Archaeology & Fossils news

Study challenges bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution - was it the other way around?

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

15 hours ago | 3.7 / 5 (11) | 4 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides yet more evidence that birds did not descend from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs, experts say, a ...

Turkeys domesticated not once, but twice

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 08, 2010 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0

Turkeys, the only domesticated animals from the New World that are now used globally, were actually domesticated twice -- once in Mesoamerica as was previously believed and once in what is now the southwestern ...

Thousands of dinosaur footprints uncovered in China

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 07, 2010 | 4.4 / 5 (18) | 0

Archaeologists in China have uncovered more than 3,000 dinosaur footprints, state media reported, in an area said to be the world's largest grouping of fossilised bones belonging to the ancient animals.

Light shed on koala evolution

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 02, 2010 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world at large knows koalas as cute, cuddly, lovable iconic animals. The evolutionary biologist, on the other hand, will know them as extremely specialized, endangered animals, the evolutionary ...

Scientists Discover New Species of Tyrannosaur

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 01, 2010 | 4.9 / 5 (9) | 0 |

New Mexico is known for amazing local cuisine, Aztec ruins and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In the January issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, paleontologists Thomas Williamson of the Ne ...

DNA testing on 2,000-year-old bones in Italy reveal East Asian ancestry

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 01, 2010 | 4.5 / 5 (10) | 0 |

Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal ...

Novel studies of decomposition shed new light on our earliest fossil ancestry (w/ Video)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 31, 2010 | 4.4 / 5 (11) | 0 |

Decaying corpses are usually the domain of forensic scientists, but palaeontologists have discovered that studying rotting fish sheds new light on our earliest ancestry.

Source of ancient aqueduct discovered near Rome

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 29, 2010 | 4 / 5 (7) | 0

British and Italian experts Friday revealed the chance discovery of the source of a 1,900-year-old Roman aqueduct complete with nymphaeum near the Italian capital.

Mexico: Maya tomb find could help explain collapse

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 28, 2010 | 4 / 5 (13) | 38

(AP) -- Mexican archaeologists have found an 1,100-year-old tomb from the twilight of the Maya civilization that they hope may shed light on what happened to the once-glorious culture.

Early humans caused extinction of Australia's giant animals

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 28, 2010 | 3.8 / 5 (4) | 2 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- The mass extinction of Australia's giant animals, such as huge kangaroos and rhinoceros-sized wombats, might have been more rapid than previously thought, according to new research from the ...

Dinosaur discovery helps solve piece of evolutionary puzzle (w/ Video)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 28, 2010 | 4.2 / 5 (9) | 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- A George Washington University expedition to the Gobi Desert of China has enabled researchers to solve the puzzle of how one group of dinosaurs came to look like birds independent of birds. ...

Giant sculptured Mayan head found

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 27, 2010 | 4.7 / 5 (15) | 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- A decorated Mayan head measuring three meters (10 feet) at the base and sculptured out of stucco has been unearthed in northern Guatemala, near the border with Mexico. The sculpture had been ...

Last Neanderthals died out 37,000 years ago

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 27, 2010 | 5 / 5 (4) | 8 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- The last Neanderthals in Europe died out at least 37,000 years ago - and both climate change and interaction with modern humans could be involved in their demise, according to new research ...

Lost Roman law code discovered in London

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 27, 2010 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 1 |

Part of an ancient Roman law code previously thought to have been lost forever has been discovered by researchers at UCL's Department of History. Simon Corcoran and Benet Salway made the breakthrough after ...

Experts hope DNA can unlock Chinese warlord's secrets

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 26, 2010 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

Scientists said Tuesday they hope to collect DNA from hundreds of men surnamed Cao so they can prove a recently excavated tomb in central China belongs to the legendary warlord Cao Cao.

Exploring the Rise and Demise of Empires

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 26, 2010 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeology senior Sarah Hawley presents her research on ancient figurines -- which reveals information about the transition of empires -- during prestigious annual conference.

Is the Mona Lisa a Self-Portrait?

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 25, 2010 | 3.2 / 5 (20) | 13 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Italian scientists hope to dig up the remains of Leonardo da Vinci in order to determine if his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, is a disguised self-portrait.

Researchers of microraptor shed light on ancient origin of bird flight

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 25, 2010 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 0 |

A joint team from the University of Kansas and Northeastern University in China says that it has settled the long-standing question of how bird flight began.