Fossil and Archaeology News

Ferns took to the trees and thrived

Friday, July 03, 2009 00:00 MST

As flowering plants like giant trees quickly rose to dominate plant communities during the Cretaceous period, the ferns that had preceded them hardly saw it as a disappointment.

New fossil primate suggests common Asian ancestor, challenges primates such as 'Ida'

Thursday, July 02, 2009 00:00 MST

A new fossil primate from Myanmar suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe

Dino tooth sheds new light on ancient riddle

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 00:00 MST

Scientists discover major group of dinosaurs had unique way of eating unlike anything alive today

New fossil tells how piranhas got their teeth

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 00:00 MST

Previously unknown fossil fish bridges the evolutionary gap between flesh-eating piranhas and their plant-eating cousins

Showcasing the secrets of Caistor Roman town

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 00:00 MST

In December 2007 a team of experts, led by the University of Nottingham, unveiled an extraordinary set of high-resolution images that gave an insight into the plan of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St. Edmund in Norfolk.

New research shows dinosaurs may have been smaller than we thought

Sunday, June 28, 2009 00:00 MST

For millions of years, dinosaurs have been considered the largest creatures ever to walk on land. While they still maintain this status, a new study suggests that some dinosaurs may actually have weighed as little as half as much as previously thought.

Study describes evidence of world's oldest known granaries

Saturday, June 27, 2009 00:00 MST

A new study co-authored by Ian Kuijt, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, describes recent excavations in Jordan that reveal evidence of the world's oldest known granaries.

54-million-year-old skull reveals early evolution of primate brains

Friday, June 26, 2009 00:00 MST

Researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Winnipeg have developed the first detailed images of a primitive primate brain, unexpectedly revealing that cousins of our earliest ancestors relied on smell more than sight.

Underground cave dating from the year 1 A.D. exposed in Jordan Valley

Thursday, June 25, 2009 00:00 MST

An artificial underground cave, the largest in Israel, has been exposed in the Jordan Valley in the course of a survey carried out by the University of Haifa. Professor Adam Zertal, who headed the excavating team, reckons that this cave was originally a large quarry during the Roman and Byzantine era and was one of its kind. Various engravings were uncovered in the cave, including cross markings, and it is assumed that this could have been an early monastery.

Obsidian 'trail' provides clues to how humans settled, interacted in Kuril Islands

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 00:00 MST

Archaeologists have used stone tools to answer many questions about human ancestors in both the distant and near past and now they are analyzing the origin of obsidian flakes to better understand how people settled and interacted in the inhospitable Kuril Islands.

Largest carnivorous dinosaur tooth in Spain described

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 00:00 MST

Researchers from the Teruel-Din�polis Joint Palaeontology Foundation have compared an Allosauroidea tooth found in deposits in Riodeva, Teruel, with other similar samples. The palaeontologists have concluded that this is the largest tooth of a carnivorous dinosaur to have been found to date in Spain.

Dino-not-so-soaring

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 00:00 MST

The largest animals ever to have walked the face of the Earth may not have been as big as previously thought, reveals a paper published today in the Zoological Society of London's Journal of Zoology.

Humans related to orangutans, not chimps, says new Pitt, Buffalo Museum of Science study

Monday, June 22, 2009 00:00 MST

New evidence underscores the theory of human origin that suggests humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science. Reporting in the June 18 edition of the Journal of Biogeography, the researchers reject as "problematic" the popular suggestion, based on DNA analysis, that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, which they maintain is not supported by fossil evidence.

CARTA to digitize extensive primate collection this summer

Saturday, June 20, 2009 00:00 MST

To help trace the origins of the human species, and potential links to other primates, researchers with the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny -- a joint organized research unit of the University of California, San Diego, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies -- will begin digitizing and examining skeletal specimens and related medical records this summer from more than two dozen chimpanzees.

New discovery suggests mammoths survived in Britain until 14,000 years ago

Friday, June 19, 2009 00:00 MST

Research which finally proves that bones found in Shropshire, England, provide the most geologically recent evidence of woolly mammoths in Northwestern Europe publishes today in the Geological Journal. Analysis of both the bones and the surrounding environment suggests that some mammoths remained part of British wildlife long after they are conventionally believed to have become extinct.