http://phys.org/science-news/archaeology-fossils/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on archaeology, fossils, archaeological sciences and archaeological technology. Maternal milk is fundamental to the health of newborns, but how has this crucial feature of early childhood development evolved in primates? http://phys.org/news288514439.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 23 May 2013 08:30:05 EST news288514439 The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated. http://phys.org/news288508117.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 23 May 2013 06:08:45 EST news288508117 Neanderthals may have started weaning their young from seven months of age and transferred them to solid food by just over a year, a fossil tooth study said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news288449623.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 22 May 2013 13:53:51 EST news288449623 Dinosaurs are often thought of as large, fierce animals, but new research highlights a previously overlooked diversity of small dinosaurs. In the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, a team of paleontologists from the University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and University of Calgary have described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur species known from Canada. Albertadromeus syntarsus was identified from a partial hind leg, and other skeletal elements, that indicate it was a speedy runner. Approximately 1.6 m (5 ft) long, it weighed about 16 kg (30 lbs), comparable to a large turkey. http://phys.org/news288448515.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 22 May 2013 13:35:34 EST news288448515 A new method of sourcing the origins of artefacts in high definition is set to improve our understanding of the past. http://phys.org/news288377391.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:02 EST news288377391 The mighty T. rex may have thrashed its massive head from side to side to dismember prey, but a new study shows that its smaller cousin Allosaurus was a more dexterous hunter and tugged at prey more like a modern-day falcon. http://phys.org/news288368042.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 21 May 2013 15:14:29 EST news288368042 Villagers installing a water pipe in southwestern Mexico stumbled onto an ancient granite statue depicting a player from a pre-Hispanic ball game, the national anthropology institute said Monday. http://phys.org/news288362418.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 21 May 2013 13:40:24 EST news288362418 14 species of crocodile lived in South America around 5 million years ago, at least seven of which populated the coastal areas of the Urumaco River in Venezuela at the same time. Paleontologists from the University of Zurich have found evidence of an abundance of closely related crocodiles that remains unparalleled to this day. As they were highly specialized, the crocodiles occupied different eco-niches. When the watercourses changed due to the Andean uplift, however, all the crocodile species became extinct. http://phys.org/news288354556.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 21 May 2013 11:29:26 EST news288354556 A new study conducted at the University of Bristol and published online today in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology sheds light on how the brain and inner ear developed in dinosaurs. http://phys.org/news288266760.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 20 May 2013 11:06:07 EST news288266760 Cambridge archaeologists are illuminating some of the oldest graphic art of the past, by applying some of the most advanced graphic technology of the present. http://phys.org/news288261693.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 20 May 2013 09:41:42 EST news288261693 (Phys.org) —A 20 million-year-old fossil skull identified as a 'pocket-sized' ancestor of the bandicoot will give insights into the future of Australia's modern endangered animals. http://phys.org/news288254047.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:02 EST news288254047 A scientist has discovered an ancient extinct creature with 'scissor hand-like' claws in fossil records and has named it in honour of his favourite movie star. http://phys.org/news287920271.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 16 May 2013 10:51:27 EST news287920271 Fish fossils that are about 23 million years old give unprecedented insight into the evolutionary history of the gobioid order, one of the most species-rich groups among the modern bony fishes. http://phys.org/news287919717.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 16 May 2013 10:42:04 EST news287919717 (Phys.org) —A University of Otago-led multidisciplinary team of scientists have shed new light on the diet, lifestyles and movements of the first New Zealanders by analysing isotopes from their bones and teeth. http://phys.org/news287907670.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 16 May 2013 07:21:26 EST news287907670 Two fossil discoveries from the East African Rift reveal new information about the evolution of primates, according to a study published online in Nature this week led by Ohio University scientists. http://phys.org/news287824531.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:01 EST news287824531 (Phys.org) —A new study conducted by a team of American and Greek researchers has found that the people of the ancient Minoan civilization living on the island of Crete most likely came from Europe. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the team says mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evidence contradicts the long held notion that the people of the long lost civilization came from Africa. http://phys.org/news287826649.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 15 May 2013 08:50:59 EST news287826649 (Phys.org) —Research into the incubation behaviour of birds suggests the type of parental care carried out by their long extinct ancestors. http://phys.org/news287810917.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 15 May 2013 04:29:08 EST news287810917 The government said Tuesday it is pursuing a "vigorous" investigation into a road-building company's near destruction of one of the largest Mayan pyramids in Belize. http://phys.org/news287806181.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 15 May 2013 03:10:14 EST news287806181 An international team of scientists have revealed a new species of ichthyosaur (a dolphin-like marine reptile from the age of dinosaurs) from Iraq, which revolutionises our understanding of the evolution and extinction of these ancient marine reptiles. http://phys.org/news287773718.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:02 EST news287773718 A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize's largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities announced on Monday. http://phys.org/news287684123.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 13 May 2013 17:40:04 EST news287684123 The tiniest bones in the human body – the bones of the middle ear – could provide huge clues about our evolution and the development of modern-day humans, according to a study by a team of researchers that include a Texas A&M University anthropologist. http://phys.org/news287682905.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 13 May 2013 16:55:11 EST news287682905 Archaeopteryx has been considered the most primitive and earliest known bird ever since its discovery, and has been placed at the base of Avialae in nearly all numerical phylogenetic analyses. In 2011, a parsimony-based phylogenetic study incorporating information of a new Archaeopteryx-like theropod, Xiaotingia zhengi, shifted its position from within Avialae, the group that contains modern birds, to Deinonychosauria, a highly diverse group of predatory dinosaurs. Consequently, this new phylogenetic result has gained much attention and received immediate comments. One of these comments questioned the deinonychosaurian affinities of Archaeopteryx by applying probability-based methods to the same dataset and restoring Archaeopteryx to basal Avialae, suggesting these methods should be used more often in palaeontological studies. Is the systematic position of Archaeopteryx shifted? http://phys.org/news287652309.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 13 May 2013 08:50:03 EST news287652309 A joint team from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Office for Cultural Relics Administration of Daoxian County, unearthed five hominin teeth and a large number of mammalian fossils from the Fuyan Cave site in Daoxian County, Hunan Province of China during an excavation carried out in September and October, 2011. Researchers announced their finding in the latest issue of Acta Anthropologica Sinica 2013 (2), providing new data for the study of human evolution and adaptive behavior in South China. http://phys.org/news287652287.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 13 May 2013 08:40:05 EST news287652287 Mongolia may need to rustle up some more glass cases for its first dinosaur museum after US authorities announced Friday they will hand back a large new collection of stolen fossils. http://phys.org/news287417522.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Fri, 10 May 2013 15:12:11 EST news287417522 (Phys.org) —A recent Baylor University research study has shed new light on the diet and food acquisition strategies of some the earliest human ancestors in Africa. http://phys.org/news287408081.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Fri, 10 May 2013 12:34:48 EST news287408081 The so-called Elephant's Tomb in the Roman necropolis of Carmona (Seville, Spain) was not always used for burials. The original structure of the building and a window through which the sun shines directly in the equinoxes suggest that it was a temple of Mithraism, an unofficial religion in the Roman Empire. The position of Taurus and Scorpio during the equinoxes gives force to the theory. http://phys.org/news287407552.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Fri, 10 May 2013 12:26:03 EST news287407552 Transition of a nasal horn to a frontal horn in elasmotheres has been difficult to explain, because a major transformational gap exists between nasal-horned ancestors and frontal-horned descendants. In a paper published in May 2013 in the journal of Chinese Science Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 15), Dr. DENG Tao from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues reported the first discovered skull of Sinotherium lagrelii from the Late Miocene red clays with an age of about 7 Ma in the Linxia Basin, northwestern China. This skull has an enormous nasofrontal horn boss shifted posteriorly and a smaller frontal horn boss, which are connected to each other, providing new evidence on the origin of the giant unicorn Elasmotherium. http://phys.org/news287394744.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Fri, 10 May 2013 09:50:06 EST news287394744 Before rice cultivation became prevalent, ancient populations on the southern coast of China likely relied on sago palms as staple plant foods, according to research published May 8 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Xiaoyan Yang and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. http://phys.org/news287249551.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 08 May 2013 17:00:07 EST news287249551 Just when dinosaur researchers thought they had a thorough knowledge of ankylosaurs, a family of squat, armour plated, plant eaters, along comes University of Alberta graduate student, Victoria Arbour. http://phys.org/news287248255.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 08 May 2013 17:00:07 EST news287248255 Scientists have named a new species of bone-headed dinosaur (pachycephalosaur) from Alberta, Canada. Acrotholus audeti (Ack-RHO-tho-LUS) was identified from both recently discovered and historically collected fossils. Approximately six feet long and weighing about 40 kgs in life, the newly identified plant-eating dinosaur represents the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in North America, and possibly the world. Research describing the new species is published May 7, 2013 in the journal Nature Communications. http://phys.org/news287139430.html Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:01 EST news287139430