ScienceDaily: Fossils & Ruins News


Lost or extinct? Study finds the existence of more than 500 animal species remains uncertain

Posted: 19 May 2022 12:01 PM PDT

An international study provides the first global evaluation of all terrestrial vertebrate species that have not been declared extinct and identifies more than 500 species considered to be 'lost'--those that haven't been seen by anyone in more than 50 years.

Scientists reveal how seascapes of the ancient world shaped genetic structure of European populations

Posted: 19 May 2022 11:10 AM PDT

Scientists have explored the importance of sea travel in prehistory by examining the genomes of ancient Maltese humans and comparing these with the genomes of this period from across Europe. Previous findings from the archaeological team had suggested that towards the end of the third millennium BC the use of the Maltese temples declined. Now, using genetic data from ancient Maltese individuals the current interdisciplinary research team has suggested a potential contributing cause. Researchers found that these ancient humans lacked some of the signatures of genetic changes that swept across Europe in this period, because of their island separation. Scientists concluded that physical topography, in particular seascapes played a central role as barriers to genetic exchange.

Environment scientists close in on 'golden spike' to define Anthropocene

Posted: 19 May 2022 11:09 AM PDT

Researchers searching for a 'golden spike' to formally define humanity's current geological period -- and acknowledge human impact on our planet -- have announced a major step in their analysis.

Research confirms eastern Wyoming Paleoindian site as Americas' oldest mine

Posted: 19 May 2022 09:57 AM PDT

The Powars II site at Sunrise in Wyoming's Platte County the oldest documented red ocher mine -- and likely the oldest known mine of any sort -- in all of North and South America.

Puzzling features deep in Earth's interior illuminated

Posted: 19 May 2022 05:11 AM PDT

New research examines an unusual pocket of rock at the boundary layer with Earth's core, some three thousand kilometers beneath the surface.

Where were Herod the Great's royal alabaster bathtubs quarried?

Posted: 17 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT

A new study allows for the first time the distinction between calcite-alabaster originating in Israel from that originating in Egypt. Furthermore, it confirms that calcite-alabaster objects, such as Herod the Great's alabaster bathtubs, were quarried in Israel rather than Egypt.