synthetic substance made by early humans, and those humans were in the long past – Neanderthals. But the question remains: how tar was made by Neanderthals? Königsaue birch tar and experimental production techniques. a KBP1, Königsaue 1 (left); KBP2, Königsaue 2 (right). b Drawing of the condensation method; c cobble-groove condensation […]
Discovered Shell Beads Shed New Light On Stone Age Seafaring
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Stone Age humans may have made extended maritime voyages on the Caspian Sea, according to a new study published in the journal Open Archaeology. The research analyzed ornamental beads made from the disk-shaped shells of a species of cockle (Didacna sp.) found at the Kaylu rock shelter, a cave-like burial site near the […]
Ming-Era Two Shipwrecks With 100,000 Ancient Relics Examined By Scientists
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Two ancient shipwrecks, most likely dated to the mid-Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), were discovered about 1,500 meters under the sea level in South China Sea, the coastal city of Sanya, Hainan province. Over 100,000 cultural relics, mainly porcelains – recently found on Northeast Continental Slope No 1 Shipwreck of the South China […]
Humans Evolved A Spring-Like Arch To Help Us Walk On Two Feet – Study Shows
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A new study has shown that humans may have evolved a spring-like arch to help us walk on two feet. Researchers studying the evolution of bipedal walking have long ᴀssumed that the raised arch of the foot helps us walk by acting as a lever which propels the body forward. […]