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archive: Jan-Mar 2008
Paleo-news archive: January-March 2008
Spain dig yields ancient European
(Mar 27, 2008)
Scientists have discovered the oldest human remains in western Europe.
A jawbone and teeth discovered at the famous Atapuerca site in northern
Spain have been dated between 1.1 and 1.2 million years old. The finds
provide further evidence for the great antiquity of human occupation
on the continent, the researchers write in the journal Nature.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Volcanoes fingered for 'crime of the Cretaceous'
(Mar 21, 2008)
One of the prime suspects for "the crime of the Cretaceous" –
the killing-off of the dinosaurs – may have hidden evidence
of its guilt inside a rare time-capsule. The biggest volcanic eruptions
are called flood events, which release millions of cubic kilometres
of lava and all the gases trapped within it. One of the main theories
about mass extinctions is that such flood events could have pumped
sulphur and chlorine into the atmosphere, killing off anything nearby.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Island find stirs Hobbit debate
(Mar 13, 2008)
The discovery on South Pacific islands of ancient bones thought to
belong to a tribe of tiny humans has raised new anthropological questions.
Radiocarbon dating suggests the little people lived on the islands
of Palau a few thousand years ago. Scientists believe they were true
humans who shrank, perhaps because of a genetic disorder or lack of
food.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
New twist in Hobbit-human debate
(Mar 5, 2008)
The row over the origins of "Hobbit" fossils found on the Indonesian
island of Flores has taken a new twist. An Australian team claims
the little people were not a new human species, but modern humans
with a form of dwarfism caused by poor nutrition. In 2004, international
researchers announced the discovery of the ancient remains in the
Liang Bua Cave.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Sea reptile is biggest on record
(Feb 27, 2008)
A fossilised "sea monster" unearthed on an Arctic island is the largest
marine reptile known to science, Norwegian scientists have announced.
The 150 million-year-old specimen was found on Spitspergen, in the
Arctic island chain of Svalbard, in 2006. The Jurassic-era leviathan
is one of 40 sea reptiles from a fossil "treasure trove" uncovered
on the island.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed
(Feb 18, 2008)
A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in
Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists. The creature would have
been the size of a "squashed beach ball" and weighed about 4kg (9lb),
the researchers said. They added that the fossil, nicknamed Beelzebufo
or "frog from hell", was "strikingly different" from present-day frogs
found on the island nation.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
New meat-eating dinos identified
(Feb 14, 2008)
Two previously unknown types of meat-eating dinosaur have been identified
from fossils unearthed in the Sahara desert in Niger. The new carnivore
fossils have been described by a researcher from the University of
Bristol working with palaeontologists from the US. One of the dinosaurs
probably scavenged its prey like a hyena, the other probably hunted
live animals.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Bat fossil solves evolution poser
(Feb 14, 2008)
A fossil found in Wyoming has resolved a long-standing question about
when bats gained their sonar-like ability to navigate and locate food.
They found that flight came first, and only then did bats develop
echolocation to track and trap their prey. A large number of experts
had previously thought this happened the other way around.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Flying reptiles came in miniature
(Feb 11, 2008)
A new fossil species of flying reptile with a wingspan of less than
30cm (1ft) has been discovered in China. The nearly complete articulated
skeleton was unearthed in fossil beds from north-eastern China. The
120-million-year-old reptile had not reached adulthood when it died,
but neither was it a hatchling.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Gigantic fossil rodent discovered
(Jan 16, 2008)
The fossilised skull of the largest rodent ever recorded has been
described by scientists for the first time. The remains of the one-tonne
beast, found in Uruguay, indicate that it would have been as big as
a bull. It is thought that the three-metre-long herbivore would have
roamed estuaries and forests 2-4 million years ago.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Dinosaurs 'grew fast, bred young'
(Jan 15, 2008)
Dinosaurs bred as early as age eight, long before they reached adult
size, fossil evidence suggests. Although they were descended from
reptiles, and evolved into birds, dinosaurs grew fast and bred young,
much like the mammals of today. Researchers at the University of California
found hallmark "egg-making" tissue in two juvenile females.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
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