Latest Pleistocene Stories
The ice ages made massive changes to the Earth's landscapeThe ice ages made massive changes to the Earth's landscape. But what was happening below the ice in the oceans? Research by marine scientists reveals that it was a time of mass destruction as whole communities of animals were wiped out by ice sheets scouring the sea floor. In the past it has been thought that these ecosystems somehow dodged extinction by recolonising from nearby habitats that escaped obliteration. But researchers at...
LONDONÂ -- Australian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered more remains of hobbit-sized humans which belong to a previously unknown species that lived at the end of the last Ice Age.Professor Mike Morwood, of the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia, stunned the science world last year when he and his team announced the discovery of 18,000-year-old remains of a new human species called Homo floresiensis.The partial skeleton discovered in a limestone cave on the...
By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - Did Neanderthals and the first ancestors of modern man ever meet? The argument has raged among archaeologists and paleontologists for decades. Now a group of scientists claim to have proof -- based on radiocarbon dating of artefact finds in France -- that the two distinct groups did indeed share the same space at the same time some 38,000 years ago. "These data strongly support the chronological coexistence -- and therefore potential demographic and...
Aug. 18, 2005 "” Those high-tech, air-filled, light-as-a-feather sneakers on your feet are a far cry from the leather slabs our ancestors wore for protection and support. Those high-tech, air-filled, light-as-a-feather sneakers on your feet are a far cry from the leather slabs our ancestors wore for protection and support. But believe it or not, our modern day Nikes and Reeboks are direct descendents of the first supportive footwear that new research suggests came into use in western...
Those high-tech, air-filled, light-as-a-feather sneakers on your feet are a far cry from the leather slabs our ancestors wore for protection and support. But believe it or not, our modern day Nikes and Reeboks are direct descendents of the first supportive footwear that new research suggests came into use in western Eurasia between 26,000 and 30,000 years ago. Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Physical Anthropology, derived those dates by analyzing anatomical...
A Penn State researcher is part of the team that developed techniques that have generated insights into dietary divergences between some of our human ancestors, allowing scientists to better understand the evolutionary path that led to the modern-day diets that humans consume. "Our new techniques are allowing us to get beyond simple dichotomies and helping us understand the processes by which dietary evolution is working," said Peter Ungar, professor of anthropology at the...
Quad bikes and jet skis, as well as computer models, are being used by scientists and engineers to measure and predict storm damage. Every winter hundreds of British homes are at risk from being flooded when storms hit our shores. Global warming is expected to make matters worse for the future. Environmental scientists from the University of East Anglia and maritime computer modellers from the University of Liverpool have been collaborating on a project "“ funded by the Engineering and...
Tilt is a 100,000-year planetary pacemaker Woods Hole -- Scientists have long debated what causes glacial/interglacial cycles, which have occurred most recently at intervals of about 100,000 years. A new study reported in the March 24 issue of Nature finds that these glacial cycles are paced by variations in the tilt of Earth's axis, and that glaciations end when Earth's tilt is large. With more than 30 explanations proposed for these glacial cycles, researchers at the Woods Hole...
GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) -- Scientists say mammoth and camel bones unearthed in northwest Kansas that date back 12,200 years could be part of "one of the most important archaeological sites in North America." The bones, found last June in Sherman County near the Colorado border, were alongside a piece of stone that archaeologists say was the kind used in tools that humans once used to butcher animals. Archaeological geologist Rolfe Mandel of the Kansas Geological Survey said carbon-14...
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- A husband-and-wife anthropologist team who have spent decades studying early humans' skill in crafting stone tools have parlayed their expertise into an Indiana University institute devoted to prehistoric human culture. Scientists at Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick's year-old Stone Age Institute north of Bloomington study the origins of human technology at field sites in Algeria, Ethiopia, South Africa and New Guinea. Their studies are attempting to answer, among...
Latest Pleistocene Reference Libraries
Camelops, an extinct genus of camel, was found in North America in places like Arizona and they first appeared there in the late Pliocene era. There are six known species in this genus. Camelops became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era, around ten thousand years ago. The Camelops extinction was part of a larger die-off of other large animals including mastodons, horses, and camelids. The Clovis Culture, producing a burst in technology by humans, is thought to have been the cause of...
Miracinonyx, commonly known as the American Cheetah, is an extinct genus of large cats. It was native to North America during the Pleiotocene era(1.8 million to 11,000 years ago). The American cheetah held at least two species in its genus that are similar to modern cheetahs, including Miracinonyx inexpectatus and M. trumani. Similarities distinguished by bone fragments include a short face and nose for better breathing, and elongated legs used for swiftly hunting prey. These similarities are...
During the Pleistocene (3 million - 11,000 years ago), a genus of bear called Arctodus roamed North America. Little is known regarding the early history of these short-faced bears. Considered the most common of the early North American bear, they belong to the group known as running bears. About 800,000 years ago it is evident they became widespread in North America and were most numerous in California Remains have been found as far north as Alaska and south in Mississippi, and a...
