Paleontology

Testosterone in tusks: Hormones in mammoth fossils excite paleontologists​

Musth, a time of heightened testosterone levels and aggression in male elephants related to reproduction, has now been identified in woolly mammoth tusks. Remarkably, this is the first time hormones have been seen in the extant or the extinct. And it opens up an exciting new field of paleontology that the team behind the discovery calls ‘palaeoendocrinology’—the study of hormones in ancient species.

A paper published on Wednesday in Nature describes that work, in which an international team of scientists studied African elephant and woolly mammoth tusks. Elephants and woolly mammoths are distantly related, and both belong to a group of animals known as proboscideans.
 

New dinosaur species discovered​

A CGI rendering of a dinosaur next to a body of water.


The fossilised remains of a previously unknown type of dinosaur have been found on the Isle of Wight.
It is the first new species of armoured dinosaur to be found on the island since 1865 and belongs to the same family - the ankylosaurs.
Though fearsome in appearance with its blade-like armour, the giant reptile - which has been named Vectipelta barretti - only ate plants.
It was discovered in rocks dating back between 66 and 145 million years.
 
Again, not Palaeontology but ancient archaeology. Pretty cool discovery nonetheless.

Huge ancient city found in the Amazon​

Scientists found evidence of 6,000 mounds thought to be the basis for ancient homes



A huge ancient city has been found in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation.
The discovery changes what we know about the history of people living in the Amazon.
The houses and plazas in the Upano area in eastern Ecuador were connected by an astounding network of roads and canals.
The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that created rich local soils but also may have led to the destruction of the society.
While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon.
"This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilisation, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilisation," says Prof Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research.
 
Speelgoedmannetje said:
No we don't.
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That kind of new agey balls that has infested the humanities in general annoys me but in a sense we DO have a European attitude towards civilizations - we care. We actually are curious and want to understand old civilizations and preserve the knowledge of them. In that sense we are very strange people. Most people of the world are incurious and utilitarian. Many other peoples and cultures just tear down ancient temples to reuse the site for modern construction or quarry the materials. Grave goods are for robbing, resale and melting down rather than for trying to understand the minds and lives of long dead people and for display as a public benefit rather than a private store of wealth. Mummies used to be sold in Arabian markets for making potions and the Dead Sea scrolls were being sold as fuel.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
That kind of new agey balls that has infested the humanities in general annoys me but in a sense we DO have a European attitude towards civilizations - we care. We actually are curious and want to understand old civilizations and preserve the knowledge of them. In that sense we are very strange people. Most people of the world are incurious and utilitarian. Many other peoples and cultures just tear down ancient temples to reuse the site for modern construction or quarry the materials. Grave goods are for robbing, resale and melting down rather than for trying to understand the minds and lives of long dead people and for display as a public benefit rather than a private store of wealth. Mummies used to be sold in Arabian markets for making potions and the Dead Sea scrolls were being sold as fuel.
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Oh we sure do have an European attitude, but not an Eurocentric view. Maybe decades ago regarding the Greek civilization, but other than that old civilizations were generally not regarded as a European thing. The millennia old megalithic structures in Europe indicate of some sort of organization and technical knowhow but it's essentially regarded as lost to time.
 
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