News 2023

A New Legacy:  Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry to Explore Potential of Legacy Collections in Natural History Museums
A recent study revisits 19th-century museum collection to test the utility of ZooMS proteomic techniques to taxonomically identify bone fragments and ultimately provide new insights into human-animal interactions trough time
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Amazonian Rainforest Hides Thousands of Records of Ancient Indigenous Communities Under Its Forest Canopy
The world’s most diverse forest, the Amazon, may also host more than 10,000 records of pre-Columbian earthworks (constructed prior to the arrival of Europeans), according to a new study published in the journal Science. The new study combines cutting-edge remote sensing technology with archaeological data and advanced statistical modeling to estimate how many earthworks may still be hidden beneath the canopy of the Amazon rainforest and in which locations these structures are most likely to be found. more
The Scent of the Afterlife Unbottled in New Study of Ancient Egyptian Mummification Balms
A team of researchers led by Barbara Huber has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3500 years ago. The ancient aroma will be presented at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark in an upcoming exhibition. more
Ricardo Fernandes wins First Place in Max Planck Day Science Slam
On Friday evening, 23 June 2023, six scientists from across the Max Planck Society competed in a Science Slam as part of the celebrations surrounding the 75th anniversary of the Max Planck Society. The public event was held in Göttingen’s Old Town Hall, with the goal of presenting scientific research in an engaging, entertaining way more
Somebody Used Stone Tools to Butcher Hippos 2.9 million years ago
Excavations at Nyayanga, Kenya have revealed the oldest-yet Oldowan tools in close proximity to butchered animal bones and molars from the human relative Paranthropus more
Hunter-Trapper-Gatherers: People at Panga ya Saidi used Remote Capture Technology for Small Game
Researchers use animal bone remains from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in southeastern Kenya, to argue that people in the Middle and Later Stone Age used archaeologically invisible tools like snares, traps and nets to capture small game in forested environments more
Of Forests and Grasslands: Human-Animal Interactions and Paleoecology in Late Pleistocene-Holocene Sri Lanka
New study provides detail into human hunting strategies in tropical Sri Lankan forests more
Isotope Data Reveal Millennia of Ecological Change in the Mountains of Lesotho, Southern Africa
A new paper in Communications Earth & Environment uses plant wax biomarkers from archaeological sediments to understand human-environment interactions in mountain ecosystems for the past 60,000 years more
Dairy Foods Helped Ancient Tibetans Thrive in one of Earth’s Most Inhospitable Environments
Ancient protein evidence shows milk consumption was a powerful cultural adaptation that stimulated human expansion onto the highland Tibetan Plateau more
Paleo Talks Seminar Series - Sapiens in South Asia: Multi-faceted story of peopling in the Indian continent
18 Jan - 26 April, 2023. Paleo Talks presents "Sapiens in South Asia: Multi-faceted story of peopling in the Indian continent" (SSA) in association with the Department of Archaeology, MPI-GEA. This series aims to discuss current narratives of modern human arrival and expansion in the Indian subcontinent. more
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