Latest Stone Age Stories
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Noting that Pennsylvania's first farmers were Native Americans, the Historical and Museum Commission is saluting those pioneering agriculturalists with an interactive booth at this year's Farm Show. The commission's "Petroglyphs of Pennsylvania" exhibit, sponsored in conjunction with the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Pennsylvania Archaeological Council, and the state Department of Transportation, features Bob Winter's Native...
Abundant tiny particles of diamond dust exist in sediments dating to 12,900 years ago at six North American sites, adding strong evidence for Earth's impact with a rare swarm of carbon-and-water-rich comets or carbonaceous chondrites, reports a nine-member scientific team.These nanodiamonds, which are produced under high-temperature, high-pressure conditions created by cosmic impacts and have been found in meteorites, are concentrated in similarly aged sediments at Murray Springs, Ariz., Bull...
Extraordinary artifacts from the late Stone Age have been discovered in Russia. The location at Zaraysk, which is southeast of Moscow, has produced both the unique figurines as well as some carvings on mammoth tusks.The discoveries also consist of a cone-shaped item whose purpose; the authors state in the journal Antiquity, "remains a puzzle". Such inventive artifacts have been previously found in the nearby areas of Kostenki and Avdeevo, but this is the first kind of find at...
The skeleton of a 12,000 year-old Natufian Shaman has been discovered in northern Israel by archaeologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The burial is described as being accompanied by "exceptional" grave offerings - including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard and a human foot. The shaman burial is thought to be one of the earliest known from the archaeological record and the only shaman grave in the whole region.Dr. Leore Grosman of the Institute of...
Experts now believe Neanderthals may have enjoyed a wide range of foods and a much broader menu than had previously been supposed.Cave excavations in Gibraltar showed that they were once occupied by the ancient humans show they ate seal and dolphin when they could get hold of the animals.Evidence even indicates that mussels were warmed to open their shells.The findings contrast the popular view that Neanderthals ate a diet utterly dominated by meat from land animals.Such findings provide more...
New evidence debunks "˜stupid' Neanderthal mythResearch by UK and American scientists has struck another blow to the theory that Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) became extinct because they were less intelligent than our ancestors (Homo sapiens). The research team has shown that early stone tool technologies developed by our species, Homo sapiens, were no more efficient than those used by Neanderthals. Published today (26 August) in the Journal of Human Evolution, their discovery debunks...
Most rock paintings and rock carvings or petroglyphs were created by ancient and prehistoric societies. Archaeologists have long used them to gain clues to the way of life of such peoples. Certain rock frescos − such as the renowned Lascaux and Chauvet cave paintings or the petroglyphs of Scandinavia and North America − have already yielded substantial information on our ancestors' daily lives. However, for other regions of the world, like Latin America, studies are still...
By Kevin Mayhood, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Jul. 21--NORTH BEND, Ohio -- The theory is as wild as it is controversial: that a comet, which left no crater, exploded over Canada almost 13,000 years ago, wiped out the woolly mammoth and other land giants and nearly decimated the first known human culture in North America. "I thought that was a bunch of nonsense," said Kenneth Tankersley, a University of Cincinnati anthropologist. But by the end of June, Tankersley was a convert. Now he...
By Steve Connor Science Editor Textbook accounts of how the Americas were first populated may have to be re-written after the discovery in Oregon of the oldest human DNA ever recorded. The DNA dates from 14,300 years ago - about 1,200 years before the oldest human artifacts produced by the Clovis people, who were thought to be the first inhabitants of North America. The Oregon find suggests that the Clovis people were preceded by cultures who lived along the west coast of North America...
Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands have found the earliest evidence ever discovered of an ancient Egyptian agricultural settlement, including farmed grains, remains of domesticated animals, pits for cooking and even floors for what appear to be dwellings, the National Geographic Society announced today. The findings, which were unearthed in 2006 and are still being analyzed, also suggest possible trade links with the Red Sea, including a...
