What Did Neanderthal Speech Sound Like?
April 17 | Reuters
Anthropologists in Florida have used fossil evidence to engineer the types of sounds that a Neanderthal larynx would have been capable of. They apparently lacked the quantal vowel sounds of modern speech.
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Huge Viking Treasure Unearthed in Sweden
April 11 | National Geographic News
Archaeologists unexpectedly found a huge amount of Viking treasure near Stockholm, Sweden. It was discovered in a Bronze Age tomb, but the loot itself is more recent, dating perhaps to 850 A.D. The treasure trove contains more silver coins than any other Viking stash discovered from this time period. The age of the find suggests that Vikings were involved in overseas trade earlier than previously thought.
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Geophysicist Puts Skills to Work Finding Unmarked Graves
April 7 | Wired.com
Her clients are cemeteries looking for unmapped graves and construction companies looking for ancient burials. Elizabeth Agin has found hundreds of graves using ground-penetrating radar, GPS, geospatial software and a sharp eye.
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Investigating the Mystery of Stonehenge
April 4 | BBC
Archaeologists are currently excavating Stonehenge for the first time in nearly half a century. They hope to find some clues to help them more accurately discern the age and purpose of this amazing landmark. The BBC has devoted a webpage to chronicling the progress of this endeavor. There you can find news updates, video clips, theories about the monument, and more.
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Statue of Ancient Egyptian Queen Found Intact
April 4 | National Geographic News
Archaeologists uncovered a statue of Queen Tiye while excavating the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor, Egypt. The quartzite figure measures 12 feet tall and is remarkably well-preserved. Many of the statues in this temple have been damaged by massive earthquakes, so the discovery of an intact colossus is an unusual surprise.
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Oldest Known Human Fossil Found in Europe
March 27 | MSNBC
Scientists in Spain have found a jawbone that they believe to be of the oldest known human. It was found in a cave and believed to be 1.3 million years old. The significance: it suggests that people were in Europe much earlier than previously believed.
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Early Human Bipedalism Confirmed
March 25 | GEOTIMES
A short article at the GEOTIMES website explores the possibility that Orrorin tugenensis, a fossil in the hominin lineage from about 6 million years ago that was discovered in Kenya in 2000, walked upright. The article discusses its relationship to other human ancestors.
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Searching for the Bonhomme Richard
February 25 | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Bonhomme Richard was a Revolutionary War ship under the command of American captain, John Paul Jones. In July, 2007, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution used modern technology to search for the ship at the bottom of the North Sea.
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The Anthropocene
February 20 | GEOTIMES
Daniel Richter and Paul Heine of Duke University believe that human-soil interaction is so extensive that it warrants the declaration of a new geologic time interval which they call the Anthropocene.
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Hitler’s “Lost Fleet” Found in the Black Sea
February 5 | UK Telegraph
The wrecks of three German U-Boats, nicknamed, “Hitler’s Lost Fleet” have been found on the bottom of the Black Sea. They were transported overland from the ocean to the Black Sea to attack Russian ships during the Second World War.
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Pictograph Photos
November 25 | Geology.com
Pictographs are a form of “rock art” in which people paint an image on the rock. Explore a worldwide collection of ancient pictograph images from Arizona, Aruba, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Namibia, Nevada and Utah.
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US Salvage Company Hounded By Spanish Police
October 19 | BBC News Europe
Odyssey Marine International, the company who found and salvaged a shipwreck containing a half million silver and gold coins, is being closely watched by Spanish maritime police. The location of the sunken treasure has been kept secret and some speculate that Spain thinks that it might have been pulled from their waters.
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NOAA Image
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Forensic Geology Used in the Hunt for Hominids
May 26 | Case Western Reserve
Three geologists are applying forensic geology methods to understand the story of early humans and the environment in which they lived. They are part of a team of geologists and anthropologists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Case Western Reserve working on projects at the Worsano-Mille Paleontological Site in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. It is interesting how some of the basic concepts of historical geology are valuable in this interdisciplinary work.
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Google Earth
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Free High Resolution Satellite Images - Google Earth
Promotion | Geology.com
Google Earth is a free download that will allow you to view recent satellite images of Earth in 3D. Worldwide coverage. Fly over landscapes and cities, or zoom in on your house! This is the same program used by national news networks to give you great satellite images. Free download.
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