New facts and archaeological discoveries about the interaction of ancient people and animals
The cave lion may have been a symbolic animal for ancient people in Baikal-Yenisei Siberia. Fossilized bones of an extinct armored mammal give us the latest clue about when humans arrived in South America. The ancient Egyptians regularly mummified crocodiles in elaborate ceremonies to honor their crocodile god Sobek. Unusual wooden figurines depicting animals.
90 million years ago, Antarctica was a thriving tropical forest
Fossil evidence of an ancient rainforest has recently been discovered in West Antarctica. A thriving temperate rainforest grew in West Antarctica about 90 million years ago, according to a new study, based on newly discovered fossil roots, pollen and spores.
Matching dinosaur footprints found in Africa and South America
Tens of millions of years ago, South America and Africa were part of the same landmass, an ancient supercontinent called Gondwana. At some point, the two continents began to drift apart until only a thin strip of land remained above, holding them together. A team of scientists in a new study argues that matching dinosaur tracks found in what are now Brazil and Cameroon were left along this narrow passage 120 million years ago, before the continents split apart.
New archaeological discoveries have shown that humans are capable of surviving in the most extreme conditions
The fossilized bones of a giant, extinct armored mammal provide the latest clue about when humans arrived in South America. At the time, in the late Pleistocene, numerous large animals inhabited the harsh, cold landscape, including giant sloths, mastodons, and saber-toothed cats. Humans were well-adapted to drought and resource scarcity, able to move along dry riverbeds in search of pools and the prey that grazed around them. The authors call this a “blue highway” that operated during the harshest periods.