http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/ Articles in anthropology, archaeology, evolution theory and paleontology. Read the latest discoveries from archaeological sites and research institutes around the world. Images, updated daily. en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:05:01 EDT Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007102904.htm New research argues in favor of a "sick earth" mechanism for most extinctions, rather than external event like an asteroid strike. Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007102904.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008151328.htm Cremation, "air burial," grave cairns, funeral mounds, mummification, belief in life after death -- death practices sacred to one culture are often considered "odd" or even terrifying by another. In every social group throughout history, the disposal of the dead has special significance, and ways of death always fascinate those on the outside looking in, says a professor of history. Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008151328.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007192526.htm Researchers have shown that men with the same British surname are highly likely to be genetically linked. The results of the research have implications in the fields of forensics, genealogy, epidemiology and the history of surnames. Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007192526.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001181306.htm Small stretches of seemingly useless DNA harbor a big secret, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. There's one problem: We don't know what it is. Although individual laboratory animals appear to live happily when these genetic ciphers are deleted, these snippets have been highly conserved throughout evolution. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001181306.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001145032.htm The connection between geology and the history of the Civil War has fascinated some researchers. Now they take history, military history in particular, a step deeper -- into the geology beneath the soldiers' feet. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001145032.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080930081357.htm New North African climate reconstructions reveal three ‘green Sahara’ episodes during which the present-day Sahara Desert was almost completely covered with extensive grasslands, lakes and ponds over the course of the last 120.000 years. Reconstructing the climate of the past is an important tool for scientists to better understand and predict future climate changes that are the result of the present-day global warming. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080930081357.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003122549.htm Although anthropologists and evolutionary biologists are still debating this question, a new study supports the view that the first egalitarian societies may have appeared tens of thousands of years before the French Revolution, Marx and Lenin. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003122549.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081005121337.htm The fossilized trail of an aquatic creature suggests that animals walked using legs at least 30 million years earlier than had been thought. The tracks -- two parallel rows of small dots, each about 2 millimeters in diameter -- date back some 570 million years, to the Ediacaran period. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081005121337.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003122715.htm The latest breakthrough in a 120 year-old debate on the evolution of the bird wing was just published. Bird wings only have three fingers, having evolved from remote ancestors that, like humans and most reptiles, had five fingers. Biologists have typically used embryology to identify the evolutionary origin (homology) of structures; the three fingers of the bird wing develop from cartilage condensations that are found in the same positions in the embryo as fingers two, three and four of humans (the index, middle and ring fingers). However, the morphology of the fingers of early birds such as Archaeopteryx corresponds to that of fingers one, two and three in other reptiles (thumb, index and middle finger). Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003122715.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081002103649.htm Scientists have reached back in time 115 million years to one of the most successful flying creatures in Earth's history -- the pterodactyl -- to conjure a robotic spy plane with next-generation capabilities. Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081002103649.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926100634.htm What will be the lasting impression made by mankind - 100 million years hence? "From the perspective of 100 million years in the future --- a geologist's view --- the reign of humans on Earth would seem very short: we would almost certainly have died out long before then. What footprint will we leave in the rocks? What would have become of our great cities, our roads and tunnels, our cars, our plastic cups in the far distant future? What fossils would we leave behind? Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926100634.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003193648.htm A sunken vessel discovered off the coast of the Aleutian Islands is in fact the World War II submarine USS Grunion (SS 216). The submarine Grunion arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 20, 1942. Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003193648.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001145018.htm MicroRNAs, the tiny molecules that fine-tune gene expression, were first discovered in 1993. But it turns out they've been around for a billion years. MicroRNAs and piRNAs, two classes of small RNAs that regulate genes, have been discovered within diverse animal lineages, implying that they have been present since the ancestor of all animals (about a billion years ago).They may have been shaping gene expression throughout the evolution of animals, contributing to the emergence of new species and perhaps even the emergence of multicellular animal life. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001145018.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001093616.htm Scientists have solved part of the mystery of where marine organisms that recovered from the biggest extinction on earth were housed. The researchers discovered that the shorelines of ancient Canada provided a refuge for marine organisms that escaped annihilation during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001093616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081002172538.htm As the world looks for more energy, the oil industry will need more refined tools for discoveries in places where searches have never before taken place, geologists say. A new tool follows sea-level rise and fall between 542 and 251 million years ago. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081002172538.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924192443.htm Life has been discovered in the barren depths of Rome's ancient tombs, proving catacombs are not just a resting place for the dead. The two new species of bacteria found growing on the walls of the Roman tombs may help protect our cultural heritage monuments, according to research published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924192443.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080930102631.htm Dinosaurs did not proliferate immediately after they originated, but that their rise was a slow and complicated event, and driven by two mass extinctions, according to new research. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080930102631.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080929212931.htm The remains of a 30-foot-long predatory dinosaur discovered along the banks of Argentina's Rio Colorado is helping to unravel how birds evolved their unusual breathing system. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080929212931.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925083203.htm During its time in the sea bottom of Stockholm harbor, huge amounts of iron and sulfurous compounds accumulated in the wood of the royal warship Vasa. Since 2000 it has been noticed that changes are taking place in the wood, changes that threaten the stability of the ship. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925083203.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925104307.htm Our present understanding of the origin of animals and Phanerozoic ecosystems depends critically on the ability to interpret impressions left behind by soft-bodied Ediacaran organisms, and to document their spatial and temporal distribution, which conceivably relate to strong environmental gradients in terminal Proterozoic seawater. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925104307.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926143908.htm A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 meter wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent. These giant ocean-going relatives of ducks and geese also had a rather bizarre attribute for a bird: their beaks were lined with bony-teeth. Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926143908.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923104414.htm An unusual breed of dinosaur that was the size of a chicken, ran on two legs and scoured the ancient forest floor for termites is the smallest dinosaur species found in North America, according to a researcher who analyzed bones found during the excavation of an ancient bone bed near Red Deer, Alberta, in 2002. Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923104414.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923140838.htm After several years of detective work, philologists have collected a unique collection of texts online. Now they're about to start the most comprehensive analysis of middle English ever. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923140838.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080917074134.htm Researchers in Spain have found that the first agricultural systems on the Iberian Peninsula became ever more unsustainable with the passage of time. Their study involved the analysis of fossilised grains of wheat and barley from Los Castillejos (Granada), an area of archaeological remains where cereals were cultivated between 4000 and 2500 BCE. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080917074134.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080922090843.htm Tetrapods, the first four-legged land animals, are regarded as the first organisms that had fingers and toes. Now researchers can show that this is wrong. Using medical x-rays, they found rudiments of fingers in the fins in fossil Panderichthys, the "transitional animal," which indicates that rudimentary fingers developed considerably earlier than was previously thought. Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080922090843.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918171155.htm Researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to new report. Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918171155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080921162235.htm Molecular biologists have decoded the genome of the Pristionchus pacificus nematode, thereby gaining insight into the evolution of parasitism. They have shown that the genome of the nematode consists of a surprisingly large number of genes, some of which have unexpected functions. Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080921162235.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080919075005.htm Researchers have found evidence that genetics supports the idea that the emergence of agriculture in prehistory took much longer than originally thought. Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080919075005.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080916101038.htm The skeleton of a man discovered by archaeologists in a shallow grave on the site of the University of York's campus expansion could be that of one of Britain's earliest victims of tuberculosis. Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080916101038.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080915174538.htm A new species of blind, subterranean, predatory ant discovered in the Amazon rainforest is likely a descendant of the very first ants to evolve. Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080915174538.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911150048.htm An analysis has been completed of the global carbon cycle and climate for a 70,000 year period in the most recent Ice Age, showing a remarkable correlation between carbon dioxide levels and surprisingly abrupt changes in climate. Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911150048.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910104202.htm The precise timing of the origin of life on Earth and the changes in life during the past 4.5 billion years has been a subject of great controversy for the past century. The principal indicator of the amount of organic carbon produced by biological activity traditionally used is the ratio of the less abundant isotope of carbon, ¹³C, to the more abundant isotope, ¹²C. A new study challenges how geologists interpret variations in the ¹³C/¹²C ratio throughout Earth's history. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910104202.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910120953.htm A Florida State University researcher who uses high-powered computers to map the workings of proteins has uncovered a mechanism that gives scientists a better understanding of how evolution occurs at the molecular level. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910120953.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080912075202.htm Paleontologists have found a previously unknown amphibious predator that probably made the Antarctica of 240 million years ago something less than a hospitable place. Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080912075202.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911150042.htm Researchers have challenged the general consensus among scientists that there must have been something special about dinosaurs that helped them rise to prominence. Good luck, not general 'superiority,' was the primary factor in the rise of the dinosaurs according to new research. Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911150042.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908073744.htm Geologists are digging in the bed on the western bank of what was once a 700-800 kilometre-long lake along the 62nd parallel in Russia. Large lakes, dammed up by a huge ice sheet one or more times during the last Ice Age, used to dominate this enormous plain. Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908073744.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908073751.htm Several theories have been proposed by scientists to explain the two mass extinction events which took place on the earth 250 and 200 million years ago. The Permian-Triassic catastrophe (250 million years ago) was the worst of all five of the mass extinction events to ever have befallen the earth. It eradicated almost 95% of all species, 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera and an approximated 70% of all land species including plants, insects and vertebrate animals. Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908073751.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080909122749.htm Without a way to measure religious beliefs, anthropologists have had difficulty studying religion. Now, two anthropologists from the University of Missouri and Arizona State University have developed a new approach to study religion by focusing on verbal communication, an identifiable behavior, instead of speculating about alleged beliefs in the supernatural that cannot actually be identified. Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080909122749.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908203013.htm Neanderthals had a brain at birth of a similar size to that of modern-day babies. However, after birth, their brain grew more quickly than it does for Homo sapiens and became larger too. Nevertheless, the individual lifespan ran just as slowly as it does for modern human beings. Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908203013.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172419.htm Molecular and evolutionary biologists have produced the full genome sequence of Trichoplax, one of nature's most primitive multicellular organisms, providing a new insight into the evolution of all higher animals. Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172152.htm Large flightless birds of the southern continents -- African ostriches, Australian emus and cassowaries, South American rheas and the New Zealand kiwi -- do not share a common flightless ancestor as once believed. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172152.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080905153759.htm Conventional wisdom suggests that stress accelerates aging -- but is it really true? Evolutionary studies of aging use short-lived animals under laboratory conditions -- constant temperature and humidity, no parasites, superabundant food. Researchers identified individual stilt-legged flies in their harsh natural environments while simultaneously monitoring their cousins in the lab. In males, the rate of aging was as least two times greater in the wild. For both sexes, life in the wild was dramatically shorter. More study of how environment affects gene expression is needed. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080905153759.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904151624.htm A researcher on a short trip to a foreign country, with little money, but a digital camera in hand has devised a novel approach to digitizing foreign archives that could speed up research. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904151624.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145058.htm In a surprising reversal of conventional wisdom, a DNA-based study has revealed that the last of the woolly mammoths--which lived between 40,000 and 4,000 years ago--had roots that were exclusively North American. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145058.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904102756.htm Echolocation may have evolved more than once in bats, according to new research from the University of Bristol. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904102756.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902143322.htm Two fetuses found in the tomb of Tutankhamen may have been twins and were very likely to have been the children of the teenage Pharaoh, according to the anatomist who first studied the mummified remains of the young King in the 1960s. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902143322.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904112701.htm The capacity to drink and tolerate milk may have been of tremendous importance for the cultural development of Europe. Researchers will now study when and where this capacity emerged and what it entailed. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904112701.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902163920.htm Scientists have discovered the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in life-like form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902163920.htm