EurekAlert! - Archaeology
Sun Jan 24 11:35:50 EST 2010
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Sales of green energy to help halt decay of Philippines' legendary rice terraces - (e8) Philippines officials on Friday receive the symbolic keys to a donated 200 kw mini-hydro project that, in addition to green energy, will start generating money to halt deterioration of the country's fabled ancient rice terraces.The massive, spectacular and iconic Asian rice terraces were created on mountainsides largely by hand by indigenous people of the northern Ifugao province at least two millennia ago, popularly known today as "the stairways to heaven," and the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

Study: Animals populated Madagascar by rafting there - (Purdue University) 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.

Oxford University Press launches new librarian newsletter - (Oxford University Press) Oxford University Press has launched Illuminea, a new quarterly newsletter for academic librarians and information professionals. This publication will keep readers up-to-date with the latest developments at OUP and across the publishing world.

Stable climate and plant domestication linked - (Springer) Sustainable farming and the introduction of new crops relies on a relatively stable climate, not dramatic conditions attributable to climate change. Basing their argument on evolutionary, ecological, genetic and agronomic considerations, Dr. Shahal Abbo, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and colleagues, demonstrate why climate change is not the likely cause of plant domestication in the Near East. Their thesis is published online in Springer's journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany.

Ancient Egyptian cosmetics: 'Magical' makeup may have been medicine for eye disease - (American Chemical Society) There's more to the eye makeup that gave Queen Nefertiti and other ancient Egyptians royals those stupendous gazes and legendary beauty than meets the eye. Scientists in France are reporting that the alluring eye makeup also may have been used to help prevent or treat eye disease by doubling as an infection-fighter. Their findings are scheduled for the Jan. 15 issue of ACS' Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.

Shipworm threatens archaeological treasures - (University of Gothenburg) The dreaded shipworm is moving into the Baltic Sea, threatening artifacts of the area's cultural heritage. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, suspect that the unfortunate spread is due to climate change, and are currently involved in an EU project to determine which archaeological remains are at risk.

Use of body ornamentation shows Neanderthal mind capable of advanced thought - (University of Bristol) The widespread view of Neanderthals as cognitively inferior to early modern humans is challenged by new research from the University of Bristol published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered - (University of Haifa) Professor Gershon Galil of the department of biblical studies at the University of Haifa has deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign), and has shown that this is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest known Hebrew writing. The significance of this breakthrough relates to the fact that at least some of the biblical scriptures were composed hundreds of years before the dates presented today in research.

Fossil footprints give land vertebrates a much longer history - (Uppsala University) The discovery of fossil footprints from early backboned land animals in Poland leads to the sensational conclusion that our ancestors left the water at least 18 million years earlier than previously thought. The results of the Polish-Swedish collaboration are published online this week in Nature.

30,000-year-old teeth shed new light on human evolution - (University of Bristol) The teeth of a 30,000-year-old child are shedding new light on the evolution of modern humans, thanks to research from the University of Bristol published this week in PNAS.

Using modern sequencing techniques to study ancient modern humans - (Cell Press) DNA that is left in the remains of long-dead plants, animals or humans allows a direct look into the history of evolution.

Modern behavior of early humans found half-million years earlier than previously thought - (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Evidence of sophisticated, human behavior has been discovered by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers as early as 750,000 years ago -- some half a million years earlier than has previously been estimated by archaeologists.

UCF leads Florida universities with 4 professors named AAAS fellows - (University of Central Florida) The four professors -- UCF's total leads all Florida universities -- are among 531 people nationwide selected by their peers for scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Discovery of 4.4 million-year-old 'Ardi' named 'Breakthrough of the Year' - (University of California - Berkeley) The journal Science has named the discovery of "Ardi," the oldest hominid skeleton ever found, its "Breakthrough of the Year 2009." An international team co-led by UC Berkeley's Tim White took 17 years to assemble and analyze the skeleton and thousands of other fossils found with it. The analysis, published in the Oct. 2 Science, revolutionizes our understanding of the earliest human ancestors appearing not long after the human lineage diverged from that of chimps.

Exploring the Stone Age pantry - (University of Calgary) The consumption of wild cereals among prehistoric hunters and gatherers appears to be far more ancient than previously thought, according to a University of Calgary archaeologist who has found the oldest example of extensive reliance on cereal and root staples in the diet of early Homo sapiens more than 100,000 years ago.

Science's breakthrough of the year: Uncovering 'Ardi' - (American Association for the Advancement of Science) The research that brought to light the fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia, has topped Science's list of this year's most significant scientific breakthroughs. The journal also identifies nine other important scientific accomplishments from this past year in a top 10 list, appearing in a special news feature in the journal's Dec. 18, 2009, issue.

DNA of Jesus-era shrouded man in Jerusalem reveals earliest case of leprosy - (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) The DNA of a 1st century shrouded man found in a tomb on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem has revealed the earliest proven case of leprosy. Details of the research will be published Dec. 16 in the PLoS ONE Journal.

UF researcher helps reveal ancient origins of modern opossum - (University of Florida) A University of Florida researcher has co-authored a study tracing the evolution of the modern opossum back to the extinction of the dinosaurs and finding evidence to support North America as the center of origin for all living marsupials.

The mammoths' swan song revised - (University of Copenhagen) Analysis of ancient DNA has shown that Woolly mammoths and prehistoric horses grazed on the North American Plains, for several thousand years longer than hitherto assumed.

Studying hair of ancient Peruvians answers questions about stress - (University of Western Ontario) The first study of its kind, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, detected the stress hormone cortisol in the hair of ancient Peruvians, who lived between 550 and 1532 A.D.

The impact of the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States - (Washington University in St. Louis) An international group of anthropologists offers a new theory about the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States and the impact it had.Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study, co-authored by Gayle Fritz, Ph.D., professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues, suggests that maize was passed from group to group of Southwestern hunter-gatherers.

Absence of evidence for a meteorite impact event 13,000 years ago - (University of Hawaii at Manoa) An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have found no evidence supporting an extraterrestrial impact event at the onset of the Younger Dryas approx. 13,000 years ago.

Houses of the rising sun - (University of Leicester) New research at the University of Leicester has identified scores of Sicilian temples built to face the rising sun, shedding light on the practices of the Ancient Greeks.

'Hobbits' are a new human species -- according to the statistical analysis of fossils - (Wiley-Blackwell) Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Heart disease found in Egyptian mummies - (University of California - Irvine) Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too.