Archaeology & Fossils news

Before 'Lucy,' there was 'Ardi': Oldest hominid skeleton provides new evidence for human evolution (w/ Video)

Oct 01, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (35) | 1

In a special issue of Science, an international team of scientists has for the first time thoroughly described Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiop ...

Viking navigation hypothesis under foggy and cloudy skies requires more light

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 27, 2007 | 4.2 / 5 (31) | 0

While history portrays the Vikings as skillful masters of the sea, sailing treacherous routes in the northern Atlantic Ocean during the 10th-13th centuries, just how much knowledge, technology and ability they ...

Scientists discover first fossil of a leaf insect

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Feb 08, 2007 | 4.7 / 5 (45) | 0

Stick and leaf insects both belong to the insect order “Phamatodea,” or “phasmid” for short, a term which shares the same roots as the word “phantom.” Besides appropriately describing the species’ illusory ...

'Little foot,' an almost complete hominid skeleton

Ancient ape ruled out of man's ancestral line

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Dec 07, 2006 | 3.7 / 5 (24) | 0

Ancient remains, once thought to be a key link in the evolution of mankind, have now been shown to be 400,000 years too young to be a part of man’s family tree.

No Hobbits in this Shire

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Aug 21, 2006 | 4 / 5 (29) | 0

The skeletal remains found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia, reported in 2004, do not represent a new species as then claimed but are some of the ancestors of modern human pygmies who live on the ...

BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (8) | 2

A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck's bill, have been discovered in the Sahara by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno. ...

Extinct moa rewrites New Zealand's history

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (4) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolutionary history of New Zealand's many extinct flightless moa has been re-written in the first comprehensive study of more than 260 sub-fossil specimens to combine all known genetic, ...

New insights into the life of the Maya

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (15) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient artifacts are almost always concerned with rich and powerful religious and political leaders, but new excavations of an ancient Maya site have unearthed a pyramid decorated with murals ...

Study Pits Man v Machine in Piecing Together 425-Million Years Old Jigsaw

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 16, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (8) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study pitting academic expertise against a computer in recreating a 425 million-year old jigsaw puzzle has discovered that there is no substitute for wisdom born out of experience.

Oldest known spider's web found in amber

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Pieces of amber containing parts of a spider's web have been found in East Sussex and dated back to the Cretaceous period 140 million years ago, which makes it the oldest spider's web known.

Forest clearances sealed ancient civilisation's downfall

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (9) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- An ancient South American civilisation which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found. ...

Bye bye 'Hogwarts dinosaur'? New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Oct 30, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies have wiped out two species of dome-headed dinosaur, one of them named three years ago - with great ...

Team Discovers New Dinosaur Species From Montana

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Oct 30, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (8) | 0

A husband and wife team of American paleontologists has discovered a new species of dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago during the early Cretaceous of central Montana.