Meet the 'richest man who ever lived': Scientists recreate the face of Tutankhamun's grandfather, Amenhotep III, for the first time in 3,400 years

• Amenhotep III ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, 3,400 years ago
• Using the skull of his mummy, his true likeness has been revealed for first time 

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE 

He ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, was worshipped as a living god, and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun. 

And now the true face of Amenhotep III has been revealed.

The pharaoh, described by one archaeologist as 'one of the richest men that ever lived', led Egypt through a period of unprecedented prosperity and international power.

He's considered one of the greatest pharaohs and has more surviving statues than any other, yet a scientific reconstruction of his face had never been made.

Now, using data from the skull of his mummy, a multinational team has revealed his true likeness for the first time in almost 3,400 years.

He ruled ancient Egypt at the height of its powers, was worshipped as a living god, and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun. And now the true face of Amenhotep III has been revealed

Michael Habicht, an archaeologist at Flinders University in Australia, said he looked quite different to the pharaoh seen on statues.

He said: 'It's a placid face for a man who promoted peace and lived in a time of the greatest economic prosperity.

'He might well have been one of the richest men that ever lived, at least in his epoch.'

He continued: 'It is difficult to know the cause of death by analysing the available remains.

'Research carried out in the 1970s described Amenhotep III as an obese, sick, and sedentary man, who was almost bald, and suffered from dental problems in the last years of his life.

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who brought the face back to life, said the reconstruction began by digitally recreating the pharaoh's skull, using images and data from his mummy

The mummy of Amenhotep III is now kept at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo

'Although he was one of the truly great kings of Egypt, his body height is about 156cm, making him one of the smallest kings we know from their preserved mummies.

'This rather small body height is not reflected in art – in artworks he is famous for his gigantic statues.'

Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who brought the face back to life, said the reconstruction began by digitally recreating the pharaoh's skull, using images and data from his mummy.

Additional data from living donors was then used to inform the likely dimensions and position of the king's nose, ears, eyes, and lips.

Mr Moraes said: 'Based on historical knowledge, Amenhotep III had a robust appearance, which is why we used data from individuals with a high body mass index.'

He added: 'If we are not mistaken, this is the first facial approximation of Amenhotep III.

'Compared to other approximations of pharaohs that I have participated in, this was the most complete too, as we modelled the clothes and accessories.

'We were amazed with the final result; seeing a complete bust with these colours and the facial serenity is quite satisfying.

'It is our gift to all those who appreciate history.'

The pharaoh was worshipped as divine in his lifetime, and he claimed the god Amun was his real father – with the name Amenhotep meaning 'Amun is satisfied'.

He is thought to have died between the ages of 40 and 50, leaving his successor a kingdom at the height of its power and wealth.

Data from living donors was used to inform the likely dimensions and position of the king's nose, ears, eyes, and lips

The pharaoh was worshipped as divine in his lifetime, and he claimed the god Amun was his real father – with the name Amenhotep meaning 'Amun is satisfied'. Pictured: a bust of Amenhotep III in the Cleveland Museum of Art

Dr Habicht said: 'Diplomatic letters by foreign potentates begged him to send them some gold as a present, 'as gold shall be abundant in Egypt as sand'.

'It's the usual overexaggeration for such a letter, but nevertheless hints towards extreme wealth.'

He added: 'There are speculations that the mummy of Amenhotep III may have been entirely covered with gold leaf, so that he must have looked like a statue of a god.'

The archaeologist said the pharaoh may also have been something of a womanizer.

'He was apparently very interested in women; he imported hundreds of foreign harem ladies and collected them as other people collect postal stamps,' he said.

On his death, Amenhotep III was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep IV.

The new pharaoh would rebel against the powerful Amun priesthood, installing the sun god Aten as the top Egyptian deity.

He changed his name to Akhenaten – meaning 'beneficial to Aten' – and even moved his capital away from Thebes – the 'city of Amun' – to a new city honouring the sun god, Akhetaten.

But his son, Tutankhaten, would restore the cult of Amun to prominence, changing his name to Tutankhamun – meaning 'the living image of Amun'.

Tutankhamun would become one of history's most famous pharaohs thanks to the discovery of his tomb in 1922, which was largely intact and contained many of its original artifacts.

Dr Habicht, Mr Moraes, and their colleagues Elena Varotto from Flinders University, and Francesco Galassi from the University of Lodz in Poland, plan to publish their findings in a scientific journal.

WERE KING TUTANKHAMUN'S PARENTS ALSO COUSINS?

The complex family arrangements of Tutankhamun has been one of the great mysteries surrounding the young king.

While his father was known to have been Pharaoh Akhenaten, the identity of his mother has been far more elusive.

DNA testing has shown that Queen Tiye, whose mummy is pictured above, was the grandmother of the Egyptian Boy King Tutankhamun

In 2010 DNA testing confirmed a mummy found in the tomb of Amenhotep II was Queen Tiye, the chief wife of Amenhotep III, mother of Pharaoh Akhenanten, and Tutankhamun's grandmother.

A third mummy, thought to be one of Pharaoh Akhenaten wives, was found to be a likely candidate as Tutankhamun's mother, but DNA evidence showed it was Akhenaten's sister.

Later analysis in 2013 suggested Nefertiti, Akhenaten's chief wife, was Tutankhamun's mother.

However, the work by Marc Gabolde, a French archaeologist, has suggested Nefertiti was also Akhenaten's cousin.

This incestuous parentage may also help to explain some of the malformations that scientists have discovered afflicted Tutankhamun.

He suffered a deformed foot, a slightly cleft palate and mild curvature of the spine.

However, his claims have been disputed by other Egyptologists, including Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

His team's research suggests that Tut's mother was, like Akhenaten, the daughter of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. 

Hawass added that there is 'no evidence' in archaeology or philology to indicate that Nefertiti was the daughter of Amenhotep III.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

07-06-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

While previous studies have revealed that Egyptians from these periods were able to identify, describe, and treat diseases and traumatic injuries, build prosthetics, and even place dental fillings, this study is the first to show that these surprisingly advanced ancient people may have tried to treat cancer around the same time they were building the pyramids.

“This finding is unique evidence of how ancient Egyptian medicine would have tried to deal with or explore cancer more than 4,000 years ago,” said Prof Edgard Camarós, a paleopathologist at the University of Santiago de Compostela and the study’s lead author. “This is an extraordinary new perspective in our understanding of the history of medicine.”

CUT MARKS ON 4,000-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN SKULL LEAVE RESEARCHERS STUNNED

To conduct their analysis, the researchers were able to procure two separate skulls that showed signs of cancerous lesions. The first, dubbed “Skull and mandible 236,” has previously been dated to between 2687 and 2345 BCE, while the second, “Skull E270,” has been dated to between 663 and 343 BCE. For comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built over a period of about 27 years, sometime around 2,600 BCE.

The skulls were examined using microscopic analysis and CT scanning.

Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024. CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

When examining the roughly 30 small, metastasized lesions and one large lesion likely caused by neoplasm spread across Skull 236 under a microscope and also using a CT scanner, the researchers say they were “stunned” to discover something unexpected: clear cutmarks around a number of the lesions.

Cutmarks found on skull 236, probably made with a sharp object. Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

“When we first observed the cutmarks under the microscope, we could not believe what was in front of us,” said Tatiana Tondini, a researcher at the University of Tübingen and first author of the study.

In fact, according to Tondini, they weren’t even looking for things like cutmarks in the first place. “We wanted to learn about the role of cancer in the past, how prevalent this disease was in antiquity, and how ancient societies interacted with this pathology,” the researcher explained.

SIGNS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAY HAVE RECEIVED AND SURVIVED CANCER SURGERY

After finding evidence of cutmarks on the 4,000-year-old Egyptian Skull known as 236, the team performed a similar analysis of Skull E270. Like the older sample, E270 also had a large lesion the researchers described as “consistent with a cancerous tumor that led to bone loss.” However, unlike the other skull, this specimen had two smaller, “healed” lesions likely caused by traumatic injuries. Furthermore, one of the smaller lesions appears to be the result of a “close-range violent event” involving some sort of sharp instrument.

A closer analysis showed that this second lesion appeared to have healed after encountering a sharp object. Such a finding hints at the possibility that this person had surgery to remove cancer and then survived the treatment. “These healed lesions could mean that the individual potentially received some kind of treatment and, as a result, survived,” the press release announcing the study expl

Skull E270, dating from between 663 and 343 BCE, belonged to a female individual who was older than 50 years. Image: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

CREDIT: Tondini, Isidro, Camarós, 2024.

The researchers concede that the injury could be the result of combat. However, they also point out that E270 belonged to a roughly 50-year-old woman. In ancient Egypt, it was rare to find evidence of women in any form of combat, especially one of such an advanced age, meaning either answer could have the potential to rewrite the history books.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

31-05-2024 om 22:44 geschreven door peter  

Story by Andrea Vacchiano

Wisconsin historians recently announced the discovery of at least 11 ancient canoes in a Badger State lake – including one boat that dates back to 2500 BC.

The findings were announced in a press release by the Wisconsin Historical Society on May 23. The canoes were found in Lake Mendota, which is located outside of Madison.

The Wisconsin Historical Society explained that two ancient canoes were found in a cache in the lake in 2021 and 2022. Since then, historians have found at least 11 other ancient canoes, along what they believe was an ancient shoreline that became submerged over time. 

Not all the canoes will be removed from the lake due to their fragility. In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society Dr. Amy Rosebrough explained the significance of the discovery.

• WOMAN OUT FOR A WALK STUMBLES UPON ONCE-IN-A-DECADE DISCOVERY

The discovery of ancient canoes was announced in a press release by the Wisconsin Historical Society last week.

Fox News© Wisconsin Historical Society

"The Indigenous peoples of Wisconsin and the wider United States fished, traveled, and traded extensively on inland lakes and streams, and until now we have not had a clear look at the canoes used in the Great Lakes region," she explained.

"To put it in modern terms, it’s like trying to understand life in the Midwest without ever seeing a real pickup truck in person. Canoes allowed people to fish in deeper lakes, to transport goods over hundreds of miles, and to travel to far-away places. "

Rosebrough added that they believe an ancient village site is located under the waters, although it has not been found yet. Divers have found stone tools in the water, and experts believe that the lake is filled with other hidden sites.

"Lake Mendota is a hard lake to work in, however," Rosebrough admitted. "There is a limited window of visibility for diving missions, and we are exploring non-destructive remote sensing techniques that might help this summer."

• MICHIGAN RESEARCHERS DISCOVER EERIE 1909 SHIPWRECK AT BOTTOM OF LAKE SUPERIOR

Archaeologists discovered the ancient canoes in the murky waters of Lake Mendota.

Fox News© Fox News

"Even without finding the village, the discovery of these canoes and the tools found within the first canoe that was found, human-worked stone tools called net sinkers, reminds us that people have lived and worked alongside the lake for thousands of years."

Radiocarbon dating found that the oldest canoe dates back to 2500 B.C., which would mean it was built around the time Stonehenge was constructed. The canoe was constructed more than 1,700 years before Ancient Rome was first settled and 2,500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

All the canoes varied in age, with the youngest one dating back to 1250 AD. The archaeologist explained that the canoes "may have been intentionally cached in the water during the winter months, a standard practice to keep canoes safe from freezing and warping."

All the canoes varied in age. Not all will be removed from the lake due to their fragility.

Fox News© Fox News

"Either this practice of storing canoes for winter was carried out in roughly the same spot over generations – perhaps because of a living area nearby – or we are only seeing a window into a much larger site that might span much of the lakeshore," she described.

Rosebrough added that, though the Great Lakes dwarf Lake Mendota, the south central Wisconsin lake is small but mighty when it comes to archaeological potential.

Archaeologists conduced carbon dating to determine age of canoes.

Fox News© Fox News

"The Great Lakes oftentimes receive more funding for maritime archaeology but smaller bodies of water like Lake Mendota have their own distinct histories and stories to tell us about the people who lived here hundreds and thousands of years ago," she said. "We are proud to work in partnership with Native Nations in Wisconsin to discover all we can about Tee Waksikhominak and to share these stories now and in the future at the new Wisconsin History Center set to open in early 2027."

• For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
• Original article source: Prehistoric discovery in US lake leaves experts in shock and awe

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/feed?ocid=nl_article_link }

30-05-2024 om 13:00 geschreven door peter  

Ondergrondse structuur ontdekt bij de piramides van Gizeh: het dateert van meer dan 4000 jaar geleden

 Door Janine

Egypte is een land met een eeuwenoude geschiedenis, rijk aan archeologische vindplaatsen en artefacten die duizenden jaren oud zijn. Ondanks de vele vondsten zijn er echter nog veel mysteries die moeten worden opgelost en die geleidelijk aan de oppervlakte komen. Onlangs hebben archeologen bijvoorbeeld sporen gevonden van een ondergrondse structuur die nog nooit eerder is ontdekt: deze bevindt zich in de buurt van de piramides van Gizeh.

Ondergrondse structuur ontdekt bij de piramides van Gizeh

Sato et al./Archaeological Prospection

Een onderzoeksteam van Japanse en Egyptische archeologen heeft sporen ontdekt van een bouwwerk in de vlakte van Gizeh. Het zou gaan om een tweedelige ondergrondse constructie die verborgen ligt onder de Westelijke Necropolis, een van de meest bestudeerde archeologische vindplaatsen in Egypte van de afgelopen decennia.

Als we de resultaten lezen die gepubliceerd zijn in het tijdschrift Archaeological Prospection, gebruikten de onderzoekers bodemradar en elektrische resistiviteit tomografie. De scans onthulden een L-vormige structuur die zich uitstrekte over een gebied van 10 bij 15 meter en ongeveer een meter onder het zand begraven lag. Maar dit is niet de enige ontdekking, want er kan een nog grotere structuur onder liggen op een diepte tot 10 meter onder het woestijnoppervlak. Het is de vraag waar deze structuren voor werden gebruikt, maar op dit moment kunnen archeologen er alleen maar naar gissen.

Hoe slaagden ze erin een ondergrondse structuur te vinden zonder te graven?

Sato et al./Archaeological Prospection

Het vinden van een ondergrondse structuur zonder te graven is niet eenvoudig: archeologen zijn weliswaar bekend met de Westelijke Necropolis, en de vlakte van Gizeh ligt vol met locaties om onderzoek uit te voeren, maar het is niet allemaal zo eenvoudig als het lijkt. Daarom maakten de onderzoekers gebruik van bodemradar en elektrische resistiviteit tomografie. De eerstgenoemde methode, ook bekend als Ground-penetrating Radar of GPR, is een methodologie die in de geofysica wordt gebruikt om de ondergrond te bestuderen. In de praktijk worden elektromagnetische golven naar de grond gestuurd en net als bij een radar worden hun reflecties gemeten om de ondergrond te reconstrueren. De tweede is in plaats daarvan een methodologie die veranderingen in de elektrische weerstand van ondergrondse materialen detecteert.

Met behulp van deze twee technologieën, die beloven een revolutie teweeg te brengen in de archeologie, hebben onderzoekers gebieden met verschillende dichtheden geïdentificeerd onder een deel van de Westelijke Necropolis. Op het eerste gezicht is het een gebied dat niet bedekt is met graven; ondergronds zijn er echter twee structuren die moeten worden bestudeerd.

Wat was het doel van de twee verborgen structuren?

Nina Aldin Thune/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED

De twee structuren waarvan het onderzoeksteam de sporen heeft ontdekt, zijn niet van natuurlijke oorsprong maar door mensenhanden gemaakt. Toch is er, zoals we al zeiden, weinig bekend over hun daadwerkelijke doel: ze kunnen zo'n 4000 jaar oud zijn, zoals een groot deel van de rest van de Westelijke Necropolis, maar ze kunnen ook ouder zijn. En verder, niets. Op dit moment hebben archeologen opgemerkt dat er mogelijk een kamer is in de diepste structuur, maar gezien het ontbreken van andere informatie hebben ze besloten om het een “anomalie” te noemen.

Verder onderzoek zal nodig zijn om echt te begrijpen waar de twee verborgen structuren voor werden gebruikt. Na alle opgravingen van de afgelopen twee eeuwen is Egypte nog steeds de hoofdrolspeler van verrassende ontdekkingen en onverwachte vondsten. En zoals zo vaak het geval is, staan we nog maar aan het begin.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

28-05-2024 om 19:33 geschreven door peter  

Majority of Egyptian Pyramids Was Built along Long-Lost Branch of Nile, Archaeologists Say

Archaeologists in Egypt have identified segments of a 64-km-long extinct branch of the river Nile, which they name the Ahramat Branch, running at the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, where the majority of the ancient Egyptian pyramids lie. Many of the pyramids, dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms, have causeways that lead to the branch and terminate with Valley Temples which may have acted as river harbors along it in the past. The researchers suggest that the Ahramat Branch played a role in the monuments’ construction and that it was simultaneously active and used as a transportation waterway for workmen and building materials to the pyramids’ sites.

The water course of the ancient Ahramat Branch of the Nile.

Image credit: Ghoneim et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7.

The Egyptian pyramid fields between Giza and Lisht, built over a nearly 1,000-year period starting approximately 4,700 years ago, now sit on the edge of the inhospitable Western Desert, part of the Sahara.

Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places.

Archaeologists have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not been confirmed.

Dr. Eman Ghoneim from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and colleagues studied satellite imagery to find the possible location of a former river branch running along the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, very near to the pyramid fields.

The researchers then used geophysical surveys and sediment cores to confirm the presence of river sediments and former channels beneath the modern land surface, indicating the presence of a former branch, which they propose naming Ahramat (meaning ‘pyramids’ in Arabic).

They suggest that an increased build-up of windblown sand, linked to a major drought which began approximately 4,200 years ago, could be one of the reasons for the branch’s migration east and eventual silting up.

The discovery may explain why these pyramid fields were concentrated along this particular strip of desert near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, as they would have been easily accessible via the river branch at the time they were built.

Additionally, the authors found that many of the pyramids had causeways which ended at the proposed riverbanks of the Ahramat Branch, which they suggest is evidence the river was used for transporting construction materials.

The findings reiterate the importance of the Nile as a highway and cultural artery for ancient Egyptians, and also highlight how human society has historically been affected by environmental change, according to the authors.

Future research to find more extinct Nile branches could help prioritize archaeological excavations along their banks and protect Egyptian cultural heritage.

“Revealing this extinct Nile branch can provide a more refined idea of where ancient settlements were possibly located in relation to it and prevent them from being lost to rapid urbanization,” the scientists said.

“This could improve the protection measures of Egyptian cultural heritage.”

“It is the hope that our findings can improve conservation measures and raise awareness of these sites for modern development planning.”

“By understanding the landscape of the Nile floodplain and its environmental history, archeologists will be better equipped to prioritize locations for fieldwork investigation and, consequently, raise awareness of these sites for conservation purposes and modern development planning.”

“Our finding has filled a much-needed knowledge gap related to the dominant waterscape in ancient Egypt, which could help inform and educate a wide array of global audiences about how earlier inhabitants were living and in what ways shifts in their landscape drove human activity in such an iconic region.”

• The team’s paper was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
• E. Ghoneim et al. 2024. The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch. Commun Earth Environ 5, 233; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

21-05-2024 om 23:13 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Kathleen Heylen

Al eeuwenlang spreken de Egyptische piramides tot de verbeelding. Ze werden gebouwd ten tijde van het oude Egypte en dienden als grafmonumenten voor de farao's, de heersers van het oude Egyptische rijk. Na hun dood werden de farao's gemummificeerd en samen met tal van schatten en persoonlijke bezittingen in het hart van de piramide begraven.

Enkele tientallen piramides zijn nog bewaard gebleven. Daarvan zijn de piramides van Gizeh waarschijnlijk de beroemdste. Die liggen in de necropolis van Gizeh, vlak bij de Egyptische hoofdstad Caïro. Meer dan 4.000 jaar geleden was dat een belangrijke begraafplaats voor de Egyptenaren.

De piramides zijn niet alleen een belangrijke toeristische trekpleister, maar ook een bron van vragen en mysterie. Hoe de oude Egyptenaren er precies in geslaagd zijn om zo'n majestueuze bouwwerken neer te zetten in de woestijn, is nog altijd niet helemaal duidelijk. Een team van internationale wetenschappers zegt nu een stap dichter bij de oplossing van het raadsel te zijn.

"Begraven rivieren en oude bouwconstructies"

Een van de huidige theoriëen is dat de oude Egyptenaren een waterweg hebben gebruikt om materialen te vervoeren. Zoals de massieve blokken natuursteen en kalksteen die nodig waren om de piramides te bouwen. Maar tot nu was niemand echt zeker van de locatie, de vorm, de grootte en de nabijheid van deze waterweg tot de sites waar de piramides staan.

Een team van de University of North Carolina Wilmington is er nu in geslaagd om een lang verloren gewaande oude tak van de rivier de Nijl te lokaliseren. De riviertak zou duizenden jaren geleden verdwenen zijn door grote droogte en zandstormen. Nu ligt hij verborgen onder woestijn en landbouwgrond.

De wetenschappers zijn erin geslaagd om "door te dringen onder het zandoppervlak en met radartechnologie beelden van verborgen structuren te zien". Die structuren omvatten "begraven rivieren en oude bouwconstructies" aan de voet van de heuvels waar de overgrote meerderheid van de piramides uit het oude Egypte stonden.

Het team maakte gebruik van radarsatellietbeelden, historische kaarten, geofysische onderzoeken en sedimentboringen. Bij geofysisch onderzoek wordt de bodem onderzocht zonder invasieve opgravingen, bijvoorbeeld met metingen van de elektrische weerstand in de bodem en van het aardmagnetisch veld. Bij sedimentboringen wordt bewijsmateriaal gezocht in stalen van de bodem.

Het lichtblauwe lijntje is de oude zijtak van de Nijl, dicht bij enkele bekende sites met piramides en grafmonumenten liggen.

© Foto: Nature/UNCW

"Actief en operationeel"

De oude riviertak van de Nijl zou volgens de onderzoekers ongeveer 64 kilometer lang geweest zijn, en tussen de 200 en 600 meter breed. De waterweg liep dicht in de buurt van 31 piramides die tussen de 4.700 en 3.700 jaar geleden gebouwd zijn.

De nabijheid van de riviertak tot die sites suggereert dat de tak "actief en operationeel was tijdens de bouwfase van deze piramides", zegt het onderzoek. Op dat moment zouden de piramidevelden makkelijk bereikbaar zijn geweest via het water.

Het team kon bovendien vaststellen dat veel piramides verhoogde wegen hadden, die eindigden bij de veronderstelde oevers van de zijtak. Volgens hen ook een bewijs dat de rivier gebruikt werd voor het transport van materiaal.

Ahramat

De onderzoekers hebben de riviertak niet toevallig Ahramat genoemd, 'piramides' in het  Arabisch. Volgens hen kan de aanwezigheid van die tak een verklaring zijn voor de vele piramides tussen Gizeh en Lisht, op zo'n 60 kilometer van Caïro. In een periode van 1.000 jaar zijn daar tal van piramides en andere monumenten gebouwd, te beginnen vanaf 4.700 voor Christus.  

Vandaag liggen die sites in een dor en onherbergzaam gebied in de Sahara-woestijn. De onderzoekers vermoeden dat een toenemende ophoping van zand, samen met een enorme droogte die zo'n 4.200 jaar geleden begon, de reden zou kunnen zijn waarom de Ahramat-tak verdwenen is.

Professor Enam Ghoneim onderzoekt de topografie bij de oude riviertak, met op de achtergrond de piramide van Cheops en de sfinx in Gizeh.© Foto: Eman Ghoneim/UNCW

"Het kost gewoon veel minder moeite"

"Velen onder ons die geïnteresseerd zijn in het oude Egypte, zijn zich ervan bewust dat de Egyptenaren een waterweg gebruikt moeten hebben om hun enorme monumenten te bouwen, zoals de piramides en de tempels in de valleien", zegt hoofdonderzoeker Enam Ghoneim.

"Ons onderzoek toont de eerste kaart van een van de belangrijkste oude riviertakken van de Nijl op zo'n grote schaal, en kan die linken aan de grootste piramidevindplaatsen in Egypte."

Aan de Britse openbare omroep BBC vertelt co-auteur Suzanne Onstine over het belang van het lokaliseren van die riviertak. "Dat we gegevens hebben waaruit blijkt dat er een waterweg was die gebruikt kon worden voor het transport van zware blokken, uitrusting, mensen... Dat helpt ons echt om te helpen verklaren hoe piramides gebouwd zijn."

"De oude Egyptenaren konden de energie van de rivier gebruiken om zware blokken te dragen, in plaats van menselijke arbeid", zegt Ostine. "Het kost gewoon veel minder moeite".

Meer lezen?

• Gondeim, E. et al. The E0gyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch. Gepubliceerd in Nature - Communications earth & environment.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ } 

17-05-2024 om 18:44 geschreven door peter  

Unable to decipher the strange set of inscriptions along the face of the artifact, Senior reached out to a local archaeologist for assistance with the unique find. Soon, experts were able to determine that the object he retrieved from his garden bore inscriptions in an Early Medieval alphabet that was once used in the British Isles to convey early variants of the Irish language.

THE OGHAM ENIGMA

Today, historians and archaeologists are aware of just a few hundred ogham inscriptions throughout Ireland and parts of Britain, with the largest concentrations located in southwestern Ireland around Munster and in a few locations in Great Britain, including Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Existing examples of this ancient language show that it was used to convey individuals’ names in most cases. Sources in early Irish literature that detail two-word kennings offering explanations for the meanings of words in the Ogham alphabet indicate that most of the markings are named for various trees found in the British Isles.

The stone artifact unearthed by Senior near Coventry, bearing examples of the ancient language known as Ogham

(Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust).

The surprise discovery prompted him to reach out to a relative who specialized in archaeology, which eventually brought Senior to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, an organization run jointly by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales which, according to its website, was established to “encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales.”

Each year, thousands of objects of significance to the heritage of England and Wales are discovered, particularly by individuals who, like Senior, are “gardening or going about their daily work.”

Teresa Gilmore, an archaeologist and finds liaison officer with Birmingham Museums, called Senior’s discovery an “amazing find,” telling The Guardian that the discovery could potentially offer archaeologists new insights into early medieval activity in the area that experts are still working to decipher.

Celtic Studies professor Katherine Forsyth, who was shown the artifact by Gilmore, believes it dates from sometime between the fifth and sixth centuries.

DECIPHERING THE STONE’S MESSAGE

Although the Ogham script is somewhat obscure and unrecognizable by most today, the message on the object Senior discovered is decipherable. According to Forsyth, the inscription reads “Maldumcail/S/Lass,” the first part of which may refer to a person by the name of Mael Dumcail, and the final portion possibly referring to a location.

So who was Mael Dumcail, and why was this individual’s name inscribed on this stone? Although details about this individual and their relevance to the stone will likely remain a mystery, equally curious is the location where it was discovered since ogham stones of this variety are rarely discovered outside of Ireland and Scotland.

According to Gilmore, it is possible that the discovery may have had a relationship to the early medieval monasteries, and one interpretation of its significance includes that the object may have been a keepsake that had belonged to someone traveling from Ireland, perhaps during a visit to one of these religious centers.

“AN EXCITING MYSTERY”

Presently, the artifact is residing at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has permanently donated his find. Beginning on May 11, the ogham stone will appear as part of an exhibition hosted at the museum.

Ali Wells, curator of the forthcoming exhibition, expressed excitement over the rare find, calling it an “exciting mystery” that a stone featuring language with origins in Ireland would be found hidden beneath several inches of soil in Coventry.

Wells notes that urban development and other operations in and around Coventry have led to much of the earth being worked over time, particularly near the city center, which reduces the number of archaeological discoveries that are made with time.

The fact that such a find was made, and one so seemingly out of place, “was quite unexpected,” Wells told The Guardian.

emphasized that discovering this unique ogham stone in Coventry offers a rare glimpse into the region’s historical mysteries, especially given the city’s extensive archaeological excavation over the years.

The forthcoming exhibition, “Collecting Coventry,” will be held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and is open to the public.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

14-05-2024 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

New Rock Art Sites Discovered in Sudanese Eastern Desert

Archaeologists from Macquarie University and Polish Academy of Science’s Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Culture have discovered 16 new rock art sites in the Sudanese Eastern Desert or the ‘Atbai.’ Almost all of the newly-discovered artwork, which dates back 4,000 years, features the presence of cattle.

Painted rock art at a site around Gebel Nahoganet in the Sudanese Eastern Desert.

Image credit: Cooper et al., doi: 10.1177/03075133231211.

“It was puzzling to find cattle carved on desert rock walls as they require plenty of water and acres of pasture, and would not survive in the dry and arid environment of the Sahara today,” said Dr. Julien Cooper, a researcher at Macquarie University.

“The presence of cattle in ancient rock art is one of the most important pieces of evidence establishing a once ‘green Sahara’.”

The rock art discovered in Eastern Sudan also paints the desert as a grassy savannah, brimming with pools, rivers, swamps and waterholes and home to a variety of African savannah fauna such as the giraffe and elephant.

The idea of a ‘green Sahara’ has been proven in previous archaeological and climatic fieldwork and research, with experts referring to this as the ‘African humid period’ — a time of increased summer monsoon rainfall which began approximately 15,000 years ago and ended roughly 5,000 years ago.

Depictions of humans alongside the cattle could indicate the act of milking, suggesting the region was once occupied by cattle pastoralists until as late as the second or third millennium BCE.

After this point, decreasing rainfall rendered cattle pastoralism impossible.

Today, this region receives almost no annual rainfall.

Following the end of the ‘African humid period’, around 3000 BCE, lakes and rivers began to dry up, sand covered dead pastures and most of the human population left the Sahara for refuge closer to the Nile.

“The Atbai Desert around Wadi Halfa, where the new rock art was discovered, became almost completely depopulated. For those who remained, cattle were abandoned for sheep and goats,” the archaeologists said.

“This would have had major ramification on all aspects of human life — from diet and limited milk supplies, migratory patterns of herding families and the identity and livelihood of those who depended on their cattle.”

• The team’s paper was published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
• Julien Cooper et al. 2023. Rock Art Surveys in the Sudanese Eastern Desert: Results of the 2018-2019 Atbai Survey Project. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 109 (1-2); doi: 10.1177/03075133231211

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

09-05-2024 om 00:26 geschreven door peter  

No lettering or numbers appear on any of the Roman dodecahedrons that have currently been discovered, although similar objects that include 20-sided icosahedrons of comparable design have also been found. Like many curiosities of the ancient past, their distinctive appearance is strongly suggestive that they were created as devices designed with a specific purpose. Why else would one go to all the trouble of crafting them otherwise?

Although there is still no explanation that researchers agree on in terms of what the objects may have been intended for, several theories have propelled the debate now for decades, and archaeologists may be closing in on discoveries that could provide much-needed context for answering the remaining questions about these ancient Gallo-Roman curiosities.

HISTORY

The earliest known discovery of a Roman dodecahedron is believed to have occurred in 1739 near Aston, Hertfordshire, England. According to an 1849 catalog entry in the miscellaneous collections of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a bronze Roman dodecahedron “found with copper coins at Aston, in Hertfordshire, in a field called Hagdale, was exhibited to the Society by Mr. North [on] June 28, 1739.”

The 1849 entry also discusses the discovery of a similar dodecahedral object nearly three decades later, unearthed from a depth of close to 8 feet on the grounds of St. Peter’s Church at Carmarthen that occurred in May 1768. Described as a “singular object of bronze, in form of a hollow dodecahedron,” the artifact featured “a ball attached to each angle” and a circular opening on “each of its pentagonal sides … the diameters of these perforations increasing gradually from six-tenths to about 1 ½ inch. Each side measures, in diameter, 2 1/5 inches.”

“Several pieces of copper, curiously laid in flag-bricks, were found at the same time, but they crumbled to dust,” the entry states, although it is unclear whether these bricks had any specific relationship to the dodecahedron. Finally, the 1849 catalog entry mentions the discovery of a third dodecahedron “but of smaller size and without balls at the angles, found near Fishguard,” which was delivered to the Society of Antiquaries by the Rev. Edward Harries of Llandysilio, Pembrokeshire, on March 12, 1846.

Over the ensuing centuries, dozens more of the objects have been found in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, and surrounding countries. Curiously, the objects have remained absent amidst archaeological discoveries made in Italy, where one might otherwise presume a concentration of objects of Roman provenance would be located, further adding to the mystery of their purpose.

THEORIES

Given that there is virtually nothing to provide historical context for what these objects may have been designed and used for, a range of theories have emerged over the years that could offer potential solutions to the mystery of the dodecahedrons.

One of the earliest proposed theories among scholars in the 19th century had been that the objects may have been implements of warfare, perhaps serving as a mace head, a component of a net or bolas-type throwing weapon, or even a projectile. However, the hollow design of the dodecahedrons would seem to impose obvious limitations on their effectiveness if used for such purposes.

More recent theories about the Roman dodecahedra involve their possible use as measurement gauges or as a surveying instrument, while other theories hold that they may have had an artistic or decorative purpose. Other theories put forward over the decades have argued that the dodecahedrons may have served as everything from candlestick holders to gaming implements, devices used for determining sowing dates, calibration tools for water pipes, or possibly army standard bases used by Roman soldiers.

According to Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a researcher with the Department of Applied Science and Technology at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, one novel possibility is that the Roman dodecahedrons served as dioptrons (i.e., rangefinders). ​Drawing from sources based entirely online, Sparavigna concluded in a 2o12 paper that features common among all the known Roman dodecahedrons point to their use as optical instruments for the measurement of angles and estimating distances.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

04-05-2024 om 22:34 geschreven door peter  

Inside the Quest to Confirm A Strange 60-Year-Old Theory About Stonehenge

Archaeological evidence suggests Stonehenge also aligns with moonrise and moonset.

BY THE CONVERSATION, ERICA ELLINGSON, AMANDA CHADBURNANDFABIO SILVA

 

Chris Clor/Tetra images/Getty Images

When it comes to its connection to the sky, Stonehenge is best known for its solar alignments. Every midsummer night, tens of thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate and witness the rising sun in alignment with the Heel stone standing outside of the circle. Six months later, a smaller crowd congregates around the Heel stone to witness the midwinter Sun setting within the stone circle.

However, a hypothesis has been around for 60 years that part of Stonehenge also aligns with moonrise and moonset at what is called a major lunar standstill. Although a correlation between the layout of certain stones and the major lunar standstill has been known about for several decades, no one has systematically observed and recorded the phenomenon at Stonehenge.

This is what we are aiming to do in a project bringing together archaeologists, astronomers, and photographers from English Heritage, Oxford, Leicester, and Bournemouth universities, as well as the Royal Astronomical Society.

There is now an abundance of archaeological evidence that indicates the solar alignment was part of the architectural design of Stonehenge. Around 2500 BC, the people who put up large stones and dug an avenue into the chalk seemed to want to cement the solstice axis into the architecture of Stonehenge.

Archaeological evidence from nearby Durrington Walls, the place where scientists believe the ancient people who visited Stonehenge stayed, indicates that of the two solstices, it was the midwinter one that drew the largest crowd.

But Stonehenge includes other elements, such as 56 pits arranged in a circle, an earthwork bank and ditch, and other smaller features, such as the four station stones. These are four sarsen stones, a form of silicified sandstone common in Wiltshire, that were carefully placed to form an almost exact rectangle encompassing the stone circle.

Only two of these stones are still there, and they pale in comparison to their larger counterparts, as they are only a few feet high. So, what could their purpose be?

LUNAR STANDSTILL

The rectangle that they form is not just any rectangle. The shorter sides are parallel to the main axis of the stone circle, and this may be a clue as to their purpose. The longer sides of the rectangle skirt the outside of the stone circle.

It is these longer sides that are thought to align with the major lunar standstill. If you marked the position of moonrise (or set) over the course of a month, you would see that it moves between two points on the horizon. These southern and northern limits of moonrise (or set) change on a cycle of 18.6 years between a minimum and a maximum range – the so-called minor and major lunar standstills, respectively.

The major lunar standstill is a period of about one and a half to two years when the northernmost and southernmost moonrises (or sets) are furthest apart. When this happens, the Moon rises (and sets) outside the range of sunrises and sets, which may have imbued this celestial phenomenon with meaning and significance.

The strongest evidence we have for people marking the major lunar standstill comes from the US southwest. The Great House of Chimney Rock is a multi-level complex built by the ancestral Pueblo people in the San Juan National Forest, Colorado, more than 1,000 years ago.

It lies on a ridge that ends at a natural formation of twin rock pillars – an area that has cultural significance to more than 26 native American tribal nations. From the vantage point of the Great House, the Sun will never rise in the gap between the pillars.

However, during a major standstill the Moon does rise between them in awe-inspiring fashion. Excavations unearthed preserved wood that meant researchers could date to the year episodes of construction of the Great House.

Of six cutting dates, four correspond to major lunar standstill years between the years AD1018 and AD1093, indicating that the site was renewed, maintained, or expanded on consecutive major standstills.

Returning to southern England, archaeologists think there is a connection between the major lunar standstill and the earliest construction phase of Stonehenge (3000-2500 BC), before the sarsen stones were brought in.

Several sets of cremated human remains from this phase of construction were found in the southeastern part of the monument in the general direction of the southernmost major standstill moonrise, where three timber posts were also set into the bank. It is possible that there was an early connection between the site of Stonehenge and the Moon, which was later emphasized when the station stone rectangle was built.

The major lunar standstill hypothesis, however, raises more questions than it answers. We don’t know if the lunar alignments of the station stones were symbolic or whether people were meant to observe the Moon through them. Neither do we know which phases of the Moon would be more dramatic to witness.

A SEARCH FOR ANSWERS

In our upcoming work, we will be trying to answer the questions the major lunar standstill hypothesis raises. It’s unclear whether the Moon would have been strong enough to cast shadows and how they would have interacted with the other stones. We will also need to check whether the alignments can still be seen today or if they are blocked by woods, traffic, and other features.

The Moon will align with the station stone rectangle twice a month from about February 2024 to November 2025, giving us plenty of opportunities to observe this phenomenon in different seasons and phases of the Moon.

To bring our research to life, English Heritage will livestream the southernmost Moonrise in June 2024 and host a series of events throughout the year, including talks, a pop-up planetarium, stargazing, and storytelling sessions.

Across the Atlantic, our partners at the US Forest Service are developing educational materials about the major lunar standstill at Chimney Rock National Monument. This collaboration will result in events showcasing and debating the lunar alignments at both Stonehenge and Chimney Rock.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Fabio Silva and Amanda Chadburn at Bournemouth University and Erica Ellingson at the University of Colorado Boulder. Read the original article here.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

29-04-2024 om 22:12 geschreven door peter  

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER A 10,000-YEAR-OLD MAN-MADE MEGASTRUCTURE UNDER THE BALTIC SEA

This might be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure.

BY STEPHANIE PIPER AND THE CONVERSATION

 

United Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure, submerged 21 meters below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. This structure – which has been named the Blinkerwall – is a continuous low wall made from over 1,500 granite stones that run for almost a kilometer. The evidence suggests it was constructed by Palaeolithic people between 11,700 and 9,900 years ago, probably as an aid for hunting reindeer.

The archaeologists investigating the Bay of Mecklenburg used a range of submarine equipment, sampling methods, and modeling techniques to reconstruct the ancient lake bed and its surrounding landscape. This revealed that the Blinkerwall stands on a ridge running east to west, with a 5km-wide lake basin a few meters below the ridge to the south.

The human, rather than natural, origin for the Blinkerwall was confirmed by an archaeological diving team who photographed sections of the wall. These show that it is made up of 288 very large boulders, which were probably dropped in that location by the retreating glacier, connected by 1,673 smaller stones.

These smaller stones appear to have been collected from the immediate vicinity, as the area just to the north of the wall has many fewer stones than the areas even further north. The resulting structure stands a little under a meter in height and up to two meters wide, with remarkable regularity over its 971-meter length.

A DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE

At the time of its construction, the landscapes and seascapes of northwest Europe were very different from today. The climate was beginning to warm as the colder Pleistocene era ended and the warmer Holocene era began. Sea levels were much lower, and large glaciers sat over much of Fennoscandia.

The land around the Baltic Sea basin rose rapidly, released from the weight of the retreating glaciers, and transformed into a brackish body of water known as the Yoldia Sea into freshwater Ancylus Lake. Great Britain was a peninsula of the European continental landmass, with a vast lowland plain known as Doggerland stretching from Norfolk to the Netherlands. Herds of reindeer, European bison, and wild horses migrated across its sparsely forested landscape.

In cultural terms, this period, known as the Late Upper Palaeolithic, is marked by significant hallmarks in technological innovation by the people who lived at this time. Dogs have recently been domesticated; there are regionally distinct forms of stone projectile points, and there is frequent use of decorated bone and antler harpoons, as well as specialist hunting strategies employed to target migrating prey.

The identification of the Blinkerwall now demonstrates that Palaeolithic hunters were managing their landscape to aid their hunting activities more deliberately than was previously thought.

The construction of walls and other features in the landscape is familiar to us, particularly in the context of land enclosure for farming. Both contemporary and ancient societies that have traditionally subsisted by hunting and gathering wild resources are also known to alter their environments by constructing features such as stone walls. These are used for a variety of purposes, including fishing, shellfishing, and hunting.

The researchers compared the Blinkerwall to other archaeologically documented structures of a similar length and construction type that have been identified in the Middle East, North America, Canada, and Greenland. These structures are interpreted as having been built for the purpose of game drive hunting. In this strategy, hunters use landscape and built features to gain an advantage over their prey by directing its movements to a location where they are more vulnerable to attack by other hunters.

The similarity of the Blinkerwall to these other structures, and its construction adjacent to a body of water, led to the suggestion that the wall had been created for the same purpose. The lake itself may also have been used in this strategy.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

One archaeological site from Germany that supports this interpretation is Stellmoor, located just north of Hamburg and which dates to the latest time that the Blinkerwall could have been constructed.

The site is located at the end of a narrow valley where thousands of reindeer bones – some bearing hunting impact traces, flint points, and even pinewood arrow shafts – were found preserved in the ancient lake sediments. The hunting evidence at Stellmoor shows the reindeer were shot by arrows as they were driven down the valley into the lake.

While there is no archaeological evidence at Stellmoor to suggest people had deliberately created or changed the landscape to enhance their hunting success, it shows how the topography of the landscape was used to the hunters’ advantage. The Blinkerwall construction provides evidence that Palaeolithic people took this level of planning and coordination a step further.

It shows they recognized and understood the instincts of their prey so well that they were able to predict their movements – and how they would react when faced with an artificially created obstacle like the Blinkerwall.

The discovery of this monumental piece of hunting architecture is unique in Europe. At a maximum of 11,700 years old, it is one of the oldest examples in the world, potentially predating a desert hunting “kite” at Jibal al-Gadiwiyt in Jordan by over a thousand years.

The Blinkerwall adds a new element to our understanding of the highly skilled and specialized hunting strategies engineered by people at the end of the last glacial period – strategies that have continued to be used in different landscapes for millennia. And the discoveries are unlikely to stop here.

The Bay of Mecklenburg has the potential to reveal further archaeological evidence of equal significance. The researchers do not rule out the possibility that another wall or other associated features could be found buried under later sedimentation of the ancient lake.

If weapons, tools, or animal remains were to be recovered at the site, this would reveal information about the nature and duration of their use – and far greater insights into the sophisticated subsistence strategies of the Palaeolithic hunters of the Baltic.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Stephanie Piper at University of York. Read the original article here.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

29-04-2024 om 22:02 geschreven door peter  

De mysterieuze stad die wetenschappers al jaren verbijstert

©Shutterstock

De mysterieuze stad die wetenschappers al jaren verbijstert

In een afgelegen gebied van de westelijke Stille Oceaan ligt een verbluffend en spookachtig onopgelost mysterie: de ruïnes van de oude stad Nan Madol. Gelegen naast de oostelijke oever van het Micronesische eiland Pohnpei, bestaat deze ooit zo grote, prehistorische stad uit bijna 100 geometrisch gevormde kunstmatige stenen eilanden, en het is de enige oude stad die bovenop een koraalrif is gebouwd.

Niemand is zeker van de oorsprong, noch waarom iemand een stad zou willen bouwen op deze desolate plek. Rond de ruïnes hangt een zweem van mysterie, legendes en spookverhalen. Klik verder en ontdek deze vreemde

©Shutterstock

Het Venetië van de Stille Oceaan
De ruïne bestaat uit 92 kunstmatige eilandjes gebouwd bovenop koraalriffen, die verbonden zijn door een netwerk van kanalen, waardoor het de bijnaam 'Venetië van de Stille Oceaan' heeft gekregen.

©Shutterstock

De betekenis van de echte naam
'Nan Madol' betekent 'de ruimte ertussen', wat verwijst naar de kanalen. Echter doet het ook een beroep op de geschiedenis van de stad en de reputatie van het huisvesten van geesten.

©Shutterstock

De hamvraag
Waarom zou iemand een stad bouwen in het midden van de oceaan, zo ver weg van een andere bekende beschaving?

©Shutterstock

Een ding is zeker
Het is een technisch wonder, volledig gebouwd van gigantische basaltplaten in een tijd waarin gereedschappen zoals we die kennen, nog niet bestonden.

©Shutterstock

Indrukwekkende schaal
De massieve basaltmuren zijn naar verluidt op sommige plaatsen 7,6 meter lang en 5 meter dik.

©Shutterstock

Megalithische architectuur
Koolstofdatering geeft aan dat sommige van de structuren ongeveer 900 jaar oud zijn, maar de eilandjes zelf dateren nog verder terug: naar de 8e en 9e eeuw n.Chr.

©Shutterstock

Mensen waren daar al eerder
Bewijs van de vroegste menselijke activiteit dateert volgens Atlas Obscura uit de eerste of tweede eeuw voor Christus. Er is weinig bekend over het oude ras dat het gebied bewoonde.

©Shutterstock

Waar komt al dat basalt vandaan?
De basaltstenen zijn naar verluidt afkomstig van de andere kant van Pohnpei, van een vulkanische plug waar magma was uitgehard in de opening van een actieve vulkaan.

©Shutterstock

Hoe werd het vervoerd?
Moderne archeologen hebben geen idee hoe de massieve stenen van de ene kant van Pohnpei naar de andere zijn verplaatst en vervolgens zo hoog zijn gestapeld, gezien de primitieve technologie die destijds beschikbaar zou zijn geweest.

©Shutterstock

Het wedijvert met het werk van de piramides
De inspanning die nodig was om de megalithische structuren te bouwen, zou die van de Egyptische piramides hebben geëvenaard, aangezien de rotsen een geschat totaal gewicht hadden van 750.000 ton.

©Shutterstock

Theorieën over transport
Experts hebben gesuggereerd dat vlotten kunnen zijn gebruikt om de enorme rotsen naar het rif te transporteren, maar hoe ze oorspronkelijk uit hun verre steengroeven werden getakeld of hoe ze tot die indrukwekkende structuren zijn gemaakt blijft tot op de dag van vandaag onduidelijk

©iStock

De locatie alleen al is verbijsterend
Waarom zou iemand een locatie zo ver van de bewoonde wereld kiezen, ergens op een koraalrif, om al die gigantische rotsen naar toe te slepen?

©Shutterstock

De vreemde eilandjes
De 92 eilandjes lijken erg op elkaar en zijn geometrisch gevormd, maar niemand weet waarom

©Shutterstock

Mythologie komt om de hoek kijken
Mythe vult de kloof, waar de wetenschap geen antwoord op weet. De Pohnpeiaanse legende zegt dat de stad werd gebouwd door twee tovenaarsbroers, Olisihpa en Olosohpa.

©Shutterstock

Een plek voor aanbidding
De broers wilden een plek om een altaar te bouwen zodat ze Nahnisohn Sahpw, de god van de landbouw, konden aanbidden, wat enigszins ironisch is omdat de eilanden niet geschikt zijn voor landbouw.

©Shutterstock

Hoe hebben ze de stenen verplaatst?
De legende zegt dat de broers rituelen uitvoerden en de hulp van een vliegende draak gebruikten om het massieve basalt te vervoeren, om daarmee de eilandjes van Nan Madol te creëren.

©Shutterstock

Natuurlijk waren zij de heersers van de stad
Olosohpa werd uiteindelijk de eerste Saudeleur en markeerde het begin van een dynastie die tot ongeveer 1628 over Nan Madol regeerde.

©Shutterstock

Tovenarij
De meeste inwoners van Pohnpei geloven naar verluidt nog steeds dat de oude stad het werk van tovenarij was, aangezien er geen andere levensvatbare theorie is opgedoken voor hoe mensen 750.000 ton basalt hebben verplaatst.

©Shutterstock

Een heilige plek
Hoe het ook is ontstaan, het wordt erkend als een heilige plaats gesticht door de Saudeleur-dynastie, die ooit werd bevolkt door stamhoofden en priesters, evenals gewone mensen om hen te dienen. Afgebeeld is het graf van de Saudeleur-dynastie.

©Shutterstock

Politieke zetel van macht
De Saudeleur-heersers gaven lokale stamhoofden het mandaat om in Nan Madol te verblijven, zodat ze hun activiteiten konden volgen en de controle konden behouden.

©Shutterstock

Verschillende toepassingen voor de eilandjes
Hoewel de meeste eilandjes woonwijken waren, waren sommige speciaal gewijd aan voedselbereiding, kokosolieproductie of kanobouw.

©iStock

Het had een vrij aanzienlijke populatie
Er wordt geschat dat de bevolking van Nan Madol meer dan 1.000 bedroeg in een tijd dat de hele bevolking van Pohnpei amper 25.000 bereikte.

©iStock

Geen eten of water
De onderworpen inwoners moesten voedsel en water naar de stad brengen, omdat er geen middelen waren om gewassen te verbouwen of zoet water op het rif op te slaan.

©Shutterstock

Een logistiek probleem om te overleven
Dit probleem heeft mogelijk geleid tot het verlaten van deze indrukwekkende stad.

©Shutterstock

Verschillende verhalen over hoe het eindigde
Er zijn veel verhalen over hoe het bewind van Saudeleur eindigde, maar ze schrijven het allemaal toe aan de legendarische krijger Isokelekel in de 15e eeuw, die naar verluidt een nieuw systeem van stamhoofddom implementeerde.

©Shutterstock

Het wordt soms 'de spookstad' genoemd
Het mysterie van de oorsprong en het doel van de oude stad heeft natuurlijk heel wat legendes geïnspireerd over geesten. Sommigen zijn bang om te bezoeken, terwijl anderen juist voor de paranormale ervaring gaan.

©Shutterstock

Geïnspireerde HP Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was een beroemde Amerikaanse schrijver wiens fictieve verzonken stad R'lyeh, te zien in zijn Cthulhu-mythos, blijkbaar was geïnspireerd door Nan Madol.

©Shutterstock

'Roep van Cthulhu'
Zijn korte verhaal vermeldt het echte eiland Pohnpei en gebruikt de mythologie van Nan Madol in zijn beschrijving van 'De nachtmerrieachtige lijkstad van R'lyeh', die 'in onmetelijke eeuwen achter de geschiedenis werd gebouwd'.

©Shutterstock

Het wordt nog maar net als 'beschermd gebied' behandeld
In 2016 werd Nan Madol toegevoegd aan de lijst van UNESCO-werelderfgoederen.

©Shutterstock

Maar het wordt ook bedreigd
De ruïnes worden bedreigd door klimaatverandering, stijgende zeespiegels, oprukkende mangroven en het temperamentvolle weer in de Stille Oceaan, waardoor het ook een plaats krijgt op de Werelderfgoedlijst van bedreigde plekken.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/feed?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=u531 }

25-04-2024 om 21:39 geschreven door peter  

1.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Ukraine Document Earliest Hominin Occupation of Europe

by Sergio Prostak

 

Archaeologists have dated an assemblage of ancient stone tools excavated from the archaeological site of Korolevo on the Tysa River in western Ukraine at 1.42 million years old. As such, these artifacts — which are associated with Homo erectus — provide the earliest evidence of hominins in Europe and support the hypothesis that the continent was colonized from the east.

A stone tool from Korolevo I, Ukraine.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

“To the east of Europe stands the key site of Dmanisi, Georgia, where layers containing hominin skull remains and stone tools are dated securely to around 1.85-1.78 million years,” said first author Dr. Roman Garba, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology and the Nuclear Physics Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues.

“A trail from Africa to Dmanisi via the Levantine corridor accords with the Mode-1 stone artifacts documented in Jordan’s Zarqa Valley, as early as around 2.5 million years ago.

“The earliest precisely dated evidence of humans in Europe occurs at two southwestern sites: Atapuerca, Spain, where the oldest human fossils at Sima del Elefante are reported at around 1.2-1.1 million years; and Vallonnet Cave, southern France, where stone artifacts are constrained to around 1.2-1.1 million years.”

“However, the vast spatial and temporal gap that separates the Caucasus and southwestern Europe leaves key aspects of the first human dispersal into Europe largely unresolved.”

The Korolevo site was first discovered by the Ukrainian archaeologist Vladyslav Gladylin in 1974.

It lies close to where the Tysa River — a tributary of the Danube — leaves the eastern Carpathian Mountains and spreads southwestward across the Pannonian Plain.

“We know that the layer of accumulated loess and paleosol here is up to 14 m deep and contains thousands of stone artifacts. Korolevo was an important source of raw material for their production,” said co-author Dr. Vitalii Usyk, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

“We identified seven periods of human occupation in the stratigraphic layers, although at least nine different Paleolithic cultures were recorded at the locality: hominins lived here from 1.4 million years ago to about 30,000 years ago.”

Selected stone tools from Korolevo I, Ukraine: (a) chopper core; (b) flake with bifacial treatment; (c) multi-platform core; (d) Kombewa flake; (e) flake with parallel scar pattern. Scale bars – 3 cm.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

The Korolevo stone tools were made in the Oldowan style, the most primitive form of tool-making.

“We applied two complementary dating approaches to calculate the age from the measured concentrations of cosmogenic beryllium-10 and aluminum-26,” said senior author Dr. John Jansen, a researcher with the Institute of Geophysics at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

“But the most precise age came from our own method based on mathematical modeling, known as P-PINI.”

“This study is the first time our new dating approach has been applied in archaeology.”

“I expect our new dating approach will have a major impact on archaeology because it can be applied to sedimentary deposits that are highly fragmented, meaning there are lots of erosional gaps.”

“In archaeology we nearly always find fragmented records, whereas the traditional long-range dating method, magnetostratigraphy, relies on more continuous records.”

First peopling of Europe: (a) archaeological sites and dispersal routes noted in the text; the maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheets is indicated with gray dashes; blue arrows indicate possible early human dispersal routes; (b) Korolevo I, Gostry Verkh, viewed from the Beyvar hill with excavation XIII (red box), Ukraine.

Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

According to the team, the Korolevo site is the northernmost known presence of Homo erectus.

“The radiometric dating of the first human presence at the Korolevo site not only fills in a large spatial gap between the Dmanisi site and the Atapuerca site, but also confirms the hypothesis that the first pulse of hominin dispersal into Europe came from the east or southeast,” Dr. Garba said.

“Based on a climate model and field pollen data, we have identified three possible interglacial warm periods when the first hominins could have reached Korolevo following most likely the Danube River migration corridor.”

• A paper on the findings was published in the journal Nature.
• R. Garba et al. East-to-west human dispersal into Europe 1.4 million years ago. Nature, published online March 6, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

08-03-2024 om 17:01 geschreven door peter  

Ancient texts and archaeological findings offer compelling evidence of giants once roaming the earth, while some argue that there were no Nephilim or giants in Antarctica due to a lack of research.

It's not only conceivable that giants inhabited Antarctica before the continent separated from ancient Gondwana and shifted to its current polar position, rendering it inhospitable but that evidence by discoveries, such as giant bones and skulls, may have already been made but kept secret. 

By using Google Earth going back to satellite imagery from 2004 it shows a remarkable image what appears to be a giant skull. Moreover, the presence of what looks like a person photographing the skull and surrounding tracks and equipment hints at an exciting discovery. 

Despite the fact that it is said that giants never inhabited Antarctica at the time, the imagery of the alleged giant skull seem to prove the opposite in such a way that it warrants further investigation and challenges established beliefs about the history of the continent. 

Google Earth coordinates: 66°37'31.61"S 110°15'8.42"E

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

28-02-2024 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

A team including University of Wyoming anthropologists works at the site of a circular plaza that was built around 4,750 years ago in the Cajamarca Basin of northern Peru.

CREDIT: Jason Toohey.

While no inscriptions describing the intended function of the ancient megalithic structure have been found at the site, the researchers say that they have retrieved many clues as to its purpose and origin.

“It was probably a gathering place and ceremonial location for some of the earliest people living in this part of the Cajamarca Valley,” explained Toohey. “These people were living a primarily hunting-and-gathering lifestyle and probably had only recently begun growing crops and domesticating animals.”

A biological anthropologist specializing in bioarchaeology who has been working in the area since 2003, Toohey was joined by fellow project leader Patricia Chirinos Ogata from the University of California-Santa Barbara as well as fellow UW staffer Professor Melissa Murphy. Together, the researchers have been working to reconstruct Peru’s ancient past while also collaborating with local authorities to preserve the history of the indigenous peoples.

University of Wyoming Associate Professor Jason Toohey stands at the Callacpuma archaeological site in the Andes.

CREDIT: Sarah Stagg

“As part of our community outreach, we collaborate and work with the residents of the towns on and adjacent to the site of Callacpuma about our findings and their importance,” Toohey says. “We highlight the importance of cultural heritage and, working together, we can continue the scientific investigations and help to preserve the site.”

A detailed accounting of the team’s findings and methods is published in the journal Science Advances under the title: ‘A monumental stone plaza at 4750 B.P. in the Cajamarca Valley of Peru.’

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org
  

Plan of the circular plaza and its construction.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

One of the entrances to the plaza.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

Detailed example of the stratigraphic layer from which the dated samples were collected.

Credit: Toohey et al., Science Advances (2024)

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

21-02-2024 om 22:02 geschreven door peter  

Stone Age Hunting Megastructure Discovered in Baltic Sea

 by Sergio Prostak

A team of archaeologists from Germany has discovered a submerged Stone Age megastructure in the Western Baltic Sea at a water depth of about 21 m. The structure was likely constructed by hunter-gatherer groups more than 10,000 years ago and ultimately drowned around 8,500 years ago; since then, it remained hidden at the seafloor, leading to a pristine preservation that will inspire research on the lifestyle and territorial development in the larger area.

An artist’s reconstruction of the Blinkerwall in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany.

Image credit: Michał Grabowski.

The Stone Age megastructure was discovered in the Bay of Mecklenburg, about 10 km northwest off Rerik, Germany.

The stonewall is made of 1,673 individual stones which are usually less than 1 m in height, placed side by side over a distance of 971 m in a way that argues against a natural origin by glacial transport or ice push ridges.

Dubbed Blinkerwall, it was built by hunter-gatherers that roamed the region after the retreat of the Weichselian Ice Sheet.

Enlarge / Morphology of the southwest–northeast trending ridge that hosts the Blinkerwall and the adjacent mound.

Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleolake (or bog), whose youngest phase was dated to 9,143 years ago, the structure was likely used for hunting the Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

“At the time, the entire population across northern Europe was likely below 5,000 people,” said Dr. Marcel Bradtmöller, a researcher at the University of Rostock.

“One of their main food sources were herds of reindeer, which migrated seasonally through the sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscape.”

“The wall was probably used to guide the reindeer into a bottleneck between the adjacent lakeshore and the wall, or even into the lake, where the Stone Age hunters could kill them more easily with their weapons.”

Morphology of the southwest-northeast trending ridge that hosts the Blinkerwall and the adjacent mound.

Image credit: Geersen et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

The Blinkerwall represents one of the oldest documented man-made hunting structures on Earth, and ranges among the largest known Stone Age structure in Europe.

“Our investigations indicate that a natural origin of the underwater stonewall as well as a construction in modern times, for instance in connection with submarine cable laying or stone harvesting are not very likely,” said Dr. Jacob Geersen, also from the University of Rostock.

“The methodical arrangement of the many small stones that connect the large, non-moveable boulders, speaks against this.”

Using modern geophysical methods, the researchers created a detailed 3D model of the Blinkerwall and reconstructed the ancient landscape.

The site was also visited and inspected by a team of scientific divers from Rostock University and the State Authority for Culture and Monuments in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania on one occasion.

The dives primarily aimed at assessing the nature of the stonewall and to survey the surrounding seabed for the presence of possible archeological artifacts.

They concentrated on two locations, namely the western end of the structure and a large stone in the center where the Blinkerwall changes direction.

While neither artifacts or dateable organic material was found in the immediate vicinity of the two dive locations, a small timber sample was retrieved from the Holocene sediments about 10 m to the south of the structure.

3D model of a section of the Blinkerwall adjacent to the large boulder at the western end of the wall. Photographs were taken by Philipp Hoy, Rostock University. The scale bar at the top-right edge of the image is 50 cm.

Image credit: Geersen et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

“Although numerous well-preserved archaeological sites from the Stone Age are known from the Bay of Wismar and along the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, these are located in much shallower water depths and mostly date to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (7,000-2,500 BCE),” said Dr. Jens Auer, a researcher at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation.

“We have evidence for the existence of comparable stonewalls at other locations in the Mecklenburg Bight. These will be systematically investigated as well,” added Dr. Jens Schneider von Deimling, a researcher at Kiel University.

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

19-02-2024 om 23:27 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Zeleb.es 

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Een heel diep gat in China
Het Tarim-bekken in de olierijke autonome regio Xinjiang Uygur is door China gekozen als locatie om een gat van 10.000 meter diep te graven. De vraag is, met welk doel?

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De kern van de aarde
China heeft al decennia lang een grote interesse in het verkennen van de aardkorst. Het lijkt erop dat ze nu klaar zijn om hun onderzoek naar de aardkorst te intensiveren door zo diep mogelijk te boren.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Een stap verder
In feite heeft de Aziatische reus al jaren het binnenste van de aarde verkend, maar met dit gat willen ze plekken verkennen waar nog nooit iemand is geweest.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: China Xinhua News @XHNews / X

Mineralen en energiebronnen
Volgens China Daily is het primaire doel om mineralen of energiebronnen te ontdekken die kunnen bijdragen aan de verbetering van de economie van het land.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Preventie van natuurrampen
De Chinese president Xi Jinping meldde in 2021 dat dit megaproject ook zal dienen om toekomstige natuurrampen zoals vulkaanuitbarstingen of aardbevingen te beoordelen en mogelijk te voorkomen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

10 geologische lagen
Om dit te bewerkstelligen werd het plan gemaakt om de diepste put in de geschiedenis van China te boren. Volgens Bloomberg zal een smalle boorput doordringen tot 10 verschillende geologische lagen in de continentale korst.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Op zoek naar het verre verleden
Het doel is om het systeem krijt in de aardkorst te bereiken. Het door de staat gerunde persbureau Xinhua meldt dat ze rotsen verwachten tegen te komen van meer dan 145 miljoen jaar oud.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: China Xinhua News @XHNews / X

Kolossale machines
Om dit project uit te voeren, zal China een booreiland van 2.000 ton gebruiken met hightech boorbits en boorpijp, meldt Interesting Engineering.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: China Xinhua News @XHNews / X

Problemen met het milieu
Volgens Xinhua ligt het gekozen gebied voor deze bijna oneindige put in het stroomgebied van de Tarim-rivier en grenst het aan de Taklamakan-woestijn. Dit zal vanwege het zeer droge klimaat voor uitdagingen zorgen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: China Xinhua News @XHNews / X

Zee, bergen en woestijngebied
Dit is een gebied met een zeer uitdagend landschap. Bovendien zijn er ongunstige ondergrondse omstandigheden. Dit zal het boren nog complexer maken.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Wat als ze 11.000 meter bereiken?
Desondanks kan de boorinstallatie die voor de put wordt gebruikt een diepte bereiken van 11.000 meter. Het is dus niet uitgesloten dat de put uiteindelijk dieper zal worden dan aangekondigd.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: China Xinhua News @XHNews / X

Voorbereidingen van het complexe project
Op dit moment bereidt het team dat verantwoordelijk is voor dit complexe project de werkzaamheden voor. Dit zodat ze op een later moment met de opgraving kunnen beginnen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Voorzorgsmaatregelen
De risico's, gevaren en complexiteit van zo'n missie rechtvaardigen het nemen van alle mogelijke voorzorgsmaatregelen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Een ongekend project
"Volgens Sun Jinsheng, een onderzoeker aan de Chinese Academy of Engineering, is de moeilijkheidsgraad van het project vergelijkbaar met het besturen van een grote vrachtwagen op twee dunne staalkabels," meldde de Economic Times.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: Шелковников Евгений Анатольевич / Wikimedia

Niet het diepste gat op aarde
Ondanks het 10.000 meter diepe Chinese gat, is Kola Superdeep nog steeds de diepste put ter wereld. Dit is een Russische put die tussen 1970 en 1992 door de Sovjet-Unie is geboord.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

12.262 meter
Het wordt ook wel SG-3 genoemd en bevindt zich op het Kola-schiereiland in het Pechengsky-gebied. Het gat is 12.262 meter diep.

 { https://thedailydigest.com/ }

13-02-2024 om 01:21 geschreven door peter  

Het had niet veel gescheeld of er waren helemaal geen mensen geweest. Er was een punt in de geschiedenis waarop er amper 1300 vruchtbare menselijke voorouders waren. Samen hielden zij de populatie maar liefst 117.000 jaar in stand, blijkt uit een nieuwe methode om de bevolkingsomvang te meten.

Er was altijd een onverklaarbare periode waarin er op de wereld nauwelijks fossielen zijn gevonden van oermensen. Konden we ze simpelweg niet vinden of waren ze er niet? Dat laatste lijkt waar, althans volgens de nieuwe FitCoal-methode van een internationaal team van wetenschappers uit China, Italië en de VS. FitCoal staat voor fast infinitesimal time coalescent process. Daarmee konden de onderzoekers de opeenstapeling van rekenfouten omzeilen die gewoonlijk gepaard gaat met het berekenen van de omvang van populaties in het verleden.

Knappe overlevers
De wetenschappers gebruikten genoomsequenties van 3154 hedendaagse mensen. Het lukte hen om daaruit demografische conclusies te trekken over onze verre voorouders. En wat bleek: de voorlopers van de mensen maakten in het Vroege Pleistoceen een langdurige en extreme bottleneck door waarin zo’n 1280 zich voortplantende oermensen de populatie 117.000 jaar in stand hielden.

“Dat FitCoal deze enorme bottleneck met slechts een paar sequenties heeft kunnen vaststellen, is echt een doorbraak”, vertelt onderzoeker Yun-Xin Fu, geneticus aan de University of Texas. Uit de resultaten van het onderzoek naar de hedendaagse genoomsequenties bleek dat onze vroege voorouders een extreem verlies aan mensenlevens doormaakten en daardoor flink inboetten aan genetische diversiteit.

Gat in fossiele data
“Het gat in de Afrikaanse en Euraziatische fossiele gegevens kan worden verklaard door deze bottleneck in de Vroege Steentijd. Die valt samen met de eerder vastgestelde periode waarin weinig fossiel bewijs is gevonden”, zegt medeonderzoeker Giorgio Manzi, antropoloog aan de Sapienza University van Rome. Dat de mensheid in die tijd bijna was uitgestorven, komt waarschijnlijk vooral door klimaatverandering. Een ijstijd zorgde voor afkoeling, extreme droogte en het uitsterven van andere soorten, die waarschijnlijk door de vroege mensen werden gegeten.

Het is bizar hoeveel gevolgen dat bijna einde van de mensheid nu nog heeft. Naar schatting ging zo’n twee derde van de toenmalige genetische diversiteit verloren door deze bottleneck. De langdurige periode waarin er slechts een handje vol mensen was dat zich wist voort te planten, bedreigde dan ook de mensheid zoals we die nu kennen.

Nieuwe soorten
Daar staat tegenover dat die bottleneck ook lijkt te hebben bijgedragen aan nieuwe soortvorming waarbij twee oude chromosomen zijn samengekomen en chromosoom 2 vormden, die we nu bij mensen aantreffen. Daarmee is mogelijk de laatste gemeenschappelijke voorouder ontdekt van de Denisovans, Neanderthalers en moderne mensen.

Maar daarmee is nog lang niet alles gezegd. “Deze conclusie leidt tot een nieuwe richting in de menselijke evolutie, omdat hij vele vragen oproept, zoals waar deze mensen leefden, hoe ze de catastrofale klimaatverandering overleefden en of natuurlijke selectie tijdens de bottleneck de ontwikkeling van de hersenen heeft versneld”, legt onderzoeker Yi-Hsuan Pan uit van de East China Normal University (ECNU).

Nog maar het begin
Nu het erop lijkt dat de mensheid bijna was uitgestorven tussen 930.000 en 813.000 jaar geleden, gaan de onderzoekers hard op zoek naar antwoord op deze vragen om te achterhalen hoe het kan dat zo’n piepkleine groep mensen wist te blijven bestaan in zulke moeilijke omstandigheden. Dat de populatie daarna juist weer extreem snel wist te groeien, is veel gemakkelijker te verklaren: waarschijnlijk kwam dat doordat de mens het vuur onder controle kreeg en het klimaat weer wat aangenamer werd.

“Deze conclusies zijn nog maar het begin. We willen nu een completer beeld krijgen van de menselijke evolutie tijdens deze overgangsperiode in het Vroege tot Midden-Pleistoceen. Daarmee kunnen we het mysterie dat de vroege menselijke evolutie nog steeds is, verder ontrafelen”, aldus onderzoeker Li Haipeng, geneticus aan onder meer de Chinese Academy of Sciences (SINH-CAS).

Bronmateriaal

• "Genomic inference of a severe human bottleneck during the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition" - Science
  
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, CAS

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

06-02-2024 om 00:14 geschreven door peter  

Hoe veel verschillen wij van eerdere mensensoorten?

©Getty Images

Hoe veel verschillen wij van eerdere mensensoorten?
Gefeliciteerd Homo sapiens! We zijn erin geslaagd om niet uit te sterven en hebben het goed gedaan, in tegenstelling tot andere archaïsche mensensoorten. In tegenstelling tot wat vaak wordt gedacht, verliep onze evolutie niet lineair. In feite leefden er in dezelfde periode andere mensensoorten naast ons. Wij Homo sapiens vermengden ons zelfs met sommigen van hen. Toch waren wij uiteindelijk de enige overlevenden.

Maar wat onderscheidt deze vroege mensensoorten van ons? Klik door de galerij om meer te ontdekken.

©Getty Images

Australopithecus afarensis
Het geslacht Australopithecus is een bekende voorouder van de moderne mens. Onder hen werd de soort Australopithecus afarensis beroemd toen Lucy werd ontdekt, een skelet dat werd gevonden in 1974. (afbeelding).

©Getty Images

Australopithecus afarensis
De Australopithecus afarensis leefde ongeveer 3 tot 3,7 miljoen jaar geleden in Oost-Afrika. Ze hadden een tenger postuur en kleine hersenen. Hun lengte varieerde van 96 cm tot 165 cm en hun gewicht van 25-64 kg.

©Getty Images

Australopithecus afarensis
Fossielen van de Australopithecus afarensis werden ontdekt in Kenia, Ethiopië en Tanzania. Deze soort was voornamelijk vegetariër.

©Getty Images

Homo habilis
De Homo habilis, de vroegste mensensoort die tot het geslacht "homo" behoort, stamt af van de Australopithecus. De Homo habilis kwam voor in Zuid- en Oost-Afrika en leefde ongeveer 1,4 tot 2,3 miljoen jaar geleden.

©Getty Images

Homo habilis
Vergeleken met de Australopithecus zagen ze er meer gepolijst en gebogen uit, maar toch bleven ze kleiner dan de huidige mens, met een gemiddeld gewicht van ongeveer 34 kg.

©Getty Images

Homo habilis
In tegenstelling tot hun voorgangers at de Homo habilis vlees. Ze kregen erkenning voor hun vaardigheden in het maken van gereedschap, waardoor ze hun naam kregen. Het betekent letterlijk "handige mens".

©Getty Images

Homo rudolfensis
Er werd slechts één schedel opgegraven in het Turkana-bekken in Kenia, en later een onderkaak in Malawi, beide zeldzame fossielen van deze oude mensensoort. De gevonden schedel levert het bewijs van grotere hersenen vergeleken met de Homo habilis.

©Getty Images

Homo rudolfensis
Er is nog steeds een wetenschappelijke discussie gaande over de classificatie van Homo rudolfensis binnen het homo genus. Sommigen beweren dat het een Australopithecus met grotere hersenen kan zijn geweest. Deze soort bestond ongeveer 1,7 miljoen jaar geleden en viel samen met Homo habilis en Homo erectus.

©Getty Images

Homo erectus
In tegenstelling tot het vorige voorbeeld zijn er veel fossielen van de Homo erectus, die dateren van 110.000 tot 1,89 miljoen jaar geleden. De Homo erectus was de mensensoort die het langst overleefde!

©Getty Images

Homo erectus
Ze hadden een groter lichaam en kleinere tanden dan de Homo habilis en leken meer op de moderne mens. Ze hadden echter langere benen en kortere armen dan wij.

©Getty Images

Homo erectus
De Homo erectus, die ongeveer 68 kg woog, was ongeveer net zo groot als wij en was tussen de 150 cm en 180 cm. Ze waren de eerste mens die zich buiten Afrika waagden.

©Getty Images

Homo ergaster
De Homo ergaster bewoonde Oost- en Zuidelijk Afrika van 1,4 tot 1,9 miljoen jaar geleden. Net als bij de Homo rudolfensis is er een voortdurende wetenschappelijke discussie gaande over de vraag of de Homo ergaster een aparte soort is of een ondersoort van de Homo erectus.

©Getty Images

Homo ergaster
Homo ergaster en Homo erectus leefden in dezelfde periode naast elkaar op aarde. De Homo ergaster had een magerder postuur dan de Homo erectus, maar ze aten hetzelfde, hadden dezelfde levensstijl en gebruikten allebei gereedschap.

©Getty Images

Homo floresiensis
De Homo floresiensis werd in 2003 door wetenschappers gevonden in de Liang Bua-grot op het eiland Flores, in Indonesië. Aangenomen wordt dat deze oude mensensoort ongeveer 50.000 tot 100.000 jaar geleden bestond.

©Getty Images

Homo floresiensis
Ze waren veel kleiner dan de huidige mens, maar toch waren het bekwame jagers. Archeologen ontdekten jachtgereedschap dat werd gebruikt om een uitgestorven olifantensoort, de stegodon, te vangen. Onderzoekers suggereren dat deze mensen, waarvan wordt aangenomen dat ze afstammen van de Homo erectus, zich hebben aangepast aan het leven op een eiland door tot dwergen te evolueren.

©Getty Images

Homo heidelbergensis
De Homo heidelbergensis bewoonde verschillende gebieden over de hele wereld van 200.000 tot 600.000 jaar geleden. Fossielen suggereren dat ze oostelijk en zuidelijk Afrika, Europa en mogelijk China hebben verkend.

©Getty Images

Homo heidelbergensis
Zij waren de eerste mensensoort die in staat was om in koudere omgevingen te leven. Ze hadden dan ook aanleg voor het maken van vuur, het ontdekken en bouwen van schuilplaatsen en het maken van gereedschap en wapens zoals speren.

©Getty Images

Homo antecessor
De eerste fossielen van de Homo antecessor werden tussen 1994 en 1996 opgegraven in Atapuerca, Spanje. Deskundigen hebben hun leeftijd vastgesteld op 800.000 tot 1,2 miljoen jaar.

©Getty Images

Homo antecessor
De Homo antecessor vertoonde, in tegenstelling tot andere voorouders, overeenkomsten met de moderne mens, zoals hun gezichtsstructuur en jachtgewoonten.

©Getty Images

Homo naledi
In 2015 werden in het grottenstelsel van Rising Star in Zuid-Afrika in totaal 1.550 fossielen ontdekt. Deze fossielen behoorden toe aan een soort die bekend staat als Homo naledi. Wetenschappers schatten dat deze soort tussen 236.000 en 335.000 jaar geleden bestond.

©Getty Images

Homo naledi
Ze hadden kenmerken die leken op die van Australopithecus en mensen, met kleine hoofden en hersenen die leken op die van ons.

©Getty Images

Homo neanderthalensis
De Neanderthalers, mogelijk de bekendste oude mensensoort, leefden ongeveer 24.000 tot 200.000 jaar igeleden. Ze worden vaak afgeschilderd als "holbewoners" en er wordt aangenomen dat ze de meest verwante uitgestorven voorouders van onze soort zijn.

©Getty Images

Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthalers waren kleiner dan de moderne mens, maar ze hadden een sterk postuur. Ze woonden in Eurazië tijdens de ijstijden en pasten zich aan het koude klimaat aan. Neanderthalers blonken uit in het maken van geavanceerde wapens, gereedschappen, kleding en het bouwen van schuilplaatsen.

©Getty Images

Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthalers waren niet alleen intelligenter dan andere soorten, maar ze hadden ook grotere hersenen. Bovendien vertoonden ze culturele uitingen zoals rituele begrafenissen, kunst en muziekinstrumenten.

©Getty Images

Homo neanderthalensis
Hoewel de Neanderthalers uitgestorven zijn, bestaat hun genetisch materiaal nog steeds bij moderne niet-Afrikaanse mensen door kruisingen.

©Getty Images

Denisovamens
In 2010 werden de overblijfselen van deze bijzondere mensensoort ontdekt in een Siberische grot. Er wordt geschat dat ze ongeveer 400.000 jaar geleden leefden.

©Getty Images

Denisovamens
Er wordt gedacht dat de Denisovamens zich van de Neanderthalers hebben afgescheiden en niet naar Europa, maar naar Azië zijn gemigreerd. Ze vermengden zich ook met de huidige mens en zijn mogelijk de laatste archaïsche mensensoort die uitstierf.

©Getty Images

Homo longi
In 1933 werd in Harbin, in het noordoosten van China, een schedel ontdekt. Deze schedel, die bekend staat als de "Drakenman", was groter dan de moderne mens en had duidelijke kenmerken zoals vierkante oogkassen en prominente wenkbrauwranden.

©Getty Images

Homo longi
In 2021 erkenden wetenschappers het uiteindelijk als een afzonderlijke mensensoort. Het fossiel wordt geschat op ongeveer 146.000 jaar oud. De classificatie van Homo longi als soort is echter nog steeds omstreden, waarbij sommige wetenschappers suggereren dat hij tot de Denisovamens behoort.

Bronnen:

• (Grunge)

{ http://starsinsider.com/ }

31-01-2024 om 17:38 geschreven door peter  

Fossil of Giant Triassic Amphibian Unearthed in Brazil

by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of temnospondyl amphibian has been described by a team of paleontologists from the Universidade Federal do Pampa, the Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco, Princeton University and Harvard University.

An artist’s impression of Kwatisuchus rosai.

Image credit: Márcio Castro.

The newly-identified temnospondyl species roamed our planet during the Early Triassic epoch, some 249 million years ago.

Named Kwatisuchus rosai, the ancient animal was approximately 1.5 m (4.9 feet) in length.

It belonged to Benthosuchidae, a small group of giant crocodile-like amphibians that lived during the Triassic.

These creatures were primarily aquatic, living in rivers and lakes. They were up to 2.5 m (8.2 feet) in length and have no direct living relatives.

“Kwatisuchus rosai can be confidently assigned to the Benthosuchidae, a stereospondyl clade with a distribution previously restricted to the East European Platform,” said Universidade Federal do Pampa paleontologist Felipe Pinheiro and his colelagues.

“Phylogenetic analysis confirms the relationship of the new genus to the trematosaurian lineage, being closely related to the genus Benthosuchus.”

The skull of Kwatisuchus rosai.

Image credit: Felipe Pinheiro.

The fossilized skull of Kwatisuchus rosai was found in August 2022 in the Sanga do Cabral Formation, a sedimentary rock formation found in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

“Kwatisuchus rosai was a survivor,” said Dr. Pinheiro, led author of a paper published in The Anatomical Record.

“It lived in an environment devastated by the greatest mass extinction in the history of the planet.”

“Since they were animals adapted to conditions of high environmental stress, temnospondyl amphibians became abundant throughout the world.”

“They help us understand how extinctions affected the planet and how we can understand their effects today.”

“This was the most diverse group of primitive tetrapods, recorded on every continent on Earth,” said Dr. Estevan Eltink, a paleontologist at the Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco.

“Temnospondyls survived the greatest mass extinction of all time.”

“They have a broad record across geological periods, and had several pulses of irradiation over the millions of years of their existence.”

• Felipe L. Pinheiro et al. Interrelationships among Early Triassic faunas of Western Gondwana and Laurasia as illuminated by a new South American benthosuchid temnospondyl. The Anatomical Record, published online January 19, 2024; doi: 10.1002/ar.25384

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

27-01-2024 om 21:58 geschreven door peter