Tag Archives: Enormous

Enormous Bronze Age City Unearthed in the Kazakh Steppe

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Aerial image of Seminyarka ruins

Peter J. Brown

A remarkable 140-hectare site, tracing back 3,600 years, has been uncovered in the plains of northeastern Kazakhstan, significantly altering our perception of prehistoric life in Eurasia. This discovery indicates that the Central Asian steppes were once inhabited by Bronze Age societies equal in complexity and connectivity to more prominent ancient civilizations.

“It’s not just a missing piece; it’s like losing half the puzzle,” states Barry Molloy, who obtained his PhD from the University of Dublin, though he was not part of this study.

The Bronze Age was notable for the rise of various prominent cultures, such as the Shang and Zhou dynasties in China, Babylonians and Sumerians in what is now Iraq, and multiple Mediterranean cultures including Egyptians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Hittites.

For a long time, the vast steppes of Central Asia were believed to be home to mobile groups residing in yurts or tents. However, Seminyarka, or “City of the Seven Valleys,” appears distinctly different and may have served a crucial role in the distribution of bronze tools among civilizations.

Initially identified in the early 2000s, the site overlooks the Irtysh River, which begins in China’s Altai Mountains, traverses the plains of Kazakhstan, and continues through Siberia to the North Pole.

Mirjana Radivojevic and colleagues from University College London have been documenting the site since 2016. Their findings reveal that Seminyarka included extensive earthworks, likely for defense, as well as at least 20 enclosed dwelling structures, likely mud-brick, and a central monumental building believed to have been used for rituals and governance. The pottery discovered dates the site to around 1600 BC.

Notably, evidence of crucibles, slag, and bronze items suggests that significant areas were dedicated to the production of copper and tin-bronze, an alloy primarily composed of copper with over 2% tin.

Radivojevic noted that the slag’s composition matches tin deposits from the Altai Mountains, about 300 kilometers away.

She mentions that the tin could have been transported by individuals traversing the steppes or via boats on the Irtysh River, or extracted directly from the water. “The Irtysh River was a vital source of tin during the Eurasian Bronze Age, with seasonal flooding aiding in the extraction process,” she explained.

The organized layout of Semyalka contrasts sharply with the dispersed camps and small villages typically associated with nomadic communities in the steppes.

Without thorough excavation efforts, team members indicate they are unsure whether the buildings were constructed simultaneously or over a prolonged period. Dan Lawrence from Durham University states, “However, the design is unmistakably clear. Ordinarily, this suggests contemporary construction, as sequential builds would unlikely align so neatly.”

Given its strategic location along a river near significant copper and tin resources, researchers propose that Seminyarka was not just a hub for bronze production but also an epicenter of trade and regional influence, serving as a crucial linkage in a vast Bronze Age metal network connecting Central Asia with the broader continent.

“The Irtysh River was a heavily trafficked route,” Lawrence remarked. “It’s essentially laying the groundwork for what would become the Silk Road, representing an early form of globalization.”

Radivojevic emphasized that this site reshapes our understanding of Bronze Age societies in the steppe, demonstrating their sophistication comparable to contemporary cultures.

“This indicates they were organized and capable of mobilizing resources and defending their interests,” said Molloy. “The presence of concentrated materials like ores and metals signifies a level of social organization extending beyond local dynamics, fitting into intricate networks that spanned Eurasia, where metals served as critical connections within those networks.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Sword Dragon: The Ichthyosaur with Enormous Eyes and a Lethal Snout

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Reconstruction of Siphodracon it might have looked like

Bob Nicholls

Presenting the “sword dragon,” a recently identified species of ichthyosaur, a predatory ancient reptile that ruled the oceans during the reign of the dinosaurs on land.

This exquisitely preserved fossil skeleton was unearthed in 2001 near Golden Cap on England’s Jurassic Coast and remained in museum storage for many years. Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.

Dean Lomax of the University of Manchester, UK, stated: “They recognized it was something notable.” “They intended to study it, but ultimately did not.”

Lomax and his team have carefully examined and classified a specimen with large eye sockets and a sword-like elongated snout. The fossil contains “needle-like teeth,” adapted for consuming soft-bodied prey such as squid and fish. “This provides great insight into the lifestyle of this creature while it was alive. Essentially, it likely hunted in dim environments and depended on exceptional vision,” Lomax explained.

The creature measured approximately 3 meters in length, roughly the size of a bottlenose dolphin, and is believed to have existed during the Early Jurassic period, specifically the Pliensbachian epoch, around 193 to 184 million years ago.

Its anatomical features are unprecedented among ichthyosaurs, including a distinctive lacrimal bone with an unusual structure surrounding its nostrils. “The preservation quality, especially of delicate elements like cranial sutures and the lacrimal and prefrontal processes, is remarkable,” remarked Aubrey Roberts from the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway.

The black mass found between the ribs may represent its final meal, although the researchers were unable to identify it.

Fossilized Xiphodracon Golden Capensis

Dr. Dean Lomax

This ichthyosaur has been named for its menacing snout: Siphodracon Golden Capensis, known as the golden-capped sword dragon.

This specimen also provides valuable insight into the evolution of ichthyosaurs. “The greatest significance of this discovery lies in its age,” remarked Roberts. During the latter part of the Triassic, massive superpredator ichthyosaurs such as Ichthyotitan, reaching lengths of nearly 25 meters, existed alongside species as large as blue whales, but these titans vanished following a mass extinction event at the end of the Triassic, approximately 201.4 million years ago, marking the onset of the Jurassic period.

Fossils of various smaller ichthyosaurs have been discovered that date back to the Jurassic period, as Lomax pointed out. Many have been identified since the Pliensbachian period, but no common species exist, and there are two distinct types.

“Triassic ichthyosaurs were well-known for their uniqueness,” explains Neil Kelley of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. “Their Jurassic successors are often perceived as somewhat more uniform, sharing a superficially dolphin-like appearance.”

“Siphodracon contributes another shade to the broad spectrum of ichthyosaurs,” he added, supporting evidence that Jurassic ichthyosaurs adopted a range of lifestyles, featuring diverse diets, swimming speeds, and habitat preferences.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Unveiling the Reality of Borneo’s “Vampire Squirrel” and Its Enormous Tail

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Ever find yourself gazing at adorable things until they start to seem a bit creepy? Think of garden gnomes, baby dolls, kids dressed as princesses, and all cats. Well, there’s one more addition to this peculiar list.

The tufted ground squirrel (Rheithrosciurus macrotis) may appear cute with its bright eyes and bushy tail, but the Dayak hunters of Borneo view it as a cold-blooded killer.

This ruthless rodent, nicknamed “Vampire Alice,” is infamous for allegedly flipping deer onto their backs, using its razor-sharp teeth to sever their jugular veins, causing the animals to bleed out.

Those who discovered the remains of a deer in the woods suspect that the squirrel returns to the scene to feast on the deer’s heart, liver, and stomach.

In villages bordering the forest, tufted ground squirrels are also known to prey on domestic chickens and consume their hearts and livers.

The squirrel gained notoriety in 2014 thanks to a paper written by 15-year-old Emily Meyard, titled Academic Paper, which revealed folk tales about animals with a bloodthirsty reputation.

The paper was published in Taprobanica: Journal of Biodiversity in Asia and has since made these once-overlooked creatures go viral. Articles have been written, videos shared, perhaps making Beatrix Potter reconsider her legacy.

In 2015, footage of one caught on camera went viral for the first time, however, it did not catch any herbivores in the act.

Instead, they were seen foraging in Gunungparun National Park in West Kalimantan, where action from the killer critter remained elusive, but new revelations emerged.

The tufted ground squirrel shares its native Borneo habitat with Prevost’s squirrel, a fluffy creature with a black, reddish-brown, and white coat that prefers life among the trees. – Credit: Richard McManus via Getty

In 2020, researchers discovered that the unusual teeth of these squirrels—long incisors with intricate ridges—are adapted for cracking open tough nuts.

Tufted ground squirrels are highly specialized seed predators, with a strong preference for canarium tree nuts.

It turns out the perception of tufted ground squirrels as fearsome creatures is a misconception. They truly have bright eyes and fluffy tails.

In fact, their bushy tails are among the largest proportionally of any mammal, being 30% larger than their bodies.

The reason for this unusual trait remains uncertain. Since they spend most of their time on the forest floor seeking food, it’s not for warmth, as it rarely gets cold in Borneo.

This could be related to attracting mates, deterring predators, or perhaps serving a mysterious form of camouflage. Their tail, which features a charcoal hue with frosty accents, helps them blend into the forest floor.

Regardless, I’ve stopped disparaging tufted ground squirrels and have learned to appreciate them as genuinely fascinating creatures.

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Anomalies in the Universe: Massive spiral galaxies expel enormous pairs of relativistic jets

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2MASX J23453268-0449256 (J2345-0449 for short), a very huge, rapidly spinning, jet lag spiral galaxy with approximately 947 million light years in the Aquarius constellation, a mass of billions of people billions that are billions of times the sun’s, and mounted on a massive radio jet spanning six million light years. This is one of the largest known in any spiral galaxy, and such powerful jets are almost exclusively found in elliptical galaxies rather than spiral, thus covering the conventional wisdom of galaxies’ evolution. It also means that the Milky Way can potentially create similar energetic jets in the future.

This image shows the Spiral Galaxy 2Masx J23453268-0449256 and its huge radio jet. Image credit: Bagchi et al. /Giant Metrure Lave Radio Telescope.

“This discovery is more than just weird. It forces us to rethink the evolution of galaxies and how super-large black holes grow and shape the environment within them,” said Professor Joydeep Baguch of Christ University.

“If spiral galaxies can not only survive, but also thrive under such extreme conditions, what does this mean for the future of our own Milky Way galaxies?”

“Can our Galaxy experience similar high-energy phenomena that have serious consequences for the survival of precious lives within it?”

In a new study, astronomers have unraveled the structure and evolution of the Spiral Galaxy J2345-0449, three times the size of the Milky Way.

Using observations from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Giant Metruh Rave Radio Telescope, Atacama’s Large Millimeter/Sub-Millimeter Array (ALMA), and multi-wavelength analysis, we detected the giant ultrafine black holes of its mind and radio jets in the largest radio jets by creating rare galaxies.

Traditionally, scientists believed that such huge, superimpression violent activities would destroy the delicate structures of spiral galaxies.

But for all possibilities, J2345-0449 retains its quiet nature with a well-defined spiral arm, bright nuclear bars and an uninterrupted ring of stars.

In addition to enigma, the galaxy is surrounded by vast halos of hot x-ray exhaust, providing important insights into its history.

This halo cools slowly over time, but the black hole jets act like space furnaces, preventing new star formation despite the abundant star-building materials present.

The authors also found that J2345-0449 contains 10 times the dark matter as the Milky Way.

“Understanding these rare galaxies could provide important clues about the invisible forces that govern the universe, such as the nature of dark matter, the long-term fate of the galaxy, and the origin of life,” says Ph.D. A student at the University of Christ.

“In the end, this research brings us one step closer to solving the mystery of the Cosmos and reminds us that the universe holds surprise beyond our imagination.”

Survey results It was published in Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Joydeep Bagchi et al. 2025. Announcing bulge disk structures, AGN feedback and baryon landscapes in a large helical galaxy with MPC-scale radio jets. mnras 538(3): 1628-1652; doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf229

Source: www.sci.news

Colombia Unearths Fossil of Enormous Bird of Prey

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Paleontologists have unearthed and examined the fossilized foot bones of a Phorsulaceae bird that lived in South America 12 million years ago.

model of parafisolnis At the Vienna Natural History Museum. Image credit: Armin Reindl / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Terrorbird is a member of Forsulaceae a family of large carnivorous flightless birds in the order Calliamales.

These extinct birds were very large, weighing up to 70 kg and measuring 0.9 to 2 m (3 to 6.6 ft) in height.

They had slender bodies and unique motor adaptations for moving around.

Their huge beaks and mechanical adaptations of the skull suggest that they were efficient predators.

They lived in South America during the Cenozoic era, but are also known from the Pliocene-Pleistocene of North America and the Eocene of Africa.

Phorsuracidae includes nearly 20 species in 14 genera and 5 subfamilies (Brontornithidae, Mesembriornithidae, Patagornithidae, Phorsuracidae, and Psilopterinidae).

The closest living relative is believed to be Selimas, the only survivor of the family. Cariamydae.

Dr. Siobhan Cooke, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: “Fearbirds lived on the ground, had limbs adapted for running, and fed primarily on other animals.”

The end of the left tibiotarsus of a fear bird found in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert. Image credit: Degrange others., doi: 10.1002/spp2.1601.

In the 2000s, fossilized leg bones of the feared bird were discovered in the fossil-rich area. Tatacoa desert In Colombia.

The fossil dates back to the Miocene epoch, about 12 million years ago, and is thought to be the northernmost evidence of a fear bird in South America to date.

“The size of the bones indicates that this fearsome bird may be the largest species identified to date, approximately 5-20% larger than any known Phorsulaceae.” said Dr. Cook.

“Previously discovered fossils indicate that the size of the feared bird species ranged from 0.9 to 2.7 meters (3 to 9 feet) tall.”

The fossil probably has tooth marks, such as: Purusaurusan extinct species of caiman thought to have been up to 9 meters (30 feet) long.

“Given the size of the crocodile 12 million years ago, we believe this fearsome bird may have died from its injuries,” Dr Cook said.

This fearsome bird also coexisted with primates, ungulate mammals, giant sloths, and glyptodonts, car-sized relatives of armadillos.

“This is a different kind of ecosystem than what we see today and what we saw in other parts of the world in the era before South and North America connected,” Dr. Cook said.

team's paper be published in a magazine paleontology papers.

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Federico Javier Desgrange others. 2024. A new species of gigantic fear bird (Caryamiformes, Phorsulaceae) from the mid-Miocene tropical environment of La Venta, northern South America. paleontology papers 10 (6): e1601;doi: 10.1002/spp2.1601

Source: www.sci.news

Enormous Stone Age hunting structure uncovered in the Baltic Sea

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A team of German archaeologists has discovered a gigantic Stone Age structure submerged at a depth of 21 meters in the Western Baltic Sea. This structure was probably built by hunter-gatherers over 10,000 years ago and was eventually sunk about 8,500 years ago. Since then, it has remained hidden under the sea, leading to pristine preservation that has inspired research into lifestyles and territorial development in the wider region.

An artist's reconstruction of the Brinker Wall in Mecklenburg Bay, Germany. Image credit: Michał Grabowski.

The massive Stone Age structure was discovered in Mecklenburg Bay, about 10 kilometers northwest of the German coast of Relic.

The stone wall is made up of 1,673 individual stones, typically less than 1 meter in height, arranged side by side over a distance of 971 meters in a way that refutes their natural origin through glacial movement or ice-intrusion ridges.

This wall, known as the Brinker Wall, was built by hunter-gatherers who roamed the area after humans left. viserian ice sheet.

Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleo-lake (or swamp), whose youngest stage dates to 9,143 years ago, the structure was probably used for hunting. Eurasian reindeer (Langifer Tarandus).

“At that time, the population of all of Scandinavia was probably less than 5,000,” said Dr. Marcel Bradmeler, a researcher at the University of Rostock.

“One of their main food sources was herds of reindeer, which moved seasonally across sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscapes.”

“This wall was probably used to guide reindeer into the bottleneck between the adjacent shore and the wall, or into the lake, allowing Stone Age hunters to kill reindeer more easily with their weapons. Ta.”

Form of a southwest to northeast oriented ridge with a blinker wall and adjacent mounds.Image credit: Geersen et al. everyone, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

The Brinker Wall is one of the oldest recorded man-made hunting structures on Earth and one of the largest known Stone Age structures in Europe.

Dr Jacob Geersen, also from the University of Rostock, said: “Our research shows that the natural origin of the submarine stone walls or modern constructions associated with, for example, the laying of submarine cables or stone extraction is unlikely. ” he said. .

“The orderly arrangement of many small stones connecting large, immovable rocks opposes this.”

The researchers used modern geophysical methods to create detailed 3D models of the Brinker Wall and reconstruct the ancient landscape.

A team of scientific divers from the University of Rostock and the West Pomeranian Mecklenburg State Department of Culture and Monuments also visited the site once and inspected it.

The main purpose of the dive was to assess the nature of the stone wall and investigate possible archaeological remains on the surrounding seabed.

They concentrated in two places: the western edge of the structure and the large stone in the center where the blinker wall turns.

No artifacts or dateable organic material were found in the immediate vicinity of the two dive sites, but a small wood sample was recovered from Holocene deposits approximately 10 m south of the structure.

3D model of the section of blinker wall adjacent to the large boulder at the west end of the wall. The photo was taken by Philip Huy of the University of Rostock. The scale bar at the top right corner of the image is 50 cm. Image credit: Geersen other., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

“A number of well-preserved Stone Age sites are known along the coast of Wismar Bay and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, but these are located at much shallower depths, and most of them are Mesolithic and Neolithic. It dates from the Stone Age (7,000-2,500 BC),” said Dr. Jens Auer, a researcher at the Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian Department for the Preservation of Cultural Monuments.

“There is evidence that similar stone walls exist in other parts of Mecklenburg Bay. These will also be investigated systematically,” added Dr. Jens Schneider von Daimling, a researcher at the University of Kiel.

“Overall, this research could make a significant contribution to understanding the lives, organization, and hunting methods of early Stone Age hunter-gatherers.”

team's paper Published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Jacob Giesen other. 2024. Submerged Stone Age hunting architecture in the Western Baltic Sea. PNAS 121 (8): e2312008121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121

Source: www.sci.news