Three burial chambers estimated to be from the late Hellenistic period were accidentally discovered on Tuesday afternoon in a plot in Ayios Silas in Limassol. Workers came across significant archaeological finds when digging for a landscaping assignment [Credit: Cyprus Mail]The tomb came to light when during landscaping works, an excavator hit the roof of a cave which collapsed and revealed skeletal...
A new study uses carbon isotope dating to determine the first precise age for this bed, and ties the western coast of Africa to 30 million years of global geologic records Chemostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy of Bentiaba section [Credit: Strganac]Paleontologists at Southern Methodist University have measured the carbon isotopes in marine fossils to precisely date for the first time 30 million...
Giving a boost to the demands of local people for conservation of Nedumala Cave, Pilarimattom, relics from the megalithic culture were found in the cave by a team of Archaeological experts. Nedumala cave entrance [Credit: Jayakumar13s/WikiCommons]V. Sanal Kumar, archaeological researcher who led the team, said several microliths, small stone tool used in Megalithic culture and other relics, ...
A shipwreck off northern Haiti may be the remains of Christopher Columbus' flagship vessel the Santa Maria, an explorer said Tuesday, though experts expressed caution about a discovery that was far from confirmed. A diver measures a lombard cannon adjacent to a ballast pile, off the North coast of Haiti, at a site explorer Barry Clifford says could be the wreckage of Cristpher Colombus' ...
Several tombs dating from the third to sixth centuries AD were discovered in Constanta, the oldest still-populated city in Romania. The discovery was accidental, made by crews working on the foundation of a house on Grivita Street, not far from the main Post Station. The National Museum of History and Archaeology was promptly informed, and the site was closed for further archaeological investigation....
Rare archaeological findings dating back 10,000 years were unearthed during work to replace water mains in Surrey. Archaeologists excavating the Roman villa uncovered near the River Mole [Credit: BBC]Work on the 2.2km pipe finished in May 2012 and it has taken two years to identify what was discovered. A Stone Age hunting camp and a Roman villa were among finds made during the work in Cobham...
Archaeologists have unearthed what is thought to be the oldest telescope ever found in the Netherlands during excavations near the railway in Delft. The quality of the lenses is poor, indicating they are from an early telescope [Credit: Museum Boerhaave]The metal tube, which is around 10 cm long, will have pride of place in the city's Prinsenhof museum which is being reopened by king Willem-Alexander...
Conflicts in the Middle East have made archaeological work increasingly difficult, but the work must go on, scholars said at a recent conference organized with the help of the Oriental Institute. Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute (right), is leading an archaeological dig at Tell Zeidan, a prehistoric site in Syria inhabited by a culture that led to the establishment of urban...
Archaeologists have discovered more about the Romans in south Wales as part of a team effort in an abandoned village The Roman underfloor heating system at Whitewall Brake Roman complex was excavated by veterans and students [Credit: Simon James/University of Leicester]A Roman underfloor heating system has been found in an abandoned village during a fourth dig at Whitewell Brake, a Roman building complex...
The head of a female sculpture has been seized in the southern Turkish province of Burdur. The seized head of a female sculpture evidently dates back to the Roman era [Credit: Hurriyet]Following a warning about cultural and natural smuggling, the provincial gendarmerie command stopped a car in the Bucak district’s Beskonak village, discovering a 5-by-5-centimeter head of a female sculpture dating...
The castle that inspired the setting of gothic horror story Dracula is open to bids from buyers - but a new owner would need to stump up an estimated £50million to have any chance of a look-in. Dracula's castle has gone up for sale. The 57-room mansion has been around since the 14th century [Credit: TouchVision]Bran Castle in the mountains of Transylvania is thought to have provided the basis for Count...
Rock art in Western Australia's Pilbara region believed to be up to 60,000 years old has been attacked by vandals. Ancient rock art in Murujuga National Park on the Burrup Peninsula has been defaced by vandals [Credit: ABC]Tourist guide and Ngarluma man Clinton Walker said he had discovered a defaced piece of rock art on the Burrup Peninsula in Murujuga National Park. "Someone has actually etched into...
The discovery of a new sauropod dinosaur species, Leinkupal laticauda, found in Argentina may be the first record of a diplodocid from South America and the youngest record of Diplodocidae in the world, according to results published May 14, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Pablo Gallina and colleagues from the Fundacion Azara (Universidad Maimonides), and Museo E. Bachmann, in Argentina....
Preserved giant sperm from tiny shrimps that lived about 17 million years ago have been discovered in Queensland, Australia. They are the oldest fossilized sperm ever found in the geological record. The shrimps lived in a pool in an ancient cave inhabited by thousands of bats, and the presence of bat droppings in the water could help explain the almost perfect preservation of the fossil crustaceans....
The recently extinct Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) was one of three species of monk seal in the world. Its relationship to the Mediterranean and Hawaiian monk seals, both living but endangered, has never been fully understood. Through DNA analysis and skull comparisons, however, Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have now clarified the Caribbean species' place on the seal family tree...
In many species, the possession of X and Y chromosomes determines whether an individual develops into a male or female. In humans, for example, individuals who inherit their father's Y chromosome become male (XY), and individuals who inherit their father's X chromosome become female (XX). Researchers have been able to study the early stages of Y chromosome degeneration, by investigating the process...
According to a study published on Marine Pollution Bulletin plastic ingestions affects around 94% of Cory's shearwaters on the Catalan coast. Jacob Gonzalez Solis, from the Department of Animal Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona (UB), heads the research group that carried out the study. In the case of Yelkouan shearwaters and Balearic shearwaters,...
Carbon-rich planets may be more common than previously thought, according to new research by Yale University astronomers. Diamond planets may be more common than astronomers thought [Credit: Haven Giguere]Some of these planets, all located far beyond Earth’s solar system, could contain vast deposits of graphite or diamonds, and their apparent abundance prompts new questions about the implications of...
Astrophysicists at UC San Diego have measured the minute gravitational distortions in polarized radiation from the early universe and discovered that these ancient microwaves can provide an important cosmological test of Einstein's theory of general relativity. These measurements have the potential to narrow down the estimates for the mass of ghostly subatomic particles known as neutrinos. The UC San...
A gas giant has been added to the short list of exoplanets discovered through direct imaging. It is located around GU Psc, a star three times less massive than the Sun and located in the constellation Pisces. The international research team, led by Marie-Eve Naud, a PhD student in the Department of Physics at the Universite de Montreal, was able to find this planet by combining observations from the...