ScienceDaily: Fossils & Ruins News

Palaeoanthropologists have announced the naming of a new species of human ancestor, Homo bodoensis. This species lived in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene, around half a million years ago, and was the direct ancestor of modern humans.

What zoologists have discovered in samples of ancient amber -- insect larvae with unusual morphologies and larvae of early flying insects.

Findings from a new study suggest that Europeans were not the first people to ever set foot on the Falkland Islands. Most of the evidence from the investigation indicates that Indigenous South Americans likely traveled to the Falkland Islands between 1275 C.E. and 1420 C.E., although earlier dates cannot be ruled out.

New research reveals ancestral puebloans in ancient Chaco Canyon interacted with local ecosystem to thrive for more than a millennium, but unsustainable deforestation practices likely contributed to destabilizing environmental impact prior to their final exodus.

The newly hatched juveniles of large and gigantic pterosaurs likely out-competed other smaller adult pterosaur species to dominate the Late Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago, a new study has found.

Thirty years ago, archeologists excavated the tomb of an elite 40--50-year-old man from the Sicán culture of Peru, a society that predated the Incas. The man's seated, upside-down skeleton was painted bright red, as was the gold mask covering his detached skull. Now, researchers have analyzed the paint, finding that, in addition to a red pigment, it contains human blood and bird egg proteins.

In 1545, King Henry VIII's favorite ship, the Mary Rose, capsized and sank in the Battle of the Solent defending England and Portsmouth from a French invasion fleet. The wreck remained on the seabed until 1982 when it was salvaged in a widely viewed televised event. Now, it is a time capsule for 16th century Tudor society, and conservators are working to preserve it for future generations. Scientists use X-ray analysis to identify previously undetected products in the wood -- nanoparticles originating from underwater bacterial activity.

Researchers have determined the genetic origins of Asia's most enigmatic mummies. Once thought to be Indo-European speaking migrants from the West, the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies are revealed to be a local indigenous population with deep Asian roots and taste for far-flung cuisine.

Researchers trace the first tusks back to ancient mammal relatives that lived before the dinosaurs and shed light on the evolution of mammalian tusks by first defining what makes a tusk a tusk.

Researchers have developed formulas that can calculate the body size of a primate based on the root size of its teeth. The formulas could allow researchers to make use of partial and incomplete fossils in order to learn how ancient primates -- including human ancestors -- interacted with their environment.