On the Indonesian island of Flores parts of 6 teeth and jaw found in an ancient riverbed have led university researchers to believe that they are hominins from the Homo floresiensis family often referred to as ‘hobbits’, its thought that being isolated with few natural predators they actually ‘shrunk’ both in size and brain(..)
however they clearly stress that the ‘hobbits’ used tools so...
21000 years ago as the ice prevented passage through the rockies animals & humans were separated, a Canadian study of a couple of hundred bison bones has suggested that the separation lasted approximately 8000 years before the southern bison headed north, hence the ice had melted sufficiently to create a thoroughfare.
London university archaeologists have managed to tie down a 1.1 ton Preseli bluestone to a sleigh constructed of sycamore and rolled it on a bed of birch logs in an attempt to figure out how neolithic man wouldn’t have moved the stones to Stonehenge, they demonstrated that 10-15 people could move the stone approximately 1 mile an hour, they’re now doing the maths (presumably multiplication) to determine how long it would’ve taken for the whole formation of stones to be moved.
You may recall the Big Bend find of Alamosaurus vertebrae, well the research has been collated over the last 19 years and is available on-line and in paper(2017), the huge dinosaur that dwarfed T-rex was 66 million years old and stood approximately 25 feet tall.
The early find of Peking Man discovered in 1929 still provokes theories, confusion and arguments over how humanity evolved in Asia and throughout the world, what researchers do agree on is that more evidence needs to be discovered and analysed.
A University of Bristol study has recognised that herbivorous dinosaurs were far more prolific and successful than their meat eating relatives. Thought due to the evolution of their jaws and diet, the most successful creatures were those that munched upon conifers.
An unfortunate Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus (dwarf duck-billed dino) from 60 000+ years ago in Transylvania, is the first creature to be diagnosed with a modern benign tumour from fossil remains, the international group of researchers suspect that this family of dinosaurs (hadrosaurs) were more susceptible to these conditions.
Sounds like a bumblebee story and a lack of acceptance that we still have lots to learn, being so big with wing spans up to 11m how did pterosaurs fly?
Basically because their bones were hollow, few examples remain for study also they’ve been compared to birds so estimates of weight hugely vary. We do know they had a highly developed respiratory system with lungs and air sacks. Also they had elasticated skin opposed to feathers, with the ability to adjust the angle of the front of their wings they were well equipped, Southampton University students are currently developing 3d models in order to fill in the missing gaps…
Perhaps helping to shed light on the previous story, a complete pterosaur discovered in a limestone quarry in Lebanon, some years ago and finally after being sold and donated is in the hands of University of Arizona researchers. It’s a first, with the surrounding discovered rocks from approximately 95 million years old(Cenomanian era) which were once part of an ancient seaway many times larger than the barrier reef.
We mentioned that birds fossil finds are rarer but a North American discovery suggests that an ancient relative to the Ostrich was a confirmed find in Wyoming, the near complete example named Calciavis grandei was thought to be the size of a modern chicken with severely limited flight ability.
There’s always a ‘trapped in amber story’ this time it’s a 66 million old mummified birds from Myanmar, the birds retained their original feathers which have pale colours with dark brown and dots. Researchers are hoping that the finds will help with the birds development of flight.
We always hear of the dinosaur extinction event but did you know that the ‘event’ nearly wiped out everything else including mammals? Some 93% suggested by University of Bath researchers. The subsequent lack of food and fauna caused the continued demise of the larger creatures whilst smaller mammals were able to adapt more easily.
Continuing on….University College of London researchers tell us that early human ancestors(placental mammals) accelerated after the demise of the dinosaurs. Analysing nearly 1000 fossils and comparing changes between species on the tree of life they determined that the change in pace was a significant period for mammal evolution.
A new theropod find in the prolific Patagonia region called gualicho shinyae has been found to have little arms similar to ‘T-rex’ being from a different section of the family tree the arm would’ve developed independently so the hunt is still on for why these large dinosaurs had small arms!
A small 245 million year old African reptile Euparkeria capensis generous enough to leave a well formed fossil recently enabled researchers to examine its inner ear using CT scanning equipment, they subsequently were able to further understand the inner workings of the creatures inner ear. Euparkeria is part of the reptile & bird family Archosauria, so the discoveries are significant in relation to how birds fly, smell and have successfully evolved.
Tetrapdophis amplectus or more commonly known as squamate was an early snake like creature which had small paddle type arms/legs was recently re-examined from rare Brazilian fossil remains, researchers suggest that it’s ancestors were aquatic lizards and that although it looks like a snake its possibly more of a lizard.
1.5 millions ago and Homo errectus was strutting out just like us H’sapiens today. Studies of fossil prints made lakeside in Kenya show us that our distant relatives first developed a swagger! They had a toes inline, a round heel & foot arch.
Speaking of early humans, a 30ish year old woman who lived on the Korean peninsula some time during the Silla reign 50’s BC to 930’sAD had her remains examined and although her DNA is present in some of the Asian population today she had a ‘big head’ or more precisely a long head a condition called Dolichocephalic determined by the ratio of head width to length(if you were wondering you’re brachycephalic or head width is at least 80% of it’s length) there’s no explanation for a long head, the shaping of skulls did happened in ancient civilisations but the usual physical evidence of this isn’t present…
Another link to past generations is in our stomachs, researchers have discovered that different hominds have similar gut microbes within their intestines. Experts are yet to figure out how gut bacteria has been passed through ‘familes’ for millions of years.
Lucky researchers found themselves studying fossil poo remains on the ‘Silk Road’ from 2000 years ago the ancient ‘service station’ had a plethora of poo sticks(back then folk used a stick to wipe their bums) they found a variety of worm parasite eggs and including liver fluke worms which would have only come from 1500-2000Km away proving that the diseases were spread by solders, travellers & merchants.
A new review of Antarctic’s ocean temperatures during the Late Cretaceous period(65-69 million years ago) showed that prior to major volcanic activity the ocean was around a chilly 8’c, after it raised by almost 7’c to circa 15’c, some 150 000 years later another smaller increase was recorded which is linked to the Mexican(Chicxulub) asteroid impact.
Researchers studied a number of well-preserved bi valve fossils from the regions Seymour Island using a new clumped isotope paleothermometer method. They determined that each rise in temperature spiked at these events(named extinction pulses). Previous methods relied on predetermined isotopic constitution.
The ‘deep skull’ a 37000 year old skull found in Sarawak, Malaysia thought to be of Aboriginal descent when initially discovered in 1958, has been subjected to further study. It’s now believed that the skull belonged to a middle aged female(not a teenage boy) and is from the Borneo area.
The “Tultepec mammoth”(Mexico) was found during a drainage pipe replacement, and although the 5 tonne creatures’ tusks were still attached to its skull the other body remains appeared to be mixed up which suggests a rather large meal was had by the locals of the time. The area is quite prolific for mammal remains with over 50 found to date. The locality previously being a shallow salt-water area, suggesting the hefty creatures got bogged down and were easily captured.
Fossil remains of Sauropods have been found on many continents, amazing considering they’re big, up to 70 tonnes with long necks and tails. Scientists recreated the unique spinal ball and socket structure that helped the creature to keep the neck and tail aloft. After recreating the ball & socket joints they discovered that with the ball facing away from the body the joints were more stable and lasted longer than the other way around.
Rusingoryx atopocranion was an oddity, an ancient wildebeest relative with a bony crest on its head, initial research was inconclusive especially after they’d realised that it had been looked at from the wrong angle. After a more recent find with better fossil evidence it’s now thought that there are distinct similarities to hadrosaur dinosaurs and that the distinctive crest allowed a chamber which would create a resonance sound for communication.
Again the ‘prolific Patagonia’ region shares a new megaraptorid dinosaur called Murusraptor barrosaensis, researchers noticed it had different skull features. The new species may shed light on the ongoing debate whether megaraptorids are descendants of allosauroid or coelurosaurid theropods.
Snippets:
• 1676, first dinosaur bone described, thought to be from an elephant.
• 1842 Dinosauria name used by anatomist Richard Owen after considering that a Megalosaurus was new!
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