Skull of two-million-year-old human ‘cousin’ unearthed in South Africa
In an archaeological excavation deep in a South African cave system led by Australian, a 2-million-year-old cranium from a big dented remote human cousin was discovered.
The finding is the oldest known and best-preserved case of Paranthropus robustus, a small-brained hominine called Paranthropus robustus, La Trobe University researchers say.
The almost complete male skull, found in the Drimolen cave system near Johannesburg in 2018, may also lead to a new understanding of human microevolution.
Paranthropus robustus walked the Earth at roughly the same time as our direct ancestor Homo erectus, palaeoanthropologist Angeline Leece said, referring to hominins, a small-brained member of the human family tree.
“But these two vastly different species — Homo erectus with their relatively large brains and small teeth, and Paranthropus robustus with their relatively large teeth and small brains — represent divergent evolutionary experiments,” she said.
“While we were the lineage that won out in the end, two million years ago the fossil record suggests that Paranthropus robustus was much more common than Homo erectus on the landscape.”
Until recently, scientists believed Paranthropus robustus existed in social structures similar to gorillas, with large dominant males living in a group of smaller Paranthropus robustus females.
This rare male fossil is closer in size to female specimens previously found at the site, providing the first high-resolution evidence for microevolution within early hominin species.
Researchers argue this discovery could lead to a revised system for classifying and understanding the palaeobiology of human ancestors — a significant development for their field.
The face of the skull is put back together for the first time
Archaeologist Andy Herries said the skull, which was painstakingly reconstructed from hundreds of bone pieces, represented the start of a very successful Paranthropus robustus lineage that existed in South Africa for a million years.
“Like all other creatures on Earth, to remain successful our ancestors adapted and evolved in accordance with the landscape and environment around them,” he said.
“We believe these changes took place during a time when South Africa was drying out, leading to the extinction of a number of contemporaneous mammal species.
“It is likely that climate change produced environmental stressors that drove evolution within Paranthropus robustus.”
Findings from the new discovery in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind were published in Nature Ecology and Evolution on Tuesday.
How midnight digs at a holy Tibetan cave opened a window to prehistoric humans living on the roof of the world
New DNA data has confirmed that a Himalayan cave high on the Tibetan Plateau once hosted representatives of the enigmatic species of extinct human beings known as Denisovans, research recently published in the journal Science has revealed.
The scientists, led by the Lanzhou University of China and backed up by archaeologists, geologists and geneticists from Australia, Germany and the U.S., said that new DNA and archaeological evidence demonstrated the long-term presence of humans at high altitude some 120,000 years earlier than previously understood—modern humans were not thought to have inhabited the Tibetan Plateau until some 40,000 years ago.
The find confirms that the first modern hominins to inhabit the area were not Neanderthals, as was previously assumed, instead of showing that Denisovan populations are more likely to have been widespread and not limited to Siberia, where the only previously known fossil fragments were discovered in 2010.
“We detected ancient human fragments that matched mitochondrial DNA associated with Denisovans in four different layers of sediment deposited around 100,000 and 60,000 years ago,” said Associate Professor Bo Li of the University of Wollongong, the team’s dating specialist and co-author of the new research.
“We have known that some modern human genomes contain fragments of DNA from Denisovans, suggesting that this species of human must have been widespread in Asia,”
The origins of this discovery took place 40 years ago in 1980, when a segment of the fossilized jawbone, complete with two molars, was discovered by a Buddhist monk in Baishiya Karst Cave in the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau, in what is now Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the south of China’s Gansu Province.
For Tibetan Buddhist monks, Baishiya Karst Cave is a sacred site and a protected religious sanctuary, sitting at an elevation of 3,280 meters in Xiahe County. The Tibetan monk who made the prehistoric discovery presented the relic to his teacher, the Sixth Gung-Thang Living Buddha, who recognized its potential significance and passed the fossil on to Lanzhou University.
This jawbone fragment represents the only known remains of the mysterious Xiahe Man
Two decades later in 2019, scientists analyzing the fragment reported that the fossilized jawbone belonged to a 160,000-year-old Denisovan, positing that the little-known species of Neanderthal-like hominins inhabited the region thousands of years before modern humans.
“Our painstaking efforts . . . are helping unravel the story of how early humans adapted to live in one of the world’s most remote and mountainous places,” members of the research team said in an article for non-profit website The Conversation. “Our research . . . provides a better understanding of the little-known prehistoric humans who lived tens of thousands of years ago on the roof of the world.”
The Denisovan proposal was initially disputed by other scientists due to a lack of genetic evidence and the prevailing understanding of Denisovan population distributions at the time: this group of mysterious prehistoric humans was originally discovered in Denisova Cave in Siberia.
Researchers excavate a section of the Buddhist cave.
“This [Baishiya Karst Cave ] fossil was not only the earliest evidence of human occupation on the Tibetan Plateau but also the first Denisovan fossil to be found outside of Denisova Cave—and the largest to ever be found,” said the research team.
The ancestral lineage of Denisovans separated from the ancestors of modern humans some 500,000 years ago, although scientists disagree over whether they should be regarded as a distinct species or a subspecies of Homo sapiens.
Whether due to being overcome by populations of modern humans or environmental factors, Denisovans and Neanderthals are both believed to have died out some 40,000–50,000 years ago, although they are known to have interbred with the ancestors of modern humans.
“When our species exited Africa, on the way to moving to Australia, we met Denisovans somewhere in Asia, interbred with them, and carry some of the genetic information,” said Prof. Li. “Modern Tibetans, for example, have a Denisovan gene that lets them thrive at high altitude.”
As well as human remains, the research team at Baishiya Karst Cave also unearthed a wealth of other revealing artefacts, including a large quantity of charcoal, indicating that that the Denisovans used fire, 1,310 rudimentary tools dated to more than 190,000 years ago and as recently as 45,000 years ago, and numerous animal bones, including some from hyenas and rhinos, both of which once were once native to the region.
“After dozens of visits to the cave and others nearby, in 2016 we finally found the first indisputable stone artefacts [probably made by Denisovans] on the cave floor,” the research team explained. “With this, we became further convinced the cave was a treasure trove of archaeological deposits that could help tell the story of the Denisovans. But, as it’s also a Buddhist holy cave, we weren’t allowed to dig inside it—not even one scrape of a trowel.”
After two years of negotiations with the Chinese authorities and the Tibetan monks maintaining the cave, the team were granted permission to excavate within a limited area inside the sacred cave—contingent on the condition that they only work late at night during the Himalayan winter, when no Buddhist monks were using the cave.
Researchers sampling the Baishiya Karst Cave.
Prof. Li observed that here is still much more research to be done at the site: “Our next target is to date more samples from the cave and tries to answer when Denisovans started to occupy the cave and when they ‘disappear’ from the cave.”
A man picking mushrooms in the Czech republic discovers a rare 3000-year-old sword
A man hunting for mushrooms found came away with more than just a bunch of fungus – he discovered two rare Bronze Age weapons. Roman Novák was foraging for fungi after a rainstorm in Jesenick, a small town about 150 miles from Prague when he noticed a piece of metal jutting out of the ground.
Examining it closer, Novák realized it was part of a sword, dating back some 3,300 years ago.
Digging some more, he also uncovered a bronze axe from the same era nearby. The discovery has led local archaeologists to plan an excavation in the area.
A man foraging for mushrooms in a rural part of the Czech Republic uncovered a bronze sword dating to 1300 BC when the Urnfield culture was just developing in Central Europe.
‘It had just rained and I went mushroom-picking,’ Novák told Radio Prague International. As I went, I saw a piece of metal sticking out of some stones. I kicked it and found that it was a blade, part of a sword.’
Archaeologists who examined both pieces say they date to about 1300 BC when Central Europe’s Urnfield culture was just emerging and Jeseník would have been sparsely populated.
Unlike later iron swords, which are hammered into shape while still red hot, bronze swords were made by heating the metal until it turned into a liquid and then pouring it into a mould.
The sword has an octagonal handle, with a bronze hilt intricately carved with circles and crescents. The blade, which is broken near the base but otherwise intact, resemble weapons used mainly in what is now Northern Germany.
The sword has an octagonal handle, with a bronze hilt intricately carved with circles and crescents
‘They were obviously trying their best, but the quality of the casting was actually pretty low,’ said Jiří Juchelka, director of archaeology at the nearby Silesian Museum. ‘X-ray tests show that there are many small bubbles inside the weapon.’
Because of that, Juchelka believes the sword was more ceremonial than something used in combat.
Nevertheless, it’s only the second of its kind found in the region.
‘It is like a puzzle,’ said Milan Rychlý of Jesenick’s Ethnographic Museum. ‘We just have four little shards from the story that took place right now, so we have to start piecing everything together.’
When the excavation of the area is complete, all the items will go on display at the two museums.
The weapons were uncovered in a forest in the Czech Republic’s eastern Jesenick District.
Mushroom picking after it rains is a popular hobby in Eastern Europe: Last month a man foraging in north-central Poland literally stumbled across a trove of 17th-century silver coins.
Bogusław Rumiński’s bike got stuck in a rut while he was riding in his tiny village of Jezuicka Struga.
When he put his hands out to stop his fall, Rumiński landed on dozens of silver pieces dating to the reign of King John II Casimir Vasa. The coins, which are in excellent condition, were minted between 1657 and 1667, shortly after the Deluge, an era of frequent wars involving Russia, Poland and Sweden.
Another mushroom hunter in Poland uncovered dozens of silver coins from between 1657 and 1667, minted during the reign of King John II Casimir Vasa.
Later searching with a metal detector turned up even more coins, bringing the total to 86. Because of the coins’ fine condition, experts believe they were hidden shortly after being produced.
Ancient Viking ship buried an Iron Age cemetery uncovered by scientists
A Viking ship that was laid to rest centuries ago wasn’t alone underground. A feast hall and a cult temple were also buried at the cemetery site, hinting at the elite standing of the community that conducted the burials.
Archaeologists discovered the ship in 2018, after conducting surveys with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) at Gjellestad in southeastern Norway. Since then, further scans and excavations uncovered more clues about the site and the people who created it centuries ago.
GPR scans revealed a total of 13 burial mounds including the ship grave; some of these circular mounds were 98 feet (30 meters) wide. Other burials included buildings that may have been used in rituals, scientists reported in a new study.
The researchers found the mound cluster to the north of a large, previously excavated Iron Age mound — Jell Mound — which dates to about 1,500 year ago (radiocarbon dating revealed that the ship was buried hundreds of years later, likely around the ninth century). Linking Jell Mound to a larger network of burials suggests that Gjellestad was an important cemetery that stood for centuries, according to the study.
In 2017, a gold ornament found near Jell Mound hinted that Gjellestad was a site of some significance. Pendants such as these were often included in burials of high-status women during the Iron Age, around A.D. 1 to A.D. 400, according to the study.
Numerous funerary mounds once studded the landscape around Gjellestad, but many of these were plowed up by farmers during the 19th century, the scientists wrote. However, even after a mound has been destroyed, GPR can still reveal its former location — and what was buried there.
The discovery was made by experts from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) at Gjellestad in southeastern Norway
Gold pendant found near the Jell Mound. This type or ornament was common in high-status female burials from A.D. 1 to A.D. 400.
Near the ship grave, GPR located two large circular mounds, with seven smaller mounds clustered to the north. Four rectangular “settlement structures” lay to the west; the longest was 125 feet (38 m) in length. One of the smaller buildings may have been a farmhouse; another may represent a temple; and the largest building was similar in structure and size to feasting halls found in other Viking settlements, the scientists reported.
“The only structure that can be securely dated to the Viking Age at Gjellestad is the ship burial but, taking the whole site into consideration, we can probably say that it was important for the elite to exhibit their status through lavish and carefully planned burial rituals,” said lead study author Lars Gustavsen, an archaeologist with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).
“We believe that the inclusion of a ship burial in what was probably an already existing — and long-lived — mound cemetery was an effort to associate oneself with an already existing power structure,” Gustavsen told Live Science in an email.
A grave situation
The ship burial itself was highly unusual. Viking burials of boats measuring under 39 feet (12 m) are common, but finding a ship this large — 66 feet (20 m) in length — is exceptionally rare. In fact, only a handful of such burials are known across Norway, Gustavsen said.
The last excavations of large Viking ships took place more than a century ago, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is the first such ship to be found through GPR-scanning technology, which bodes well for discovering more ship burials that are still hidden, according to the study.
But why did Vikings bury their ships? “We do not really know for certain,” Gustavsen said. “Since these were societies whose identity was closely tied to the sea and seafaring, the ship could, in this specific context, be seen as a vessel transporting the dead from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead,” he said.
“Or it could simply be a display of wealth, or to demonstrate that one belonged to a certain social and political class.”
Archaeologists mapped the Gjellestad site using data collected by GPR scans.
After the ship’s discovery in 2018, the team partially excavated the ship and quickly realized that damp conditions combined with periods of drought had left the ship badly decomposed and riddled with fungus, Live Science previously reported.
Over the summer of 2020, archaeologists mounted a full excavation to recover and preserve what they could of the decaying ship. In October, the team found something unexpected: animal bones, according to a statement published by the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History.
“The animal bones are relatively large in size, so we think that they are the remains of an ox or a horse that has been sacrificed to be part of the burial,” museum representatives said in the statement. “Although the topmost layers of the bones are heavily decomposed, they seem to be better preserved further down. This indicates that it is quite likely that things are better preserved deeper into the ship burial.”
Work on the site is still underway, and is expected to be completed in December, according to Gustavsen.
‘Mona Lisa of ancient age’ found in Southern Turkey
According to a report in the Hurriyet Daily News, a floor mosaic featuring a woman’s portrait has been unearthed in the southern province of Osmaniye’s Kadirli district, turkey.
By a team of researchers led by Ümit Kayişoğlu of the Osmaniye Museum Directorate.
He said that the woman’s pose resembles that of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa of the ancient age,“ attracts attention with its stance, look and similarity to the world-famous Mona Lisa painting.
A mosaic area unearthed during the excavations conducted by the Osmaniye Museum Directorate in the southern province of Osmaniye’s Kadirli district has proved a rival to the ancient city of Zeugma with its awe-striking features.
The mosaic area is believed to have once decorated the floor of a villa between the first and the second centuries, and the female figure is thought to have been the owner of the villa.
“We can call this mosaic the Mona Lisa of Kadirli,” said archaeologist Ümit Kayışoğlu.
“This mosaic area is the only known mosaic area with human figures in Osmaniye. This is the remains of a villa built in the first and second centuries A.D.”
Stating that they have been carrying out devoted work in the mosaic area since 2015, he said, “As the Osmaniye Museum Directorate, we started many excavations when the ruins of the ancient city of Flaviapolis on which the Kadirli district was founded were declared a third-degree site in 2015.”
Describing the mosaics found, he said: “There are four different types of mosaics here.
There is a lady in the middle of one of the mosaics, and we call this person Kadirli’s Mona Lisa. Because her look and stance are reminiscent of the original one.”
The tiny gold items, created in the picture of Christ on the cross, are thought to make up Denmark’s oldest crucifix.
This newly Found crucifix will show that Danes adopted the Christian faith earlier than previously thought.
An uncommon Vikingcrucifix pendant was Found in a Danish field by an amateur metal detectorist two weeks before Easter.
The small gold item, created in the shape of a man with outstretched arms, resembles the Picture of Christ on the cross.
It’s approximated to be Denmark’s oldest crucifix.
Dating back to the first half of the Tenth century, the pendant is evidence of early Christianity in Denmark, according to experts at the Viking Museum situated at Ladby, where the crucifix is currently kept.
It is said by the museum to be older than Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling.
The stones in the town of Jelling have a figure on the cross to demonstrate respect to Harald Bluetooth’s conversion of the Danes to Christianity. Up until now, the large rune stones were calculated to date back to 965 AD.
They were thought to be the earliest Images of Jesus on the cross in Denmark.
The precious item was Found by Dennis Fabricius Holm in the fields near a church village of Aunslev, on the Danish island Funen.
It is very lucky that a piece of jewelry this small persevered for the last 1,100 years in the earth.
The figure measures only 1.6 inches in height and weighs about 0.45 ounces.
While the back surface is even, the front is made of finely jointed gold threads and small filigree pellets. Located at the top is a small eye for a chain to be attached.
It is stated by the museum that it looks similar to the gilded silver cross that was Found in 1879 in Birka, close to Stockholm in Sweden. It was in a female’s grave from the Viking Age.
This silver cross dated back to the first half of the Tenth century. Yet the Aunslev cross is the first Danish specimen that is in full figure.
It was most likely worn by a Viking woman. It has not yet been decided if the cross was to display that she was a Christian or if it was just a part of the pagan Vikings’ style.
As indicated by the Swedish archaeologist Martin Rundkvist, who first announced the discovery on his blog, the crucifixes are too much alike for more than 1 or 2 people to have created them.
The first crucifix was Found at Birka close to Stockholm. Yet the second, third, and the fourth one were discovered close to Hedeby, Denmark. This is probably where all of them were produced.
The Aunlev cross will be placed on exhibit at the Viking Museum in Ladby, until the Easter holiday. Then it will be conveyed to a lab for further preservation.
In the summer it will become part of an exhibit in the exhibition that will display several recent Viking Age discoveries that were made using metal detectors.
Jelling stones
A stunning, solid gold crucifix unearthed by a hobbyist with a metal detector may be the oldest Jesus on a cross in Denmark.
The Pioneer cabin tree older than 1,000 years has fallen after a violent storm that hit California
After getting the news, it feels like the end of an age, the iconic Sequoia ‘ Tunnel Tree ‘ has gone down in history as a violent storm that struck California brought it to the Ground.
The Tunnel Tree was part of the Calaveras Big Trees State and was counted among the most famous trees across the United States. For over a century, it enchanted the hearts of the park’s visitors.
It is estimated that the gigantic tree was older than 1,000 years and measured 10 meters in diameter.
A California state park ranger
“The Pioneer Cabin Tree has fallen! This iconic and still living tree – the tunnel tree – enchanted many visitors.
The storm was just too much for it,” reads a status update at The Calaveras Big Trees Association’s page on Facebook. The Sequoia tree was grandeur, which allowed it to claim such an iconic status.
Reports suggest that in the past couple of years, the tree was barely alive, having only one branch alive at the top.
The storm which is considered to be the strongest one to hit the area in over a decade had apparently been too much for the tree. Flooding and the shallow root system of the gigantic tree are most likely to be the reasons for why the tree fell.
The Pioneer Cabin Tree
The Tunnel Tree had been among the most popular sites of the state park ever since the late 19th century.
Also known as the Pioneer Cabin Tree, it got its name for its distinctive hollow trunk, partially burnt after a forest fire. It had small compartments much like in a log cabin, burnt core as a chimney, and a small opening as a backdoor.
During the 1870s, its compartments were fused into a tunnel so that tourists could pass through it.
This particular tree was selected as it already had large forest fire scars. However, this enabled the tree to compete for attention with the Yosemite’s Wawona Tree and to attract more tourists to the park.
A stereoscope image of the Pioneer Cabin with people and horse passing through it (c. 1867–1899)
Since the 1880s, park visitors were encouraged to inscribe their names into the tree, but the practice was stopped during the 1930s in order to preserve it.
The trail through the tree was initially for pedestrians only. Later on, automobiles could also drive through as part of the “Big Trees Trail.”
It was one of the few “drive-through” trees within the area of California. The trail was kept open to hikers only afterwards.
A report by the United States Forest Service, as of 1900, suggests that the tree was 85 meters tall. Bearing in mind its glorious past, it really is like the end of an epoch.
Viking temple to Thor and Odin unearthed in Norway
Archaeologists have uncovered a Viking temple devoted to Ancient Norse gods like Thor. In Norway, the ruins of the 1,200-year-old pagan temple have been dug up and provide a rare insight into the Viking religion.
The Old Norse “god house” was built from wood about 1200 years ago to worship gods like Odin, Thor, and Freyr. Post-holes that show its distinctive shape, including its central tower, have been unearthed at the site.
The god house (shown here in a digital reconstruction) was strongly built of beams and walls of wood; some lasted for hundreds of years. It included a central tower, patterned on Christian churches seen in lands further south.
Archaeologists have dated the remains of the large wooden building to the end of the 8th century. They think it would have stood 40 feet high and was 45 feet long and 26 feet wide.
That’s just over half as tall as Buckingham Palace.
It’s thought sacrifices and feasts would have occurred inside to honour the gods during the midsummer and midwinter solstices.
A large white penis-shaped stone was previously found near the site and was linked to ancient fertility rituals.
This is the first Old Norse temple to be found in Norway.
Old Norse is the ancient language associated with the Vikings.
Archaeologist Søren Diinhoff of the University Museum of Bergen told Live Science: “This is the first time we’ve found one of these very special, very beautiful buildings.
“We know them from Sweden and we know them from Denmark. … This shows that they also existed in Norway.”
He added: “It is a stronger expression of belief than all the small cult places. “This is probably something to do with a certain class of the society, who built these as a real ideological show.”
The temple was unearthed during a dig taking place before planned housing
The foundations of the ancient building, or “god house” as they’re often called, were unearthed last month in a Norwegian riverside village called Ose.
Digging was happening there in preparation for new houses.
Traces of early agricultural settlements were also found nearby. They dated to the earlier time of around 2,000 to 2,500 years ago.
The remains of the temple date to a later time when the area is thought to have been dominated by elite wealthy families.
It is thought the families would have led the cult worship.
Experts think the elite likely wanted a “god house” built based on more Christian structures with a high tower on top.
Before this time, Viking gods were more commonly worshipped in simplistic settings.
The wood of the temple no longer remains but you can see the postholes where the main beams would have stood and the area where the tall tower would have been.
Evidence of cooking pits and animal bones fit in with the theory that feasts and sacrifices occurred there.
Food, drink, animal sacrifices and precious metals were often offered to Old Norse gods. The worshippers would then feast and enjoy the goods themselves because they knew the gods couldn’t come and join them.
Instead, wooden figurines may have been used to represent the gods. Popular Old Norse gods include storm god Thor and war god Odin.
Norway’s kings enforced Christianity from around the 11th century so burned down a lot of Old Norse temples and religious sites. There’s no current evidence to suggest the Ose temple was burned down.
