ASIA, MYANMAR, WORLD

This 99-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Trapped in Amber Hints at Feather Evolution

This 99-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Trapped in Amber Hints at Feather Evolution

A feathered dinosaur’s tail has been found in Myanmar amber perfectly preserved. The one-of – a-kind breakthrough helps to put a new perspective on the evolution of a group that dominant in the world for more than 160 million years.

The examination of the specimen suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside. The tail is described in the journal Current Biology.

“This is the first time we’ve found dinosaur material preserved in amber,” co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, told the BBC News website. The study’s first author, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, discovered the remarkable fossil at an amber market in Myitkina, Myanmar.

The 99-million-year-old amber had already been polished for jewellery and the seller had thought it was plant material. On closer inspection, however, it turned out to be the tail of a feathered dinosaur about the size of a sparrow.

Lida Xing was able to establish where it had come from by tracking down the amber miner who had originally dug out the specimen. Dr. McKellar said examination of the tail’s anatomy showed it definitely belonged to a feathered dinosaur and not an ancient bird.

The dinosaur’s plumage is preserved in exquisite detail
The specimen sheds new light on feather evolution

“We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives,” he explained.

“Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side.”

Dr. McKellar said there are signs the dinosaur still contained fluids when it was incorporated into the tree resin that eventually formed the amber. This indicates that it could even have become trapped in the sticky substance while it was still alive.

Co-author Prof Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol, added: “It’s amazing to see all the details of a dinosaur tail – the bones, flesh, skin, and feathers – and to imagine how this little fellow got his tail caught in the resin, and then presumably died because he could not wrestle free.”

Examination of the chemistry of the tail where it was exposed at the surface of the amber even shows up traces of ferrous iron, a relic of the blood that was once in the sample.

The findings also shed light on how feathers were arranged on these dinosaurs because 3D features are often lost due to the compression that occurs when corpses become fossils in sedimentary rocks.

The feathers lack the well-developed central shaft – a rachis – known from modern birds. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before the rachis formed.

This CT scan reveals how feathers were inserted along the tail

Kachin State, in north-eastern Myanmar, where the specimen was found, has been producing amber for 2,000 years. But because of the large number of insects preserved in the deposits, over the last 20 years it has become a focus for scientists who study ancient arthropods.

“The larger amber pieces often get broken up in the mining process. By the time we see them, they have often been turned into things like jewellery. We never know how much of the specimen has been missed,” said Dr. McKellar.

“If you had a complete specimen, for example, you could look at how feathers were arranged across the whole body. Or you could look at other soft tissue features that don’t usually get preserved.”

Other preserved parts of a feathered dinosaur might also reveal whether it was a flying or gliding animal.

“There have been other, anecdotal reports of similar specimens coming from the region. But if they disappear into private collections, then they’re lost to science,” Dr. McKellar explained.

Dr. Paul Barrett, from London’s Natural History Museum, called the specimen a “beautiful fossil”, describing it as a “really rare occurrence of vertebrate material in amber”.

He told BBC News: “Feathers have been recovered in amber before, so that aspect isn’t new, but what this new specimen shows is the 3D arrangement of feathers in a Mesozoic dinosaur/bird for the first time, as almost all of the other feathered dinosaur fossils and Mesozoic bird skeletons that we have been flattened and 2D only, which has obscured some important features of their anatomy.

“The new amber specimen confirms ideas from developmental biologists about the order in which some of the detailed features of modern feathers, such as barbs and barbules (the little hooks that hold the barbs together so that the feather can form a nice neat vane), would have appeared also.”

Earlier this year, scientists also described ancient bird wings that had been discovered in amber from the same area of Myanmar.

EUROPE, WORLD

7,000-year-old Neolithic well is the oldest wooden structure ever discovered

7,000-year-old Neolithic well is the oldest wooden structure ever discovered

Archeologists discovered a Neolithic well in Eastern Europe, which is believed to be the oldest structure in the world, 7,000 years old.

According to researchers who pinpointed its origin after analyzing the tree rings in the wood, which is the scientific method known as dendrochronology, the square well has been constructed with oak by farmers around 5256 B.C.

According to scholars in the Czech Republic, the age of the well makes it the oldest dendrochronological archeological wood building of the world.

“The well was only preserved because it had been underwater for centuries. Now we cannot let it dry out, or the well would be destroyed,” Karol Bayer of the University of Pardubice’s Department of Restoration said in a press release.

Researchers are developing a process to dry the wood and preserve it without deformation using sugar to reinforce the wood’s cellular structure.

“It is interesting that the corner posts were made of previously felled trunks, namely from the trunk which had been cut in the autumn or winter 5259 B.C. or the winter of early 5258 B.C.,” said Michal Rybníček of the Department of Wood Science at Mendel University.

Archaeologists have discovered a 7,000-year-old Neolithic well in eastern Europe, which they believe is the oldest wooden structure in the world. The well was built by farmers around 5256 B.C., researchers said.

Measuring 140 cm (56 inches) in height and with an 80 by 80 cm (32 by 32 inches) square base, the well was found last year during construction of the D35 motorway near Ostrov, Czech Republic. Researchers published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Its design shines a light on technical skills that researchers didn’t think Neolithic people possessed.

“The design consists of grooved corner posts with inserted planks. This type of construction reveals advanced technical know-how and, till now, is the only known type from this region and time period,” the authors wrote.

According to experts, the well indicates that whoever built it was able to process the surface of felled trunks with utmost precision, given that they only had tools made of stone, bone, horn, or wood.

“The shape of the individual structural elements and tool marks preserved on their surface confirm sophisticated carpentry skills,” the authors wrote.

It is the third well from the early Neolithic period found in the Czech Republic in the past four years.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Detectorists unearth record-breaking haul of 69,347 Iron Age coins after a 30-year search

Detectorists unearth record-breaking haul of 69,347 Iron Age coins after a 30-year search

The discovery by Reg Mead (left) and Richard Miles could be worth £10m

The biggest coin hoards found in the British Isles are recorded by treasure hunters, after unearthing 69,347 Roman and Celtic coins that were buried three feet beneath a hedge in Jersey, Channel Isles.

Reg Mead and Richard Miles spent 30 years looking for the £ 10 million treasure in the field, after a woman described seeing what looked like silver buttons in the area.

Their find – made in 2012 – trumps the previous record-holding discovery of 54,951 Iron Age coins unearthed in Wiltshire in 1978.

Britain’s largest coin hoard of gold and silver pieces was found under a hedge on Jersey in the Channel Islands

Some of the silver and gold relics from the Guinness Record-setting discovery, dated to around 50BC, will go on display at La Hougue Bie Museum on the island.

‘We are not surprised at this achievement and are delighted that such an impressive archaeological item was discovered, examined and displayed in Jersey,’ said curator of archaeology at Jersey Heritage Olga Finch.

‘Once again, it puts our Island in the spotlight of international research of Iron Age coinage and demonstrates the world-class heritage that Jersey has to offer.’ 

Mr. Miles said he and Mr. Mead had been involved in the process the whole way through and described receiving the Guinness World Record certificates as ‘lovely’.

The coins were found to have been entombed in a mound of clay weighing three-quarters of a ton and measuring 55 x 31 x 8 inches.

Conservator for the Jersey Heritage Museum Neil Mahrer begins to carefully dig the silver and gold treasures out of the clay

They were declared a ‘treasure’ under the Treasure Act 1996, which means they officially belong to the Queen, although the finders are entitled to a reward. 

Mr. Mead has said that the least valuable coins in the hoard are likely to be worth £100 each, suggesting a valuation of several million pounds, without taking into account the precious jewellery also found in it.

However, there has been discussion over whether the price would come down because so many coins had been found, reducing their rarity.

The previous largest coin hoard from Wiltshire was discovered in 1978 at the former Roman town of Cunetio near to Mildenhall.

The largest hoard of coins ever found in the world was in Brussels in 1908 with 150,000 silver medieval pennies from the 13th Century uncovered. 

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

125 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Found In Isle Of Wight Cliff

125 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Found In Isle Of Wight Cliff

At the bottom of a crumbling cliff on the Isle of Wight was a fossilized tail from a dinosaur that roamed the World 125 million years ago.

In the base of a cliff-side in the area of Brighstone were found the fossilized remains of the dinosaur – believed to be an iguanodon.

But excavations and attempts to salvage the tail for detailed analysis are currently being thwarted, due to safety risks posed by the crumbling cliff. 

Beach-goer Pippa Fairweather, 45, discovered the fossil in a cliff face near Brighstone on the Isle of Wight, describing the find as ‘pretty impressive’. 

It is thought around six vertebrae have been uncovered, and Isle of Wight radio reports that the dinosaur died and was exposed to the elements for several months before being buried by a large flash flood.  

Iguanodons were herbivores that measured up to 30 feet (10 meters) tall and weighed more than four tons (4,000kg). 

Oliver Mattsson, an expert from the Dinosaur Farm near to the find on the Isle of Wight, said: ‘Complete skeletons of the iguanodon have been found but we don’t know how much of this one is there, because it is inaccessible due to the safety risk being too great.

‘Given the cliff, as it is, and the rain we have been having, it is unsafe to go near it.

‘The iguanodon is the most common type found, as the dinosaur has been found on all continents.’

Ms. Fairweather, who is from Freshwater on the island and runs an online retail shop, said it is between Brighstone’s Grange Farm and Isle of Wight Pearl.

She adds: ‘But is in a seriously over-hanging cliff which seems to be crumbling constantly, so people need to be super careful.’ 

Experts are also urging locals to not attempt to extract the fossil for the risk of damaging it or endangering themselves.  

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Rare 17th Century Wine Bottles Worth a Fortune Unearthed in England

Rare 17th Century Wine Bottles Worth a Fortune Unearthed in England

After being mistakenly dug up at a building site, a garden of Gold-encrusted 17th-century wine bottles will be auctioned at £ 20000 for the leading price.

Seven ‘ extremely rare ‘ curved bottles of black glass have been unearthed from the clay during construction last November and carry the seal of the Earl of Coventry.

In the late 1600s, the Earl lived in Worcestershire on the nearby Croome estate and it is thought they belonged to him. 

The eight-inch tall vessels, which are almost completely intact, are thought to date between 1650 and 1670, around the time of the reign of Charles II and the civil war.

A workman in a JCB who was digging at a site near Kinnersley, Worcestershire, spotted the bottles glistening in the sun during routine excavations. They will be sold off by BBR Auctions of Elsecar, South Yorkshire, next month.

The hoard of six ‘shaft and globe’ wine bottles found in Worcestershire.

‘Wine bottles which date from 1650 to 1670 are extremely rare and for these to be discovered with their seals so they can be attributed to the Earls of Coventry is very special,’ said Alan Blakeman, the auctioneer at BBR Auctions.

‘Back then, you had to be filthy rich to have your own wine bottles made, with the seals providing an extra status symbol.

The gold-encrusted bottles carry the seal of the Earl of Coventry who lived at the Croome Estate, which is less than a mile from the building site
Croome Court, in Worcestershire, close to where the wine bottles were discovered.

‘The workman was digging a trench for footings with a JCB when he found them and it is remarkable that they have survived in such good condition.’ 

It’s thought the bottles were made for George Villiers – the second Duke of Buckingham and the second Earl of Coventry (1628-1687).  Villiers owned three glassworks houses and was interested in glassmaking. 

He was granted an exclusive patent in 1663 for plate and mirror glass at Vauxhall glassworks in the area now called Glasshouse Walk in London, according to Antiques Trade Gazette. 

The Earl of Coventry was created for the Villiers’ father of the same name, the first Earl of Coventry, who was also a favorite – and possibly lover – of King James I.

The bottles are valued at £20,000 and will be sold over the course of three auctions, with the first sale taking place on February 2.  The National Trust-owned mansion Croome Court was the seat of the Coventry family from the late 16th century.

The building in its current form was started in 1751 for the 6th Earl of Coventry.

The war stemmed from an issue initially focusing on the argument over the divine right of the monarchy to rule the nation. Many Englishmen had an attachment to the ruler and did not wish to see him fall for fear of usurpation. He was eventually beheaded in London
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

The Curious Reason Europe’s Oldest Intact Book Was Found In The Coffin Of An “Undecayed” Saint

Europe’s Oldest Intact Book Is Discovered Inside the Coffin of a Saint

After having been shut up inside a hermit monk’s tomb for more than 400 years, the oldest preserved book in Europe was found.

The exhibition will be portrayed in the British Library, featuring prize manuscripts like the Lindisfarne Gospels and Beowulf.

The show is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see how medieval Anglo-Saxons depicted their own culture through early writings.

Among the precious materials is the Stonyhurst Gospel, a small book that holds a lot of history.

Also known as the St. Cuthbert Gospel, this Latin copy of the Gospel of John was discovered inside the coffin of St. Cuthbert, a hermit monk who died in  687 CE. It’s said that his body was found incorrupt decades after his death and this led to a cult that placed sacrifices around his remains.

Sometime after 698 CE, a small red book made its way into St. Cuthbert’s tomb along with other offerings. The book, a rare surviving medieval manuscript, was removed from his coffin in 1104 CE and transferred to Durham Cathedral, where it was kept as a separate relic.

In 2012, The British Library acquired the 1,300-year-old text, which still retained its original binding and pages.

The book’s binding is covered in a deep crimson-stained goatskin, which was stuck to boards while still damp.

“The decoration of the boards was enriched by tooling and coloring lines on the surface, with the tip of a fine folder or a stylus,” describes The British Library, which has also digitized the book.

“The left board is decorated with a rectangular frame with interlaced patterns in the upper and lower fields and a larger central field containing a chalice from which stems project, terminating in a leaf or bud and four fruits. This raised motif was apparently made using a matrix, with a clay-like substance beneath the leather.”

By the 6th century AD, wax tablets and scrolls were replaced by codexes in Europe. A codex refers to a handwritten manuscript where sheets of papyrus or vellum were bound between hardcovers.

The typology was created by the Romans in the 1st century but didn’t become widespread for a few hundred years.

As one can imagine, the fragile nature of these bound books makes their survival unlikely, making the St. Cuthbert Gospel all the more precious.

The St. Cuthbert Gospel, along with many other treasures, is on view at the British Library as part of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.

SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

30 Million-Year-Old Praying Mantis Is Preserved in Pristine Piece of Amber

30 Million-Year-Old Praying Mantis Is Preserved in Pristine Piece of Amber

Inside a clear piece of amber, there is a small prayer mantis, frozen forever in time. The piece, which measures just slightly over one inch tall, was sold via Heritage Auctions for $6,000 in 2016.

The pristine piece of amber, which comes from the Dominican Republic, gives a rare view of this incredible mantis. The amber itself derives from the extinct Hymenaea protera, a prehistoric leguminous tree.

Most amber found in Central and South America comes from its resin. Amber from the Dominican Republic is known as Dominican resin, which is noted for its clarity and a high number of inclusions.

This tiny fossil could date as far back as the Oligocene period some 23 million to 34 million years ago.

This praying mantis is essentially frozen in time and is one of 2,400 species of its kind. They typically live in tropical climates and is a true relic of evolutionary history.

Heritage Auctions dates the piece in question to the Oligocene period, placing it anywhere from about 23 million to 33.9 million years old.

It’s an important period of time where the archaic Eocene transitions into more modern ecosystems of the Miocene period, which lasted until 5 million years ago. Incredibly, the mantis itself doesn’t appear so different from what we see today.

There are over 2,400 species of mantises today, mainly living in tropical climates. But the earliest mantis fossils, which date back 135 million years, come from a place that is, today, much colder—Siberia.

Some early fossils even show mantises with spines on their front legs, just like modern mantises. Whoever bought this piece of amber took home an interesting piece of evolutionary history, one that can be gazed at each day.

30-Million-Year-Old Praying Mantis
Encased in amber sometime during the Oligocene period
The piece sold for $6,000 back in 2016
NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Huge 300-Million-Year-Old Shark Skull Found Deep Inside An Underground Kentucky Cave

Huge 300-Million-Year-Old Shark Skull Found Deep Inside An Underground Kentucky Cave

In the walls of a Kentucky cave, a fossilized shark’s head was found around 300 million years ago.

Scientists suggest that it was part of a striatus of Saivodus, which existed during the Late Mississippian geological age between 340 million and 330 million years ago.

It shows the skull, the lower jaws, cartilage and several teeth of the creature. The team believes that the size of the animal is similar to our modern Great White Shark.

A massive, fossilized shark head dating back some 300 million years ago has been discovered in the walls of a Kentucky cave. Experts believe it belonged to a Saivodus striatus, which lived between 340 and 330 million years ago during the Late Mississippian geological period.

The ancient shark head was uncovered in Mammoth Cave National Park, located in Kentucky, which is Earth’s oldest known cave system, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

It was first spotted in a treasure trove of fossils by Mammoth Cave specialists Rick Olson and Rick Toomey, who sent images of their findings to Vincent Santucci, the senior paleontologist for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., for help with identifying the fossils.

But it was paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett who made the exciting discovery.

‘One set of photos showed a number of shark teeth associated with large sections of fossilized cartilage, suggesting there might be a shark skeleton preserved in the cave,’ he told the Journal.

The head was well-preserved in the cave and the team was able to make out the shark’s skull, lower jaw, cartilage, and numerous teeth. Based on these features, Hodnett believes the shark was about the size of a modern-day great white.

The Mammoth Cave National Park holds a trove of ancient fossil – more than 100 shark species have been discovered so far.

‘We’ve just scratched the surface,’ Hodnett said. ‘But already it’s showing that Mammoth Cave has a rich fossil shark record.’

A discovery such as this is very rare, as cartilage does not usually survive fossilization. However, shark teeth are commonly found, as they are made of bone and enamel, making them easy to preserve.

Hodnett said teeth and dorsal fins of other shark species are also exposed in the cave ceiling and walls.

‘We’ve just scratched the surface,’ Hodnett said. ‘But already it’s showing that Mammoth Cave has a rich fossil shark record.’  

A separate exudation found teeth that they believed belonged to the largest prehistoric shark that lived over 2.5 million years ago.  The discovery was made by divers in an inland sinkhole in central Mexico supporting anthropologists’ theories that the city of Maderia was once under the sea.

Fifteen dental fossils were found in total with thirteen of them believed to belong to three different species of shark, including a megalodon that existed over 2.5 million years ago.

According to the researchers involved, an initial exam of the thirteen shark dental fossils and their size and shape revealed that they might have belonged to the prehistoric and extinct species of megalodon shark (Carcharocles megalodon), the mackerel shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the saw shark, the last two of which are not extinct.

Hodnett said teeth (pictured) and dorsal fins of other shark species are also exposed in the cave ceiling and walls
A discovery such as this is very rare, as cartilage does not usually survive fossilization. However, shark teeth are commonly found, as they are made of bone and enamel, making them easy to preserve.

The fossils belong to the period of Pleiocene, the epoch in the geologic timescale that extended from 5 million to 2.5 million years ago, and the Miocene, an earlier geological epoch which extended between 23 and 5 million years ago.

Reports state the Xoc cenote is the largest in the city of Merida with a diameter of 2,034 feet and 91 feet deep.

All In One Magazine