All articles tagged with #pleistocene
Fossilized human footprints dating back 115,000 years were discovered in Saudi Arabia's Nefud Desert, providing the earliest direct evidence of Homo sapiens in the region, likely made during a brief period when the area supported a freshwater lake and diverse wildlife, indicating early human movement and behavior in a now-arid landscape.
New discoveries along Portugal's Algarve coast have revealed the first fossilized Neanderthal footprints in the region, dating back around 78,000 to 82,000 years. These footprints provide direct evidence of Neanderthal behavior, movement, and social structure, indicating they explored coastal environments and had a diverse diet including deer, horses, and marine resources. This challenges previous ideas about Neanderthal ecology and highlights their adaptability to coastal habitats.
A groundbreaking discovery in South Africa includes the first fossilized hyrax butt-drag trace and associated deposits like coprolites and hyraceum, providing new insights into ancient hyrax behavior and environment during the Pleistocene epoch.
A mitochondrial DNA study reveals at least two waves of migration from Asia to the Americas, with early migrations occurring during the last Ice Age via the Pacific coast rather than the Bering Land Bridge, and genetic links also connecting Native Americans, China, and Japan, including contributions to the Japanese Ainu gene pool.
A study found evidence of lead exposure in the teeth of hominins dating back nearly 2 million years, suggesting that lead poisoning is an ancient issue that may have influenced human evolution, with environmental sources like natural minerals and wildfires contributing to exposure.
Scientists have recovered 200,000-year-old DNA from horse remains at the open-air Schöningen site in Germany, challenging previous assumptions that such genetic material could only survive in cold or sheltered environments. The DNA belongs to an extinct horse species, Equus mosbachensis, and provides new insights into ancient horse lineages and early human hunting practices. This discovery suggests that ancient DNA can be preserved in less protected environments, opening new avenues for archaeological genetic research.
Researchers have discovered the first fossilized hyrax butt-drag impression, dating back around 126,000 years, along with other traces like tracks and deposits of fossilized dung and urine, providing new insights into ancient animal behavior and environments during the Pleistocene epoch.
A new study analyzing mitochondrial DNA from mammoth fossils in Mexico reveals a distinct and divergent lineage of Columbian mammoths, suggesting complex evolutionary history and coexistence of different lineages during the Late Pleistocene, highlighting the importance of broader geographic genomic data in understanding extinct species.
Scientists discovered a 12,000-year-old human skeleton in Vietnam with a quartz projectile injury, possibly indicating early conflict among hunter-gatherers, and the find includes the oldest mitochondrial DNA from the region, offering rare insights into early human life and violence.
Fossilized teeth from the Hualongdong site in China reveal a complex mix of primitive and modern human traits over 300,000 years ago, challenging traditional views of linear human evolution in Asia and suggesting a diverse and intricate evolutionary history.
Archaeological findings from a cave on South Africa’s coast reveal insights into human life during the last Ice Age, including tool use, migration, and social connections, highlighting the complexity and adaptability of early humans in a changing environment.
Scientists highlight how humans during the Pleistocene era were more resilient and formidable than today, surviving alongside giant predators and megafauna in Yellowstone, and discuss the implications of de-extinction efforts like resurrecting dire wolves and mammoths. They emphasize the loss of ancient survival knowledge and the importance of conserving Yellowstone's unique ecosystem.
Scientists have identified the world's largest-ever cheetah species, Acinonyx pleistocaenicus, which roamed Eurasia from 1.3 million to 500,000 years ago. Weighing up to 420 pounds, it was as large as modern tigers and lions. The discovery was based on fossil analysis from China, revealing significant similarities to modern cheetahs. The species likely went extinct due to climate changes during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.
Researchers in South Africa have discovered a rock that may be the world's oldest example of humans creating an image of a creature other than themselves, dating back to around 130,000 years ago during the Middle Stone Age. The rock, resembling a stingray, was found on the Cape south coast and exhibits near-perfect symmetry, leading researchers to believe it may have been a sand sculpture or "sand castle" created by ancient hominins. This finding suggests that tracing in sand could have been a possible "stepping stone" in the development of representational paleoart, shedding light on the emergence of ancient art and potentially explaining the sudden appearance of magnificent art in European caves.
Fossil remains of a giant turtle, identified as Peltocephalus maturin, have been discovered in Brazil by Tübingen University researchers, shedding light on one of the world's largest freshwater turtles that existed during the late Pleistocene, around 40,000 to 9,000 years ago.