Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho (PhD.EnD.MSc.LLM.MArch.MBLandArch)’s Post

Scientific research is always developing our concepts, as an extension of learning more about the Arabian hyena, I share with you a wonderful study entitled: Tapnomics of the Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) burrow in the Arabian Peninsula: Implications for paleoecology and prehistory. Tapnomics, or the study of bone accumulation, is a vital tool for understanding the interactions between organisms and their environment, especially in the context of archaeological and geological research. This research aims to analyze a group of bones accumulated by the striped hyena in the "Umm Jirsan" area, which contributes to clarifying the behavior of these animals in an arid environment and provides insight into ancient ecosystems. Research location: "Umm Jirsan" lava tube The "Umm Jirsan" area is located in the Harrat Khaybar, north of Medina in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This place is considered one of the largest volcanic lava tubes in the Arabian Peninsula, as it extends deep underground and is formed as a result of volcanic flows. Which makes it an ideal habitat for many predators, including the striped hyena. This area offers a unique opportunity to study the behavior of the Arabian hyena in a harsh environment, reflecting the ecological adaptations of arid predators. A total of 1,917 bones were found, of which 1,073 were identified, indicating that the Arabian hyena was the main agent in bone accumulation in the Umm Jirsan lava tube. Analysis showed that the bone association included 14 different species, with mammalian bones, especially horses, dominating. The research showed that the striped hyena collected food from a variety of sources, indicating complex hunting behavior, whether through hunting or scavenging. Clear signs were identified on the bones, such as bite marks and teeth, providing insights into the hyena’s prey consumption and bone modification behavior. The research results suggest that the bone accumulations reflect the ancient ecosystem, including the species present and the climatic changes that may have affected the environment. The results highlight the potential relationship between the Arabian hyena and ancient human societies, suggesting the role of hyenas as competitors for resources or as a food source. If we explain it in numbers, it would be as follows: Number of bones recovered: 1917 bones. Number of known bones: 1073 bones. Number of identified species: 14 different species Percentage of mammalian bones: 50% of the number of individuals belong to horses. Number of striped hyena bones: Bones of this species were identified. Number of pieces analyzed: 1917 pieces. Excavation date: Completed in 2019. Lava tube height: 8-12 meters. Lava tube length: 1481 meters. Number of samples dated using radiocarbon: 10 samples. Oldest dated human bones: 4040 ± 30 years. Latest dated human bones: 150 ± 30 years. Bone recovery rate: 100% of samples collected. Scientific research treasures develop our business. #animal

Visible Geology: Revolutionizing the Study of Structural Geology 🙌 Understanding structural geology has never been easier! With Visible Geology, not only can you grasp complex geological concepts more intuitively, but you can also create conceptual models and explore phenomena like the "apparent dip" effortlessly. The best part? It's free and accessible to everyone! Don't miss the chance to dive into this amazing tool and make geology both fun and accessible for all. 💎🌟 Let's make geology more engaging and enjoyable for everyone! Seequent, Julia Oliveira

Really interesting machine learning application that facilitates detection of Amazonian dark earth using satellite images. Amazonian dark earth is highly relevant for many different fields such as archaeology, carbon storage, biodiversity, and sustainability. Identifying this highly nutrient rich soil more easily in remote jungle areas of the Amazon Basin is of great importance for its preservation. As the authors declare, "The satellite archaeology approach we employ is not a replacement for field investigation but rather a way to upscale field observations in ways that are not practical or possible with traditional methods. When applied to locally relevant training data, the machine-learning and remote-sensing approach employed here can potentially illuminate the hidden extent of Amazonian dark earth in other regions across the Amazon." https://lnkd.in/d9a8MWCj

Three needs are famously fundamental to survival: food, water, and shelter. According to new research, ancient humans had at least two of those three needs met by a nearly mile-long lava tube about 77 miles (125 kilometers) north of Medina, Saudi Arabia, for at least 7,000 years. ‘It’s About Reporting, It’s About Doing Good Journalism’ | Civil War Interview The lava tube in question is named Umm Jirsan, the longest of the lava tubes in Saudi Arabia’s volcanic field, Harrat Khaybar. Today, wolves, foxes, and snakes inhabit the cave, but it was once a popular spot for human pastoralists and their domesticated animals. The new study, published today in the journal PLoS One, examined faunal remains and rock art in the region and adds to a growing body of research into the system. “The findings at Umm Jirsan provide a new type of archaeological site in the region, and one where organic material like bone and deeply layered sediments are much better preserved,” said Mathew Stewart, a zooarchaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and the study’s lead author, in an email to Gizmodo. “We had no expectations to find archaeology at Umm Jirsan. In fact, we were mostly interested in seeing the large caches of bones that had been previously reported.” Indeed, a team that included Stewart found evidence in 2021 that striped hyenas were creating bone caches in the back of the cave. There are hundreds of thousands of bones in Umm Jirsan, the team found, belonging to at least 40 species and dating from the Neolithic to as recently as the Victorian Era. Though the oldest dated faunal remains in the cave are about 7,000 years old, Stewart told Gizmodo that animals have likely used the lava tubes since they formed, millions of years ago. Seven of the lava flows in Harrat Khaybar are less than 1,500 years old, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, and the region still has the potential for activity, according to a 2022 study. The interior of the lava tube.Photo: Green Arabia Project In their new paper, the researchers reported evidence for human occupation of the lava tube between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age—in other words, humans made use of the tube for millennia. Isotopic analysis of the human remains in the cave revealed an increase of foods in their diet that had high levels of a certain isotope of carbon associated with oasis agriculture. But the team concluded that Umm Jirsan was probably not permanently occupied. Rather, they think it was a convenient spot for herders to stop and provide their flocks with shade and water. Based on human use of the surrounding area—evinced by nearby rock art and other faunal records—the team posited that the lava tube “was situated along a pastoral route linking key oases.” So you can think of Umm Jirsan more as an ancient truck stop than a place of residence. The rock art described by the team was found at a nearby collapsed

Humans hid in this lava tube in Saudi Arabia for 7+ thousands of years Story by Mihai Andrei  4 min read"I "In the arid landscape of Arabia, archaeologists don’t usually find a lot of artifacts. The heat dries organic matter, making it fragile and unlikely to preserve. However, researchers found an unexpected ally in a lava tube. According to a recent study, humans have been taking refuge in this lava tube for over 7,000 years, leaving behind numerous artifacts and art pieces. Archaeologists exploring deep within the Umm Jirsan Cave system. Image credits: Green Arabia Project. © ZME Science Lava and ancient shepherds A  lava tube is a natural tunnel-like formation. The top part of the lava flow cools down and solidifies, while the molten lava beneath continues to flow beneath this hardened crust. This creates a hollow, tube-like structure that can vary widely in size and length. This is also the case of Umm Jirsan. This is essentially a system consisting of three lava-tube passages separated by two collapses. It measures 1481.2 m in length (just under a mile) and has a height of 8-12 m (26-39 ft). The site has been known to the Saudi Geological Survey for decades now, and local people have of course known Umm Jirsan forever. That said, the site had never been properly investigated or surveyed by palaeontologists or archaeologists. Its recognition as an archaeological site is new,” says Mathew Stewart, the lead researcher and a Research Fellow at Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), for ZME Science. Stewart and colleagues found a wealth of archaeological evidence at Umm Jirsan. The earliest of these dates to around 10,000 years ago, and the latest to some 3,500 years ago. They found depictions of cattle, sheep, and dogs — a testament to the pastoral past of these populations. However, the lava tube was probably not inhabited continuously. Species identifiable in the rock art of Umm Jirsan. (A) sheep (Panel 8); (B) goat and two stick figures with tools on their belts (Panel 8); (C) long-horned cattle (Panel 6), photo enhanced using the ybk setting on DStretch; (D) ibex with ribbed horns and coat markings (Panel 4). Bottom: tracings of examples A-D. Image credits: Stewart et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0. © ZME Science Temporary shelter The density of artifacts is relatively low. This suggests people didn’t stay at the site continuously. Instead, they used it as a temporary hideaway. People (especially shepherds) traveling between different oasis settlements likely used it as a stopping point. In the harsh desert, having access to such a stopping point would have been invaluable. “Based on the low density of lithics recovered from the excavation, as well as from the surrounding landscape, we suspect that visitation to the site may have been rather transitory. It’s clear that people knapped stone tools on site, as well as lit fires and cooked and processed food. “  

New article published online in African Archaeological Review: Worldwide Research on Australopiths José Luis Guil-Guerrero & Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro Australopiths are a group of early human ancestors that lived approximately 4 to 2 million years ago and are considered a key transitional form between apes and humans. Studying australopiths can help to understand the evolutionary processes that led to the emergence of humans and gain insights into the unique adaptations and characteristics that set humans apart from other primates. A bibliometric-based review of publications on australopiths contained in the Scopus database was conducted, analyzing approximately 2000 of them. The main authors, institutions, and countries researching this subject were identified, as well as their future development. The connections between authors, countries, and research topics were also analyzed through the detection of communities. The more frequent keywords in this subject are hominid, animal, human, South Africa, and Australopithecus afarensis. Four main research clusters were identified in the field of australopiths: palaeobiology, cranial evolution, locomotion, and mandible evolution and morphometry. The most important countries in terms of collaboration networks are South Africa, the UK, France, and Germany. Research on australopiths is ongoing, and new research clusters are expected to emerge, such as those focused on pre-australopiths and the molecular evolution and taxonomy of australopiths. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive overview of the state of research on australopiths and offers insights into the current direction of the field. https://lnkd.in/gTwzNJZm

A group of Spanish researchers has applied techniques that allow Paleolithic archaeological findings to be dated with an accuracy of only decades: “Here we report high-resolution time differences between six Middle Palaeolithic hearths from El Salt Unit X (Spain) obtained through archaeomagnetic and archaeostratigraphic analyses. The set of hearths covers at least around 200–240 years with 99% probability, having decade- and century-long intervals between the different hearths. Our results provide a quantitative estimate of the time framework for the human occupation events included in the studied sequence. This is a step forward in Palaeolithic archaeology, a discipline in which human behaviour is usually approached from a temporal scale typical of geological processes, whereas significant change may happen at the smaller scales of human generations. Here we reach a timescale close to a human lifespan.” https://lnkd.in/e_9khUJ6 #OnScienceAndSociety

🌍 Archaeologists Confirm: Vikings in Americas Long Before Columbus! 🛶 Columbus Day Special: Research from the University of Iceland reveals that Vikings arrived in the Americas as early as 1000 AD, well over 500 years before Christopher Columbus set foot on the New World's shores. This groundbreaking study highlights the significant maritime capabilities of the Norse explorers and their impact on both sides of the Atlantic. 🤔 What You Need to Know: 1️⃣ Evidence of Early Exploration: Tree ring analysis has shown that tree species such as Hemlock and Jack Pine, which are not native to Northern Europe, were imported from the Americas. This suggests that the Vikings not only explored but also established trade routes that included the transportation of wood and other resources back to Europe. 2️⃣ The Vinland Connection: The findings support the existence of Vinland, believed to be located along the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Nova Scotia. Historical texts, such as the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, recount the voyages of Leif Erikson and other Norse figures, further validating these archaeological discoveries. 3️⃣ Ongoing Maritime Activities: The research indicates that Norse Greenlanders had the means and knowledge to traverse the Davis Strait to North America well into the 14th century. This challenges previous assumptions about the duration and extent of Viking exploration and regional trade. 🔗 To learn more about this significant archaeological discovery and its implications for our understanding of Viking exploration, read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gixpV3pR 🗣️ #questionforgroup: How do you think these findings about Viking exploration will influence our understanding of pre-Columbian history? What other historical narratives could be challenged with further research? #vikings #archaeology #culture #exporation #columbus #columbusday #education #woodcentral #woodcentralau1 #treedating #dating #research #wood #timber #science

Evidence found of Tibet’s earliest human inhabitants Archeologists discover Stone Age artifacts on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau dating back 40,000 years Chinese scientists have uncovered the oldest signs of human activity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at about 4,600 meters above sea level, showcasing the astonishing resilience of early humans who inhabited one of Earth's harshest environments tens of thousands of years earlier than expected. Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found more than 3,600 stone artifacts made from black slate at Nwya Devu, which is in the Changthang region of the Tibet autonomous region, about 300 kilometers northwest of the capital, Lhasa.   Attendees at a news conference in Beijing on Nov 30 get a close look at stone artifacts made from black slate that were found on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Zou Hong / China Daily Most of the tools that were found underground were made around 30,000 to 40,000 years ago during the Stone Age. The toolmakers, whose identity remains a mystery, crafted blades and arrow-like flakes of stone, some of which are up to 20 centimeters long. This makes the site the oldest and highest-altitude evidence of human occupation on "the roof the world", one of the monikers given to the highest plateau on Earth, with an average altitude of 4,000 meters, according to the study published on Nov 30 in the journal Science. Due to its high altitude, thin air, lack of resources and extremely cold weather, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the last regions to be colonized by early humans in Asia, and it remains one of the planet's least-populated areas. Archaeologists previously estimated that hunter-gatherer humans were living on the margins of the plateau about 15,000 years ago. People only began settling permanently on the plateau about 3,600 years ago, after they had mastered yak and sheep herding, as well as the cultivation of barley, one of the staple foods of today's residents of Tibet. Bai Chunli, president of the academy, said in a statement about the discovery that the new finding has great scientific significance in expanding understanding of prehistoric humans' migration patterns and adaptation to different environments. It also has great social significance in studying the origin of native people and their culture, as well as facilitating the preservation and protection of Tibetan artifacts and cultural resources, Bai said. Gao Xing, a researcher from the CAS institute, says Nwya Devu qualifies as a national-level archaeological site with huge research interests, and government agencies at various levels will need to protect the area from potential artifact scavengers and other disturbances. "We still need to find animal, plant or human remains in the area to collect DNA samples that can answer some of our biggest questions, such as who are these prehistoric humans and how did they survive i

🌍 Archaeologists Confirm: Vikings in Americas Long Before Columbus! 🛶 Columbus Day Special: Research from the University of Iceland reveals that Vikings arrived in the Americas as early as 1000 AD, well over 500 years before Christopher Columbus set foot on the New World's shores. This groundbreaking study highlights the significant maritime capabilities of the Norse explorers and their impact on both sides of the Atlantic. 🤔 What You Need to Know: 1️⃣ Evidence of Early Exploration: Tree ring analysis has shown that tree species such as Hemlock and Jack Pine, which are not native to Northern Europe, were imported from the Americas. This suggests that the Vikings not only explored but also established trade routes that included the transportation of wood and other resources back to Europe. 2️⃣ The Vinland Connection: The findings support the existence of Vinland, believed to be located along the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Nova Scotia. Historical texts, such as the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, recount the voyages of Leif Erikson and other Norse figures, further validating these archaeological discoveries. 3️⃣ Ongoing Maritime Activities: The research indicates that Norse Greenlanders had the means and knowledge to traverse the Davis Strait to North America well into the 14th century. This challenges previous assumptions about the duration and extent of Viking exploration and regional trade. 🔗 To learn more about this significant archaeological discovery and its implications for our understanding of Viking exploration, read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gUjAWdHX 🗣️ #questionforgroup: How do you think these findings about Viking exploration will influence our understanding of pre-Columbian history? What other historical narratives could be challenged with further research? #vikings #archaeology #culture #exporation #columbus #columbusday #education #woodcentral #woodcentralau1 #treedating #dating #research #wood #timber #science