Funny Friday

100 Million Years Old Crocodile Skull Unearthed

 Crocodile Skull Unearthed

Source: Commons

This is old news, but nonetheless fascinating!

ScienceDaily (2009-07-16) -- Paleontologists have made the most important discovery to date at the Arlington Archosaur Site, a prolific fossil site in Texas. The disassembled skull of a crocodile with two-and-a-half-inch-long teeth that lived nearly 100 million years ago has been unearthed. (Source)

A story so close to my heart!

More here: Skull Of Crocodile 100 Million Years Old Unearthed

Way back Wednesday

Today i will be looking at Tear Catchers

Taken by me

Free Blown

18th Century A.D - Shiraz

I found these fascinating when i first saw them in a museum in Iran. I did a bit more research and this is what I found:

Tear Catchers/Bottles have been around for a long time. They have been found in Rome and Egypt and it is suggested they had their origins there.

Tear Catchers were used by mourners to collect their tears in these vessels. They could also be used for other rites of passages.

I think these are really beautiful!

Source: http://www.tearbottle.com/

Hope you enjoyed my Way back Wednesday!

Ancient Plant "painting" discovered / Dinosaur head reconstructed

Ancient Plant "painting" discovered

A plant fossil that looks strangely like one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings has been found. Have a look at it HERE.

The plant is believed to be the ancestor of daisies and sunflowers and dates back to around 50 millions years. It was found in north-west Patagonia.

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100923/tsc-fossil-of-ancient-plant-discovered-4b158bc.html

Dinosaur head reconstructed

 

Ichthyosaur

English: Photographer: User:Ballista from Dinosaurland, Lyme Regis, England 

A old skull belonging to a Ichthyosaur has been pieced together by Mike Harrison, 47. It took him 2 years.  

You can view the Picture HERE. It looks creepily like a crocodile. 

The reason it took 2 years is that Mike found 21 shards of bone after a landslide and it took him 6 months to get all the pieces.

The find has been registered with the Charmouth Heritage Centre and will then be sent to a museum.

Palaeontologist Phil Davidson said: ''It's fairly common to find small isolated bones on the beach, but to find such an enormous skull is very rare.

''The time and effort Mike put into finding it, going back again and back again after the landslide is incredible.''

Ichthyosaurs could breath air like whales and had speed (estimated 40km per hour). They appeared around 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/dinosaurs/8022622/Dinosaur-head-rebuilt-after-fossil-jigsaw-puzzle.html

2 new dinosaur species discovered!

I'm a little late with this news, but here it is:

2 New horned Dinosaurs!

Image just for illustration purposes.

In Utah scientists have discovered two new dinosaur species. They are said to be closely related to the Triceratops.

One of the dinosaurs has 15 horns on its head and would have eaten plants, it was named Kosmoceratops richardsoni. The other one only has 5 horns. It is however larger than the first and was named Utahceratops gettyi 

"The horns really are probably developed at puberty, because most likely these are signals for mate recognition, competition between males, things like that," Loewen said. "They're sexual signals and really that's how we think this group of dinosaurs divided." (Source) 

The Skulls will be on display at the Utah Museum of Natural History for the rest of the year. (Source)

For more info:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100923/ap_on_sc/us_dinosaur_discovery

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100923/sc_afp/sciencepaleontologydinosaurus_20100923154425

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-22/dinosaurs-with-15-horns-7-foot-heads-are-discovered-in-utah.html

Funny Friday

Theater Box found / Fossil bed found in California

Theater box found at Herod's palace

A private box that is located in a 400-seat theater located at King Herod's winter palace in the Judean desert has been found.The room is very extravagant and elaborate paintings and plaster are on the walls.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2010/09/21/archaeologists_find_theater_box_at_herods_palace/

Fossil bed found in California

Source: Richard Wheeler (not anything to do with the discovery in California)

In California, on a substation building site, 1500 bone fragments (1.4 millions years old) have been found. Included in this find is sabre-toothed tiger remains and tons of other animal remains. Also tons of plant matter.

In fact, the number of skeletons found at the site could indicate that a marsh or a lake bed could have existed, trapping animals looking for water, leaving them vulnerable to predators. A paleontologist said that the find wasn't directly comparable to Le Brea, as it consisted of different species from another era. However, he did say it would definitely be valuable. (Source)

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news2/fullnews-46559.html

Way back Wednesday

Today i'll be talking about... Salt Man

Salt Man was discovered in the Chehrabad salt mines (Iran) in 1993. They found a body with long hair and a beard (see below).

 

Taken by me 

They also found a foreleg inside a leather boot (see below).

Taken by me

Tons of artifacts were also found, including iron knives, a silver needle a grindstone and some pottery etc. He has been dated to around 1700 years ago and has a B+ blood group. It has also been determined that he had rank or influence. Nobody knows what happened to him, but its thought that a hard blow was delivered to his head.

He is now in The National Museum of Iran in Tehran.

Hope you enjoyed my Way back Wednesday!

Synagogue found, Bird Fossil found and a CT scan for a snake!

I have a lot of news for today so i decided to make a group post :) Some of you might already know about these.

Ancient Synagogue Found In Israel

Please note purly for illistraion purposes. Not a drawing of the one found. This is a Synagogue in Berlin.

A 1500 year old synagogue has been found by Israeli archaeologists close to Beit Shean (Jordan Valley). The synagogue was 5m x 8m, with mosaic decorated floors and in the center a Greek inscription reads: “This is the temple.”

They also found a Samaritan community next to the synagogue.

“The synagogue that is currently being revealed played an important part in the lives of the farmers who inhabited the surrounding region, and it served as a center of the spiritual, religious and social life there,” the archaeologists said in a statement. (Source)

Source: http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/ancient-samaritan-synagogue-unearthed-in-israel.html

Fossil Sets Wingspan Record

Source: Ryan Somma

An ancient seabird skeleton from northern Chile has been found. It shows that 5-10 million years ago giant birds were flying around. 

This specimen wing span would have been at least 5.2m and this skeleton is part of a group known as pelagornithids (Pelagornis chilensis). These birds had a lot of spiny, bony teeth.

“Bird watching in Chile would be thrilling if birds with more than five meter wingspans and huge pseudoteeth were still alive,” said Dr. Gerald Mayr of the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg in Germany (Source)

“Although these animals would have looked like creatures from Jurassic Park, they are true birds, and their last representatives may have coexisted with the earliest humans in North Africa,” said Mayr. (Source)

“This specimen greatly improves our knowledge of the appearance of one of the most spectacular and fascinating animals that crossed the skies,” said Dr. David Rubilar of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Chile. (Source)

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100918210719.htm

Ancient Snake gets a CT Scan

A snake named Clarisse that was found in the Fossil Butte region of Wyoming is perfectly fossilized in limestone. She is the only one that we know of and the best preserved Caenozoic snake known in a U.S. scientific collection.

"Most fossilized remains of snakes are individual pieces of bone," said Palentologist Hussan Zaher. "This is unique because it's a complete snake, which gives us an opportunity to study her makeup and hopefully learn more about her." (Source)

A CT Scan was then performed and a preliminary look shows no traces of limbs. This means that:

"That places it higher up the evolutionary scale, but the snake is still very old," Mager said. (Source)

Source:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100918212925.htm

Musing Mondays

Should commercial archaeologists have a role in exploring our marine heritage?

Long story short, this is an argument whether or not Archaeologist should get involved in Marine Heritage in England. Some argue yes and some no.

It has been argued that underwater sites/shipwrecks should be handled the same as land sites. And i agree. These sites should be protected and preserved.

But one should note that:

Much of the archaeological work in the UK is conducted by commercial archaeologists. This work is often funded by a developer, whose project is impacting on the archaeological resource, under the “polluter pays” principal of environmental policy. There is, however, another group who describe themselves as commercial archaeologists, who are more controversial. (Source)

This is the section of the commercial salvage community whose interest is in the commercial exploitation of historic shipwrecks. Their work involves the salvage of maritime archaeological sites with the aim of profiting from the sale of material recovered, although it is often justified as “saving” the material from imminent destruction or for “archaeological investigation”. (Source)

Archaeology is an applied science, and like any other scientific process conducts work in an objective way to recognised standards, documenting, archiving and sharing the data so that it is available for peer review and use by other researchers, now or in the future. Archaeological sites are a finite and non-renewable resource, and there is a fundamental expectation to preserve them for the benefit of the community as both a physical resource to be enjoyed and a means of learning more about the past. (Source)

The commercial sale of archaeological material is fundamentally incompatible with these aims. Rather than preserving the resource for the community, commercial salvage removes the resource from that community and places it in private hands, thus preventing public enjoyment of archaeological sites and further research into and understanding of the past. (Source)

So i agree that maybe its best if these commercial Archeologist stay away.  

What do you think?

Source of question and quote:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article7075435.ece

Quote of the Day

"For me, archaeology is not a just a job. It combines everything that I could want - imagination, intellect, action, and adventure."

— Zahi Hawass

Funny Friday

Tomb of Karakhamun found!

Karakhamun's (a priest) tomb has been found in Qurnet Murai, south Assasif, and dates to the 25th century.

For more info have a look at Dr Hawass Blog.

Way back Wednesday

Today i will look at my trip to Persepolis!

I took millions of photos but will show a few :)

First off what is Persepolis?

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire and is situated in Modern day Iran. It is believed that Cyrus the Great chose the site of Persepolis, but that Darius the Great built the terrace and the great palaces. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.

On our way

Me at The Gate of Xerxes or "The Gate of The Nations"

All visitors had to pass through this gate, because its the only entrance if you wanted to get to the terrace. The building had a room that's roof was supported by four stone columns.
 

 The Palace of Darius taken by me

The Throne Hall taken by me

This hall was started by Xerxes and completed by his son Artaxerxes I by the end of the fifth century BC.

 A double-headed lion and me :)

 The Harem

Me at Apadana (yip that little bit at the bottom is me)

The Apadana was begun by Darius and finished by Xerxes and was used mainly for the reception of important people. Thirteen of its seventy-two columns still stand.
  

Thats all i have for you today!

Hope you enjoyed the show :)

Humpback Dinosaur found!

A Humpback Dinosaur has been found in Spain. The fossil is nearly complete and has a noticeable hump! It has been named: Concavenator corcovatu.

It is theorized that the creature could have communicated with others by using his hump, but it could also have been used to regulate temperature etc.

The Dinosaur stands at 6 meters and on two feet and it is the only fossil found of its type!

Also on the forearms of this Dinosaur they found evidence that it might have had feathers! It is only speculation at the moment though. We will have to wait and see.

Great Picture of the fossil:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/science/14obdino.html

More articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/08/concavenator-corcovatus-humpback-dinosaur
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/worlds-first-humpback-dinosaur-discovered_100425537.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/scientists-find-humpback-dinosaur-20100909-151l4.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100908-hunchback-dinosaur-science-nature-concavenator-corcovatus/
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Monday Musing: Do Egyptian mummies have a right to privacy?

The Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727774.600-do-egyptian-mummies-have-a-right-to-privacy.html?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg20727774.600

The bottom line of it:

Basically the article asks the question, should we be doing research on mummies? They are human beings after all and deserve privacy. Not only that we learn details of their life they might have wanted to keep secret. Are we violating human rights?

What i think:

I think this is an extremely interesting question.

Mummies are human beings and yes I'm sure some would be horrified that they would be dug up thousands of years later and be subjected to experiments.

But do they still get a say? Is science more important? Is the need for knowledge more important? On all 3 i say yes.

So where from now on?
Well i don't think the need for knowledge will ever stop.
Its not just experiments and cutting. Its also preserving of these great mummies.

Would i have agreed if i was a mummy. Yes

Another interesting opinion a friend discussed with me, is that we have no problem digging up animals. What about them? And its like today's celebs. They get scrutinized and don't have privacy. Its the same with ancient mummies, they are the celebs of history. I say stop stalking celebs (actually living people with rights) and we can talk about mummies.

Basically go ahead. Not needless experiments, but do experiments that will improve humanity by gaining knowledge. Treat mummies with respect and don't just let anyone touch them. Integrity and a sound research project is needed.

Enough rambling from me. What do you think?

The Excavation - Magoro Hill

Presenting the Magoro Hill Excavation Pictures and a bit of info!

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Picture: Courtesy of Unisa 

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Yes i had to climb it!! :(
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About Magoro Hill:
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Magoro Hill is a mid-nineteenth century stonewalled settlement associated with Venda speakers. There was a siege on the Hill in the 1800's that started on the 8th of August. We were lucky enough to excavate on that same day! We found tons of beads, pottery and bone!
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I won't go to much in detail about what we found, and i won't show pictures of finds or sites too closely as i don't want to reveal anything that the Unisa Archeologist want to publish.
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I will however show some pictures of the surrounding areas / dig / good times!
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Sit back and enjoy the show :)
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The view from our team's site!

Trying to find a bit of shade at lunch time!

Presenting The Indiana Jones Hat

Playing Soccer with the locals :)

The Locals showing us how they make bricks!
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At a Local Village

Awesome Tree in a Village

Our Team leader posing at our excavation
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Picture: Courtesy of Unisa

Me Left waiting for team member (in red) to finish Augering, so i can remove the soil

Picture: Courtesy of Unisa

Me and my Team members - I'm in a White and black shirt :)

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And that is all i have for now :)

Hope you guys enjoyed this pics