The Independent

Remarkable new scientific research at Stonehenge has revealed an extraordinary new mystery. Mineralogical tests on the massive six-tonne stone at the heart of the monument show that this central rock, known as the altar stone, was brought to Stonehenge from the far north of Scotland.The altar stone is arguably the most ritually important stone in Stonehenge, because it is the rock that marks the intersection of the prehistoric temple’s two most important celestial alignments – the winter solstice sunrise to summer solstice sunset alignment, and the summer solstice sunrise to winter solstice sunset alignment. It’s already known that some of...

Mystery of Stonehenge deepens after ‘jaw-dropping’ discovery

 Mysterious carvings deciphered at the Göbekli Tepe archaeological site in Turkey suggest the world’s oldest monument – about twice as old as Stonehenge – is a solar calendar built to memorialise a devastating comet strike.A new study published in the journal Time and Mind on Tuesday indicates that Göbekli Tepe, a 12,000-year-old temple-like complex containing carvings of intricate symbols, was constructed to record an astronomical event that sparked the dawn of human civilisation.The world’s first calendar, made around 9,000BC, enabled people to observe the sun, moon and constellations in order to keep track of time and mark the change...

Strange carvings at world’s oldest monument suggest civilisation began after devastating comet strike

Popular Science

One of the many archaeological mysteries at Britain’s Stonehenge has been solved. The site’s six-ton Altar Stone hails from over 400 miles north in Scotland, not from Wales or other closer areas of southern England as scientists previously thought. This trek points to the possibility that more advanced transportation methods and societal organization existed here about 5,000 years ago. The findings are described in a study published August 14 in the journal Nature.

Geologists crack a major Stonehenge mystery

The iconic 'Altar Stone' at the heart of Stonehenge was transported 440 miles from northeast Scotland, scientists have found. The "truly remarkable" discovery has left archaeologists scratching their heads over how and why our Neolithic ancestors transported the six-tonne sandstone so far around 4,500 years ago. Until now the giant...

Stonehenge discovery 'shocks' archeologists that iconic Altar Stone was transported from north east Scotland

Stonehenge has long held an air of mystery around it, but new research has helped clear up some of the facts, revealing both the origin and transport method of one of the key stones. Led by Australia's Curtin University, these new findings suggest that the Altar Stone (one of the...

Scientists have finally solved a major Stonehenge mystery

Knewz

Jaw and arm bone fragments at an archeological site in Indonesia have revealed that humanity‘s so-called “Hobbit” ancestors were even smaller than initially thought. Knewz.com has learned that the first discovery of these humans was made when scientists dug out fairly recent remains dating back between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago. The latest find, located […]

Newly Discovered Hobbit Fossils From 700,000 Years Ago Reveal Stunning New Detail

ScienceAlert


If you select a random person out of a crowd, odds are they won't be the tallest human that ever lived. So why should we expect the same for  dinosaurs?
Of all the Tyrannosaurus rex fossils we've found, it's statistically unlikely that any of them are the largest of their species to have lived. It's even difficult to gauge where they sit on the T. rex height chart.



					
			

A new study estimates that, statistically, the largest T. rex could have been 70 percent more massive than the largest specimen we have on record. That's a whopping weight of around 15,000 kg...

The Largest T. Rex Was Probably Much Bigger Than We Ever Realized

New York Post

It’s a new testament to modern technology. 

Archeologists in Israel discovered a biblically significant moat that divided Jerusalem into two parts hidden beneath a parking lot in the City of David. 

The manmade trench — researchers have sought answers on its existence for 150 years — was “one of the monumental fortifications that protected the kings of Jerusalem,” according to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the agency in charge of the dig at the Givati Parking lot.

It is a 3,500-square-foot site that, until about 15 years ago, was used for cars and visitors seeing the Western or “Wailing Wall” of Jerusalem....

‘Monumental’ 3,000-year-old discovery with biblical origins found under parking lot


Ancient archaeological discoveries can be confusing, exciting, intriguing, educational – and occasionally just a little creepy, as a new excavation of a 2,500-year-old graveyard site in Norway has proved.



					
			

Here's the creepy part: the main cluster of graves, comprising 39 individual bodies, were all for children under the age of six – based on a close study of the fragments of bones that had escaped being cremated.
There were two other graves containing adult bodies but these were separate from the main group.
However, it's not certain that anything sinister has gone on. This would've been a time when the infant mortality rate...

Mysterious 2,500-Year-Old Graveyard Found Filled With Young Children

NBC News

Remains found in a tomb in northwestern Spain are likely to belong to a ninth-century bishop believed to have helped create the Camino de Santiago, one of Christianity’s most popular pilgrimages, a new study has found. A combination of bone analysis, carbon dating, stable isotope analysis and DNA testing...

Bones discovered in Spanish cave likely belong to famed priest who created popular pilgrimage


A tree common in gardens for its pretty flowers and foliage has been harboring a secret this entire time.
The wood of the two species of tulip tree (Liriodendron) is neither hardwood nor softwood, but a type of wood in between, something we didn't even know existed. And this wood, researchers say, seems to be particularly efficient at carbon sequestration and storage.



					
			

This ability, say biochemists Jan Łyczakowski of Jagiellonian University in Poland and Raymond Wightman of Cambridge University in the UK, could be related to the size of the tree's macrofibrils, long threadlike bundles of cell wall components and cellulose, which...

A New Type of Wood Just Discovered Could Revolutionize Carbon Storage

The discovery of rare early human fossils on the Indonesian island of Flores, including an extraordinarily small adult limb bone, is providing crucial insights into the evolution of Homo floresiensis, the so-called “Hobbits of Flores.”. The findings, which date back to approximately 700,000 years ago, are detailed in a...

Human ancestors called ‘Hobbits’ of Flores were smaller than we imagined


Humans have an incredible ability to guess a person's name simply based on the appearance of their face.
A new study has found it could be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy.
When a photograph of an adult was shown to participants with four possible name choices, they chose the correct name at a rate well above chance. When child faces were shown, however, the study's participants weren't nearly as good at matching faces to names.



					
			

The findings suggest that we tend to alter our appearance as we mature to better suit our own names, whether it be through hairstyles, makeup, glasses, piercings, or...

Wild Study Finds Your Name Has an Incredible Effect on Your Face

On a tropical island that's part of modern-day Indonesia, archaeologist have uncovered a remarkable find: a bone fragment belonging to an archaic adult hominin that stood a diminutive three and a half feet tall. The discovery and identification of this arm bone, detailed in new study in Nature Communications, reveal...

Scientists Find New Evidence of Hobbit-Like Creatures on Remote Island


Every now and again, the night sky lights up with a spectacular explosion that blazes with the most energetic light our Universe can produce. Known as gamma-ray bursts, they can release in a few seconds what our Sun will emit over its lifetime.
Now scientists have found a never-before-seen signal buried in the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation delivered by the brightest gamma ray burst ever recorded.
That signal is an emission light – a bright region in the gamma-ray spectrum produced by something emitting light in that specific wavelength range. And that something, scientists have determined, is complete and utter destruction: the...

Signal Buried in Biggest Explosion Ever Seen Hints at Total Annihilation

 Egypt’s oldest pyramid was likely built with the help of an innovative hydraulic water elevator system, archaeologists claim in a new study which sheds more light on the ingenuity of ancient Egyptians.The study, published on Monday in the journal PloS ONE, suggests water may have been flowing into two shafts located inside the Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of Egypt’s iconic pyramids.Also known as the Step Pyramid, the ancient Egyptian monument is thought to have been built around 2680 BCE as a funerary complex for the Third Dynasty pharaoh Djoser.It was the first pyramid to be built and, standing...

Ancient Egyptians used hydraulic lifts to build first pyramids, controversial study claims

Talker

Previous geological research suggested that the six-tonne slab probably originated from Wales. 
The post Scientists discover true origin of iconic ‘Altar stone’ at Stonehenge appeared first on Talker.

Scientists discover true origin of iconic ‘Altar stone’ at Stonehenge

Inside one of the most extensively researched historic sites—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified and buried—researchers have discovered the largest known medieval altar, which had been considered lost for decades. After its unveiling in 1149, the magnificently carved ‘high altar’ made a...

Lost Altar Discovered on the Site Where Jesus was Crucified: It’s ‘Sensational’ and was Sitting in Plain Sight

A beautiful, remarkably well-preserved mosaic that was “hidden for thousands of years” has been uncovered by archaeologists in northwestern England.

Mosaic buried for thousands of years uncovered by archaeologists


There are literal oceans' worth of liquid water hiding out on Mars. There's just one big problem. That water is actually in Mars, at depths that are too far below the surface for us to access.



					
			

That's according to new analysis of seismic data collected by the  Mars InSight lander, for which huge reservoirs of liquid water are the best explanation. And, although that water is out of reach, it is an important piece of the strange puzzle of the aquatic history of our dry, desiccated, dusty neighbor.
"Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the...

Scientists Just Found Oceans of Liquid Water on Mars – But There's a Catch

NewsBreak

Stonehenge's Altar Stone May Have Journeyed Nearly 500 Miles


The once-majestic, now fallen stone that represents perhaps the strangest component of Stonehenge traveled a very long way to take pride of place in the mysterious...

Stonehenge's Altar Stone May Have Journeyed Nearly 500 Miles

Comments / 0