Te map. The_real_t-rex.jpg (JPEG Image, 1600x718 pixels) - Scaled (63%) 10.30.2009 - New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species. By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | 30 October 2009 BERKELEY — Paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies have wiped out two species of dome-headed dinosaur, one of them named three years ago – with great fanfare – after Hogwarts, the school attended by Harry Potter. Dracorex (upper left) and Stygimoloch (upper right) are not distinct dome-headed dinosaurs, but young and nearly sexually mature, respectively, members of the species Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis, according to a new study by paleontologists from UC Berkeley and the Museum of the Rockies.
(Holly Woodward/Montana State University) Their demise comes after a three-horned dinosaur, Torosaurus, was assigned to the dustbin of history last month at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in the United Kingdom, the loss in recent years of quite a few duck-billed hadrosaurs and the probable disappearance of Nanotyrannus, a supposedly miniature Tyrannosaurus rex.
Archaeologists explore Iraqi marshes for origins of urbanization. The first non-Iraqi archaeological investigation of the Tigris-Euphrates delta in 20 years was a preliminary foray by three women who began to explore the links between wetland resources and the emergence and growth of cities last year. "Foreign investigations in Iraq stopped in the 1990s," said Carrie Hritz, assistant professor of anthropology, Penn State. "Iraqis continued research, but because their work is unpublished, we are unsure of where they surveyed. " The marshlands in Iraq and Iran were drained between 1950 and the 1990s. While initial explanations were that Iraq needed the land for agricultural uses, more often than not, politics played a role. Restoration of the Hammar marshes is now a high national priority. The project aims to investigate the contributions of the early-mid Holocene shoreline of the gulf and marshes to the economic foundations of Mesopotamian cities.
The researchers also used local Iraqi security for their trip rather than hiring a foreign security firm. Dinosaur Death Trap: Gobi Desert Fossils Reveal How Dinosaurs Lived. "Another skeleton with a perfect skull!” I shouted to the team, all of whom were face down on the quarry floor exposing other skeletons. In the years I had spent as a paleontologist, never had I seen anything like this. Our team of fossil hunters had been prospecting for only 15 days in the Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia, but already we had uncovered a veritable graveyard of intact fossils. Over the next few weeks we would apply chisel, pickax and bulldozer to the site, digging up more than a dozen examples of an ostrichlike dinosaur that was to become one of the most well known in the dinosaur world. Select an option below: Customer Sign In *You must have purchased this issue or have a qualifying subscription to access this content.
Prehistoric Human Brain Found Pickled in Bog. - One of the world's best preserved prehistoric human brains was recently found in a waterlogged U.K. pit. - The brain belonged to an Iron Age man who was hanged and then decapitated, with his head falling in the pit shortly thereafter. - Scientists believe that submersion in liquid, anoxic environments helps to preserve human brain tissue. A human skull dated to about 2,684 years ago with an "exceptionally preserved" human brain still inside of it was recently discovered in a waterlogged U.K. pit, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science study.
The brain is the oldest known intact human brain from Europe and Asia, according to the authors, who also believe it's one of the best-preserved ancient brains in the world. "The early Iron Age skull belonged to a man, probably in his thirties," lead author Sonia O'Connor told Discovery News. SLIDE SHOW: Faces of Our Ancestors The brain-containing skull was found at Heslington, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom.