Geology News
Archaeology Current Events

Five copper coins about 1000 years old found on a beach by an Australian soldier during WWII may be strong evidence that ships from distant lands reached Australia hundreds of years earlier than what is written in history books.

Researchers at Keele University are developing new methods of finding clandestine graves using geophysical methods. Some of their methods are being adopted for use in forensic cases.

Some researchers believe that Australopithecus sediba should occupy the position of the most immediate ancestor of humans.

SmithsonianMag.com has an interesting article titled: “The Lost Tribes of the Amazon”. It describes some recent encounters with indigenous people in the Colombian headwaters of the Amazon.

In a Google hangout a group of NASA scientists discuss the Mayan Calendar and explain why December 21, 2012 will not be the end of the world.

Several Native American petroglyphs were stolen from a site near Bishop, California.

Related: Petroglyph Photos

Archaeologists working near Mossel Bay, South Africa have found small stone tools with an estimated age of 71,000 years. Prior to this, the earliest tools found have an age of about 65,000 years.

Related: Uses of Flint

About 1500 years ago a tsunami triggered by a delta collapse, traveled across Lake Geneva and swamped the area that is now the city of Geneva, Switzerland.

Archaeolgists in Bulgaria are excavating a prehistoric town that is thought to be the oldest in Europe. The 4000+ year old site is thought to have been a salt-producing community.

“Researchers use dramatic changes in sediment storage rates in the Danube River delta to determine that human impact upon the Black Sea began long before the Industrial Era.” Quoted from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution press release.

Although many structures in the city of Pompeii survived a volcanic eruption and World War II they have now fallen into ruins from a lack of maintenance. An article in the Vancouver Sun explains how history is being lost.

Based upon superior muscularity of the right arm and wear patterns on teeth, researchers have determined that most Neanderthals were right-handed.

Large Triceratops Discovered in Alberta

Mississippi River in Drought

Floating Pumice Trail in the Pacific

Lost Army of Cambyses II Discovered?

Tallest Sand Dunes in North America

One of the Best Teaching Tools on This Planet

Archaeologists may have found the “Lost Army of Cambyses II” that perished in the Egyptian desert at about 500 BC.

“The Later Stone Age emerged in South Africa more than 20,000 years earlier than previously believed–about the same time humans were migrating from Africa to the European continent, says a new international study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.” Quoted from the University press release.

Related: What is Flint?

“Around 600 CE the Hohokam people began to construct irrigation canals. They excavated trenches up to 12 feet deep by hand, using a digging stick. The trenches drew off Salt River water and fanned into a network of smaller canals that brought a steady supply of water to fields. Between 1100 CE and 1450 CE, 500 miles of canals irrigated 110,000 acres. The food produced by this advanced irrigation system is believed to have supported up to 80,000 people—the highest population density in the prehistoric Southwest.” Quoted from an article on the Arizona Experience website.

Dating of organic materials and DNA extracted from human coprolites discovered in Oregon’s Paisley Caves enabled researchers to date projectile points to at least 13,200 years, bracket the geographic origin of projectile point technologies, point to a Siberia-east Asian origins of the people who used the points and possibly confirm the authenticity of what is the oldest direct evidence for humans in the Americas.

DNA studies suggest that archaic species of humans may have persisted in Africa until as late as 25,000 years ago.

A German submarine damaged by depth charges was found on the sea floor about 70 miles east of Nantucket. Researchers discovered the sub after a long search using side-scan sonar.

A small landslide along a beach near Hornsea, England unearthed a large cache of World War II munitions.

The largest survey of Native American DNA supports the idea that North America was settled by three waves of people from Asia.

Flint has been used to make tools and weapons for over 2 million years. This article explores the history of flint use and some of the locations where early people produced it.

Fragments of the oldest pottery ever found were discovered in southern China. They are estimated to be 20,000 years old.

Image by Kevin Lange

Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years – making them Europe’s oldest known cave art. Quoted from the University of Bristol press release.

Related: Rock Art: Petroglyphs and Pictographs

“Earle McBride and Dane Picard were traveling across France doing geologic field work in 1988 when they took time out to play tourists at Omaha Beach, site of one of the most ferocious battles during the D-Day invasion more than 40 years earlier.”

About the image: “McBride reported that 4 percent of the sand is made up of these bits of shrapnel ranging in size from very fine to course (0.06 to 1 millimeter).” Quotes from the Jackson School of Geosciences press release.

Archaeologists working at a cave in Germany found flutes made from bone and ivory that have been dated to between 42,000 and 43,000 years old.

Excavations near the base of Tambora volcano reveal furnished buildings with dead occupants buried under a thick layer of volcanic ash.

Map by John White

In the late 16th century over 100 English colonists vanished without a trace from what was hoped to become a permanent English settlement in present-day North Carolina. The use of technology to examine a 16th century map may have revealed clues of their fate.

Marine treasure hunters claim to have located the SS Port Nicholson, a Britsh ship that was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1942. It was carrying over $2 billion in precious metals and industrial diamonds.

“A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists.” Quoted from the NSF press release.