Latest news with #Pleistocene
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Found 78,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Footprints That Tell a Story of Survival
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: The oldest-known hominin track sites found in southwest Europe provide clues to the hunting patterns of Neanderthals. Experts believe that along with eating plenty of plants, the ancient population also hunted deer, horses, and rabbits. Neanderthals were eager to explore neighboring regions to discover mammals which they could add to their diet. A Neanderthal family, hunting 78,000 years ago along the dunes of what is now modern-day Portugal, was likely stalking a meal of red deer. Today, thanks to the discovery of fossilized footprints—a range of tracks showing an adult male and two children—scientists were able to piece together the family's movements and how they coincided with the wild game the ancient hominin were known to crave. In a new study published in Scientific Reports, a team of researchers from the University of Lisbon and the Naturtejo UNESCO Global Geopark used optically stimulated luminescence to date prints found on the coastal cliffs of Monte Clerigo, along with a single print left 82,000 years ago, roughly four miles away at Praia do Telheiro. The footprints along Portugal's shifting coastal environment are considered 'the first two hominin track sites found in the southwestern most region of Europe.' In the report, the team chronicles five trackways at Monte Clerigo that contain 26 total prints. They were able to determine that three of the tracks were left by an adult male—likely between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8 in height—twice from ascending the cliff dune and once descending. The other two tracks were left by children, one likely between the ages of 7 and 9, and the other from a toddler, probably younger than 2 years old. When the fossilized prints of a red deer were found on the same dune, the researchers came to believe the family was hunting the deer, using the undulating landscape to attempt to sneak up on the prey. 'Tracks of three individuals demonstrate how Neanderthals navigated dune landscapes,' the study authors wrote. It also gives more credence to the belief that coastal environments were used by Pleistocene humans and that they were important areas in 'shaping hominin cognitive and social development.' The footprints, a combined result of foot anatomy, gait dynamics, and substrate properties, help tell the story of the family, which was likely camping nearby the dunes. 'A review of the Neanderthal coastal sites associated with faunal evidence shows that their diet was primarily centered on cervids [deer], horses, and hares,' the study authors wrote. 'The consistent presence of these mammal taxa highlights their role as reliable food sources, irrespective of the varying environments inhabited by Neanderthals. In addition, the Neanderthal diet also incorporated animals form neighboring littoral habitats, indicating a broad foraging strategy that capitalized on local biodiversity.' At Monte Clerigo's five trackways, the busiest featured 10 prints in one track. The single footprint found at Praia do Telheiro, which was dated about 4,000 years older than those found at Monte Clerigo, was that of a 'slim' foot, likely belonging to a female, the authors wrote. There's no additional evidence to tell if the female at Praia do Telheiro was on the hunt for red deer, horse, or rabbit. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mirror
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Groundbreaking discovery of 29,000-year-old human skeleton in remote cave
Archaeologists have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in Thailand, a stunning find in a remote cave that could rewrite the history of human settlement in the region In a historic find set to transform our knowledge of the past, archaeologists in Thailand have dug up the oldest human skeleton ever discovered in the country, pushing back the timeline for human habitation in the area by thousands of years. The remains of a young child, endearingly dubbed "Pangpond" after a popular Thai cartoon character, were found in an isolated cave within the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. The Fine Arts Department (FAD) has made the remarkable announcement that the juvenile's interment, located in Din Cave – already renowned for its ancient rock paintings – dates back over 29,000 years. This revelation upends prior conceptions of Thailand's human history, providing an extraordinary window into the existence of prehistoric populations during the late Pleistocene epoch. "The careful burial and the associated artifacts provide invaluable insights into the rituals and daily lives of these ancient inhabitants.", reports the Daily Star. "The body was carefully placed and surrounded by stones, indicating a level of respect and care in the burial process," explained a FAD archaeologist. "The positioning of the limbs, with the toes touching, suggests the body may have been wrapped or tied before burial." The youngster's remains were discovered laid out flat on their back, with the head pointing southwest, indicating a purposeful and ceremonial interment. Initial examination suggests the child was aged between 6 and 8 when they died. By studying soil samples and fossils from the upper strata, researchers reckon the skeleton dates back more than 29,000 years, firmly positioning it in the late Pleistocene era. This find's importance reaches far beyond Thailand's frontiers. Din Cave, perched 125 metres above sea level, has captivated archaeologists since prehistoric cave art was uncovered there in 1996. "The Din Cave site offers a unique window into the past, documenting the evolution of human societies over thousands of years," said a spokesperson from the FAD. "Further research and analysis will undoubtedly shed more light on the lives of these ancient people and their contributions to the region's rich history."
Daily Maverick
10-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Maverick
Stone tools from a cave on South Africa's coast speak of life at the end of the Ice Age
Stone tools from different sites suggest people long ago were connected over a huge region and shared ideas. The Earth of the last Ice Age (about 26,000 to 19,000 years ago) was very different from today's world. In the northern hemisphere, ice sheets up to 8 kilometres tall covered much of Europe, Asia and North America, while much of the southern hemisphere became drier as water was drawn into the northern glaciers. As more and more water was transformed into ice, global sea levels dropped as much as 125 metres from where they are now, exposing land that had been under the ocean. In southernmost Africa, receding coastlines exposed an area of the continental shelf known as the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain. At its maximum extent, it covered an area of about 36,000km² along the south coast of what's now South Africa. This now-extinct ecosystem was a highly productive landscape with abundant grasslands, wetlands, permanent water drainage systems, and seasonal floodplains. The Palaeo-Agulhas Plain was likely most similar to the present-day Serengeti in East Africa. It would likely have been able to support large herds of migratory animals and the people who hunted them. We now know more about how these people lived thanks to data from a new archaeological site called Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1. The site sits 23 metres above sea level on the southern coast of South Africa overlooking the Indian Ocean. You can watch whales from the site today, but during the Ice Age, the ocean was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the site looked out over the vast grasslands; the coast was 75 kilometres away. Archaeological investigation of the cave began in 2014, led by Naomi Cleghorn of the University of Texas. This work shows that humans have been using the site for much of the last 48,000 years or more. Occupations bridge the Middle to Later Stone Age transition, which occurred sometime between about 40,000 and 25,000 years ago in southern Africa. That transition is a time period where we see dramatic changes in the technologies people were using, including changes in raw materials selected for making tools and a shift towards smaller tools. These changes are poorly understood due to a lack of sites with occupations dating to this time. Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1 is the first site on the southern coast that provides a continuous occupational record near the end of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and documents how life changed for people living on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain. Before the Ice Age, people there collected marine resources like shellfish when the coastline was close to the site. As the climate began to cool and sea levels dropped, they shifted their focus to land-based resources and game animals. I am one of the archaeologists who have been working here. In a new study, my colleagues and I analysed stone tools from the cave that date to about 19,000 to 18,000 years ago, and discussed how the techniques used to make them hint at the ways that prehistoric people travelled, interacted, and shared their craft. Based on this analysis, we think the cave may have been used as a temporary camp rather than a primary residence. And the similarity of the tools with those from other sites suggests people were connected over a huge region and shared ideas with each other, much like people do today. Robberg technology of southern Africa In human history, tools were invented in a succession of styles (' technologies ' or 'industries'), which can indicate the time and place where they were made and what they were used for. The Robberg is one of southern Africa's most distinctive and widespread stone tool technologies. Robberg tools – which we found at the Knysna site – are thought to be replaceable components in composite tools, perhaps as barbs set into arrow shafts, used to hunt the migratory herds on the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain. We see the first appearance of Robberg technology in southern Africa near the peak of the last Ice Age around 26,000 years ago, and people continued producing these tools until around 12,000 years ago, when climate conditions were warmer. The particular methods and order of operations that people used to make their tools are something that is taught and learned. If we see specific methods of stone tool production at multiple sites, it indicates that people were sharing ideas with one another. Robberg occupations at Knysna date to between 21,000 and 15,000 years ago, when sea levels were at their lowest and the coastline far away. The Robberg tools we recovered were primarily made from rocks that were available close to the site. Most of the tools were made from quartz, which creates very sharp edges but can break unpredictably. Production focused on bladelets, or small elongated tools, which may have been replaceable components in hunting weapons. Some of the tools were made from a raw material called silcrete. People in South Africa were heat-treating this material to improve its quality for tool production as early as 164,000 years ago. The silcrete tools at Knysna were heat-treated before being brought to the site. This is only the second documented instance of the use of heat treatment in Robberg technology. Silcrete is not available near Knysna. Most of the accessible deposits in the area are in the Outeniqua Mountains, at least 50 kilometres inland. We're not sure yet whether people using the Knysna site were travelling to these raw material sources themselves or trading with other groups. Archaeological sites containing Robberg tools are found in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, indicating a widespread adoption by people across southern Africa. The tools from the Knysna site share many characteristics with those from other sites, which suggests people were sharing information through social networks that may have spanned the entire width of the continent. Yet there are other aspects that are unique to the Knysna site. Fewer tools are found in the more recent layers than in deeper layers, suggesting that people were using the site less frequently than they had previously. This may suggest that during the Ice Age, the cave was used as a temporary camp rather than as a primary residential site. Left with questions Stone tools can only tell us so much. Was Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1 a temporary camp? If so, what were they coming to the cave for? We need to combine what we learned from the stone tools with other data from the site to answer these questions. Something we can say with confidence is that we have a very long and rich history as a species, and our innovative and social natures go back a lot further in time than most people realise. Humans living during the last Ice Age had complex technologies to solve their problems, made art and music, connected with people in other communities, and in some places even had pet dogs. Despite the dramatic differences in the world around us, these Ice Age people were not very different from people living today. DM
The Irish Sun
08-07-2025
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Eerie ‘hybrid' skull belonged to ‘half human, half neanderthal girl' that died 140,000 years ago aged just 3
A SKULL unearthed nearly a century ago is now believed to have belonged to a 'half human, half neanderthal girl', according to a new study. The girl, who experts say was just three-years-old at the time, died roughly 140,000 years ago, towards the end of the Middle Pleistocene era. 3 The girl's full skeleton is largely complete, with the left side better preserved Credit: Tel Aviv University 3 New analysis involving CT scanning suggests the remains belong to a hybrid species of ancient human, according the paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie Credit: Tel Aviv University Her remains were found when a rchaeologists unearthed several human skeletons, including seven adults and three children, while excavating Skuhl Cave just south of Haifa, Israel in 1929. The girl's full skeleton is largely complete, with the left side better preserved. Most of the remains were classified as early Homo sapiens; however, there remained some debate due to an unusual mix of skeletal features. New analysis involving CT scanning suggests the remains belong to a hybrid species of ancient human, according published in the journal L'Anthropologie. READ MORE ON ARCHAEOLOGY Focusing on the neurocranium - the part of the skull that cups the brain, the mandible - which forms the lower part of the jaw and mouth, as well as teeth the team found characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a period of about 5,400 years where both species roamed Earth at the same time. The relationship between the two species is not wholly understood. But they traded genes frequently during the period when their populations overlapped. Most read in Tech Prehistoric drawings of alien-like half-human creatures found in Amazon The baby girl may have been a result of this interbreeding, according to the study. Co-author Anne Dambricourt Malassé of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris said that she once thought such a hybridisation was not possible. The results of their analysis, however, demonstrate that it is possible, although the child in question died very young. 'This study is maybe the first that has put the Skhul child's remains on a scientific basis,' John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who wasn't involved with the study, 'The old reconstruction and associated work, literally set in plaster, did not really enable anyone to compare this child with a broader array of recent children to understand its biology.' Although, Hawks cautioned that a DNA sample would be needed to officially confirm the study's findings. "Human populations are variable," he added. "And there can be a lot of variability in their appearance and physical form even without mixing with ancient groups like Neanderthals." It wouldn't be the first time a possible ancient human hybrid had been discovered. In 2018 , scientists analysed a bone fragment excavated from a cave site in Russia and concluded it belonged to a young girl of about 13 who was the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. 3 Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a period of about 5,400 years where both species roamed Earth at the same time Credit: Israel Hershkovitz /Tel Aviv University
The Sun
08-07-2025
- Science
- The Sun
Eerie ‘hybrid' skull belonged to ‘half human, half neanderthal girl' that died 140,000 years ago aged just 3
A SKULL unearthed nearly a century ago is now believed to have belonged to a 'half human, half neanderthal girl', according to a new study. The girl, who experts say was just three-years-old at the time, died roughly 140,000 years ago, towards the end of the Middle Pleistocene era. 3 3 Her remains were found when archaeologists unearthed several human skeletons, including seven adults and three children, while excavating Skuhl Cave just south of Haifa, Israel in 1929. The girl's full skeleton is largely complete, with the left side better preserved. Most of the remains were classified as early Homo sapiens; however, there remained some debate due to an unusual mix of skeletal features. New analysis involving CT scanning suggests the remains belong to a hybrid species of ancient human, according the paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie. Focusing on the neurocranium - the part of the skull that cups the brain, the mandible - which forms the lower part of the jaw and mouth, as well as teeth the team found characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a period of about 5,400 years where both species roamed Earth at the same time. The relationship between the two species is not wholly understood. But they traded genes frequently during the period when their populations overlapped. Prehistoric drawings of alien-like half-human creatures found in Amazon The baby girl may have been a result of this interbreeding, according to the study. Co-author Anne Dambricourt Malassé of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris said that she once thought such a hybridisation was not possible. The results of their analysis, however, demonstrate that it is possible, although the child in question died very young. 'This study is maybe the first that has put the Skhul child's remains on a scientific basis,' John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who wasn't involved with the study, told New Scientist. 'The old reconstruction and associated work, literally set in plaster, did not really enable anyone to compare this child with a broader array of recent children to understand its biology.' Although, Hawks cautioned that a DNA sample would be needed to officially confirm the study's findings. "Human populations are variable," he added. "And there can be a lot of variability in their appearance and physical form even without mixing with ancient groups like Neanderthals." It wouldn't be the first time a possible ancient human hybrid had been discovered. In 2018, scientists analysed a bone fragment excavated from a cave site in Russia and concluded it belonged to a young girl of about 13 who was the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
