In early 2024, the oldest fossil forest ever discovered, dating back 390 million years, was discovered in southwest England
Exceptionally preserved plant fossils of 350 million-year-old strange bushy trees have been discovered in southeastern Canada. In the UK, researchers have discovered a fossil forest of small, palm-like trees and arthropod tracks dating back to the Middle Devonian. Petrified trees discovered by chance in southwest England belong to the oldest known forest on Earth, a new study has found. The 390-million-year-old fossils displace the 386-million-year-old Gilboa Fossil Forest in New York state as the oldest known forest in the world.
Six Mass Extinctions in Earth’s History. Are We on the Brink of a Seventh?
Scientists define a mass extinction as the extinction of about three-quarters of all species over a short geological period of time, which is less than 2.8 million years, according to The Conversation. Right now, humans are at the beginning of the last mass extinction, which is moving much faster than any other. Since 1970, vertebrate species populations have declined by an average of 68%, and more than 35,000 species are currently considered threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). During the 20th century alone, about 543 species of land vertebrates became extinct, according to a research paper in the journal PNAS.
Causes of the Permian-Triassic Extinction: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Overload VS Deadly Pulse of Ultraviolet Radiation
At the end of the Permian period 252 million years ago, Earth was devastated by a mass extinction that wiped out more than 90% of the planet’s species. Compared to other mass extinctions, the recovery from the Great Dying was slow: it took at least 10 million years for the planet to be repopulated and begin to restore its diversity. The largest mass extinction in Earth’s history may have been triggered by a strong El Niño cycle. A deadly pulse of ultraviolet (UV) radiation may also have played a role in Earth’s largest mass extinction, fossilized pollen grains suggest.
Hit parade of “living fossils”: these 14 species have not changed in millions or even hundreds of millions of years
A living fossil is a species that has not changed significantly over millions of years and closely resembles its ancestors found in the fossil record. Charles Darwin coined the term “living fossil” in 1859 to describe living species that still looked like their ancestors millions of years ago and were often the last surviving lineage. Anatomically, these species tend to appear unchanged, although genetically, the species are constantly evolving. Plate tectonic activity has had a profound effect on the rate of evolution of coelacanths throughout their 400-million-year history.
Archaeologists in Norway have discovered an ancient cemetery where mostly children were buried
Archaeologists in Norway have discovered a cemetery dating from 800 to 200 BCE, where mostly children were buried. Because the remains of nearly 40 children, all under the age of 6, were found there, experts are unsure what prompted the discovery of these remains in Norway. Each grave was marked by carefully placed, symmetrical stone circles. The group of 41 stone circles near Fredrikstad in southeastern Norway puzzled the team of archaeologists when they first discovered them. What they found beneath the circles did not help solve any of the mysteries.
Archaeologists have discovered a 4,000- to 5,000-year-old ceremonial temple in a sand dune in Peru
Archaeologists recently discovered the lost ruins of a ceremonial temple buried in sand and estimated to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old in northwestern Peru. The team first discovered the walls, then uncovered a series of features that suggested the structure had once been a temple. Then came the skeletal remains of three adults, hidden between the walls.
Path of the Dead and Child Burial – Neolithic News
LiDAR technology in Ireland reveals hidden structures that could guide spirits into the afterlife. A child’s burial site from the 4th millennium BC was found in Armenia.
DNA analysis reveals features of people’s lives in other eras
DNA has revealed incest, smallpox and violent deaths among Christians living in caves in medieval Spain. And a Stone Age burial site in France, used for 800 years, is made up almost entirely of men; ancient DNA shows they are heavily related.
Archaeologists continue to dig up medieval burial sites in Eurasia
The first medieval necropolis has been discovered in Veliky Novgorod. A 1,700-year-old “barbarian” burial site has been discovered on the border of the Roman Empire in Germany. Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered 10 kurgans, or burial mounds, dating back to the Middle Ages, and some of them have “whiskers.”