New Research Sheds Light to The Persian Plateau: A Crucial Hub for Homo Sapiens Post-Africa Migration

The Persian plateau, a region that spans modern-day Iran, has been identified as a critical hub for Homo sapiens following their migration out of Africa. This pivotal role was established through the integration of genetic evidence, paleoecological models, and archaeological findings. The research, led by a team of scientists from various institutions, indicates that Homo sapiens dispersed from Africa approximately 70–60 thousand years ago (kya), but it wasn't until around 45 kya that they began to colonize all of Eurasia extensively. The interim period, which saw these early humans settle in the Persian plateau, has been a subject of considerable scientific interest.

The Genetic Evidence

Genetic studies reveal that populations within the Persian Plateau possess ancestry components closely matching those of the earliest Homo sapiens who left Africa. This suggests that the plateau acted as a significant waypoint for our species during their early Eurasian colonization attempts. The genetic markers found in the region provide a direct link to these ancient travelers, shedding light on the movements and expansions of early human populations.

Focal area for the Hub (A, white to light yellow hues show the most likely Hub location from a genetic perspective) and for Basal Eurasian ancestry (B, dark hues show higher proportion of a Basal Eurasian component) based on at least 75% WEC ancestry. The grayscale in individual population points is proportional to the inferred proximity to the Hub (A) or the proportion of Basal Eurasian ancestry (B). kya stands for thousands of years ago. Source Data in Supplementary Data 11.

Paleoecological Insights

The research further explores the environmental conditions that made the Persian plateau a suitable habitation site for early Homo sapiens. Using paleoecological models, the team reconstructed the climatic conditions of the plateau between 70 and 30 kya. The models indicate that the region could support human life throughout this period, offering a stable environment for these communities. Moreover, the plateau's ecological diversity and resources could sustain larger populations compared to other West Asian regions, making it an ideal settlement area during this epoch.

Archaeological Corroboration

Archaeological evidence from the Persian Plate supports the genetic and paleoecological findings. Sites across the region have yielded artifacts and remains dating back to the relevant period, indicating a continuous human presence. These archaeological sites, alongside the genetic and environmental data, paint a comprehensive picture of the plateau as a bustling hub for early humans.

The combination of genetic, paleoecological, and archaeological evidence positions the Persian plateau as a critical juncture in the story of human migration and settlement. This research not only highlights the importance of the region in our prehistoric past but also opens new avenues for understanding the complex journey of Homo sapiens as they spread across the globe. Further investigations into this area are likely to yield even more insights into the early chapters of human history.

Were Neanderthals Cannibals?: A Critical Analysis of Ludovic Slimak's Book

In the realm of paleoanthropology and archaeology, the question of Neanderthals' true nature has long been a subject of fascination and debate. Ludovic Slimak's recent book, "The Naked Neanderthal," offers a fresh perspective that challenges conventional wisdom. This article delves into the key arguments and insights presented in Slimak's work, shedding light on the enigmatic world of our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals.

Neanderthals: A Journey into the Past

Ludovic Slimak's book takes readers on a journey through time, back to a period when Neanderthals roamed western Eurasia. These hominins, who emerged between 400,000 and 350,000 years ago, have often been portrayed as the close intellectual and creative relatives of Homo sapiens. However, Slimak challenges this notion, arguing that Neanderthals are far more peculiar and mysterious than previously believed.

The Eemian Interglacial: A Critical Phase

One of the book's focal points is the Eemian interglacial, a warm phase that lasted over 10,000 years and began approximately 123,000 years ago. During this time, much of the Neanderthals' territory was covered in lush forests. Slimak directs our attention to this period, emphasizing its significance in understanding Neanderthal culture and behavior.

Symbolic Hunting: Unveiling Rituals

Slimak shares insights from his own excavations in southern France, notably at Le Grand Abri aux Puces. Here, he observes evidence that Neanderthals may have practiced symbolic hunting, specifically targeting male animals. This intriguing behavior raises questions about the existence of ritualistic practices among Neanderthals, challenging preconceived notions about their cognitive abilities.

Cannibalism: A Social Norm?

According to discoveries at Moula Guercy, the book also discusses the contentious subject of cannibalism among Neanderthals. Rather than interpreting these behaviors as signs of desperation during the warm Eemian period, Slimak proposes that they were part of normal hominin social interactions, drawing parallels with evidence from archaeology and primatology.

The Châtelperronian Enigma

Slimak delves into the enigmatic Châtelperronian culture, which dates back to approximately 43,000–39,000 years ago in France and northern Spain. This culture is defined by distinctive stone tools and objects that share similarities with both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The debate surrounding whether Neanderthals independently developed these artifacts or were influenced by Homo sapiens has been thoroughly examined.

Challenging Assumptions: The Need for Caution

A recurring theme in Slimak's book is the need for caution in interpreting archaeological evidence. He emphasizes the importance of rigorous excavation standards and maintaining the integrity of excavated layers. This call for methodological rigor serves as a reminder to archaeologists to remain vigilant in their pursuit of knowledge.

The Neanderthal Extinction Debate

Slimak's work also touches upon the contentious issue of Neanderthal extinction. While genomic analysis suggests multiple phases of interbreeding with Homo sapiens, Slimak presents evidence from the Grotte Mandrin site in France, suggesting that humans may have rapidly replaced Neanderthals over a short timeframe. This leads him to propose extermination, rather than assimilation, as the likely cause of Neanderthal extinction.

Artistic Sensibilities: A Matter of Debate

The author critically evaluates the notion of Neanderthal artistic sensibilities. He challenges the tendency to depict Neanderthals in museum reconstructions with painted skin or shell necklaces, arguing that these artifacts might have practical purposes. While Slimak acknowledges the potential aesthetic value of engraved bones and colored fossil shells, he remains skeptical of their significance.

The Call for a Holistic Approach

Throughout the book, Slimak advocates for a holistic approach to archaeology. He emphasizes the importance of extensive fieldwork and direct engagement with archaeological sites, cautioning against drawing conclusions solely from museum collections. While his perspective may be controversial, it underscores the necessity of firsthand experience in the study of Neanderthals.

Conclusion

"The Naked Neanderthal" by Ludovic Slimak challenges established perceptions of Neanderthals and their culture. While his views may not align with mainstream archaeology in every aspect, his book serves as a thought-provoking contribution to the ongoing discourse. It reminds us of the complexity and uncertainty that still shroud the enigmatic world of our ancient cousins. In the pursuit of knowledge, Slimak's call for rigorous methodology and an open-minded approach should be a guiding light for all archaeologists.

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References

- Slimak, L. "The Naked Neanderthal." Allen Lane, 2023.

Rethinking Neanderthals: Were They Truly a Separate Species?

For decades, Neanderthals have been portrayed as stoop-backed, heavy-browed, and primitive beings, existing a few rungs below modern humans on the evolutionary ladder. However, recent research challenges this long-held view, suggesting that Neanderthals may not be the separate species we've always believed them to be. In a groundbreaking study conducted by a team of researchers led by University of Trento archaeologist Diego Angelucci, evidence from the Gruta da Oliveira cave site in central Portugal paints a different picture of our ancient cousins.

A Shared History

The prevailing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species, Homo neanderthalensis, is rooted in their anatomical differences from modern humans. These early findings, dating back to the 19th century, led to the notion that Neanderthals were intellectually inferior to Homo sapiens. However, as science advanced and more discoveries were made, our understanding of the Neanderthals began to evolve.

The Gruta da Oliveira Findings

The Gruta da Oliveira cave site has provided critical insights into the lives of Neanderthals. The research conducted over two decades reveals that Neanderthals shared their habitat with various animal species, including wolves, lions, brown bears, and lynxes, between 93,000 and 71,000 years ago. Among the artifacts and remains found in the cave, the discovery of bones that showed evidence of the controlled use of fire was particularly significant.

Neanderthals, it appears, were skilled in using fire for a multitude of purposes. They cooked a variety of meats, such as goat, deer, and horses, over a hearth that remained in a fixed position. This suggests that fire was a central element in their daily lives, not only for sustenance but also for warmth and protection from predators.

The Use of Fire

The controlled use of fire is a defining characteristic of advanced human cultures. While it's well-documented that our ancestors utilized fire for various purposes, including cooking and protection, the revelation that Neanderthals were also adept at fire management challenges the notion of their simplicity. As Diego Angelucci states, "There is a general agreement among archaeologists that they knew how to use fire."

The methods Neanderthals used to start fires remain a subject of inquiry. However, there is a tendency to believe that Tzi, the Iceman, used methods akin to those of later Neolithic cultures, like the flint and tinder method. This suggests a level of sophistication in their survival skills and technology.

A Shared Ancestry

Genetic analysis has further blurred the lines between Neanderthals and modern humans. It is now well established that there has been interbreeding between these two groups multiple times throughout history. This genetic connection weakens the argument for classifying Neanderthals as a separate species, as they are, in essence, our ancient relatives.

Conclusion

While the classification of Homo neanderthalensis may not disappear entirely, the accumulated evidence challenges the traditional view of Neanderthals as a separate and primitive species. The Gruta da Oliveira research and genetic studies reveal a more complex narrative, where Neanderthals are not distant cousins but closer siblings in our shared evolutionary history.

As we continue to delve into the past, it becomes increasingly clear that the Neanderthals were not the simple-minded brutes we once imagined. Instead, they were resourceful, capable, and culturally sophisticated beings who deserve a place alongside us in the Homo sapiens family portrait. This reevaluation of Neanderthals underscores the dynamic nature of scientific understanding and our ever-evolving perception of our ancient ancestors.

Rethinking Neanderthals: Were They More Human Than We Thought?

For over a century and a half, Neanderthals have been cast as primitive, stoop-backed brutes, seemingly distant relatives of modern humans. This enduring image, shaped by the discoveries of the mid-19th century, has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Recent research conducted by a team led by University of Trento archaeologist Diego Angelucci suggests that it's time to reconsider our perspective on Neanderthals. Are they really a separate species, Homo neanderthalensis, or should we view them as different forms of humans? In this article, we delve into the evolving understanding of Neanderthals and their remarkable similarities to our own species.

A Shared History

The Gruta da Oliveira cave site in central Portugal has been a focal point for researchers studying Neanderthal history. Angelucci's team spent two decades excavating this site, uncovering intriguing evidence that challenges conventional wisdom. They found that Neanderthals, more than 71,000 years ago, coexisted with various wild animals, including wolves, lions, brown bears, and lynxes.

What sets this discovery apart is the strong evidence of controlled fire use. Neanderthals at Gruta da Oliveira were not just huddling around fires for warmth; they were cooking a variety of meats, from goats and deer to horses, on a well-maintained hearth. This suggests that fire played a central role in their daily lives, a skill often associated with modern human culture.

The Fire of Innovation

The controlled use of fire has deep implications for our understanding of Neanderthal capabilities. While it's known that other hominins appreciated fire for hundreds of thousands of years, Neanderthals might have taken it a step further. They didn't merely rely on naturally occurring fires; they actively started, managed, and used fire for cooking, heating, and defense.

The exact methods they employed to spark these flames remain a mystery, but Diego Angelucci speculates that they may have used techniques similar to those seen in Neolithic practices, such as the flint and tinder methods used by Ötzi, the Iceman. This suggests a level of ingenuity and problem-solving that aligns more closely with modern human behavior than previously believed.

A Shared Ancestry

As genetic analysis continues to reveal, Neanderthals interbred with our ancestors on multiple occasions throughout history. This genetic mixing underscores the blurred lines between Neanderthals and modern humans. It challenges the notion of them being a separate species and emphasizes their position as close relatives.

While the classification of Homo neanderthalensis remains a part of our scientific taxonomy, it's time to reconsider how we view Neanderthals. The evidence from Gruta da Oliveira and elsewhere suggests that Neanderthals were not as different from us as once thought. They were more than mere cousins; they were different forms of humans who shared a rich history, sophisticated culture, and a mastery of fire. It's time to welcome Neanderthals into the Homo sapiens family portrait, recognizing them as our remarkable relatives who have much to teach us about our shared past.

Uncovering Neanderthal Culinary Intelligence: Evidence from Archaeological Excavations

In a remarkable revelation, recent excavations at the Gruta de Oliveira in central Portugal have shed new light on the culinary skills and intelligence of our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals. These findings, published in a groundbreaking study titled "Formation processes, fire use, and patterns of human occupation across the Middle Paleolithic of Gruta da Oliveira," further solidify the understanding that Neanderthals were far more sophisticated than previously believed.

Cooking with Fire: A Mark of Intelligence

Neanderthals, often portrayed as primitive beings in popular culture, have long been underestimated in terms of their intellectual capabilities. However, the discovery of intentionally constructed hearths inside the Gruta de Oliveira, where Neanderthals dwelled approximately 100,000 to 70,000 years ago, provides compelling evidence that they possessed the knowledge and skill to master fire.

Diego Angelucci, an archaeologist from the University of Trento and co-author of the study, emphasizes the significance of this discovery: "This confirms our observations and theories from previous studies. Neanderthals were capable of symbolic thought, artistic expression, body adornment, and a diverse diet. Moreover, our findings unequivocally demonstrate that they regularly cooked their food, establishing their culinary prowess on par with the Homo sapiens, who came much later."

Excavation in the Gruta de Oliveira. Credit: João Zilhão

Twenty Years of Meticulous Excavations

The Gruta de Oliveira, a part of the expansive Almonda karst system, served as a time capsule of Neanderthal life. Excavations carried out from 1989 to 2012, under the supervision of João Zilhão from the University of Lisbon, yielded a treasure trove of artifacts and remains spanning from approximately 120,000 to 40,000 years ago.

According to Angelucci, the site offered an extensive range of artifacts, from Lower Paleolithic relics to the Mousterian culture's chipped stones. However, the hearths found during these excavations have emerged as the most intriguing discovery, offering insights into the culinary practices of Neanderthals.

“Hearths and Food Remains”

Around a dozen hearths were meticulously unearthed at different stratigraphic levels within an excavation area of approximately 30 square meters and six meters deep. These circular, basin-like structures contained remnants of burnt bones, wood, and ash. Notably, the underlying rock showed signs of heat-induced discoloration, confirming the hearths' primary placement and long-term use.

These hearths were instrumental in cooking a diverse menu that included goats, deer, horses, aurochs (extinct bulls), rhinos, and even turtles, which were likely prepared on their carapaces and stewed on hot stones. Furthermore, previous excavations in Mediterranean caves near Cartagena (Spain) revealed remains of fish, mussels, mollusks, and roasted pine nuts, showcasing the breadth of Neanderthal cuisine.

The Mysteries of Fire Ignition

Despite these extensive findings, the methods employed by Neanderthals to start fires remain shrouded in mystery. Speculations point to techniques such as striking flint rocks together to create sparks on tinder, similar to methods discovered through the study of Ötzi, the Ice Man. However, no conclusive evidence has been found to substantiate these theories.

Nevertheless, the excavations provided an opportunity to compare Neanderthal life with that of Homo sapiens in Upper Paleolithic periods in the same region. Surprisingly, the results showed striking similarities in how both groups inhabited and utilized caves, suggesting that they were different human forms rather than distinct species.

Interdisciplinary Archaeology: A Key to Understanding

This groundbreaking study culminated in decades of dedicated work by archaeologists and researchers from various disciplines. Stone tools, bone remains, spatial analyses, stratigraphy, and microscopic studies were all employed to piece together this complex puzzle.

Diego Angelucci emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary archaeology, stating, "This type of archaeology is carried out with the most advanced methodologies. They require time and resources, and this is what we teach our students."

In conclusion, the Gruta de Oliveira excavations have shattered misconceptions about Neanderthals, highlighting their culinary prowess and intelligence. As the study unveils more layers of our ancient past, it becomes increasingly evident that our shared human history is far richer and more complex than previously imagined.

Scientists Reconstruct the Face of Homo Heidelbergensis: A Glimpse into Our Distant Ancestors

Anthropologists in Greece have undertaken an awe-inspiring endeavor to shed light on the enigmatic Homo heidelbergensis, a relatively obscure cousin of the Neanderthals who roamed the Earth between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. Using state-of-the-art facial reconstruction techniques, these scientists have meticulously crafted a portrait that offers a tantalizing glimpse into what Homo heidelbergensis might have looked like.

Homo heidelbergensis, an extinct species within the Homo genus, left behind a fossil record dating back to the Middle Pleistocene era, spanning across Africa, Europe, and possibly Asia. This species possessed distinctive features, including a prominent browridge, a larger braincase, and a flatter facial structure when compared to its older hominid counterparts.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Homo heidelbergensis was its ability to adapt to colder climates, characterized by its short and wide physique, likely an evolutionary response to conserve heat. Notably, this species pioneered the art of shelter-building, constructing rudimentary dwellings from wood and rock—a testament to their resourcefulness. They were also the earliest known hunters of large animals, leaving behind fossilized remains of wild creatures such as deer, horses, elephants, hippos, and rhinos, bearing telltale butchery marks. Wooden spears unearthed at sites like Schöningen, Germany, further attest to their prowess as hunters.

Frontal view of the portrait of Homo heidelbergensis from Petralona, Greece, with hair and skin pigmentation. Image credit: Aidonis et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104206.

The origins of the name "Homo heidelbergensis" can be traced back to 1908, when it was coined to accommodate the discovery of an ancient human jaw in a quarry near Heidelberg, Germany. However, it was only towards the end of the 20th century that this species gained broader recognition due to the unearthing of additional fossil specimens. Notable among these discoveries are specimens from Bodo in Ethiopia, Kabwe in Zambia, Ndutu in Tanzania, Petralona in Greece, Arago in France, and potentially Dali in China.

The ambitious task of reconstructing the face of Homo heidelbergensis was entrusted to anthropologist Christina Papageorgopoulou and her colleagues at Democritus University of Thrace. They turned to the well-preserved skull found in Petralona, Greece, a treasure trove of anatomical information that has played a pivotal role in unraveling the mysteries of our ancient relatives.

"The Petralona skull is one of the most anatomically complete human fossils of the Middle Pleistocene and a key paleoanthropological finding in Europe," emphasized the researchers. It was serendipitously discovered in 1960 during an amateur exploration of Petralona Cave, nestled in the rugged landscapes of Chalkidiki, Northern Greece.

The skull is kept in the Museum of Geology, Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki

Currently housed in the Museum of Geology, Palaeontology, and Paleoanthropology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Petralona skull has yielded critical insights. The scientists deduced that this skull belonged to a male individual, judging by its sexually dimorphic characteristics. Furthermore, the closure of cranial sutures indicated a young age, likely no older than 35 years, with an estimated body mass of approximately 52 kilograms.

To bring the face of the Petralona man to life, the team employed a cutting-edge Artec Spider 3D scanner to digitize a cast of the original skull. While the facial skeleton remained intact and undistorted, minor deformations in the rear of the vault and temporal bones had no bearing on the facial morphology. However, a key piece was missing—the mandible. In this critical juncture of reconstruction, the researchers turned to the Mauer jaw, often referred to as the holotype specimen of Homo heidelbergensis. This ancient relic, dated to approximately 609,000 years ago, provided a vital missing link.

The resulting facial approximation of the Petralona man showcased characteristic features: a sloped forehead, massive brow ridges, and facial robusticity that set Homo heidelbergensis apart from both Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens. This meticulous reconstruction provides an invaluable window into the past and enhances our understanding of our distant ancestors.

"This facial approximation of the Petralona man represents a milestone in paleoanthropological research, marking the first hominin facial approximation derived from Greek material," the researchers remarked. While acknowledging the inherent limitations of facial approximation techniques, especially when applied to archaic hominins, they underscored the immense potential of this method in cultural, educational, and scientific contexts.

In an age marked by rapid technological advancements, encompassing fields like medical imaging, geometric morphometrics, ancient DNA analysis, 3D scanning, image processing, and virtual reality, facial approximation stands poised to become an invaluable tool for the dissemination of cultural heritage and scientific exploration. The unveiling of Homo heidelbergensis's visage is not just a tribute to our ancestral lineage but also a testament to the power of cutting-edge technology in reconstructing the past.

The team's groundbreaking research, which ushers us closer to our ancient relatives, has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, marking a significant milestone in our quest to understand the fascinating tapestry of human evolution.

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References:

Asterios Aidonis et al., 2023 Digital 3D facial approximation of the Petralona skull Methodological issues and applications Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 51: 104206; doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104206.

23,000 Years Ago: New Research Sheds Light on Early Human Presence in America

For decades, the question of when and how humans first settled in the Americas has been a contentious topic in the field of archaeology. The conventional wisdom, until recently, was that humans arrived in the North American interior around 14,000 years ago, coinciding with the formation of an ice-free corridor between massive ice sheets in Canada and the northern United States. However, groundbreaking research has challenged this narrative, pushing the timeline back by several millennia.

In a significant departure from the previously accepted timeline, a study published in September 2021 asserted that humans had set foot in the Americas approximately 23,000 years ago, a time when the last Ice Age was at its peak. This revelation added a substantial 7,000 years to the known history of human presence on the continent, effectively rewriting the prehistory of the Americas.

Critics of this extraordinary claim pointed to concerns about the accuracy of the radiocarbon dating method used in the 2021 study. They raised the issue of the "hard water" effect, which occurs when groundwater, isolated from the atmosphere for an extended period, contains carbon-14 that has already undergone radioactive decay, potentially skewing radiocarbon dates.

Image courtesy of USGS.

Acknowledging these concerns as an essential part of the scientific process, researchers embarked on a mission to retest and confirm their findings. Their efforts included innovative techniques and methodologies that shed new light on the ancient past of the Americas.

One of the key aspects of the new research involved dating fossilized pollen grains found in sediment layers both above and below the footprints discovered near White Sands, New Mexico. These common ditch grass seeds were subjected to radiocarbon dating, a well-established and reliable technique for dating organic materials. However, dating pollen grains presented a unique challenge due to their minuscule size, typically around 0.005 millimeters in diameter. To obtain a sufficient amount of carbon for dating, thousands of pollen grains were required.

To overcome this challenge, the researchers turned to medical science and employed a technique called flow cytometry. Normally used to count and sample individual human cells, this method uses the fluorescence of cells stimulated by a laser to identify and isolate them from a liquid stream. In this case, it was adapted to count and concentrate fossilized pollen grains for radiocarbon dating.

The footprints come from a group of people of different ages. National Park Service

After extensive and painstaking laboratory work spanning over a year, the researchers successfully dated the pollen, with a focus on pine pollen that was unaffected by the "hard water" effect. These new dates validated the original chronology of the footprints and conclusively demonstrated that old water effects were not at play at the White Sands site.

Beyond confirming the timeline of the footprints, the pollen analysis also provided insights into the vegetation that thrived when the people left their marks in the area. The plant species identified were consistent with what one would expect to find in Ice Age New Mexico.

As an additional layer of verification, the research team employed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. This method relies on the accumulation of energy within buried quartz grains over time, originating from background radiation. By measuring the light emitted by these grains when exposed to light in a controlled laboratory setting, scientists can determine the last time the grains saw sunlight, thus providing an age estimate. Remarkably, the OSL dates aligned with those obtained through other dating techniques.

In summary, the combination of radiocarbon dating, pollen analysis using flow cytometry, and OSL dating has provided a robust and convincing argument for the presence of humans in the Americas approximately 23,000 years ago. This research challenges long-held beliefs about the timing of human migration to the continent and underscores the importance of continued scientific exploration and inquiry.

The journey to understanding the history of human settlement in the Americas is far from over, but with each breakthrough, we inch closer to unraveling the mysteries of our past. This remarkable research not only advances our knowledge of ancient human migration but also highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in unraveling the tapestry of our shared history.

What Was Earth Like in the Age of Giant Insects?

Earth in the Age of Giant Insects: A Fascinating Glimpse into the Carboniferous Era

The Earth has witnessed a remarkable history of life, with its inhabitants evolving and adapting to the ever-changing environmental conditions. One of the most intriguing chapters in our planet's story is the Carboniferous period, during which Earth was home to giant insects the size of crows and millipedes as long as cars.

In this article, we'll delve into the astounding world of Earth during the age of giant insects, exploring key insights into this captivating era.

Gigantic Insects and the Meganeura

Imagine a world where insects ruled the skies, and among them, the meganeura, a giant carnivorous insect with a wingspan of up to 75 cm, soared majestically. The Carboniferous period, which lasted from approximately 358 to 298 million years ago, was marked by the presence of these massive creatures.

These giant insects would have been a terrifying sight in the sky, far different from the insects we encounter today. Oxygen Levels and Gigantism One of the driving factors behind the gigantism observed in insects during the Carboniferous era was the extraordinarily high oxygen levels in the atmosphere, estimated to be as high as 35%.

This surplus of oxygen allowed insects to grow to such massive sizes because it enabled them to deliver oxygen directly to their tissues through a network of tubes called trachea. In essence, the high oxygen levels acted as a natural booster for insect growth.

Ecosystem Evolution

The Carboniferous period also marked a crucial turning point in Earth's ecosystems. It was during this time that the first seed-bearing plants evolved, leading to the creation of more diverse ecosystems than ever before. These plants played a significant role in shaping the habitats and food sources available to the giant insects of that era.

Continental Drift and Climate Change

The movement of landmasses during the formation of the supercontinent Pangea had a profound impact on ocean currents, wind patterns, and the global climate during the Carboniferous period. These changes in climate and geography likely influenced the distribution of habitats for giant insects, driving them to adapt or perish.

The Decline of Giant Insects

As intriguing as the age of giant insects may be, it eventually came to an end. The decline in rainforests and a reduction in oxygen levels led to the extinction of these colossal creatures. The changing environment favored smaller insects that could thrive in the new conditions.

This shift marked the end of an era that had seen insects grow to unparalleled sizes.

Environmental Awareness and Restoration

While we can only imagine the sights and sounds of the Carboniferous era, it's crucial to draw connections to our modern world. Understanding Earth's history can inspire us to take better care of our planet. Platforms like Planet Wild's videos not only raise awareness about environmental issues but also provide actionable ways for viewers to help restore global ecosystems.

By learning from Earth's past, we can work towards a more sustainable and balanced future.

The age of giant insects during the Carboniferous period offers a captivating glimpse into Earth's prehistoric past. The combination of high oxygen levels, evolving ecosystems, and changing climates created an environment where insects reached astonishing sizes.

However, as the world transformed, so did its inhabitants, ultimately leading to the extinction of these gigantic creatures. Today, we can reflect on this remarkable era and use it as a source of inspiration for our ongoing efforts to protect and preserve our planet's delicate ecosystems.

The Enchanted Crystal Caves of Mexico: Uncovering the Mysteries Beneath the Earth

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BY THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP

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There is a hidden world of glittering beauty in the very center of Mexico, a world where light dances off walls of sparkling crystals and the air is filled with the soft hum of the earth's energy. Mexico's crystal caves are a natural wonder, a place where the seemingly impossible becomes possible and where the earth's mysteries appear to be revealed in the caves' glimmering light.

Nothing else on Earth compares to these caves. Every inch of wall space is adorned with glistening crystals, each one a work of art formed by nature over eons of time. Unusual geological formations, such as soaring crystal columns and glistening pools of water, can be found throughout the caves.

Discovery and Initial Exploration

In 2000, miners excavating new tunnels for the Naica mine broke into the cave, revealing a world unlike any seen before. The conditions were extreme, with temperatures soaring up to 136°F (58°C) and humidity levels nearing 100%. Such conditions made initial explorations incredibly challenging, with humans able to withstand the environment for only short periods, even with protective gear.

A Window into the Earth's Past

The crystals' sheer size suggests they grew at an exceptionally slow rate. Scientists believe these giants took nearly a million years to reach their current size. The conditions in which these crystals formed are unique:

1. Anhydrite Saturation: The underground chambers were filled with mineral-rich water, where anhydrite (a dehydrated form of gypsum) was abundant. As the temperature dropped, the anhydrite began to dissolve, leading to the formation of gypsum in crystalline form.

2. Consistent Conditions: The stable temperature and mineral-rich environment, maintained by the magma below, allowed for the uninterrupted growth of the crystals over hundreds of thousands of years.

Legends told from one generation to the next are where the real intrigue of the crystal caves lies. The indigenous people of Mexico have revered these caves for centuries, believing that their mystical energy and the spirits who guard them are the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe. There have been stories told about people who ventured into the caves and were never seen again, and some believe that supernatural events have taken place there.

For decades, the mystery of the crystal caves has captivated researchers and explorers. Some people think the caves are connected to a system of tunnels below the ground that the ancient Mexicans used as a safe haven. Others argue that the caves are linked to the region's ancient civilizations and contain the secrets to harnessing the earth's energy.

The crystal caves have long been the subject of speculation and legend, but one thing is certain: they will never cease to amaze and perplex visitors. The crystals are a destination for those in search of the planet's hidden secrets, thanks to both their aesthetic appeal and the strange events that have been reported there. The crystal caves of Mexico are a once-in-a-lifetime experience for any curious mind, whether you're a scientist, an explorer, or just someone who finds the unknown fascinating.

Not everyone has what it takes to make the trek to the crystal caves. The caves are buried deep within the Mexican jungle, making the journey there difficult and dangerous. Anyone who makes the effort will be rewarded with a glimpse of a mysterious and magical world. You will never forget the caves; the energy that permeates the air and the way the light dances off the walls are unlike anything you have ever experienced.

In conclusion, Mexico's crystal caves are a magical place where the fantastic becomes possible and the earth's deepest mysteries appear to be revealed in the glimmering light. Regardless of whether or not you believe the supernatural tales told about the caves, there is no denying that they are a place of unparalleled beauty and mystery.

Scientists were "flabbergasted" to discover intricate dinosaur tracks covering a cliff in Alaska

In Alaska, a 20-story rock face known as "The Coliseum" is covered in numerous layers of dinosaur footprints, including a tyrannosaur.

The cliff face, known as "The Coliseum," in Denali National Park and Preserve. Its surface is covered in fossilized dinosaur tracks. (Image credit: Patrick Druckenmiller)

The wall of a 20-story cliff in Alaska is covered in the fossilized footprints of dozens of dinosaurs, giving the impression that the animals defied gravity to walk across its surface, but a geological process is actually to blame. This discovery has "flabbergasted" researchers who have been studying the area.

Currently, the rock face in Denali National Park and Preserve rises at a height of around 218 feet (66 meters). But in the late Cretaceous, some 70 million years ago, the rock was muddy muck that probably surrounding a watering hole on a huge floodplain. This explains the wide range of dinosaur footprints found on the cliff face, including those of young dinosaurs and adults of several big, plant-eating, duck-billed, and horned dinosaurs, as well as carnivores like raptors, nonavian flying reptiles, and at least one tyrannosaur.

The tracks were hauled up and deposited on their side as the ground bulged upward during a tectonic plate collision, similar to how the bonnet of a car folds under the force of a collision, long after the dinosaurs had left their mark in the region. According to the National Park Service, this tectonic activity was a component of the geological turbulence that gave rise to the 600-mile-long (966-kilometer) Alaska Range next to Denali National Park.

A 3D reconstruction of a suspected tyrannosaur footprint discovered at The Coliseum. (Image credit: Dustin Stewart)

Due to the variety of dinosaurs that probably interacted with one another near the water's edge, the location has been given the moniker "The Coliseum" by researchers. The journal Historical Biology released the team's analysis of the site on July 27, 2023. The word "coliseum" refers to a theater, stadium, or other sizable public area.

A seven-hour hike from the closest road separates the cliff from the remainder of a vast rocky outcrop. Due to the fact that most of the footprints had been filled in by other sediments, prior researchers who found a set of tracks at the base of the cliff missed the intricate patchwork of footprints that was looming above them. However, when their colleagues arrived at the location, they discovered the covert tracks.

According to research co-author Pat Druckenmiller, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and curator at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, "When we first went out there, we didn't see much either." However, in a particular setting, the imprints were much easier to see.

Dustin Stewart, a paleontologist at Paleo Solutions and a former student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was the study's primary author and said in a statement, "When the sun angles itself perfectly with those beds, they just blow up." Immediately, he continued, "all of us were just flabbergasted." "We were panicking."

The Coliseum is part of an even larger rocky outcrop. The cliffs were lifted into the air by a tectonic plate collision. (Image credit: Patrick Druckenmiller)

The scientists noticed that the imprints were remarkably precise upon closer examination. Druckenmiller declared, "They are lovely." "You can see the skin's texture and the toes' shape."

The traces that were laid beneath those on the rock's surface were also found by the researchers.

Stewart remarked, "It's not simply one level of rock with tunes on it. It is a chronological progression. There have been other dinosaur footprints discovered in Denali National Park, but "nothing of this magnitude," he continued.

Along with petrified vegetation, pollen, and crustaceans, the cliff also has bird tracks from wading. The findings, according to the researchers, will enable them to create a thorough picture of the environment 70 million years ago. According to Stewart, "all these little hints put together what the environment looked like overall."

On the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, reexamine the Himalayasaurus

The mysteries of an ancient monster are hidden on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, sometimes known as the "Roof of the World."

Himalayasaurus fossils and a restoration diagram /Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chinese paleontologists first discovered ichthyosaur fossils on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau more than 50 years ago while conducting research missions there. However, the international paleontological community has continued to be dubious regarding the existence of this ichthyosaur, known as "Himalayasaurus," due to the fossils being scattered bones and inadequate preservation brought on by the restrictions of the time and environment.

After years of work, researchers announced in May of this year that they had once again discovered and verified Himalayasaurus fossils from the Triassic period (roughly 252 to 201 million years ago), building on the foundation established by the previous generation of scientists conducting fieldwork on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.

These discoveries have major ramifications for understanding the ancient habitat of the Tethys Ocean and the environmental changes that occurred on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau over 200 million years ago, as well as for improving and enriching the evolutionary history of life based on Chinese fossil materials.

What type of animal is an ichthyosaur? The ichthyosaur was an ancient aquatic reptile that existed in the Mesozoic oceans, according to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau expedition team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its look is many million years older than that of dinosaurs. They evolved into enormous bodies that were over 10 meters in length after evolving in the waters more than 200 million years ago. Thus, ichthyosaurs are appropriately regarded as the masters of the Mesozoic oceans since they are the earliest large-bodied vertebrates known in the history of existence.

A file photo shows the fragments of ichthyosaur ribs discovered on the coast of an island near Vladivostok in Russia. /CFP

Meanwhile, a group of biology students discovered pieces of ichthyosaur ribs from 230 to 240 million years ago in 2022 on the coast of an island near Vladivostok, Russia.

"Ichthyosaur bones have now been found on Russian islands three times," The two ichthyosaur bone fragments have been sent to the museum, according to a representative of the Primorsky Krai Maritime Museum.

Extinct sea reptiles called ichthyosaurs looked like fish and dolphins. 2014 saw the initial finding of ichthyosaur remains on Russian islands. Another pair of ichthyosaur bones was discovered on the islands in 2020, and it was first estimated that they lived about 247 million years ago.

2-million-year-old Hominid Fossils Reveal Oldest Human Genetic Data Ever Discovered

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BY THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP

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The paper is presently accessible as a preprint on bioRxiv.

Using preserved teeth belonging to a prehistoric human species that lived in South Africa more than two million years ago, scientists have been able to extract genetic information. Scientists can now better comprehend how this long-extinct creature fits into the human family tree thanks to the data, which is by far the earliest genetic information ever obtained from any hominid.

The researchers explain their findings in a publication that has not yet been published and state that no African hominid sample older than 18,000 years old has ever yielded ancient DNA. After overcoming that obstacle, the authors continue by presenting protein sequencing data from the tooth enamel of four members of the species Paranthropus robustus, each of whom lived approximately 2.42 million years ago.

The teeth were found in the Swartkrans cave, 40 km (25 miles) northwest of Johannesburg. It is thought that rapid floods caused them to gather there before "extensive cementation" helped to preserve the enamel proteins over millions of years. This made it possible for the scientists to sequence hundreds of amino acids in each tooth using a technique called mass spectrometry, providing crucial details on the evolutionary connections between P. robustus and other hominids.

The sequences that we were able to recover, according to the study's authors, "put Paranthropus both within the clade of hominins and as an outgroup to the clade encompassing Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans." The ancient South African species, then, is a distant relative of the more closely related species that arose in Eurasia in the previous few hundred thousand years, including contemporary humans, but it is still very much a member of the human family.

Paranthropus boisei - steps of forensic facial reconstruction

Author: Cicero Moraes

A fascinating finding from the analysis was that one of the African foursomes "may be more distantly connected to the other three individuals than they are to each other." Although they are unable to confirm it, the researchers surmise that this outlier may have even belonged to a unique Paranthropus group.

Fascinatingly, the authors of the study were able to identify two of the specimens as males despite the fact that one of them had previously been classified as a female based on the size of its bones, thanks to the discovery of a protein encoded by a gene that is only found on the Y-chromosome. The other two individuals, who were female, had larger levels of the X-chromosome variant of this protein than did the other two.

To accurately place P. robustus within the human family tree or sort out all of the ancient hominin's evolutionary relationships, however, the genetic data gathered by the researchers is ultimately insufficient, despite the fact that it has allowed them to learn important details about the owners of the ancient chompers. The recovery of [two-million-year-old] phylogenetically informative genetic material in African hominins can be regarded as a potentially game-changing advancement for palaeoanthropology, the study's authors write, "despite these constraints."

53-million-years-old bat skeletons provide new insight into early mammalian species

Age-old bat skeletons, which are thought to have existed 53 million years ago, provide new insight into early mammalian flight and show a newly identified species.

Two of the oldest bat fossils are described in a new study that was just published in PLOS ONE and may help researchers understand how these flying mammals spread all over the world.

The roughly 1.5-inch-long bat skeletons were discovered in a fossil deposit close to Kemmerer, Wyoming. They were discovered in a fossil-rich geologic deposit of prehistoric marshes and lakes from the Eocene period, which lasted for about 50 million years. The region, known as the Green River Formation, includes portions of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Researchers estimate the age of the fossilized bats to be roughly 53 million years old, making them the oldest bat fossils ever found. This estimate is based on the age of the sediment layers that surround the fossils. During this time, it is considered that bats initially diverged from non-flying mammals.

Fig 1. Skeleton of Holotype of Icaronycteris gunnelli (FM.145747A) A) Dorsal view; B) Counterpart (FM.145747B).

The bones were then compared to those of other species, leading paleontologists to the conclusion that they belonged to the extinct Icaronycteris genus of bats. The newly discovered bats differed from other Eocene bats in a number of ways, including the existence of claws on the first and second digits of the wings, relatively short forearms, and large wings. It was named Icaronycteris gunnelli, after the late Duke University paleontologist Gregg Gunnell, who made significant contributions to the study of bat evolution, by the researchers.

RIETBERGEN ET AL., PLOS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0283505 (2023)

Bats are a diverse group of mammals with over 1,400 living species worldwide. They play a vital role in healthy natural ecosystems and provide essential ecosystem services for human economies. Bats are the only mammals capable of true powered flight, an adaptation that evolved early in the chiropteran lineage. Early bat records date back to the early Eocene, with bats found in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. The fossil record of early bat evolution is relatively poorly understood, with most skeletons consisting of isolated teeth.

The oldest known articulated bat skeletons come from mid-shore deposits of the Green River Formation in southwestern Wyoming. Two fossil bat species have been described from the Fossil Lake Sediments, but no other species have been described from other lakes. The high taxonomic and functional diversity of living bat faunas today suggests that the area and habitats reflected in the Green River Formation hosted more bat species than previously discovered.

An Incredible Journey to the Earth's Prehistoric Oceans

About 541 million years ago, the distribution of land and sea was much different than what we know. All of this took place long before the creation of Pangea.

At this time of the Cambrian, during the first phase of the Paleozoic, the Iapetus Ocean separates North America from South America and Africa which was welded together, the whole called Gondwana. The Rheic Ocean separates the African coast from the Baltic continent. Other oceans, such as the Panthalassa and the Paleotethys cover a very large area that separates North China and Siberia.

The largest flying animal in the world, Quetzalcoatlus, has a wingspan of up to 52 feet (15.9 m)

The climate was warmer during the Late Cretaceous period, about 100 to 66 million years ago. All of the continents saw the emergence of several new species, including the enormous Quetzalcoatlus that inhabited North America.

The Quetzalcoatlus compared to a man, car, and pterodactyl. Source Pinterest

One of the biggest known flying animals ever, Quetzalcoatlus has a wingspan that can measure up to 15.9 m (52 ft). This enormous creature was given the name Quetzalcoatl in honor of the feathered serpent god of Mesoamerica, who was well-known there under various titles.

He was referred to as Kukulkan by the ancient Maya and Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs.

In the Maastrichtian Javelina Formation at Big Bend National Park in Texas, the United States, the first Quetzalcoatlus fossils were found in 1971 by Douglas A. Lawson. Later, Lawson found the partial skeletons of even smaller people at a different location.

It was how we discovered the existence of this enormous flying creature.

Despite not being a dinosaur, Quetzalcoatlus coexisted with them. The most well-known azhdarchid, or flying reptile, family member was Quetzalcoatlus.

"From earlier reptilian life forms, the pterosaurs and dinosaurs appear to have developed along different paths. It also becomes obvious that pterosaurs did not turn into birds.

The anatomy is similar to that of a wing in this sense. The fourth finger of each forelimb was noticeably longer in pterosaurs. It held up the leading edge of a membrane that reached all the way from the body's flank to the tip of the finger. The remaining fingers were little, reptilian, and ended in a pointed claw.

The main strut of a bird's wing is its second finger, and most of the wing is made up of feathers, according to Wann Langston.

Despite the fact that Quetzalcoatlus is frequently portrayed as having feathers, scientists believe it actually had pycnofibres instead of animal hair. Quetzalcoatlus was more than five meters (16.4 ft) tall, weighed 250 kilograms, and was as tall as a giraffe when it was standing on the ground.

As Quetzalcoatlus flew through the air, it was able to observe numerous other enormous species moving about our world. Then, everything came to an end since around three-quarters of Earth's plant and animal species became extinct 65 million years ago.

Because it happened at the transition between the Cretaceous (K) and Tertiary (T) periods, this event is known as the K-T mass extinction. The Quetzalcoatlus did not survive, and the dinosaurs were the most famous creatures to perish.

100 million-year-old marine reptile skeleton discovered - May 'unlock' prehistoric research

The skeleton of a giant 100-million-year-old marine reptile has been found in Australia, raising hopes for researchers to uncover important evidence of prehistoric life.

The remains of the 6m-tall young long-necked pleiosaur, also known as an elamsaurus, were found by amateur fossil hunters on a cattle station in Queensland last August.

The elasmosaurs, which were 8 to 10 meters long, lived in the Eromaga Sea, which covered large parts of the Australian inland with 50-meter-deep water about 150 million years ago.

Queensland Museum

Espen Knutsen, senior curator of palaeontology at the Queensland Museum, likened the discovery to that of the Rosetta Stone - it helped experts decipher the hieroglyphs.

"We have never found a body and a head, and this may be key to the future of research in the field," he said, adding that paleontologists may gain more substantial knowledge about the origin, evolution and ecology of the Cretaceous period in the region.

"Because the neck of pleiosaurs made up 2/3 of them, the head often separated from the body after they died, which made the discovery of an intact fossil very difficult."

Knutsen explained that when an elasmosaurus died, its decomposing body was inflated with gases that caused it to rise to the surface of the water. Often the head was broken off when the carcass fell prey to predators.

Queensland Museum

The specimen found is in good condition, however, and researchers will perform chemical tests on the teeth, which may provide information about the ecology of the environment it lived in, whether it had migrated during its lifetime, or whether it lived permanently in one place , but also for his diet.

Ancient marine reptiles such as pleiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are not classified as dinosaurs, even though they lived around the same time. Plesiosaurs were descendants of land-dwelling species and therefore lacked gills and had to occasionally surface for air. It remains unknown how long they could remain underwater.

The Evolution of Human Nutrition in Prehistory

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By Giorgio Pintzas Monzani

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By now we always think of food as creation, art, a mix of new ingredients, yet losing the primordial essence of it: surviving.

Man has been able to evolve, travel and discover, having mainly only one motive, nutrition, food.

Of course, the fact that man has not always been interested in gourmet preparations does not mean that they should be of little importance today, at all.

However, there are nuances of prehistoric and ancient nutrition that are still little known to most people today, despite the infinite number of commonalities with our tables today.

Let us start initially by looking at what exactly prehistory is, a detail that often eludes many.

With the Latin term prae-historia, we define all that long period of human existence where the discovery of writing had not yet been made.

The exact subdivision of prehistory is as follows:

●       Paleolithic, which lasted nearly 2 million years and ended about 12,000 years ago

●       Mesolithic, a period between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago

●       Neolithic, the last period of the Stone Age that ended about 4,000 years ago with the invention of writing

The thing that stands out is precisely the long periods of these eras: it may seem obvious but it's not at all, that humans spent more time in prehistory than in history, we were mostly illiterate, which gives a very good idea of how young our race is.

So we will see how starting in the Paleolithic period, man began over the millennia, to develop a more varied and complex diet than his ancestors, albeit at a much slower pace than we might think.

We will certainly not develop the topic solely in the classical scholastic manner, but will also look at dishes from the prehistoric diet that have a direct connection to our tables today.

The Paleolithic, the longest period of prehistory

Speaking of the Paleolithic we mean the longest historical period of prehistory, as well as of human existence.

From the first appearance of homo habilis until the end of the Paleolithic, human nutrition is very limited and characterized by few developments and changes:

Hunting, although considered to be the foundation of his diet, was a very often exhausting and disappointing practice, often dealing with very large prey, thus ending up feeding on carrion and insects, making the human an excellent opportunist rather than a skilled hunter.

In addition, gathering berries and wild fruits was the basis of one's diet, a practice, however, borne by women; in fact, it is thought that it was they who later led to the birth of agriculture: through the seeds that fell on the way back to the villages.

Fishing was also of great importance, but often left on the back burner, dealing with prey that could rarely feed entire groups and families.

The Mesolithic, the first glimmers of true food evolution

With the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, we see the transition from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic.

Major climate changes have disruptive effects on the planet's flora and fauna, making it impossible for humans to survive with pre-glaciation habits.

The scarcity of game and large prey prompts humans to embrace a sedentary lifestyle, and to a very different societal organization and their villages.

In fact, the first signs of prey-breeding practices begin, which are no longer killed, but caught and brought back to the villages, creating a kind of prolonged supply over time.

Not unimportant will be the invention of a weapon that will make herd hunting much easier: the bow.

Probably occurring around 6,000 B.C., it helped both in the search for livelihood and in the protection of villages.

The most significant discovery of the Mesolithic was the cultivation of cereals, in the area of the fertile crescent, Mesopotamia, some assume it was the production of wheat that eliminated the primordial need of the nomadic being.

We certainly cannot assume that the type of the first cereals grown had much in common with those consumed today, since over the centuries man modified the nature of cereals in order to make them more digestible to his organism.

Thanks to his own discoveries, the result of centuries of evolution, human beings went from being hunters and an "opportunistic animal" to a true breeder and farmer.

Neolithic, the pinnacle of development of the prehistoric period

Humans of the period by now have little or nothing in common with their Paleolithic ancestors: they created villages with more complex societal structures and more pronounced hierarchies than before; they also made family organization a priority by dividing even their members' possessions differently.

Inventions such as the wheel and the raft are the greatest technological developments of the period, and among the most significant of our existence.

During these millennia, sheep and cattle raising, and agriculture became the most important and widely used form of livelihood, thus decreasing dangerous practices such as hunting, while drastically increasing one's mortality rate.

In addition, man began to realize that having many children was not just a problem of mouths to feed, but a huge resource at the labor level.

Thus, a population increase never before took place, and thus the birth of large villages and much more populated establishments, the ancestors of cities.

But are there types of foods, whether simple nutritional habits or actual processed foods, that we still have, almost, directly in common with prehistoric humans today?

Yes.

So let us look at 3 examples of handed-down, and obviously modified, foods that have come down to us directly from remote periods in our history.

The consumption of insects, a lost custom

In today's Western culture, the consumption of insects, or derivatives of them, is a taboo.

A practice associated with poor quality food and poor hygienic conditions.

However, we forget to consider that this food was the basis of the prehistoric diet, especially of humans in the Paleolithic period: as mentioned earlier, the opportunistic instinct of humans, led them to eat larvae, grasshoppers and any other available and digestible insect.

It is therefore inferred how entomophagy (feeding on insects), is not a practice characteristic of peoples far from us, but present in the DNA of us all.

Obviously this practice was lost when diet and cuisine evolved?

Wrong, we do in fact have written evidence, including Aristotle's work "historia animalium," where the Greek philosopher spends time explaining to the reader the best methods of tasting various kinds of insects.

One example?

Aristotle declares that female larvae after copulation, are delicious, due to the sublime taste given by the eggs contained in it.

Polenta, an age-old dish, imprinted in our DNA

One may think that the oldest grain-based food is bread: however, we forget that in various Indo-European cultures, since ancient times, another cooked grain-based preparation, in the form of porridge, made its appearance.

Whether it was cooking on heated stones, or boiling in pouches from animal remains, human beings soon began eating doughs made from coarse flours and water.

In the case of cooking on hot stones, the first ancestors of bread were born, more specifically products similar to tortillas and Indian naan.

In the case of boiling, on the other hand, centuries before the appearance of terracotta, humans immersed red-hot stones inside containers of water in order to succeed in bringing products to a boil: in this case they added cereal flour to the water, which they cooked for a not-too-long time, until they obtained the first examples of polenta.

The Sumerians were among the first to prepare this dish, where, with flour made from grains such as millet and rye, they obtained a nutrient-rich mush with a huge energy intake.

It was certainly not the latter who extended it to other territories: the ease of its preparation and the need for only two ingredients meant that polenta played an important role for many peoples in different areas.

Nevertheless, it is important to note how it was the Greeks, in the centuries to come, who in turn made it a true substitute for bread and enriched the flavors through spices and savory sauces.

The name polenta came much later, with the Latin peoples: in fact, polenta comes from the word "puls," literally mush.

Jerky beef, not a modern invention

We all have a clear image of those huge shelves in supermarkets, with packages of jerky of all kinds and with all kinds of flavorings.

Well, what if I told you that this is not a product that is a child of modern drying techniques?

The need to obtain meat at times when hunting was difficult, for climatic reasons mainly, led many peoples of the earth to treat meat in a way that increased its durability.

Various archaeologists have found evidence of dried meat in various tombs in the area of ancient Egypt, dating as far back as 3,500 BCE.

Certainly the primordial methods did not always have the effectiveness of today's drying, in fact often the process to which meat was subjected was salting, despite this we see how a food on our shelves today, has roots far back.

Author:

Giorgio Pintzas Monzani is a Greek-Italian chef, writer and consultant who lives in Milan. His Instagram page can be found here.

Trapped 70,000-year-old artefact reveals hidden information about early humans

This new study demonstrates how the creative use of unconventional research methods turned an unfortunate archaeological sampling event into a scientific success story.

However, this scientific adventure was not a straightforward triumph.

Slicing history to pieces

A feeling of disbelief, and a rush of adrenalin ran through Magnus Haaland as he realised what had just happened. He was working on a preserved block of sediment collected during field work in South Africa. As he was slicing it up, he realised that he had cut through a large piece of ochre which had been accidentally trapped in his micromorphological block of sediment.

The block he was working on had been collected in Blombos Cave, in South Africa, also known as the cradle of human culture. This meant that the artefact, which he had just destroyed, could potentially be packed with important information about our ancestors who once lived in this cave 100,000 years ago.

BLOCK OF SEDIMENT: Magnus Haaland taking a block section from a profile at Blombos Cave.

(Photo: Ole Fredrik Unhammer)

Piecing back the story

Overwhelmed by what had just happened, Magnus decided he needed a drink and went to the local bar.

At the local pub he met his colleague André Strauss, specialised in using Micro CT scanning for reconstructing an otherwise destroyed material. Andre suggested that Magnus should look into Micro CT scanning with him. In addition, Magnus decided to contact Elizabeth Velliky – who he knew specialises in prehistoric ochre use. Maybe she knew about ways to find out if the ochre pieces were used by humans. She immediately was interested.

"The tricky part was that we only had one thin slice of this piece, so any marks that we see might either be from humans or natural causes. Without having the entire piece to look at, it was a real challenge! Thankfully he had several thin sections made from it, imagine taking a few slices from a loaf of bread, so we could piece together the story when we combined all those sections together," Velliky explains.

TRAPPED OCHRE: The large ochre piece cut into fragments in an impregnated block section.

(Photo: Magnus M. Haaland)

Creating new research avenues

Magnus Haaland, André Strauss and Elizabeth Velliky worked together on restoring the piece of ochre along with fellow SapienCE scientists Christopher Miller, Karen van Niekerk and Christopher Henshilwood. The scientific project produced several important findings which are presented in the in the international journal Geoarcheology.

"What are would you say are the most important findings from this study?"

"I suppose it depends on which author you talk to. I think Magnus would say that the major finding is that archaeologists shouldn’t be afraid of taking micromorphological block samples from their sites, because even if artefacts are caught in these blocks, there is still a lot of information that you can get from it, and it even opens some research avenues that otherwise wouldn’t be available - such as destructive analyses," Velliky says.

Elizabeth Velliky analysing the thin section of the ochre piece using Raman spectroscopy.

(Photo: Magnus M. Haaland)

For Velliky the major finding is how this project has created a new way to look at human-made marks on ochre pieces.

"Before, these interpretations were highly subjective – as they depended on the site, the type of ochre, and the person looking at them. Now we know that there are a lot more subtleties to these marks, and that previously we may have been looking at, and analysing them the wrong way. Then Andre might tell you that he was particularly excited about the use of Micro CT scanning for reconstructing an otherwise destroyed material," she says.

Understanding human made marks on ochre pieces

Velliky says that the scientific work that came from the trapped ochre piece has been the most unique project she has been part of. She hopes that the paper can inspire more people to pay attention to micro-ochre fragments at their sites, and perhaps be more encouraged to collect samples.

"Often people see patches of red and dig through them, but I hope our study would encourage people to save these features so we can understand more about how people used ochre in the past. I think we need to create a universal way of talking about how humans used ochre and from there we can really start to discuss what that means for human cultural and symbolic evolution," she says.

RECONSTRUCTING AN OCHRE PIECE: The ochre piece reconstructed using Micro CT scanning.

(Photo: Magnus M. Haaland)

According to Velliky, ochre is crucial to understand early symbolic behaviour in humans because it isn’t a biological necessity for humans to survive, so the need for it is different than say tools used for hunting. She also thinks that 3D morphometrics provides a new and better way of studying human made marks on ochre pieces.

"Often, we just know that ochre was collected and used but there is sort of a gap during the actual production phase, or at least very superficial knowledge. If we can understand more about how humans interacted with this material and manipulated it, it could highlight more information that we previously missed or overlooked. By using 3D morphometrics, we can get a lot more detail on the marks, their size, features, and nuances, and understand a lot more about the people who were making them. If we can understand more about how humans interacted with this material and manipulated it, it could highlight more information that we previously missed or overlooked," Velliky says.

TRACES FROM EARLY HUMANS: Other pieces of ochre from Blombos showing traces of human use.

(Photo: Francesco d'Errico and Christopher Henshilwood)

Continuing the study

"You are working on a new scientific article now. How does this relate to your study on the trapped ochre piece?"

"This new article is about the microscopic ochre fragments, or ochre crumbs, found in the sediments at several cave sites in southern Africa. However, we are using the thin sections from Blombos Cave as a case study. After analysing the trapped ochre piece, we created a good technical workflow for easily and quickly identifying these micro-ochre pieces in thin section, as opposed to before where you would have to visually find each little piece. We then use several analytical techniques to see if they are different types of ochre, and if so, how many types are present. Our goal is to ultimately compare these micro-ochre fragments to the larger ochre pieces excavated at the site. The paper will hopefully be out in 2023," Velliky concludes.

Reference:

Haaland et al. Hidden in plain sight: A microanalytical study of a Middle Stone Age ochre piece trapped inside a micromorphological block sample, Geoarchaeology, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/gea.21830

The History of Writing; Tracing the Development of expressing Language by Systems of Markings

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by dimosthenis vasiloudis

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Protowriting, ideographic systems, or early mnemonic symbols came before more advanced writing systems in the evolution of writing in human societies (symbols or letters that make remembering them easier).

A subsequent development is true writing, in which the content of a spoken language is encoded so that another reader may reasonably reconstruct the identical utterance written down. It differs from proto-writing, which frequently forgoes recording grammatical words and affixes, making it harder or even impossible to reassemble the precise meaning intended by the writer unless a substantial amount of context is already known in advance.

Writing innovations

The idea that writing originated in a single civilization and was called "monogenesis" persisted for a long time. According to academics, all writing originated in Mesopotamia's ancient Sumer and spread around the world as a result of cultural diffusion. This argument holds that traders or merchants traveling between geographical locations passed on the idea of representing language by written signs, though perhaps not necessarily the specifics of how such a system operated.

The finding of ancient Mesoamerican scripts, far from Middle Eastern sources, demonstrated, however, that writing had been created more than once. In at least four ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia (between 3400 and 3100 BCE), Egypt (about 3250 BCE), China (1200 BCE), and lowland portions of southern Mexico and Guatemala, writing may have independently originated (by 500 BCE).

Some academics have suggested that ancient Egypt "The earliest authentic examples of Egyptian writing differ from Mesopotamian writing in both structure and style, indicating that they must have emerged independently. Although there is still a chance that Mesopotamian "stimulus dispersion" occurred, the influence could not have extended beyond the dissemination of an idea."

Because there is no evidence of communication between ancient China and the Near Eastern literate civilizations, as well as because Mesopotamian and Chinese approaches to phonetic representation differ, it is thought that ancient Chinese characters are independent creations.

The Vinča symbols.

The Rongorongo script of Easter Island, the Vina symbols from about 5500 BCE, and the Indus script of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization are all controversial. Since none have been translated, it is unclear if they all represent real writing, protowriting, or something entirely different.

The earliest coherent texts date from around 2600 BCE, and Sumerian archaic (pre-cuneiform) writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs are usually regarded as the earliest authentic writing systems. Both developed out of their ancestors' proto-literate symbol systems between 3400 and 3100 BCE. The Proto-Elamite script belongs to roughly the same time frame.

writing methods

Writing systems are distinct from symbolic communication systems. For most writing systems, reading a text requires some knowledge of the spoken language that goes along with it. In contrast, it's not always necessary to have a prior understanding of a spoken language to use symbolic systems like information signs, paintings, maps, and mathematics. Every human group has its own language, which is thought by many to be a natural and essential aspect of mankind.

Writing system development has been intermittent, uneven, and delayed, and old oral communication systems have only been partially replaced. Writing systems generally develop more slowly after they are formed than their spoken counterparts and frequently preserve traits and idioms that have been lost to the spoken language.

Three writing standards are thought to apply to all writing systems. First, writing must be comprehensive; it must have a meaning or purpose, and it must make a point or be able to convey that message. Second, whether they are physical or digital, all writing systems must include some kind of symbol that can be created on a surface. In order to facilitate communication, the writing system's symbols must resemble spoken words or speech.

The greatest advantage of writing is that it gives society a way to regularly and thoroughly preserve information—something that the spoken word could not previously do as successfully. Writing enables communities to communicate knowledge, transmit information, and

stages of development

Sumer

An ancient civilization of southern Mesopotamia, is believed to be the place where written language was first invented around 3200 BCE.

Beginning with the Neolithic pottery phase, when clay tokens were used to keep track of particular quantities of animals or other goods, writing first appeared. These tokens were initially imprinted on the exterior of spherical clay envelopes, which were later used to keep them. Afterwards, flat tablets were gradually introduced in place of the tokens, and signs were recorded using a stylus. Towards the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Uruk was where actual writing was first discovered. Other areas of the Near East quickly followed.

The earliest recorded account of the development of writing is found in a poem from ancient Mesopotamia:

The Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and wrote on it like a tablet because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat the message. It has never been possible to write on clay before.

Enmerkar and the King of Aratta, a Sumerian epic written around 1800 BCE

Although there is agreement among scholars as to the difference between prehistory and the history of early writing, there is disagreement as to when proto-writing became "real writing." The criteria are somewhat arbitrary. In the broadest sense, writing is a way of keeping track of information. It is made up of graphemes, which in turn can be made up of glyphs.

Many centuries of shattered inscriptions typically follow the advent of writing in a particular region. The presence of coherent texts in a culture's writing system is how historians determine a culture's "historicity".

Standard reconstruction of the development of writing. There is a possibility that the Egyptian script was invented independently from the Mesopotamian script.

A conventional "proto-writing to true writing" system follows a general series of developmental stages:

Picture writing system: glyphs (simplified pictures) directly represent objects and concepts. In connection with this, the following substages may be distinguished:

• Mnemonic: glyphs primarily as a reminder.

• Pictographic: glyphs directly represent an object or a concept such as (A) chronological, (B) notices, (C) communications, (D) totems, titles, and names, (E) religious, (F) customs, (G) historical, and (H) biographical.

• Ideographic: graphemes are abstract symbols that directly represent an idea or concept.

Pre-cuneiform tags, with drawing of goat or sheep and number (probably "10"): "Ten goats", Al-Hasakah, 3300–3100 BCE, Uruk culture.

Transitional system: graphemes refer not only to the object or idea that it represents but to its name as well.

• Phonetic system: graphemes refer to sounds or spoken symbols, and the form of the grapheme is not related to its meanings. This resolves itself into the following substages:

• Verbal: grapheme (logogram) represents a whole word.

• Syllabic: grapheme represents a syllable.

• Alphabetic: grapheme represents an elementary sound.

Designs on some of the labels or token from Abydos, carbon-dated to circa 3400–3200 BC and among the earliest form of writing in Egypt. They are remarkably similar to contemporary clay tags from Uruk, Mesopotamia.

The best known picture writing system of ideographic or early mnemonic symbols are:

• Jiahu symbols, carved on tortoise shells in Jiahu, c. 6600 BCE

• Vinča symbols (Tărtăria tablets), c. 5300 BCE[24]

• Early Indus script, c. 3100 BCE

In the Old World, true writing systems developed from neolithic writing in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC).

Locations and timeframes

Comparative evolution

from pictograms to abstract shapes, in Mesopotamian cuneiforms, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters

Proto-writing

The first writing systems of the Early Bronze Age were not a sudden invention. Rather, they were a development based on earlier traditions of symbol systems that cannot be classified as proper writing, but have many of the characteristics of writing. These systems may be described as "proto-writing". They used ideographic or early mnemonic symbols to convey information, but it probably directly contained no natural language. These systems emerged in the early Neolithic period, as early as the 7th millennium BC, and include:

• The Jiahu symbols found carved in tortoise shells in 24 Neolithic graves excavated at Jiahu, Henan province, northern China, with radiocarbon dates from the 7th millennium BCE. Most archaeologists consider these not directly linked to the earliest true writing.

• Vinča symbols, sometimes called the "Danube script", are a set of symbols found on Neolithic era (6th to 5th millennia BCE) artifacts from the Vinča culture of Central Europe and Southeast Europe.

• The Dispilio Tablet of the late 6th millennium may also be an example of proto-writing.

• The Indus script, which from 3500 BCE to 1900 BCE was used for extremely short inscriptions.

The Dispilio Tablet

The Dispilio tablet is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed markings, unearthed during George Hourmouziadis's excavations of Dispilio in Greece, and carbon 14-dated to 5202 (± 123) BC.

It was discovered in 1993 in a Neolithic lakeshore settlement that occupied an artificial island near the modern village of Dispilio on Lake Kastoria in Kastoria, Western Macedonia, Greece.

Even after the Neolithic, a number of societies used proto-writing as a transitional form before adopting formal writing. Such a mechanism might have existed in the quipu of the Incas (15th century CE), often known as "talking knots". Another example is the pictographs created by Uyaquk before the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language developed the Yugtun syllabary around 1900.

Ancient writing

The Bronze Age saw the development of writing in a wide range of cultures. Indus script, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Cretan hieroglyphs, Chinese logographs, Sumerian cuneiform writing, and the Olmec script of Mesoamerica are a few examples. Around 1600 BCE, the Chinese script most likely evolved apart from the Middle Eastern scripts. It is also generally accepted that the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican writing systems, which include the Olmec and Maya scripts, had separate origins. In 2000 BCE, it is believed that the first real alphabetic writing was created for Hebrew laborers in the Sinai by assigning Semitic values to mostly Egyptian hieratic characters (see History of the alphabet and Proto-Sinaitic alphabet).

Ethiopia's Geez writing system is regarded as Semitic. With roots in the Meroitic Sudanese ideogram system, it is most likely of semi-independent origin. The majority of alphabets used today are either direct descendants of this one invention, many through the Phoenician alphabet, or were designed in direct response to it. The early Old Italic alphabet and Plautus (c. 750–250 BCE) were separated by around 500 years in Italy, while the Elder Futhark inscriptions and early works like the Abrogans (c. 200–750 CE) are separated by a similar amount of time in the case of the Germanic peoples.

Cuneiform writing

The first Sumerian script was derived from a system of clay tokens used to denote different types of goods. This had developed into a system of keeping accounts by the end of the fourth millennium BC, utilizing a stylus with a circular form that was impressed into soft clay at various angles to record numbers. A pointed stylus was used to gradually add pictographic lettering on this to show what was being counted. Writing using a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the name "cuneiform") began to include phonetic features by the 29th century BCE and gradually replaced writing with a round stylus and a sharp stylus by about 2700–2500 BCE.

Cuneiform first started to represent Sumerian syllables around 2600 BCE. Ultimately, cuneiform writing evolved into a general-purpose system for writing numerals, syllables, and logograms. This alphabet was adapted to the Akkadian language starting in the 26th century BCE, and from there to others like Hurrian and Hittite. This writing system resembles Old Persian and Ugaritic scripts in appearance.

Hieroglyphics from Egypt

Literacy was concentrated among a well-educated elite of scribes, who played a crucial role in upholding the Egyptian empire through writing. To become scribes in the employ of temple, royal (pharaonic), and military authority, one had to come from a certain background.

According to Geoffrey Sampson, the general concept of expressing words from a language in writing was likely transmitted to Egypt via Sumerian Mesopotamia. Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into being a little after Sumerian script, and, possibly [were], invented under the influence of the latter." Despite the significance of early Egypt-Mesopotamia links, "no definitive judgment has been established as to the genesis of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt" due to the lack of direct evidence. However, it is stated and agreed upon that "a very compelling argument can also be made for the independent development of writing in Egypt" and that "the evidence for such direct influence remains fragile."

Egyptian writing does suddenly appear at that time, but Mesopotamia has an evolutionary history of sign usage in tokens dating back to around 8000 BCE. Since the 1990s, discoveries of glyphs at Abydos, dated to between 3400 and 3200 BCE, may challenge the conventional idea that the Mesopotamian symbol system predates the Egyptian one. These glyphs were discovered in tomb U-J at Abydos; they were written on ivory and most likely served as labels for other items discovered there.

Even though he acknowledged that Egypt's geographic location made it a receptacle for many influences, Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar maintained that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols originated from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African" and that in regards to writing, "we have seen that a purely Nilotic, therefore African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality."

Elamite writing

The unintelligible Proto-Elamite writing first appears around 3100 BCE. Around the latter third millennium, it is thought to have evolved into Linear Elamite, which was later supplanted by Elamite Cuneiform, which was adapted from Akkadian.

Indus script

Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not these symbols constituted a writing system used to record the as yet unidentified language(s) of the Indus Valley civilisation.

The Indus script has been assigned to markings and symbols discovered at numerous Indus Valley civilization sites due to the hypothesis that they were used to transcribe the Harappan language. It is disputed whether the script, which was in use from roughly 3500 to 1900 BCE, is a Bronze Age writing script (logographic-syllabic) or merely proto-writing symbols. According to analysis, it was written in boustrophedon or from right to left.

early SEMITIC ALPHABETS

Around 1800 BCE in Ancient Egypt, the first "abjads," which mapped individual symbols to individual phonemes but not necessarily each phoneme to a symbol, appeared as a representation of the language created there by Semitic workers. However, by that time, alphabetic principles had only a remote chance of being ingrained into Egyptian hieroglyphs for upwards of a millennium.

Did the Proto-Canaanite alphabet take its symbols independently of the hieroglyphs?

It is only until the end of the Bronze Age that the Proto-Sinaitic script separates into the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (c. 1400 BCE), Byblos syllabary, and the South Arabian alphabet (c. 1200 BCE). These early abjads remained of minor significance for several decades. The untranslated Byblos syllabary most likely had some influence on the Proto-Canaanite, which in turn provided inspiration for the Ugaritic alphabet (c. 1300 BCE).

Anatolian hieroglyphs

The Hieroglyphic Luwian language was written down using Anatolian hieroglyphs, a native hieroglyphic script found in western Anatolia. Around the fourteenth century BCE, it initially appeared on royal seals of the Luwians.

Chinese characters

The corpus of inscriptions on oracle bones and brass from the late Shang dynasty is the earliest authenticated example of the Chinese script that has been found so far. The oldest of these is believed to date from about 1200 BCE.

There have been recent finds of tortoise-shell carvings from around 6000 BCE, such as Jiahu Script and Banpo Script, but it is debatable whether or not the carvings are complex enough to be considered writing. 3,172 cliff carvings from the period between 6000 and 5000 BCE have been found near Damaidi in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. They contain 8,453 different characters, including images of the sun, moon, stars, gods, and scenes of grazing or hunting.

Replica

of ancient Chinese script on an oracle turtle shell

These pictographs are thought to resemble the first Chinese characters that have been confirmed to be written. Writing in China would predate Mesopotamian cuneiform, traditionally recognized as the first manifestation of writing, by about 2,000 years if it were to be considered a written language. However, it is more likely that the inscriptions represent a type of proto-writing, comparable to the modern European Vinca script.

Early Greek and Cretan scripts

Cretan relics include hieroglyphic writing (early-to-mid-2nd millennium BCE, MM I to MM III, overlapping with Linear A from MM IIA at the earliest). The Mycenaean Greek writing system, Linear B, has been decoded, but Linear A has not yet been. The three overlapping, but distinct, writing systems can be categorized according to their chronological order and geographic distribution as follows:

• Cretan Hieroglyphic / Crete (eastward from the Knossos-Phaistos axis) / c. 2100−1700 BCE

• Linear A / Crete (except extreme southwest), Aegean Islands (Kea, Kythera, Melos, Thera), Greek mainland (Laconia) and west Minor Asia (Miletus and maybe Troy) / c. 1800−1450 BCE

• Linear B / Crete (Knossos), and mainland (Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns) / c. 1450−1200 BCE

The archaeological finds with signs of pre-alphabetic scripts in the Aegean

(Up) The finds with signs of Linear B script reach about 6,000 and constitute the majority of the pre-alphabetic written monuments of the Aegean.

(Middle) About 1,400 are the finds which imprint Linear A and make up a 11% of all pre-alphabetic inscriptions.

(Down) Cretan hieroglyphics occupies 2% of the available finds with only 400 finds.

Illustration: Dimosthenis Vasiloudis

Mesoamerica

The Cascajal Block, a stone slab with 3,000-year-old writing that predates the first Zapotec writing from around 500 BCE, was found in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is an example of the oldest script in the Western Hemisphere.

Stela 12 and 13

from the southern end of Building L, in the Zapotec city of Monte Albán, Outside of Oaxaca, Mexico.

The Maya script is one of numerous pre-Columbian scripts found in Mesoamerica, and it appears to have been the most well-developed and extensively deciphered. The earliest clearly identifiable Maya inscriptions date to the third century BCE, and writing continued to be used until just before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century BCE. A combination of logograms and syllabic symbols, utilized in Maya writing, is somewhat reminiscent of current Japanese writing.

IRON AGE WRITING

The Proto-Canaanite alphabet, which was used into the Iron Age, is all that the Phoenician alphabet is (conventionally taken from a cut-off date of 1050 BCE). The Greek and Aramaic alphabets were derived from this alphabet. They eventually gave rise to the writing systems that are currently used everywhere from Western Asia to Africa and Europe. The Greek alphabet, on the other hand, was the first to use specific symbols to represent vowel sounds.

By Matt Baker

In the first centuries of the Common Era, the Greek and Latin alphabets gave rise to a number of European scripts, including the Runes, Gothic, and Cyrillic alphabets, while the Aramaic alphabet developed into the Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac abjads, the latter of which spread as far as Mongolian script. The Ge'ez abugida originated from the South Arabian alphabet. According to some academics, the Indian Brahmic family also descended from the Aramaic alphabet.

GRAKLIANI HILL WRITING

At Georgia's Grakliani Hill, behind a fallen altar from a temple dedicated to a fertility goddess from the seventh century BCE, an obscure script was uncovered in 2015. Grakliani's other temples' inscriptions, which depict animals, people, or decorative features, are different from these ones. Although its letters are rumored to be connected to ancient Greek and Aramaic, the script has no similarities to any known alphabet. In contrast, the earliest Armenian and Georgian letters come from the fifth century CE, right after the respective nations converted to Christianity. The inscription looks to be the oldest local alphabet ever uncovered in the entire Caucasus region. An portion of the inscription measuring 31 by 3 inches had been unearthed by September 2015.

Grakliani script on the basement of altar of goddess of fertility (XI-X c. BC)

Vakhtang Licheli, director of the State University's Institute of Archaeology, claims that "The writings on the temple's two altars have been kept in remarkably good condition. While the pedestal of the second altar is entirely covered with writings, the first altar has few clay letters carved into it." Unpaid students made the discovery. Inscriptions from Grakliani Hill were sent to Miami Laboratory in 2016 for beta analytic radiocarbon dating, which revealed that they were created between c. 1005 and c. 950 BCE.

WRITING IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

When the Greeks adopted the Phoenician script for use with their own language in the early eighth century BCE, the history of the Greek alphabet officially began. The Greek and Phoenician alphabets share a lot of similarities in terms of their characters, and both alphabets nowadays are written in the same order. The Phoenician system's adapter(s) added three letters to the conclusion of the series, known as the "supplementals." The Greek alphabet evolved into a number of different forms.

Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens

One was utilized in southern Italy and west of Athens and is known as Western Greek or Chalcidian. The other variant, known as Eastern Greek, was spoken by the Athenians and in modern-day Turkey before spreading over the rest of the Greek-speaking world. The Greeks initially elected to write like the Phoenicians, from right to left, but subsequently switched to left to right. The lines would then alternately read from left to right, then from right to left, and so on. On occasion, though, the writer would begin the next line where the preceding one ended. Up until the sixth century, this style of writing, called "boustrophedon," mirrored the course of an ox-drawn plough.

Italic scripts and Latin

Cippus Perusinus

Etruscan writing near Perugia, Italy, the precursor of the Latin alphabet

All of the contemporary European scripts have their roots in Greek. The Latin alphabet, named after the Latins, a central Italian people who came to rule Europe with the emergence of Rome, is the most widely used descendant of the Greek script. Around the fifth century BCE, the Etruscan civilization, which employed a multitude of Italic scripts descended from the western Greeks, taught the Romans how to write. The other Old Italic scripts have not survived in very large quantities due to the cultural hegemony of the Roman state, and the Etruscan language is largely extinct.

WRITING DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

Roman rule in Western Europe fell apart, and the Persian Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire became the main centers of literary development. Latin, which was never a major literary language, lost prominence quickly (except within the Roman Catholic Church). Greek and Persian were the two main literary languages, but Syriac and Coptic were also significant.

Arabic quickly became a significant literary language in the area as a result of the development of Islam in the 7th century. Greek's status as a scholarly language soon lost ground to Arabic and Persian. The Turkish and Persian languages now use Arabic script as their principal writing system. The development of the cursive scripts for Greek, the Slavic languages, Latin, and other languages was also greatly inspired by this script.

The Hindu-Arabic numeral system was also extended throughout Europe thanks to the Arabic language. The modern Spanish city of Cordoba had emerged as one of the world's leading intellectual hubs by the start of the second millennium and was home to the largest library at the time. Its location at the meeting point of the Islamic and Western Christian worlds encouraged intellectual growth and written exchange between the two cultures.

THE MODERN ERA AND THE RENAISSANCE

By the 14th century, Western Europe had experienced a renaissance, which had temporarily increased the significance of Greek while slowly restoring Latin's status as an important literary language. In Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, a comparable but smaller emergence took place. As the Islamic Golden Era came to an end, Arabic and Persian also started to slowly lose ground. In order to codify the phonologies of the various languages, the Latin alphabet underwent several alterations as a result of the rebirth of literary development in Western Europe.

Writing has undergone steady change throughout history, in large part because of the emergence of new technologies. Technology advancements such as the printing press, computer, mobile phone, and pen have all changed how and what is written as well as the medium in which it is generated. Characters can now be generated with a button press rather than a hand motion, especially with the development of digital technology like the computer and the smartphone.

Africa's oldest known dinosaur has been discovered in Zimbabwe

Palaeontologists in Zimbabwe have unearthed remains of a new species of plant-eating dinosaur believed to have roamed across Africa some 230 million years ago. 

Key points:

• The dinosaur species is roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world

• The discovery proves 'early evolution of dinosaurs is still being written with each new find', says a palaeontologist

• The species is a relative of the sauropod, which walked on four legs

An international team of palaeontologists led by Virginia Tech uncovered the fossil of the long-necked sauropodomorph over the course of two digs in 2017 and 2019.

The fossil, which was near-complete barring some of the hand and portions of the skull, is the oldest-known definitive dinosaur found in Africa to date. 

Scientists said they estimated the Mbiresaurus raathi to have been 6 feet (183 centimetres) long and weighed anywhere from nine to 29 kilograms. They believe it stood on two legs and its head was relatively small like its herbivore relatives. 

Christopher Griffin in 2017, excavating part of the Mbiresaurus raathi skeleton, wrapped in a plaster field jacket.   (Supplied: Stephen Tolan via Paleobiology & Geobiology Research Group, Virginia Tech)

Christopher Griffin, who holds a PhD in geosciences from the Virginia Tech College of Science, believes the Mbiresaurus raathi was roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world.

"The oldest known dinosaurs — from roughly 230 million years ago, the Carnian Stage of the Late Triassic period — are extremely rare and have been recovered from only a few places worldwide," he said in a study released by Virginia Tech.

Dr Griffin also said the exhibition was a major win. 

"The discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi fills in a critical geographic gap in the fossil record of the oldest dinosaurs and shows the power of hypothesis-driven fieldwork for testing predictions about the ancient past."  

Sterling Nesbitt, associate professor of geosciences, was also involved in the exhibition. 

Sterling Nesbitt and Christopher Griffin excavate a skeleton of a herrerasaurid dinosaur in 2019.   (Murphy Allen via Virginia Tech)

"Early dinosaurs like Mbiresaurus raathi show that the early evolution of dinosaurs is still being written with each new find and the rise of dinosaurs was far more complicated than previously predicted," he said.

Dr Griffin said that during the exhibition he immediately recognised the femur as belonging to a dinosaur. 

"I knew I was holding the oldest dinosaur ever found in Africa," he said.

"When I kept digging and found the left hip bone right next to the left thigh bone, I had to stop and take a breath — I knew that a lot of the skeleton was probably there, still articulated together in life position."