Researchers Find DNA From Extinct Humans in Cave Sediments

The DNA was extracted from caves where no human remains were found, opening a new pathway for research into human evolution.

This image shows excavations at the site of El Sidrón, Spain. | El Sidrón research team

Scientists in Germany have recovered ancient human DNA from sediment, not bones or teeth, in a finding that could offer a new inroad into our own evolutionary history.

A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and led by geneticist Viviane Slon collected samples from seven archaeological sites in Europe and Asia, analyzing the sediment for traces of mammalian DNA. Looking at mitochondrial DNA, they found genetic evidence from 12 different families, including that of extinct species such as the wooly mammoth, the wooly rhinoceros, and the cave hyena.

When they searched for DNA fragments specific to hominins — a precursor of modern humans — they found what they were after: nine samples from four archaeological sites produced enough hominin DNA for further analysis. In eight of the samples, they found DNA from Neanderthals, and in one site in Russia they found DNA from a Denisovan, the Asian cousins of Neanderthals.

“It was a surprise,” said Slon. “We thought [hominin DNA] would be a very small minority in the samples, which was the case, and we were surprised by how well this worked.”

A sediment sample is prepared for DNA extraction. | MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/S. Tüpke

Most of the samples came from archaeological layers where no Neanderthal bones or teeth had been previously unearthed, further opening the field of evolutionary biology to include archaeological sites that have not yielded human remains.

“It is almost beyond comment that it’s exciting stuff,” said Robin Allaby, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Warwick, responding to the study. “We have all been limited by the number of article remains we can get at and this has the potential to release us from those constrains.”
The work of Slon and her team, which included soil samples spanning from 14,000 to 550,000 years ago, has been published in the journal Science. When preparing the study, researchers from Max Planck knew that certain components present in sediment had been known to bind DNA — other scientists have successfully fished plant DNA out of sediment samples, for example.

Using these studies as a reference, the team targeted archaeological sites known to have been occupied by ancient hominins. Specifically, they looked for mitochondrial DNA, which is abundant in cells. They targeted short sequences of human DNA, looking for chemical damage that is typical of ancient DNA in order to avoid confusion with more recent DNA present in the sample.

There are, however, some limitations to the testing of DNA in sediment. While researchers have demonstrated that there is hominin DNA in the sediment, more data will be required to have a better understanding of how many individuals were present, accounting for the movement of DNA in the environment, and the age of these individuals, which cannot be determined from mitochondrial DNA.

Allaby emphasized the importance of further understanding how DNA is moving through the environment. What evolutionary scientists have long been interpreting as the breakdown of DNA over time, he said, may more likely be its diffusion through the environment.

It is a question that Slon is keenly aware of — her team found animal DNA in layers created when the animals were still alive, but not in later sediment layers when they would have been extinct. This, she said, indicates that DNA is not migrating beyond the corresponding sediment layers. Even so, the team is working to further refine their techniques, with hopes that they can get more detailed information about the individuals whose DNA they uncovered.

“It may be a while until they can get an entire genome out,” Allaby said. But he described the new technique as a “massive inroad” to our demographic past. “I think this could become standard practice,” he added.

For now, 32-year-old Slon is looking forward to her graduation. The study she led will form a good part of her doctoral thesis, which she is currently drafting.

SOURCE: Seeker

A Sandstorm in Iran Has Revealed the Remains of a Lost Ancient City

According to initial reports, the newly discovered ancient city occupies approximately 5,000 square meters. Experts suggest—based on early analysis—that the ancient site dates back at least to the Islamic Middle Ages (661-1508 AD), but several experts argue that it could even date back much earlier. So far, experts have recovered clay pots and structures in ruins. The region is known for numerous ‘lost’ ancient sites that have recently been discovered.

A recent storm in Iran has unearthed a series of structures believed to be part of an ancient city or necropolis. Early analyses suggest that the remains date back to the Islamic Middle Ages (661-1508 AD), but may even date back much earlier.

According to reports, authorities in the Iranian province of Kerman do not want the finding to be in any danger, so heavily armed military guards keep the place safe from potential looters.

Experts from CHTHO ( Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization) have concluded—based on preliminary studies—that the site could very well be a remnant of a historical town.

The sandstorm that thankfully revealed the ruins struck in March of 2017, revealing broken clay pots and adobe.

In addition to the structures, fragments of clay and adobe have been found. Although it has not been determined whether they are related to the ruins or if they were dragged there by storms and floods.  (MEHR News Agency photo by Laleh Khajooei)

“A team of archaeologists has been dispatched to Fahraj in order to determine whether the site was used to be a necropolis or an inhabitance,” CHTN quoted Mohammad Vafaei, the director of the CHTHO provincial department, as saying on Saturday.

Archaeologists from the organization will thoroughly examine the objects found in the site and inspect the discovered ruins to get a better idea of the true antiquity of the complex, which occupies approximately 5,000 square meters.

As noted by the Tehran Times, the large and prosperous province of Kerman, home to the city of Fahraj, the region where the ancient ruins have been exposed has been a cultural melting pot over time. It is also home to rich tourist sites and historical sites, including bazaars, mosques, and caravanserai.

The area is known for having several archaeological sites. (MEHR News Agency photo by Laleh Khajooei)

“One cannot claim that an area is historical as soon as several objects appear from under the ground after storms and floods, since they might have been carried from other regions by water or storm,” Mohammad Vafaei, the head of the provincial office of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, had said earlier this week.

“It is the first time that such ruins have emerged so there is no precise data on their age and history,” he said, adding that more information will be released as excavations continue.

The ICHHTO office has requested the aid of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, hoping that the area can be inscribed on the National Heritage List once sufficient information is gleaned from the studies to merit its inscription.

Interestingly, this ancient site isn’t the first one to be found in the region. Fahraj and Rigan in Kerman are home to numerous ancient sites. Several sites were discovered recently due to floods and are currently being analyzed by experts.

Images: (MEHR News Agency photo by Laleh Khajooei )
SOURCES: Ancient-code
Archaeologists dispatched to newly-unearthed site in southeast Iran
www.financialtribune.com

Ancient ‘City Ruins’ Discovered on the Surface of Mars?

Evidence of what appear to be artificially created structures on the surface of Mars have been found in countless images from the red planet. In addition to the many odd findings on Mars, the most fascinating statement about the red planet come from General Stubblebine said: “There are structures on the surface of Mars. I will tell you for the record that there are structures underneath the surface of Mars that cannot be seen by the Voyager cameras that went by in 1976…”

Mars has given us so much to think about in the last couple of years that its hard to put it all together.

From a barren, and desolate planet, Mars has proven us that it’s more interesting than we’d ever thought before.

Mars is approximately half the diameter of Earth with a surface area only slightly less than the total area of Earth’s dry land. Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth’s volume and 11% of Earth’s mass, resulting in about 38% of Earth’s surface gravity.

But Mars is extremely similar to Earth in many ways. Experts have proven that the red planet was once strikingly similar to Earth, having an atmosphere, lakes, rivers, and oceans covering its surface.

Not long ago, NASA revealed that Mars could have supported life as we know it but everything change when the red planet lost its atmosphere.

According to scientists, the slow destruction of our neighbor’s planet atmosphere was caused by “huge rope-like tendrils of magnetic rotations. The red planet’s once hospitable atmosphere was blown away in the distant past. This means that when Mars was much younger, it was much warmer and wetter, meaning that it was a very good candidate for life to develop. Scientists believe that Mars’ oceans evaporated due to the planet’s thinning atmosphere which caused it to leak into space.

Although Mars has no evidence of a structured global magnetic field, observations show that parts of the planet’s crust have been magnetized, suggesting that alternating polarity reversals of its dipole field have occurred in the past.

However, there are more things on Mars that have caused confusion among experts. NASA’s rovers exploring Mars have noticed spikes in methane readings on the surface of the red planet. On Earth, 90% of all methane in the atmosphere is produced by living organisms. Curiosity captured traces of methane on the Red Planet and scientists believe this could point to the presence of life on the red planet, at this precise moment, although there are other possible explanations.

But while Mars may not have life now on its surface, many scientists argue that in the distant past, the red planet may have supported life—and not only primitive life—but advanced complex life forms that may even have built structures on its surface.

One such scientist is Dr. John Brandeburg, a plasma physicist who got his degree from UC Davis and who has seemingly had a distinguished career as a scientist argues that Martian life was purposefully destroyed with nukes.

“Mars xenon is found to match closely the component in the Earth’s atmosphere produced by Earth’s nuclear weapons programs, both hydrogen bomb testing and plutonium production, both of which involve large amounts of fission with fast neutrons. It is found that Mars xenon can be approximately by a mixture of 70% Nuclear Testing xenon, mixed with 30% natural Earth xenon, suggesting that Mars xenon was similar to Earth’s before a large nuclear event altered it dramatically.”

In a scientific paper, Dr. Brandenburg argues: that Mars shows, “…based on new data, evidence that during this period of Earthlike climate, biological evolution produced, at length, a humanoid civilization leaving ruins at several sites, Cydonia Mensa and Galaxias Chaos being two sites most intensively investigated. Data from these sites formed the basis for the Cydonian Hypothesis (Brandenburg, DiPietro, and Molenaar, 1991) of an ancient, indigenous, approximately Bronze Age civilization on Mars.”

And curiously, each day new images from Mars prove that there’s something odd on its surface. In the last couple of years, countless images from Mars have been analyzed by alien hunters across the globe. Some of them—awkwardly—show what appear to be artificially made structures on the surface of the red planet.

All jokes aside, some of the stuff found on Mars makes you think “what if somehow, life on Mars developed millions of years ago, and was eventually wiped out?”

Would we not find traces of such life today?

Images beamed back by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show an area on the surface of Mars covered with odd ‘structures’.

NASAs MRO captured numerous images of strange shaped ‘craters’ on the surface of the red planet. The images show a surface covered in ‘secondary craters’ – but astronomers are mystified by how they developed their raised appearance.

In a statement, NASA scientists said: “Secondary craters form from rocks ejected at high speed from the primary crater, which then impact the ground at sufficiently high speed to make huge numbers of much smaller craters over a large region. In this scene, however, the secondary crater ejecta has an unusual raised-relief appearance like bas-relief sculpture.”

NASA has admitted it does not have a conclusive answer to this enigma.

“One idea is that the region was covered with a layer of fine-grained materials like dust or pyroclastics about 1 to 2 meters thick when the Zunil impact occurred (about a million years ago), and the ejecta served to harden or otherwise protect the fine-grained layer from later erosion by the wind,” wrote NASA.

In addition to the above image from Mars, other areas on the surface of the red planet show equally puzzling ‘structures’.

UFO and anomaly hunters see these structures as conclusive evidence that an ancient civilization may have existed on the surface of Mars in the distant past.

Located near Elysium Planitia near the red planet’s equator are a series of structures that have sparked an online debate about ancient life on Mars. The ‘controversial’ images were also taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter –MRO.

If we search for further information about Mars, and the possibility that I was inhabited at some point in the distant past, we come across one of the most fascinating statements about the red planet made when General Stubblebine said: “There are structures on the surface of Mars. I will tell you for the record that there are structures underneath the surface of Mars that cannot be seen by the Voyager cameras that went by in 1976. I will also tell you that there are machines on the surface of Mars, and there are machines under the surface of Mars that you, can look at, you can find out in detail, you can see what they are, where they are, who they are and a lot of detail about them.”  (Dolan, Richard. UFOs And The National Security State: New York: Richard Dolan Press)(source 2)

SOURCE: Ancient-code

NASA Announces ALIEN Life Could Be Thriving on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

NASA has recently announced that one of Saturn’s moons could support alien life in our solar system. The discoveries made by NASA could be the beginning of the MOST important findings in the history of space. Experts have found that practically all necessary elements for life to exist have been discovered in One place in our solar system: on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Nevermind the question ‘Are we alone in the universe?’. The real question now is ‘Are we alone in the solar system?’.

New findings suggest that icy moons inside our solar system meet all of the required criteria to support life as we know it.

According to scientists, Encelauds—an icy moon orbiting Saturn—contains under its thick Ice shell a MASSIVE ecosystem.

NASA experts have found traces of molecular hydrogen from the moon which suggests Saturn’s natural satellite is much more geologically active than we thought before.

Furthermore, this finding suggests that conditions to support life as we know it may exist on Enceladus.

According to NASA, all three ingredients were found on Enceladus. Image credit: NASA

The groundbreaking discovery—which forces us to question whether or not we are alone in our own cosmic backyard—was made by NASA’s unmanned spacecraft—Cassini, which has been exploring Saturn for 13 years.

Recently, during its closest ‘dive’ near Enceladus, Cassini discovered high-powered jets of water coming from the surface, containing hydrogen.

Scientists say that molecular hydrogen could have originated from hydrothermal reactions deep inside the moon where hot rocks and water go through several natural processes.

This graphic shows how Cassini scientists think water interacts with rocks at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH

The same processes here on Earth provide energy for ecosystems deep below the surface.

According to scientists finding hydrogen is remarkably important since it serves as ‘excellent food’. In fact, ancient life forms on Earth use it as fuel.

If there is in fact alien life on Enceladus, then it most likely feeds off of hydrogen and releases methane afterward. Methane has also been found coming from Enceladus.
The recent discoveries point to the possibility that Enecelauds—Saturns’ sixth largest moon—may have single-celled organisms, similar to those with which life on Earth began.

Mary Voytek, a senior astrobiologist at NASA said: “This is a new frontier because this is the first time we have seen evidence of an alien food source in an ocean not on Earth. We knew we had two of the key ingredients for life and now we have the third. This is the most exciting discovery in my eight-year career at NASA.”

According to experts, three main ingredients are necessary for life as we know it to exist on a planet: Water, organic molecules and a source of energy. In the past, experts found traces of the first two, but this new—third discovery—means that all three necessary components are there, and a fuel source that helps keep that life alive.

Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiology researcher at the University of Westminster said: “We now know there’s not only a warm, wet environment – we now realize there’s food for life. There’s fuel for an ecosystem on Enceladus.”

However, this new ‘alien ecosystem’ has not been observed or detected directly, but experts argue that all of the necessary conditions for it to thrive are there.

“We know that the ingredients for life are water, organic molecules, and energy,” says Caitriona Jackman, a space environment lecturer, from the University of Southampton. “We’ve seen evidence of water and chemical elements before, but we really haven’t had direct evidence of the energy sources that are capable of fuelling life.”

“That’s what’s very significant here: this molecular hydrogen is a direct observation of an energetic process that is potentially capable of fuelling life.”

“At present, we know of only one genesis of life (the one that led to us), so it is still possible that life could be an incredibly rare fluke,” writes David Rothery, professor of planetary geosciences at the Open University.

“If we knew that life had started independently in two places in our solar system, then we could be pretty confident that life also got started on some of the tens of billions of planets and moons around other stars in our galaxy that also have the right conditions.”

Researchers concluded that new research has given enough grounds for us to send a specific mission to Enceladus in order to search for traces of life.

Professor Jackman, who worked on the Cassini mission, referred to the new discoveries as a “tantalizing result,” saying that further research needs to be done to learn more about the moon.

“These ocean worlds with their protective outer shell, if indeed there’s life in there, it has to be completely different than ours in the sense that it’s generated in a way that’s not related to our life,” said Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, during NASA’s press conference.

“We call that a second genesis.”

SOURCE: EWAO.com
NASA Missions Provide New Insights into ‘Ocean Worlds’ in Our Solar System

Unseen Ancient Petroglyphs Discovered on the Oahu Shoreline

A series of petroglyphs have been discovered on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, revealed to tourists by outgoing tides.

The discovery was made by two tourists from Ft. Worth, Texas, Lonnie Watson and Mark Louviere who brought the find to the attention of the authorities. U.S Army archaeological spokesman Alton Exzabe said of the discovery:

“What’s interesting is the Army in Hawaii manages several thousand archaeological sites, but this is the first one with petroglyphs directly on the shoreline, "

Petroglyphs are a rock carving made directly into a rock face, usually through the use of a hammer and chisel. They are found globally and are usually associated with prehistoric societies, often depicting primitive stories or descriptions of histories.
The petroglyphs stretch some 16 meters along the shore and are up to a meter high. They all depict men of various sizes with detailed hands and fingers. They are unusual in that they are discovered on the shoreline, where they will eventually erode and fade away. Most similar petroglyphs tend to have been created in locations where the people of the time knew they would last a long time. Indeed some petroglyphs date from over 14,000 years ago, and some cave paintings from over 40,000 years ago. 

The carvings are thought to date from around the time the Island was first discovered by the Western world around 320 years ago, and may well depict some of the first Westerners to land on the island.

Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, alongside archaeologists from the United States, are now making plans to try to preserve the site, which if left in its current location on the shores of the island will eventually wear away or be damaged by the public.

Tourists are being encouraged to look at the carvings but are now not allowed to touch them as the various agencies involved come up with a plan to exhibit but protect the petroglyphs, which are of cultural significance to Hawaii.

SOURCE: http://www.disclose.tv/news/unseen_ancient_petroglyphs_discovered_on_the_oahu_shoreline/138350

Scientists Opened a Cave That Was Isolated for 5.5 Million Years and Found This

Movile Cave has been cut off for millions of years. Its air is thick with harmful gasses, yet it is home to an array of strange beings.

The cave remained unopened for 5.5 MILLION years. It was discovered in 1986 a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast. The air inside the cave is very different from the outer atmosphere. The level of oxygen is only a third to half of the concentration found in open air.

Experts have discovered a total of 48-sepcies in the enigmatic cave which remained sealed off from the rest of the world for 5.5 MILLION years.

Just imagine you stumbled across a cave that has remained sealed off from the world for 5.5 million years.

Basically, it’s a world inside a world, perfectly depicted in numerous Hollywood series and movies. However, there are times when fiction and nature are divided by an extremely thin line.

This is exactly what happened when experts explored the Movile cave—a chemical (chemosynthesis) world within the organic world of humans.

The cave is located in Southeastern Romania, close to the Black Sea. Located beneath the earth, this enigmatic ‘alien world’ has remained sealed off from the rest of the world for over 5.5 million years.

As explained by scientists, air inside the cave is very different from the outer atmosphere. The level of oxygen is only a third to half of the concentration found in open air (7–10% O2 in the cave atmosphere, compared to 21% O2 in air), and about one hundred times more carbon dioxide (2–3.5% CO2 in the cave atmosphere, versus 0.03% CO2 in air). It also contains 1–2% methane (CH4) and both the air and waters of the cave contain high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3).
The cave was found by Romanian scientist Cristian Lascu.

Accessing the cave is extremely hazardous. Visitors can only stay down for 5 or 6 hours before their kidneys pack in.

This mystery world can be accessed by descending an extremely narrow shaft, then climbing down through an ochre clay coated limestone tunnel which eventually gives access to a tunnel—filled with complete darknes—with a temperature of around 25 degrees celsius. The tunnel leads into a central cavern opening into a lake.

The ecosystem is beyond stunning.

Experts have discovered a total of 48 species including leeches, spiders, water scorpions and other insects, were found inside the cave, of which 33 are endemic. The food chain within the cave is solely based on chemosynthesis in the form of methane- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.

As explained by the BBC, in 2010, microbiologist Rich Boden, who was then at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK, became roughly the 29th person to see the cave.

“It’s pretty warm, and very humid so it feels warmer than it is, and of course with a boiler suit and helmet on that doesn’t help,” says Boden, who is now at the University of Plymouth in the UK.

“The pool of warm, sulphidic water stinks of rotting eggs or burnt rubber when you disturb it as hydrogen sulfide is given off.”

SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150904-the-bizarre-beasts-living-in-romanias-poison-cave
http://www.ewao.com/a/scientists-opened-cave-isolated-5-5-million-years-found/

Sensation! 3,800-Year-Old Untouched Tomb with Mummy and Grave Goods Found in Egypt

A team of Spanish archaeologists from the Spanish Archaeological Mission have uncovered a tomb said to be around 4,000 years old in West Aswan in Egypt. The tomb was unlooted and includes a mummy, which is thought to be the brother of Sarenput II.

Unique Finding with Funerary Goods

Sarenput II was one of the most powerful and dominant Pharaonic governors during the 12th Dynasty of Egypt during the reign of Senwosret II and Senwosret III and the elder brother to Shemai.

Archaeologists said the tomb is of importance as it shows the richness of the burial along with shedding light on individuals shadowed by people in power. The head of the department of ancient Egyptian equities said that up to now there hasn’t been much information about them.

The discovery means that more data can now be added to prior discoveries of 14 family members of the Elephantine family ruling during Dynasty 12. The discovery offers a unique chance to study and learn about the life conditions of the high class dating back over 3800 years.

Burial ceremonies of the Egyptians were rituals that were complicated and each ceremony involved huge amounts of preparation along with careful placement of burial items. The ancient Egyptians believed that afterlife is similar to living on Earth and so one needed goods when they made the journey to the field of Reeds, which was an Egyptians paradise.

The director pointed out that the finding is unique in that it was unlooted and so came with the funerary goods and items intact. The funerary goods included two coffins, both the outer shell and inner, made of cedar, pottery and wooden models, these are said to be representatives of scenes out of daily life and funerary boats. 

Burial Chamber Complete with Mummy

Egyptologists stated that this was an important discovery as the tomb also contained a mummy.

The mummy was complete with cartonnage painted several different colors, a mask that is impressive and collars which are said to have been persevered well. The mummy has yet to be examined.

An inscription on the coffin was noted and it is the name Shemai, who was the brother of Sarenput II. Other names included are those of his father and mother, Khema and Satethotep.

There has recently been a string of big discoveries in Egyptian archaeology with this tomb and mummy being the most recent. Another recent finding was a statue in Cairo, which people say has the likeness of Pharaoh Ramses II. Many are now booking expeditions to try to find out more secrets of ancient Egypt and it is thought that more expeditions will make their way to try and uncover all the mysteries of Aswan.

SOURCE: http://www.disclose.tv/news/sensation_3800yearold_untouched_tomb_with_mummy_and_grave_goods_found_in_egypt/138345

Rare Viking Crucifix Found with Metal Detector

The small gold object, made in the image of Christ on the cross -- is estimated to be Denmark's oldest crucifix.

A rare Viking crucifix pendant has emerged from a Danish field, brought to light by an amateur metal detectorist two weeks before Easter.

The small gold object, made in the shape of a man with outstretched arms — the image of Christ on the cross — is estimated to be Denmark’s oldest crucifix.

Dating from the first half of the 900s (10th century), the pendant has shed new light on Christianity in Denmark, according to experts at the Viking Museum at Ladby, where the crucifix is now kept.

“It’s older than Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling,” the museum said in a statement.

The stones in the town of Jelling feature a figure on the cross and commemorate Harald Bluetooth’s conversion of the Danes to Christianity.

Until now, the massive runestones, estimated to date from 965 A.D., were believed to be the earliest depiction of Jesus on a cross in Denmark.

Representing the best-known religious symbol of Christianity, the newly found crucifix would show that Danes embraced Christian faith earlier than previously thought.

The precious object was found by amateur metal detectorist Dennis Fabricius Holm in the fields around a church in the village of Aunslev, on the Danish island Funen.

“It’s pure luck that the little jewelry has survived the last 1,100 years in the earth,” the museum said.

The figure measures 1.6 inches in height and weighs 0.45 ounces. While the back surface is smooth, the front is made of finely articulated goldthreads and tiny fillagree pellets. At the top a small eye for a chain is mounted.

“The cross looks a lot like the gilded silver cross found in 1879 in Birka near Stockholm in Sweden, in a female grave from the Viking Age,” the museum said.

Silver fragments of similar crosses were found in female graves dating to the first half of the 10th century, but the Aunslev cross is the first Danish specimen in full figure.

“It was probably worn by a Viking woman, but it cannot yet be decided, whether the cross was to show that she was a Christian Viking or was just a part of a pagan Viking’s bling-bling,” the museum said.

According to Swedish archaeologist Martin Rundkvist, who first announced the findings on his blog, the crucifixes are too similar for more than one or two people to have been making them.

“The first crucifix was found at Birka near Stockholm. But the second, third and fourth one have been found near Hedeby in Denmark. That is probably were they were made,” Rundkvist told Discovery News.

“Birka, Hedeby and a group of other towns in northern Europe shared an itinerant population of traders and craftspeople,” he said.

The Aunslev cross will be on exhibit at the Viking Museum in Ladby until the Easter holiday, then it will sent to a lab for preservation.

In the summer it will be part of an exhibition in the museum that will show some recent Viking Age finds made in eastern Funen with metal detectors.

SOURCE: http://www.seeker.com/rare-viking-crucifix-found-with-metal-detector-1771080421.html

Researchers Find Revolutionary 3.6 Million-Year-Old Human Footprints

Experts have recently discovered 3.6 million-year-old footprints in Africa. These ancient footprints were left behind by a group of five individuals who once walked across wet volcanic ash.
Scientists say that the footprints suggest that the members of Australopithecus afarensis –who most likely walked the path—  may have behaved like in a gorilla-like social arrangement where one dominate male mated with several females. This however. remains still a theory based solely on footprints.

An international group of researchers, led by Sapienza University in Rome discovered the set of thirteen footprints in Laetoli Tanzania.

Experts theorize that the footprints belonged to five members of Australopithecus afarensis, a species best known for the fossil skeleton, nicknamed ‘Lucy.’

Scientists believe that that the traces were left behind by a man who was accompanied –3.6 million years ago— by four women who walked around thirty meters over volcanic ash that in time turned into rock.

Professor Giorgio Manzi, lead author of the study, said: ‘This novel evidence, taken as a whole with the previous findings, portrays several early hominins moving as a group through the landscape following a volcanic eruption and subsequent rainfall. But there is more. The footprints of one of the new individuals are astonishingly larger than anyone else’s in the group, suggesting that he was a large male member of the species.

‘In fact, the 165cm stature indicated by his footprints makes him the largest Australopithecus specimen identified to date,’ added Professor Manzi.

This study provides further insight into the sex life of early humans. Experts suggest that this specific finding contradicts previous studies which proposed that Australopithecus afarensis males only had one sexual partner.

Furthermore, the newly-found set of footprints are located only 150 meters away from another set of intricate imprints that made headlines in the past as being the clearest and earliest evidence of upright walking by humans millions of years ago.

Researchers based in Italy and Africa believe that the two set’s of footprints may have belonged together.

“A tentative conclusion is that the group consisted of one male, two or three females, and one or two juveniles, which leads us to believe that the male – and therefore other males in the species – had more than one female mate,” said Dr Marco Cherin, director of the school of paleoanthropology at the University of Perugia.
The new discovery has been revealed in the journal, eLife.

Featured image: 

This illustration provided by Dawid A. Iurino in December 2016 shows a reconstruction of the northern Tanzanian Laetoli site 3.66 million years ago, where 14 footprints from a human ancestor, believed to be Australopithecus afarensis, were found. Findings were described in a report released Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016, by the journal eLife. (Dawid A. Iurino via AP)

SOURCE: http://www.ewao.com/a/researchers-find-revolutionary-3-6-million-year-old-human-footprints/

'Spectacular' New Frog Found in Ecuadorian Cloud Forest

Photo: The newly discovered Ecuadorian rain frog. Credit: Juan M. Guayasamin/Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Juan Guayasamin has spent years exploring the tropical climes of South America. The Universidad San Francisco de Quito professor has seen numerous amphibians as a result, since many different species live in these regions. One frog, however, stands out from the rest. It is, to use Guayasamin's word, "spectacular."

"It has a yellow dorsum [back] with black stripes," he told Seeker. "Its iris varies from light blue to grayish green."

The frog is a newly identified species that Guayasamin and colleague Chris Funk of Colorado State University have named Pristimantis ecuadorensis, the Ecuadorian rain frog. They describe it in the journal PLOS ONE.

"The discovery is surprising, mostly because of the colorful nature of this species," Guayasamin said. "Often times, the most beautiful species are readily recognized and described. The description of P. ecuadorensis is an exception to this rule."

The unique find occurred while he and Funk were performing genetic sampling of frogs from sites while crisscrossing the western slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes. Ecuador is ringed by a Pacific coastline, the Amazon basin in the east, and the Andes Mountains in the middle. DNA sequencing allowed the researchers to confirm that their spectacular frog, which hails from the Andes Las Pampas region, is indeed a new species.

The frog lives in a cloud forest, which is a moist tropical or subtropical forest characterized by persistent low-level clouds.

Usually distance or geographical barriers can lead to speciation. For example, a river or mountain range dividing two populations can limit gene flow, allowing species to evolve new traits over millions of years. Uniquely, the Ecuadorian rain frog appears to have become a distinct species in the absence of such geographical barriers.

The researchers suspect that environmental differences led to the speciation. A close relative of the Ecuadorian rain frog, the ornate rain frog (Pristimantis ornatissimus), lives nearby, but in a lower elevation habitat.

"What we observed is that P. ecuadorensis is found at higher elevations than P. ornatissimus," Guayasamin said. "Thus, it is possible that the new species has adapted to colder microhabitats."

He added that mysteries still surround the Ecuadorian rain frog. He and his colleagues, however, have thus far determined that the frog is relatively small, with males measuring just under an inch long and females measuring about 1.5 inches long. The frog is nocturnal, perhaps helping to explain how it went undetected by humans until now.

The frog additionally is a "direct developer," which means that it lacks a tadpole stage.

"Eggs are placed in humid places out of water and directly develop into minute froglets," Guayasamin explained.

The research team analyzed the frog's fecal samples and found the remains of beetles, crickets, and spiders, revealing the colorful amphibian's diet.

Although just discovered, the frog is already considered to be highly endangered. Its population appears to be small, and its habitat is threatened by agriculture and livestock, mostly cattle, which are raised in the region.

"We think that the discovery is important because, hopefully, it will draw attention to an area of Ecuador that is under considerable human pressure," Guayasamin said. "Conservation efforts are badly needed!"

The Ecuadorian rain frog is not the first new frog species to be discovered by Guayasamin and Funk. In 2009, they discovered a coffee-colored frog with distinctive elongated, slender toes. They named it Pristimantis bicantus.

The scientists' work in studying South American wildlife has resulted from close international collaborations between Ecuador universities and organizations and three US universities: Colorado State University, George Washington University, and the University of Kansas.

Such partnerships are important, Guayasamin said, "especially in these times when important political figures work to build walls between us."

SOURCE: http://www.seeker.com/spectacular-new-frog-found-in-ecuador-cloud-forest-2325116833.html

Fossilised Filaments from Hot Ocean Vent Claimed to Be Earliest Evidence of Life on Earth

Iron oxide tubes may be oldest microfossils and evidence of life on Earth, study suggests. (Supplied: Matthew Dodd)

Tiny mineralised filaments smaller than a human hair found in rocks more than 3.77 billion years old may be evidence of one of the oldest lifeforms on Earth.

An international team of scientists has discovered what they believe are the fossilised remains of microorganisms that would have clustered around a hot, seafloor vent.


They said the discovery, published today in Nature, complements other evidence of early life found last year in 3.71-billion-year-old fossil stromatolites in Greenland.

The findings suggest that while the Earth was only very young, life colonised not only the shallows but also the ocean depths.

But an Australian scientist working on the earlier discovery is not convinced the new find is proof of ancient life.

Although it is not known where or when life on Earth began, some of the earliest habitable environments may have been underwater vents.

To search for life in these settings the team analysed iron-rich quartz rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq belt of northeastern Canada, an ancient hydrothermal vent system that formed between 3.77 billion and 4.3 billion years ago.

Study co-author Dr Dominic Papineau from University College London said several key microscopic features in these rocks convinced him they were evidence of ancient life forms that fed on iron being spewed from the hydrothermal vents.

"The first line of evidence that we have is their unique structures: they're filaments that are just a few microns in diameter but have tens to hundreds of microns in length, which makes them similar to other filamentous micro-organisms," Dr Papineau said.

Filamentous microorganisms can be found today forming microbial mats inside deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

He said some filaments were twisted and branched like modern microorganisms, while others were surrounded by tubes coated with nanoscale particles of iron oxide — or 'rust'.

The rocks also yielded rosette shapes and granules whose mineral composition suggests they represent the fossilised 'putrefaction' of ancient organisms.

"All animals when they die, when they are fossilised, they are converted into a mineral mass of apatite and carbonate," Dr Papineau said.

"From their compositions and the context that we found them, we believe that these are the mineralised remains of the microorganisms that were there."

These clumps of iron and filaments may be microbial cells similar to microbes found in vent environments today (Supplied: M Dodd)

The researchers said the findings could not only help us piece together the early history of Earth, but search for traces of similar lifeforms in other parts of the solar system such as Mars.

Interpretation of early life is contentious
Professor Martin Van Kranendonk, of the University of New South Wales, was one of the co-authors on the Greenland fossil stromatolite study, which was published in Nature last year.

He said while the current paper had done some "cutting-edge" analysis on the samples, he debated whether the features discovered were biological in origin.

"It's very possible that there was life at that time — I think it's almost certainly the case — but as we delve deeper in the rock record, each interpretation gets more contentious, but here I think the science doesn't hold," said Professor Van Kranendonk.

He argued these rocks would have been subjected to enormous temperature and pressure changes, which could have a range of effects on the minerals contained within them.


"This is where the scale becomes important because at the grain scale there are lots of reactions going, especially when you have lots of different minerals like carbonate minerals that break down," he said.

These structures may have formed through the oxidation of organic matter derived from microbes living around vents. (Supplied: Matthew Dodd)

Professor Van Kranendonk said the tubules, which the authors suggest are one of the main pieces of evidence for biological life, look like they could also be the product of gas or minerals moving through the rock as it recrystallises and leaving behind a trail of materials.

He said it wasn't impossible to discover definitive evidence of biological life in these sorts of formation, but it was challenging.

"We're on a quest to understand our origins and these kind of investigations are fascinating but we have to stay realistic about what we know and don't know," he said.

"We're pushing the boundaries of what science can do."

SOURCE: http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-03-02/fossilised-filaments-claimed-to-be-earliest-evidence-of-life/8316248