Feature Channels: Archaeology and Anthropology

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Newswise: excavating-evidence-of-early-agricultural-engineering-news-notpad-our.jpg
Released: 26-Feb-2024 12:05 PM EST
UNCW Researchers Excavating Evidence of Early Agricultural Engineering
University of North Carolina Wilmington

UNC Wilmington environmental sciences assistant professor Joni “Osku“ Backstrom and Mark Wilde-Ramsing, underwater archaeologist and former director of the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, have traversed the lower Cape Fear and Brunswick rivers searching for archaeological evidence of the rice fields once situated along the rivers’ banks.

Newswise: Plant seed and fruit analysis from the biblical home of Goliath sheds unprecedented light on Philistine ritual practices
Released: 26-Feb-2024 2:05 AM EST
Plant seed and fruit analysis from the biblical home of Goliath sheds unprecedented light on Philistine ritual practices
Bar-Ilan University

While many aspects of Philistine culture are well-documented, the specifics of Philistine religious practices and deities have long remained shrouded in mystery. The study by Frumin et al. on "Plant-Related Philistine Ritual Practices at Biblical Gath," recently published in Scientific Reports by researchers at Bar-Ilan University, contributes valuable new data to our understanding of the Philistine's ritual practices. The discovery of numerous plants in two temples unearthed at the site unraveled unprecedented insights into Philistine cultic rituals and beliefs – their temple food ingredients, timing of ceremonies, and plants for temple decoration.

Newswise: Artifact could be linked to Spanish explorer Coronado's expedition across Texas Panhandle
Released: 23-Feb-2024 8:00 AM EST
Artifact could be linked to Spanish explorer Coronado's expedition across Texas Panhandle
Southern Methodist University

It’s a small piece of obsidian, just over 5 centimeters long, likely found on a hard-scrabble piece of ranchland in the Texas panhandle. But when SMU anthropologist Matthew Boulanger looks at it, he gets a mental image of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado making his way across the plains more than 470 years ago in search of a fabled city of gold.

Newswise: Three years later, search for life on Mars continues
Released: 22-Feb-2024 9:05 PM EST
Three years later, search for life on Mars continues
University of Cincinnati

In the three years since NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, the NASA science team has made the daily task of investigating the red planet seem almost mundane.

Newswise: Did neanderthals use glue? Researchers find evidence that sticks
Released: 21-Feb-2024 3:05 PM EST
Did neanderthals use glue? Researchers find evidence that sticks
New York University

Neanderthals created stone tools held together by a multi-component adhesive, a team of scientists has discovered.

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Newswise: Chula Geologists Find New Evidence of Historic Human Activity on Khao Phanom Rung-Khao Plai Bat, Buriram
Released: 16-Feb-2024 8:55 AM EST
Chula Geologists Find New Evidence of Historic Human Activity on Khao Phanom Rung-Khao Plai Bat, Buriram
Chulalongkorn University

Prof. Dr. Santi Pailoplee, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, discovered a large number of rocks and rock formations on Khao Phanom Rung-Plai Bat, Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Buriram Province, which geologically signify human activity in the past, not natural formation.

   
Released: 14-Feb-2024 11:05 PM EST
Did Eurasia's dominant East-West axis "turn the fortunes of history"?
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) is Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning effort to explain the contrasting histories of Native Americans, Africans and aboriginal Australians vs Europeans and Asians.

Newswise: New fossil site of worldwide importance uncovered in southern France
Released: 11-Feb-2024 8:05 PM EST
New fossil site of worldwide importance uncovered in southern France
University of Lausanne

Nearly 400 exceptionally well-preserved fossils dating back 470 million years have been discovered in the south of France by two amateur paleontologists.

Newswise: Love and Hate in Ancient Times: New Anthology on Magical Texts Published
Released: 5-Feb-2024 10:05 PM EST
Love and Hate in Ancient Times: New Anthology on Magical Texts Published
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

A team of scholars spent five years studying them: "magical" texts from Egypt that were written on papyrus, parchment, paper and shards of clay – so-called ostraca – and date from the period between the fourth and twelfth centuries AD.

 
Newswise: Prehistoric mobility among Tibetan farmers, herders shaped highland settlement patterns, cultural interaction, study finds
1-Feb-2024 3:05 PM EST
Prehistoric mobility among Tibetan farmers, herders shaped highland settlement patterns, cultural interaction, study finds
Washington University in St. Louis

New research from Washington University in St. Louis and Sichuan University in China explores how and why ancient communities built social relationships and cultural identities across the extreme terrain in Tibet.

   
Released: 31-Jan-2024 5:05 PM EST
Archaeological evidence of seasonal vitamin D deficiency discovered
University of Otago

Rickets ran rife in children following the Industrial Revolution, but University of Otago-led research has found factory work and polluted cities aren’t entirely to blame for the period’s vitamin D deficiencies.

Newswise: original-1706268249.webp?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MTY5NiwiZmlsZV9leHRlbnNpb24iOiJ3ZWJwIiwib2JqX2lkIjoyMTQ1NTk0MX0%3D--02afebe68ce2cb8a093bcdcbcce844df2d44bbde
29-Jan-2024 2:10 PM EST
Homo sapiens already reached northwest Europe more than 45,000 years ago
Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

An international research team reports the discovery of Homo sapiens fossils from the cave site Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany. Directly dated to approximately 45,000 years ago, these fossils are associated with elongated stone points partly shaped on both sides (known as partial bifacial blade points), which are characteristic of the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ).

Newswise: Scientists Pinpoint Growth of Brain’s Cerebellum as Key to Evolution of Bird Flight
29-Jan-2024 12:00 PM EST
Scientists Pinpoint Growth of Brain’s Cerebellum as Key to Evolution of Bird Flight
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Evolutionary biologists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have combined PET scans of modern pigeons along with studies of dinosaur fossils to help answer an enduring question in biology: How did the brains of birds evolve to enable them to fly?

Released: 29-Jan-2024 3:05 PM EST
The Grave's Embrace: New research sheds light on Bronze Age family relationships
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Poignant prehistoric burials containing the remains of an adult and child laid in the grave as though embracing in death have long fascinated archaeologists.

Released: 29-Jan-2024 12:05 PM EST
How did humans learn to walk? New evolutionary study offers an earful
New York University

The inner ear of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape reveals clues about the evolution of human movement.

Newswise: Syphilis-like diseases were already widespread in America before the arrival of Columbus
Released: 24-Jan-2024 1:05 PM EST
Syphilis-like diseases were already widespread in America before the arrival of Columbus
University of Basel

Researchers at the Universities of Basel and Zurich have discovered the genetic material of the pathogen Treponema pallidum in the bones of people who died in Brazil 2,000 years ago.

Newswise: Climate resilience: NSF-funded research to explore link between crisis and agriculture
Released: 22-Jan-2024 11:05 AM EST
Climate resilience: NSF-funded research to explore link between crisis and agriculture
Binghamton University, State University of New York

A research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York will head to Peru to study the link between ancient agricultural practices, climate shift and war.

Released: 12-Jan-2024 10:05 PM EST
Africans discovered fossils first
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones usually goes to British gentlemen for their finds between the 17th and 19th centuries in England.

Newswise: First prehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from ancient DNA
Released: 11-Jan-2024 11:05 AM EST
First prehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from ancient DNA
Francis Crick Institute

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, working with University of Oxford, University of York and Oxford Archaeology, have developed a new technique to measure the number of chromosomes in ancient genomes more precisely, using it to identify the first prehistoric person with mosaic Turner syndrome (characterised by one X chromosome instead of two [XX]), who lived about 2500 years ago.

   
Newswise: Ancient cities provide key datasets for urban planning, policy and predictions in the Anthropocene
Released: 11-Jan-2024 11:05 AM EST
Ancient cities provide key datasets for urban planning, policy and predictions in the Anthropocene
Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

Cities play a key role in climate change and biodiversity and are one of the most recognizable features of the Anthropocene. They also accelerate innovation and shape social networks, while perpetuating and intensifying inequalities.

Newswise: New research identifies renowned rock art sites ‘chosen’ for vantage
Released: 11-Jan-2024 8:05 AM EST
New research identifies renowned rock art sites ‘chosen’ for vantage
Flinders University

New research has uncovered internationally significant rock art sites in Arnhem Land were far from random and instead “chosen” for the critical vantage points they provided.

Released: 9-Jan-2024 2:05 PM EST
Queen Mary University of London study reveals genetic legacy of racial and gender hierarchies
Queen Mary University of London

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have revealed how sociocultural factors, in addition to geography, play a significant role in shaping the genetic diversity of modern societies.

Released: 8-Jan-2024 3:05 PM EST
First ever scientific study on First World War crater reveals new details on its history
Taylor & Francis

More than 60ft below the surface, British miners had dug a gallery for more than 900 metres from their lines and packed it with 40,000 lbs of explosives. It was one of 19 mines placed beneath German front positions that were detonated on 1st July, 1916 to mark the start of the offensive.

Newswise: The evolution of photosynthesis better documented thanks to the discovery of the oldest thylakoids in fossil cyanobacteria
Released: 5-Jan-2024 1:05 PM EST
The evolution of photosynthesis better documented thanks to the discovery of the oldest thylakoids in fossil cyanobacteria
University of Liege

Researchers at the University of Liège (ULiège) have identified microstructures in fossil cells that are 1.75 billion years old. These structures, called thylakoid membranes, are the oldest ever discovered.

Released: 3-Jan-2024 5:05 PM EST
Early primates likely lived in pairs
University of Zurich

Primates – and this includes humans – are thought of as highly social animals.

Newswise: Unraveling the mysteries of the Mongolian Arc: exploring a monumental 405-kilometer wall system in Eastern Mongolia
Released: 3-Jan-2024 4:05 PM EST
Unraveling the mysteries of the Mongolian Arc: exploring a monumental 405-kilometer wall system in Eastern Mongolia
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

New study sheds light on the previously overlooked Mongolian Arc—a monumental wall system in eastern Mongolia spanning 405 kilometers.

Released: 20-Dec-2023 3:05 PM EST
Rise of archery in Andes Mountains dated to 5,000 years ago — earlier than previous research
University of California, Davis

When did archery arise in the Americas? And what were the effects of this technology on society?

Newswise: Earliest evidence for domestic yak found using both archaeology, ancient DNA
Released: 14-Dec-2023 11:05 AM EST
Earliest evidence for domestic yak found using both archaeology, ancient DNA
Washington University in St. Louis

The high-altitude hero of the Himalayas, yak are among the few large animals that can survive the extremely cold, harsh and oxygen-poor conditions of the Tibetan Plateau.

Newswise: ‘A ticking clock’: First ground-based survey of damage to Ukrainian cultural sites reveals severity, need for urgency
Released: 13-Dec-2023 1:05 PM EST
‘A ticking clock’: First ground-based survey of damage to Ukrainian cultural sites reveals severity, need for urgency
University of Notre Dame

Ian Kuijt, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, and William Donaruma, a professor of the practice in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre, both at the University of Notre Dame, visited Ukraine to document the extent of damage to cultural sites including churches, schools, opera houses, libraries and archaeological sites.

 
Newswise: Scholars say it's time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the 'lunar Anthropocene'
Released: 8-Dec-2023 2:05 PM EST
Scholars say it's time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the 'lunar Anthropocene'
University of Kansas

Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR’s unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon — both crewed and uncrewed, sometimes landing and sometimes crashing.

Released: 8-Dec-2023 1:05 PM EST
New insights into Zebra mussel attachment fibers offer potential solutions to combat invasive species, develop sustainable materials
McGill University

A recent study from researchers in Canada and Germany has revealed that an unlikely event, occurring over 12 million years ago played an important role in shaping one of Canada’s most damaging invasive species..

Released: 7-Dec-2023 6:05 PM EST
Oldest Fortresses in the World Discovered
Freie Universitaet Berlin

Archaeologists from Freie Universität Berlin together with an international team confirm ancient prehistoric fortifications in Siberia. Research results published in the scientific journal “Antiquity.”

Newswise: Limitations of asteroid crater lakes as climate archives
Released: 6-Dec-2023 3:05 PM EST
Limitations of asteroid crater lakes as climate archives
University of Göttingen

In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this spot. Today, the impact crater is one of the most useful analogues for asteroid craters on early Mars.

Released: 4-Dec-2023 10:05 AM EST
More than a meteorite: New clues about the demise of dinosaurs
McGill University

What wiped out the dinosaurs? A meteorite plummeting to Earth is only part of the story, a new study suggests. Climate change triggered by massive volcanic eruptions may have ultimately set the stage for the dinosaur extinction, challenging the traditional narrative that a meteorite alone delivered the final blow to the ancient giants.

Released: 30-Nov-2023 4:05 PM EST
Turnover in the Iberian fauna reduced the availability of carrion one million years ago
Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)

Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), have published a paper in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology which shows that large herbivore carrion, a resource that had formerly been abundant and accessible to hominins, became scarcer at the end of the Early Pleistocene due to changes in the Iberian fauna.

Released: 29-Nov-2023 1:05 PM EST
Early humans hunted beavers, 400,000 years ago
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Evidence from eastern Germany shows that early humans had a more varied diet than previously known

Newswise:Video Embedded woman-the-hunter-studies-aim-to-correct-history
VIDEO
Released: 20-Nov-2023 12:05 PM EST
‘Woman the hunter’: Studies aim to correct history
University of Notre Dame

New research from Cara Ocobock, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Human Energetics Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, combined both physiological and archaeological evidence to argue that not only did prehistoric women engage in the practice of hunting, but their female anatomy and biology would have made them intrinsically better suited for it.

Released: 15-Nov-2023 11:20 AM EST
From Farm to Newsroom: The Latest Research and Features on Agriculture
Newswise

The world’s total population is expected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050. This rapid increase in population is boosting the demand for agriculture to cater for the increased demand. Below are some of the latest research and features on agriculture and farming in the Agriculture channel on Newswise.

Released: 14-Nov-2023 4:05 PM EST
Europe was not covered by dense forest before the arrival of modern humans
Aarhus University

For decades, we believed that outside ice ages Europe was mostly covered by dense forest before the arrival of modern humans. Now, a new study shows that there was far more open and semi-open vegetation than conventionally expected

Released: 14-Nov-2023 2:05 PM EST
New study reveals surprising insights into feeding habits of carnivorous dinosaurs in North America
PeerJ

Study reveals bite marks on dinosaur bones from Jurassic rocks, shedding light on feeding habits.

Released: 7-Nov-2023 10:05 AM EST
Shoes maketh man
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

The humble “plakkie” made its debut up to 150 000 years ago.

   
Released: 6-Nov-2023 10:05 AM EST
Fossils tell tale of last primate to inhabit North America before humans
University of Kansas

Paleontologists have discovered the long-lost family tree of Ekgmowechashala, an enigmatic primate that lived in North America 30 million years ago. They found that Ekgmowechashala is an immigrant from Asia, not a descendant of earlier North American primates. This discovery helps us understand how animals adapt to climate change and the origins of our own species.

Released: 26-Oct-2023 10:05 AM EDT
Early whaling eradicated species from local waters
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

The right whale and grey whale were eliminated from the eastern Atlantic centuries before the age of industrial whaling began

Released: 20-Oct-2023 1:05 PM EDT
Ancient sea monster remains reveal oldest mega-predatory pliosaur
Uppsala University

The fossils of a 170-million-year-old ancient marine reptile from the Age of Dinosaurs have been identified as the oldest-known mega-predatory pliosaur – a group of ocean-dwelling reptiles closely related to the famous long-necked plesiosaurs.

Released: 19-Oct-2023 11:05 AM EDT
Waves of change: how sea-levels and climate altered the marine ecosystems at the South Pole 390-385 million years ago
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

During the Early-Middle Devonian period, a large landmass called Gondwana—which included parts of today's Africa, South America, and Antarctica—was located near the South Pole. Unlike today's icy conditions, the climate was warmer, and the sea levels were higher, flooding most of the land.

Newswise: Extraordinary fossil find reveals details about the weight and diet of extinct saber-toothed marsupial
Released: 12-Oct-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Extraordinary fossil find reveals details about the weight and diet of extinct saber-toothed marsupial
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Recent paleontological explorations in the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia led to the recovery of the most complete skeleton of a "saber-toothed marsupial” discovered in northern South America.

Newswise: Race to find world’s oldest mammal fossils led to mud-slinging
Released: 10-Oct-2023 4:05 AM EDT
Race to find world’s oldest mammal fossils led to mud-slinging
University of Bristol

The hunt for the world’s most ancient mammals descended into academic warfare in the seventies, researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered.

Newswise: Illinois expert argues Ancient Maya reservoirs offer lessons for today’s water crises
Released: 9-Oct-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Illinois expert argues Ancient Maya reservoirs offer lessons for today’s water crises
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa Lucero argues in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that ancient Maya reservoirs, which used aquatic plants to filter and clean the water, “can serve as archetypes for natural, sustainable water systems to address future water needs.” The Maya built and maintained reservoirs that were in use for more than 1,000 years, providing potable water for thousands to tens of thousands of people in cities during the annual, five-month dry season and in periods of prolonged drought.



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