Tuesday, October 18, 2005

PREHISTORIC JEWELERY!

Some "wonderful things" have been found in the Basque country of Spain: a necklace and pendants made 15,500 years ago. The treasure comes from the Magdalenian period and were found in the Praile I cave in Deba, probably near San Sebastian (must be a very tiny place as its not listed in the National Geographic Atlas). Led by archaeologist Xabier Penalver of the Aranzadi Society of Sciences, the team discovered four stunning neclaces of smooth black stone, another of goats' teeth and a 12 cm pendant. There are 29 items in all, each one made by hand and engraved. No pictures yet but let's hope they'll post them.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

EVOLUTION & SCIENCE

"What makes evolution a scientific explanation is that it makes testable predictions," says Eric Lander, geneticist at MIT and Harvard. Further from Dr. Lander, "You only believe the ones when they make non obvious predictions that are confirmed by scientific evidence."

Monday, October 03, 2005

TWINS IN PREHISTORY

Have you noticed twins being pushed around in their strollers -- almost everywhere? They are special in 2005 but ubiquitous! Evidently some 28,000 years ago they were more than special and buried together with great ceremony.

Discovered on a hillside overlooking the Danube in Austria, the pair who are probably biological twins, were found near Krems in northern Austria by Christine Neugebauer-Maresch with her team from the Austrian Academy of Science. The babies were placed side by side in their grave and protected beneath a wooly mammoth's shoulder blade which was propped up by pieces of mammoth tusk, The bodies were wrapped in a materials such as animal hide that has since deteriorated and were covered with ochre.

The discoverer said that more than 31 ivory beads were also found at the burial site. "They had been buried with much ritual -- it is really very interesting," says Neugebauer-Maresch. They were found at a depth of five meters (about 15 feet) on September 21. The area had already yielded structural remains and stone artifacts but these were the first human remains to be found at the site.

The bones will be studied at Vienna's Natural History Museum. They will be placed within a chamber with controlled humidity in order to limit further deterioration. Proving that they were twins will come with DNA and bone fragment studies, although there may not be enough DNA to accomplish this. Full story check: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8063