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Terrestrial Archæology and Solar System History -
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News Headlines Archive
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December 2010
- new discoveries about ancient civilisation under ancient skies -
The events of July 16th - 22nd 1994, when the remnants of a fragmenting comet, P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, bombarded the
surface of Jupiter causing fireballs many times the size of our own planet, were an abrupt wake-up call even for those
who were aware of them. The historical sciences generally, and archæology in particular, have collectively painted
a picture of the past as if our planet 'stands alone in empty space'. Nothing could be further from reality. Our restless planet exists in a solar system that has had a very dynamic history over the past 20,000 years or so and it is only from this wider solar system perspective that the true history of human civilisation can ever
be fully understood. Therefore, The Morien Institute archive contains information from many disciplines
some news sources require registration but this is usually free
Due to the continuing spinal problems of our Web Editor updates for the News pages and SkyWatch Calendar will be sporadic for the few weeks until we can find a temporary replacement. We apologise for any inconvenience ...
News Headlines Digest Period Ending Sunday December 31 2010
"Finger Points to New Type of Human" Science News (USA)
"By sequencing the nuclear genome of an ancient finger bone, researchers have confirmed the discovery of a new type of human that lived in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia more than 30,000 years ago.
This long-lost group of people, which researchers are calling "Denisovans" after the Denisova cave in which the bone was found, lived at roughly the same time modern humans and Neandertals were in the region, and it appears to be more closely related to Neandertals than us.
Although these Denisovans went extinct, they were widespread enough in Asia to interbreed with modern humans before they disappeared, leaving behind a ghostly legacy in the genomes of Melanesians."
[Full Story]
The butchered bones of 12 men, women, and children protruding from the floor may be the remains of an extended Neandertal family that were killed and eaten by their fellow Neandertals.
Now, DNA analysis of the bones is providing rare clues into the family structure of these close cousins of modern humans.
Researchers have long wondered why Neandertals went extinct."
[Full Story]
The scientists note that as of yet, they have no way to prove or disprove whether the Neanderthals who made the tool did so intentionally — for instance, for rituals or after cannibalization.
Until now, the first evidence that human bones were used either symbolically or as tools were 30,000-to 34,000-year-old perforated human teeth found at excavations in southwest France. These were apparently used as ornaments.
Now scientists have identified a human skull fragment dating back at least 50,000 years that bears signs it was used as a sharpener.."
[Full Story]
During his reign Egypt had a vast navy and controlled harbours and territory throughout the eastern Mediterranean. He erected a stela (a stone carving) at Thmuis and inaugurated a building and restoration program in the city.
Archaeologists believe that the newly discovered temple may have been built as a memorial to his dead queen – Arsinoe II. She was held in such high regard that the king deified her after she died.
'We suspect this was a temple that was built for Arsinoe (the second) – a memorial temple for Arsinoe', said Professor Robert Littman of the University of Hawaii. He leads the research team along with Jay Silverstein, an archaeologist at the same institution."
[Full Story]
"The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project" Cardiff/Athens Universites (Cymru/Greece)
[In October 1900, Captain Dimitrious Kondos was leading a team of sponge divers near the the island of Antikythera off the coast of Greece. They noticed a shipwreck about 180 feet below the surface and began to investigate. Amongst the artifacts that they brought up was a coral-encrusted piece of metal that later archaeologists found was some sort of gear wheel.
The rest of the artifacts, along with the shape of the boat, suggested a date around 2000 years ago, which made the find one of the most anomalous that had ever been recovered from the Greek seas. It became known as The Antikythera Mechanism.
In 2006 the journal "Nature" published a letter, and another paper about the mechanism was published in 2008, detailing the findings of Prof. Mike G. Edmunds of Cardiff University. Using high-resolution X-ray tomography to study the fragments of the anomalous Antikythera Mechanism, they found that it was in fact a bronze mechanical analog computer that could be used to calculate the astronomical positions and various cycles of the Moon - as seen from the Earth: - Ed]
More news stories and websites about The Antikythera mechanism
Due to the continuing spinal problems of our Web Editor updates for the News pages and SkyWatch Calendar will be sporadic for the few weeks until we can find a temporary replacement. We apologise for any inconvenience ...
