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New evidence from oldest human settlement in the Americas

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:45:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

N ew evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.

The study was conducted by a team of anthropologists, geologists and botanists headed by Vanderbilt University's Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Tom Dillehay and is reported in the May 9 issue of the journal Science.

The paper, which includes the first new data reported from the site in 10 years, includes the identification of nine species of seaweed and marine algae recovered from hearths and other areas in the ancient settlement. The seaweed samples were directly dated between 14,220 to 13,980 years ago, confirming that the upper layer of the site, labeled Monte Verde II, was occupied more than 1,000 years earlier than any other reliably dated human settlements in the Americas.

Tags: america, archealogy, discovery

Project goes high-tech to unearth ancient history

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:57:30 GMT

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Clip Source: www.princeton.edu

There is a small hill in a remote part of Turkey that looms large in the mind of John Haldon, a professor of history at Princeton. It likely is the ruin of an ancient fortress, but for Haldon the site is an inspiration to find new ways to unearth the history of a particular landscape.

A specialist in Byzantine history, Haldon is the director of an archaeological and historical survey project based around the modern village of Beyözü in the north-central Anatolian region of Turkey. The site, originally known as Euchaita, then Avkat in Ottoman times, is a prime example of a provincial setting in Asia Minor. By deploying innovative technologies and multidisciplinary insights, Haldon hopes his study will reveal the big picture of an area that has thus far been unexamined.

John Haldon (seated), a professor of history, consults a map of the Avkat Project in Turkey with Zachary Chitwood

Tags: history, technology, turkey, archealogy

China Fossil proves Biplane Dinosaur Existed

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:46:44 GMT

clipped by: k9riley99

Clip Source: news.xinhuanet.com

　BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A biplane dinosaur named Microraptor gui, said existing 125 million years ago by a U.S. researcher, may have had upper and lower sets of wings, much like the biplanes of early aviation, media reported Tuesday.

"The legs of the 900-gram creature could have been held below the body in flight, creating two staggered wing sections, the upper one slightly ahead of the lower one," said Sankar Chatterrjee, a researcher at Texas Tech University.

One other flying dinosaur, Pedopenna, also had feathers on its legs, Chatterjee said, and modern raptors such as falcons have short feathers on their upper legs that reduce air resistance as they fly.

"Aircraft designers have mimicked many of nature's flight inventions, usually inadvertently," Chatterjee said. "Now, it seems likely that Microraptor invented the biplane 125 million years before the Wright 1903 Flyer."

(Agencies)

Tags: dinosaur, fossil, flying dinosaur, wright brother's, aircraft designers, archealogy, science, research, news