Thousand of bird fossils of Cretaceous period found intact

Two new fossil shows a specimen of a small bird wings trapped in amber - the fossilized tree resin - which had been outstanding for more than 100 million years. These findings carried by the international team of researchers, including Professor Mike Benton from Bristol University, published in the journal Nature Communications.

Scientists have unearthed the remains of thousands of prehistoric animals frozen for millions of years in amber. The remarkable fossils include birds from the time of the dinosaurs, whose perfectly preserved feathers show little change in the blueprint used by birds today. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bkBR9)

Benton said, the specimen was obtained from well-known amber deposits in northeast Myanmar, which has been producing thousands of specimens of insects of all shapes and sizes, as well as spiders, scorpions, lizards, and bird feathers. However, the invention becomes the first of the bird parts was found intact.

As quoted of the Daily Mail on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, the fossil of wings have two to three centimeters long and has a wing frame, including claws and feathers preserved very detailed in amber.

Two of the specimens include the tiny preserved wings of birds, whose bodies were caught in the sticky sap of a tree almost 100 million years ago. Pictured is one of the specimens under UV, showing the flow lines of the sap and the structure of he wing. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bkBR9)

Anatomy of the claw fossil shows that it is an enantiornithine bird that became a large group in the Cretaceous period. But the species was extinct along with the dinosaurs at 66 million years ago.

"The fossil of wings shows incredible detail," said Benton.

"Each strand of fur shows each filament, there is even a trace of color - in the form of spots and stripes," he explained.

The researcher leader, Dr Xing Lida of the China University of Geosciences, also commented on the discovery of fossils of the bird's wing.

"The fact that the birds are climbing in the trees show they have advanced development, which means they are ready to move as soon as they hatch," said Xing.

"(After hatching) This bird is not just waiting in the nest to be fed, but they look for their own food and die, perhaps because of its small size and lack of experience," he explained.

The amber deposits of Myanmar produced a treasure trove of fossils from prehistoric times. The fossils also document the evolution of terrestrial life in the Cretaceous period. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILY MAIL]

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The mammoth fossils were found buried near Mexico City

The Mexican archaeologists excavating carefully the mammoth fossils of Pleistocene era, which was found by chance near Mexico City in December 2015 when installing the drain pipe in the village of Tultepec and they are already working at the site since April, and expected to finalize its work in the coming days.

Mammoth is an extinct species of the genus Mammuthus generally have long and curved tush as well as being covered with long hair. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bg7w1)

As quoted of TechTimes, the places which in prehistoric times there is a shallow salt water lake where the ancient animals often get stuck. The lake is also very good for preserving fossils.

Luis Cordoba, an archaeologist from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, said The most current find, which is the Tultepec mammoth, was found buried 2 meters underneath a village street. When the mammoth was discovered, the tusks were still attached to its skull, and the skeleton was nearly complete and well-preserved. Cordoba estimated that the mammoth died between the ages of 20 and 25. 

Archaeologists unearth the remains of a 14,000-year-old Columbian mammoth in the Tultepec village in Mexico City. The fossilized remains were discovered during a drain installation, lying two meters underneath a village street. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bg7XG)

There are mammoth elephant fossils found in the Tultepec area, "but this is the first time they can be studied considering that generally the citizens do not report the discovery in a timely manner," said Cordoba.

The mammoth has a height of 3.5 meters, five meters long, weighing about five tons when alive, and aged 20-25 years. Tultepec Mammoth, which is already three quarters complete and well preserved, still has tush attached to the skull.

However, other fossil remains had not in accordance with the order of the anatomy, said Cordoba, it indicates that the mammoths had been cut by humans for their meat and skins. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | TECHTIMES]

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Naval base remnants of the Battle of Salami were found

A team of archaeologists found the remains of ancient naval base on the coast of Athens, Greece, which has an estimated age of 2,500 years.

In collaboration with a team of Greek, a Danish marine archaeologists, Bjorn Loven of the University of Copenhagen discovered the remains of six ship sheds. These ship sheds are used to protect ships from wood-eating marine mollusk (shipworm). These sheds also protect the vessels from drought while not sailing at sea. The sheds are found in Zea Harbour Project, which lasted from 2001 to 2012.

A diver at the site of the discovery. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bWGMm)

At the website of University of Copenhagen, Loven said his team analyzed the relics of glassware and did the carbon-14 tests on the pieces of wood. As a result, the ship sheds are estimated to stand at around 520 to 480 BC.

Not only that. The sheds are also believed to have used to stop by the ships that used the Greek army to fight against the Persians in the Battle of Salami, circa 480 BC. The war between the combined forces of the cities of Greece, led by Themistocles, and the Persian Empire led by King Xerxes.

Depiction of how it would have looked. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1bWGMm)

Although outnumbered, the Greeks won, the war that took place in the strait between mainland Greece and the Salami islands. Their struggles have been adapted into a colosal movie titled, "300: Rise of an Empire".

"This Naval Base is an important milestone in the history of Greece; difficult to predict what will happen if the Greek fleet defeated at the Battle of Salami, but it was obvious that the Persian victory would have profound consequences on the cultural and social development in Europe," said Loven. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | NEWS.COM.AU]

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The findings of new fossil may ended the Flores Hobbit debates

The fossils found on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, may be able to resolve one of the mysteries in the science of anthropology, the descent of the superb short human species called "the Hobbits."

Archaeological excavations on Flores, where the discovery of fossils of Homo floresiensis. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b2oOk)

The scientists on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, describes the bone fragments and teeth about 700,000 years old found in an ancient riverbed known as the Soa basin (Cekungan Soa) in Mata Menge, which apparently belonged to an extinct Hobbit species.

This species was previously known only from fossils and stone tools from Liang Bua cave with the ages ranging from 190,000 to 50,000 years. The species, called Homo floresiensis, has a height of about 106 centimeters, with a small brain such as chimpanzees.

The skull, left, of a newly discovered 18,000-year-old species, known as Homo floresiensis, is displayed next to a normal human's skull, right, at a news conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia Friday, Nov. 5, 2004. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b2nI3)

These new fossils "strongly indicates" that the Hobbit evolved from the human species Homo erectus-bodied and big-brained that lives in Asia and has become extinct, said Yousuke Kaifu of a paleontropolog of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Homo erectus, which first appeared in Africa about 1.9 million years ago, is known from a number of old fossils 1.5 million to 150,000 years old from Java, and the new fossils from Flores it has in common with them, said Gerrit van den Bergh, a paleontologist from the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Human jawbone fossils that found in Mata Menge. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b2o5w)

Fossils including teeth four adults and two baby teeth, a jaw bone and a skull fragment from two children and one or two adults who may be killed in a volcanic eruption. They were found in an excavation in the meadows around 70 kilometers from the caves where the bones of the Hobbit was first discovered in 2003.

Human dental bone fossils that found in Mata Menge. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b2o5w)

The size of the jaw bones indicate that the individual was even slightly lower than that found in the cave.

Stone tools that were previously found to indicate that the large man of Hobbit ancestors reached Flores million years ago, indicating that species to shrink over 300,000 years of evolution.

"Now it seems to be seen that the 'hobbit' Homo erectus Flores was shortened," said Adam Brumm, an archaeologist of Griffith University, Australia. The research published in the journal Nature.

Size reduction that occurs in many species generation of larger mammals, such as elephants, which somehow reached new island habitat called "the island rule," driven by the limited food resources in the islands.

Brumm said the 700,000 years old fossils were erased the claims of some scientists that the Hobbit is a member of our species with a medical condition that makes them small. Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

Characteristics of these fossils do not support the idea that the hobbit evolved from a more ancient humans such as Homo habilis or Australopithecus, according to the researchers. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | VOA NEWS]

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The new species of dinos with a unique head shape was found

Recently, a new dinosaur species have been discovered in southern Utah, United States. The dinosaur fossil was found by an international team while did the paleontological and geological surveys in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of Southern Utah.

An artist illustration of Machairoceratops cronusi. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1apuCa)

Then those new species of dinosaurs named Machairoceratops cronusi. These dinosaurs have horns and is estimated to have length up to 26 feet and weighs about 2 tons. Other traits, these dinosaurs are a plant-eaters type or herbivores.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of southern Utah. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1apuCa)

With the horns accessories make the dinosaurs such as have the crooked sword on their head. According to research published in the PLoS ONE journal on May, where two of dinosaur horns lengthwise around the center of the horn so made a little change to frame of the brain covering.

One of Machairoceratops cronusi fossil that found at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of southern Utah. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1apuCa)

Patrick O'Connor, a professor of Anatomical Sciences Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine said, the first part of the specimen was found in 2006. While the next excavations conducted in 2007 and 2009. After that, the process of preparation in the laboratory takes many years and finally published.

Skeleton reconstruction of Machairoceratops cronusi. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1apuCa)

This fossil discovery was good news for the world of science. Fossil has even been found in the area of ​​North America over the last 150 years as research areas and produce valuable findings.

"We are still discovering new species that can be learned in these places and this is central to understanding the history of the world," added Patrick, as quoted by the Huffington Post, mid-May 2016.

M. cronusi is one of two horned dinosaurs were published in the journal. Other fossils found in Montana area about 10 years ago by an amateur fossil collector who later identified and given scientific name Spiclypeus shipporum. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HUFFINGTON POST]

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Searching for the ancient site through the satellite imaging

Some of the most impressive mural of the Maya is found in the depths of the forest San Bartolo, Guatemala, in 2001. The mural is dated 100 BC. Of course, San Bartolo still have some other findings, but there is too dense jungle.

"It is dangerous to walk through the forest to find those sites. Where conditions are very humid and a lot of snakes," said Diane Davis, Honorary Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL (London). The woman was already working in the region since the early 2000s.

Imagery from the Ikonos satellite has a resolution down to one metre on the ground. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aoBl2)

"Look, people can just a 7 or 8 meters from a pyramid in the woods, but could not see it because the vegetation is too thick," said Davies. However, by using the satellite imaging, many archaeological sites that were once hidden is now to be found.

Davies revealed by the help of a NASA scientist named Thomas Sever. The scientists then managed to recognize all of amazing forms (including the lost Mayan pyramids) based on satellite images. Most of the Mayans buildings were established using limestone, so the chemical composition around the ruins of change over time. It is revealed through multiple images.

Sattelite imaging can reveal previously lost civilisations. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aoBc4)

For the purpose of scanning the areas in around archeological ruins, then used several different wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum spans in order to reveal the patterns that exist on the surface, said Geoffrey Braswell of the University of California, San Diego.

The LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology can also be used to compile the topography. As the name implies, it uses laser technology. "If we're flying over the forest canopy, mostly radiance will be reflected by the leaves, other objects, and do not reach the ground, but there are some that can pass," said Braswell. "Thus, we can see the unique shapes on the ground."

By using the LiDaR technology in the satellites, archaeologists may be able to find archaeological sites which have escaped. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aoBc4)

But the use of LiDaR was expensive and for many years, only used by the military. Braswell intend to use it to scan the entire Central American region to see if something is missing from the archaeologists. Until now, it has not been possible.

There are still a number of problems. Most of the Maya scholars agree that these sites are detected by remote sensing was still to be ascertained by an expedition on land. The reason, many of the alleged findings turned out to be worthless, for example, only a field and not a building. Alternatively, a man-made objects that are new instead of ancient ruins.

"In the northern region of the Mayan, in Yucatan, remote sensing provides the results of 70 percent false positives," said Braswell. However, most experts agree that the benefits of the technology is amazing for archeology. There are several astonishing sites was revealed and almost escaped before. In some cases, these findings could potentially save the efforts many years to explore in the lush forests. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC]

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15-years old Canadian boy discovers forgotten Mayan city

15-year old Canadian boy named William Gadoury said to have discovered an ancient Mayan city that had been forgotten in Central America. The boy who come from Quebec believes that he has found the city of Mayan by using their ancient astronomy through satellite photos. The Mayan city discovered by the Canadian teenager is located right by the star in the constellation recognized by the Mayan civilization.

William Gadoury discovered the village using satellite images and Google Maps. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aDMxM)

From these data, then he develops the theory that the Mayan nation choose a location for the city's development depends on the location of the star. Similarly, as reported by the Metro on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

The ancient city was named K'aak Chi or Mouth of Fire by William. The city is one of five major cities in the Maya culture. Once upon a time, the city is thought to have a 86-meter-high pyramid, and has about 30 buildings.

According to William, he was aware of the location of the forgotten city easily, by identifying the lost city of the constellation of three stars and then match it with the Canadian Space Agency satellite photos. William then compare the region by using Google Earth. Related to this, William will present his findings at the Brazil’s International Science Fair.

The square outline is believed to be man-made structures beneath vegetation. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aDMxM)

The Canadian Space Agency spokesperson Daniel De Lisle, said overgrown vegetation in the area made it extremely hard to study on ground level. Which could be a major contributing factor to why the city has remained lost for so long. But scans of the area via satellite have revealed linear features distinctive enough to suggest it’s a manmade structure.

The findings are doubted by the experts
However, there is a problem. Some archaeologists and anthropologists questioned the claims of William Gadoury. The square seen in satellite images, they said, may not be a pyramid, but could have been an ancient corn fields. 

One expert critics is David Stuart, a professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. "The latest news is wrong. I tried to ignore it (and questions from the media that I received), but now I feel I should say something," Stuart said in his Facebook post. 

"Ancient Mayans did not organize the construction of their cities based on the constellations. Seeing this pattern is a Rorschach process, because ancient sites anywhere, as well as a star," he continued.

"Square features found in Google Earth are man-made, but it was only an ancient corn fields, or Milpa (fields from the open forest)," explained Stuart. 

In his next posting, Stuar said, "I do not want to criticize teenage boy mentioned in the news. He was very intelligent and keen on archeology and Mayan culture. What makes me furious here is the 'expert' irresponsible want to appear in the media".

The opinion of Professor Stuart supported by Thomas Garrison, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. 

"I commend the efforts of the teenagers. However, in this case, a square shape and a secondary crop growing in it is evidence that was an ancient Milpa. I estimate that had been cultivated for 10 to 15 years. This is obviously done by people who have stayed in the Maya lowlands," Thomas told Gizmodo. 

Ivan Šprajc, a Slovenian archaeologist who once roamed the Yucatan jungle to search for the ancient Maya cities also doubted the findings. He also denied the theory that the Maya built their city in accordance with the star constellations. 

The Maya is a great astronomer, he said. However, only a few constellations that found by Mayan people. In fact, in this case, we do not know how many and which of the stars that form the constellation respectively. 

However, an expert from Canada who support the finding of William Gadoury submited a rebuttal. Dr. Armand LaRocque from Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of New Brunswick, said that they doubted the findings of William was analyzed a different photo. William, said Armand, is not based on a set of photos analyzed by experts earlier. 

Many people would agree that the best way to prove these findings, whether the Mayan city or the cornfield is by going into the woods. However, according to Armand, it will cost a lot.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | METRO | GIZMODO]

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