Denisovan skull
Hebei GEO University
In 2010, DNA analysis of a finger bone about 40,000 years old showed that it belonged to a previously unknown group of ancient people called Denisovan after the cave in Siberia where the bone was found. But without skulls, we had no idea what they looked like. Now, Denisovan DNA was found in a 146,000-year-old skull. found in China. This suggests that these people had an unusual combination of features: faces similar to ours, but with thick brow ridges.
The woman and child are buried in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Scramby, UK.
Dr Hugh Willmott, University of Sheffield
This picture is sad. You may not notice it at a glance, but the woman buried here is holding a small child and likely died in childbirth. She lived in the 5th or 6th century and was richly dressed during the funeral. The cemetery in Scramby, UK, was discovered by a metal detector in 2018 and excavated by archaeologists including Hugh Willmott from the University of Sheffield in the UK, who took this photo. Now researchers have analyzed some of the skeletons in the burial ground. look for pregnancy-related hormones – The idea is to determine whether the skeletal remains can be used to determine whether the woman was pregnant at or before her death.
Ancient Hunter's Toolkit
Martin Novak
This pile of sand and stones once was leather bag with hunter's tools. It was left at a campsite in the Pavlovsk Hills in the Czech Republic about 30,000 years ago. Tools include everything from spear and arrow heads to meat and wood cutting tools. They are well used and some have been repurposed from old tools, leading archaeologists to believe the tools were taken on long expeditions where resources were limited. Perhaps the tools were deliberately discarded due to their wear and tear.
The remains of a man excavated at Huiyaotian in Guangxi, China, date back to more than 9,000 years ago.
Yusuke Kaifu and Hirofumi Matsumura
Would you like to look after your family after you die? If so, you could ask them to slowly smoke you out and place your mummified body in a convenient corner. This is the burial practice of some people in Indonesia today, where the body is usually tied in a crouched position. This is probably how the remains in this photo were prepared in southern China 9,000 years ago. The practice of mummifying bodies through slow smoking. may have been widespread in Southeast Asia. According to a study published this year, until about 4,000 years ago.
A fragment of organic glass was found in the skull of a man in Herculaneum
Pier Paolo Petrone
Abstract work of art? No, this strange object is actually brain turned to glass by rapid cooling after heating to 500°C. It belonged to a resident of the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum who was caught in a super-hot cloud of ash and gas during the eruption of Vesuvius about 2,000 years ago. Although the brain exploded due to overheating, some parts of it were well preserved, with visible networks of brain cells.
1200-year-old mummified hand with tattoos
Michael Pittman and Thomas J. Kaye
This almost living, mummified hand belonged to the Chancay people of Peru, who lived about 1,200 years ago. It was found in 1981 in the Huaura Valley in Peru. Intricate tattoos are typical of Cancay mummies. This year, a study found that an imaging technique called laser-stimulated fluorescence revealed new details of tattoos. But other researchers have criticized this studystating that the supposed new details had already been reported by researchers in Peru, and that the study was incorrect regarding the tattoo techniques used by the Chancayans.
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