http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/ Articles in anthropology, archaeology, evolution theory and paleontology. Read the latest discoveries from archaeological sites and research institutes around the world. Images, updated daily. en-us Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:05:01 EST Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:05:01 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171639.htm The traditional view is that ecology shapes evolution. Some research has suggested, however, that evolutionary processes reciprocate by influencing ecology in turn. Now biologists present evidence that ecology and evolution are indeed reciprocally interacting processes, presenting a fundamental shift in our understanding of the relationship between evolution and ecology. The results represent a first significant step in showing that evolution cannot be ignored when studying ecological interactions. Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171639.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128142130.htm They haven't had sex in some 30 million years, but some very small invertebrates named bdelloid rotifers are still shocking biologists -- they should have gone extinct long ago. Researchers have discovered the secret to their evolutionary longevity: these rotifers are microscopic escape artists. When facing pathogens, they dry up and are promptly gone with the wind. Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128142130.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205091823.htm The chemical composition of our oceans is not constant but has varied significantly over geological time. In a new study, researchers describe a novel method for reconstructing past ocean chemistry using calcium carbonate veins that precipitate from seawater-derived fluids in rocks beneath the seafloor. Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205091823.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205091829.htm Biochemists have described the process by which bacteria developed into more complex cells and found this crucial step happened much earlier in the evolutionary timeline than previously thought. Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205091829.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205213102.htm How two butterfly species have evolved exactly the same striking wing color and pattern has intrigued biologists since Darwin's day. Now, scientists have found "hot spots" in the butterflies' genes that they believe will explain one of the most extraordinary examples of mimicry in the natural world. Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205213102.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144422.htm Deciphering microscopic clues hidden within fossils, scientists have uncovered the vibrant colors that adorned a feathered dinosaur extinct for 150 million years. Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144422.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204204315.htm Ancient human teeth are telling secrets that may relate to modern-day health: Some stressful events that occurred early in development are linked to shorter lifespans. "Prehistoric remains are providing strong, physical evidence that people who acquired tooth enamel defects while in the womb or early childhood tended to die earlier, even if they survived to adulthood," says anthropologist George Armelagos, who recently published the first summary of prehistoric evidence for the Barker hypothesis. Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204204315.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203121550.htm Scientists in Poland are describing how a medical imaging technique has taken on a second life in revealing forgery of an artist's signature and changes in inscriptions on paintings that are hundreds of years old. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203121550.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100129123611.htm By analyzing sediments up to 4,000 years old, an environmental scientist is hoping to provide a tool to help predict future climate change. Ancient records of what was happening with climate conditions can be used with regional climate models to tell a story of what happened in the past and to correlate it to the present and the future. Current models typically use data only for the last 100 years or less and may miss wet and dry periods from past millennia. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100129123611.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144809.htm Clues to how the first land plants managed to avoid drying out might be provided by bryophytes, a group that includes the mosses, many of which retain remarkable drought tolerance. Some mosses can become so dry they crumble in the hand, but, if remoistened, will begin making proteins within minutes. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144809.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204101815.htm A 13th century Andalusi Quran, recovered fortuitously in the town of Cútar, has been restored. The original Qur'an has been studied, restored and edited thanks to an agreement between the Ministries of Culture and Public Works and Transport of the Andalusian Regional Government, and the Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo, in collaboration with the University of Granada. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204101815.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202154408.htm A 60-million-year-old relative of crocodiles was likely a food source for Titanoboa, the largest snake the world has ever known. Paleontologists found fossils of the new species of ancient crocodile in the Cerrejon Formation in northern Colombia. The site, one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines, also yielded skeletons of the giant, boa constrictor-like Titanoboa, which measured up to 45 feet long. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202154408.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202101245.htm For 80 years it has been accepted that early life began in a "primordial soup" of organic molecules before evolving out of the oceans millions of years later. Today the "soup" theory has been overturned in a pioneering article which claims it was the Earth's chemical energy, from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, which kick-started early life. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202101245.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203085914.htm Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found. The newly-discovered fossils, from rocks in Newfoundland in Canada, were analysed by an international team. They identified over 70 fossilised trails indicating that some ancient creatures moved, in a similar way to modern sea anemones, across the seafloors of the Ediacaran Period. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203085914.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201101905.htm The last ancestor we shared with worms, which roamed the seas around 600 million years ago, may already have had a sophisticated brain. Fossils cannot give us this information, but scientists have obtained it by studying small molecules called microRNAs. Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201101905.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171756.htm Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery were surprised when DNA testing on a set of bones revealed East Asian ancestry. Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171756.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202101243.htm Researchers in Spain have compared the disaster caused by the Aznalcóllar spillage in the Doñana National Park in Andalusia 11 years ago with the biggest species extinction known to date. What do these two disasters have in common? The scientists say that carrying out comparisons of this kind will make it possible to find out how ecosystems recover following mass extinctions. Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202101243.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm Scientists have found that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid "heel-striking," and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience. Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131142434.htm Decaying corpses are usually the domain of forensic scientists, but palaeontologists have discovered that studying rotting fish sheds new light on our earliest ancestry. Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131142434.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131220341.htm A new species of tyrannosaur has been discovered in the Bisti/De-na-zin Wilderness of New Mexico. Bistahieversor was different from other tyrannosauroids in having an extra opening above its eye, a complex joint at its "forehead," and a keel along its lower jaw; it also had more teeth than its distant relative T. rex. Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131220341.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131221348.htm Picture a dinosaur. Huge, menacing creatures, they ruled the Earth for nearly 200 million years, striking fear with every ground-shaking stride. Yet these great beasts were no match for a 6-mile wide meteor that struck near modern-day Mexico 65 million years ago, incinerating everything in its path. This catastrophic impact -- called the Cretaceous-Tertiary or K/T extinction event -- spelled doom for the dinosaurs and many other species. Some animals, however, including many small mammals, managed to survive. Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131221348.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128142135.htm An expedition to the Gobi Desert has enabled researchers to solve the puzzle of how one group of dinosaurs came to look like birds independent of birds. Until now, there was no direct evidence that dinosaurs of the Alvarezsauridae family lived during the Late Jurassic, approximately 160 million years ago. The newly discovered species of dinosaur was named Haplocheirus sollers (meaning simple, skillful hand). Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128142135.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128130217.htm New research suggests that evolutionary changes in cognitive development underlie the extensive social and behavioral differences that exist between two closely related species of great apes. The study enhances our understanding of our two closest living relatives, chimpanzees and the lesser-known bonobos, and may provide key insight into human evolution. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128130217.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121140347.htm Psychologists argue that human languages may adapt more like biological organisms than previously thought and that the more common and popular the language, the simpler its construction to facilitate its survival. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121140347.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134245.htm The color of some feathers on dinosaurs and early birds has been identified for the first time. The research found that the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had simple bristles -- precursors of feathers -- in alternate orange and white rings down its tail, and that the early bird Confuciusornis had patches of white, black and orange-brown colouring. Future work will allow precise mapping of colours and patterns across the whole bird. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134245.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220329.htm Part of an ancient Roman law code previously thought to have been lost forever has been discovered. The breakthrough was made after piecing together 17 fragments of previously incomprehensible parchment. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126084059.htm With only 3.000 speakers in Northwest Siberia the Ob-Ugrian language Mansi is on the verge of extinction. Predictions say it will be extinct in ten to twenty years at the latest. The same holds true for Khanti, a member of the same language family. It is for this reason that extensive documentation is so important. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126084059.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220321.htm 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. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220321.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220325.htm Homo floresiensis, a pygmy-sized small-brained hominin popularly known as 'the Hobbit' was discovered five years ago, but controversy continues over whether the small brain is actually due to a pathological condition. How can its tiny brain size be explained? Researchers have tackled this question in the context of a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of brain and body size throughout the larger primate family. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220325.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126105429.htm An abundance of food and lack of predators following the extinction of dinosaurs saw previously flighted birds fatten up and become flightless, according to new research from Australia. Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126105429.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125173238.htm Researchers in the United States and China say that they have settled the long-standing question of how bird flight began. Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125173238.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120161243.htm Ice Age climate records from an Arizona stalagmite link the Southwest's winter precipitation to temperatures in the North Atlantic, according to new research. The stalagmite yielded an almost continuous, century-by-century climate record spanning 55,000 to 11,000 years ago, a time the Southwest flip-flopped between wet and dry periods. The finding is the first to document that the abrupt changes in Ice Age climate known from Greenland also occurred in the southwestern US. Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120161243.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126091731.htm What does evolution -- a field that often deals with changes over many generations -- have to do with preventing and treating disease in our lifetime? A lot, some scientists say. A collection of articles in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences illustrates recent progress in applying evolutionary theory to a range of questions in medicine and public health. If recent recommendations are implemented, future physicians may soon be tested on evolution in medical entrance exams. Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126091731.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119213140.htm The mutation responsible for the alcohol flush reaction, an unpleasant response to alcohol that is relatively common in people of Asian descent, may have occurred following the domestication of rice. Researchers traced the history of the version of the gene responsible, finding that the ADH1B*47His allele appeared around the same time that rice was first cultivated in southern China. Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119213140.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121092005.htm Is the current flora of New Zealand derived from plants that grew on the supercontinent Gondwana before its breakup, or derived from plants that more recently dispersed to New Zealand? Discovery of new macrofossils and/or detailed examinations of fossil pollen combined with evolutionary analyses may help to answer questions of whether the ancestors of current plants coexisted with dinosaurs in New Zealand. Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121092005.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120085453.htm Chemists have confirmed that the substance used to hermetically seal an amphora found among remains at Lixus, in Morocco, was pine resin. The scientists also studied the metallic fragments inside the 2,000-year-old vessel, which could be fragments of material used for iron-working. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120085453.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121141109.htm Researchers report strong evidence that humans, not climate change, caused the demise of Australia's megafauna -- giant marsupials, huge reptiles and flightless birds -- at least 40,000 years ago. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121141109.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119133508.htm A new study has found that most men in Europe descend from the first farmers who migrated from the Near East 10,000 years ago. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119133508.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120093525.htm Domestic dogs have followed their own evolutionary path, twisting Darwin's directive "survival of the fittest" to their own needs -- and have proved him right in the process, according to a new study. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120093525.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119111055.htm The sediments of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation were deposited during the Late Jurassic between around 160 and 145 million years ago, the age of the reptiles. They are the main oil source rock in the North Sea. However, within this unit beds rich in organic matter are interspersed with organic-poor sediments. New evidence demonstrates that organic-poor sediments were probably caused by post-depositional loss of organic matter during so-called "burn-down" events. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119111055.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120131159.htm How did the lemurs, flying foxes and narrow-striped mongooses get to the large, isolated island of Madagascar sometime after 65 million years ago? A pair of scientists say their research confirms the longstanding idea that the animals hitched rides on natural rafts blown out to sea. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120131159.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119154710.htm New biogeographic evidence supports the origin of primates in the Jurassic and the evolution of the modern primate groups -- prosimians, tarsiers, and anthropoids -- by the early Cretaceous. Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119154710.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100114081543.htm The surprising increase in methane concentrations millennia ago, identified in continental glacier studies, has puzzled researchers for a long time. According to a strong theory, this would have resulted from the commencement of rice cultivation in East Asia. However, a study by researchers in Finland shows that the massive expanse of the northern peatlands occurred around 5000 years ago, coincident with rising atmospheric methane levels. Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100114081543.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113131505.htm The first comprehensive comparison of Y chromosomes from two species sheds new light on Y chromosome evolution. Contrary to a widely held scientific theory that the mammalian Y chromosome is slowly decaying or stagnating, new evidence suggests that in fact the Y is actually reinventing itself through continuous, wholesale renovation. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113131505.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091229105913.htm There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions. Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091229105913.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113172252.htm Scientists are reporting that "biochar" -- a material that the Amazonian Indians used to enhance soil fertility centuries ago -- has potential in the modern world to help slow global climate change. Mass production of biochar could capture and sock away carbon that otherwise would wind up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113172252.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111155112.htm Scientists have long puzzled over how iguanas, a group of lizards mostly found in the Americas, came to inhabit the isolated Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. For years, the leading explanation has been that progenitors of the island species must have rafted there, riding across the Pacific on a mat of vegetation or floating debris. But new research suggests a more grounded explanation. Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111155112.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100112155230.htm Using texts and images, a researcher has for the first time reconstructed the time when the use of porticos -- roof-covered structures supported by columns -- gave way to loggias, or recessed porticos. Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100112155230.htm