Why the mummies of Spain’s Canary Islands are better preserved than Egypt’s (Inews 11/18/20)
A five-year study into the mummified remains found in the Canary Islands DNA tests showed they originally came from West or North Africa.
La Fundación Palarq es una entidad privada y sin ánimo de lucro que se crea con la finalidad de apoyar las Misiones en Arqueología y Paleontología Humana Españolas en el extranjero, excluyendo Europa, dentro de una perspectiva que abarca desde la etapa paleontológica a las épocas prehistóricas y las históricas en interés monumental
Gynaecology of ancient Egypt REVEALED: Vaginal fumigation with roast meat or rancid milk was prescribed as a remedy for severe hip pain 3,800 years ago (DailyMail 11/18/20)
The woman, called Sattjeni, was found interred with a fire-damaged cup between her legs – evidence of an ancient treatment whereby the vagina was fumigated.
Researchers study the unique hydraulics in the Barbegal water mills, the world’s earliest known industrial plant (Phys.org 11/16/20)
The Barbegal watermills in southern France are a unique complex dating back to the second century AD. The construction and its 16 waterwheels represent the first attempt in Europe to build a machine complex on an industrial scale. The complex was created when the Roman Empire was at the height of its power.
Babies buried under a mammoth-bone lid are the oldest known identical twins (Nature 11/11/20)
Prehistoric grave contains the remains of a baby who died at birth and those of his twin, who survived for an additional six to seven weeks.
2-Million-Year-Old Skull of Paranthropus robustus Suggests Climate Change Drove Rapid Changes (Sci-News 11/11/20
Paranthropus robustus is a small-brained extinct hominin that lived between 2 million and 1.2 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Discovered in 1938, it was among the first early hominins described and the first discovered robust australopithecine.
When did humans first go to war? (11/10/20 Phys.org)
When modern humans arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago, they made a discovery that was to change the course of history.
Egypt to unveil Saqqara area’s largest archaeological discovery this week (Egypt Independent 11/9/20)
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is set to announce this week what it claims to be Saqqara’s largest archaeological discovery.
Lunch Break Science #14 | Christopher Gilbert
Lunch Break Science is a weekly online series featuring short lectures or interviews with Leakey Foundation scientists Lunch Break Science #14 | Christopher Gilbert Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Christopher Gilbert and learn about primate evolution. He will also discuss his discovery of a new fossil ape in northern India.
Woman the hunter: Ancient Andean remains challenge old ideas of who speared big game (Science 11/4/20)
When archaeologists discovered the bones of a 9000-year-old human in a burial pit high in the Andes, they were impressed by a tool kit of 20 stone projectile points and blades stacked neatly by the person’s side. All signs pointed to the discovery of a high-status hunter. “Everybody was talking about how this was a…
Almost 4,000 years ago, some tasks were already specialized according to gender (11/3/20 Phys.org)
A study of the dental wear of 106 individuals buried in the Castellón Alto archaeological site (Granada, Spain) found that only women used their anterior teeth as tools to make threads and cords.
War in the time of Neanderthals: how our species battled for supremacy for over 100,000 years (The Conversation 11/02/20)
Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out overland, into Asia, then Europe, becoming Homo neanderthalensis – the Neanderthals. They weren’t our ancestors, but a sister species, evolving in parallel.