Order of the Madras High Court dated 07/06/2021 in the matter of Suo Motu Vs Archaeological Survey of India & Others regarding safeguarding of archaeological monuments in Tamil Nadu. The Madras High Court, June 7, 2021 in a slew of measures directed the concerned authorities to establish Mamallapuram World Heritage …
Heavy metal pollution, typically caused by mining and smelting, is a major threat to human health - but the problem is seemingly not new. Researchers have found the earliest signs of such man-made pollution in caves in Spain and Gibraltar that date from at least the Middle Palaeolithic. The evidence …
Contributions to historical climate change have varied substantially among nations. These differences reflect underlying inequalities in wealth and development, and pose a fundamental challenge to the implementation of a globally equitable climate mitigation strategy. This Letter presents a new way to quantify historical inequalities among nations using carbon and climate …
Ancient DNA analysis has revealed the safe havens where New Zealand seabirds found sanctuary from early human hunting. The arrival of the country's first settlers more than 700 years ago had a profound impact on many species of New Zealand wildlife which had never before been hunted by people. In …
Extinction events typically represent extended processes of decline that cannot be reconstructed using short-term studies. Long-term archives are necessary to determine past baselines and the extent of human-caused biodiversity change, but the capacity of historical datasets to provide predictive power for conservation must be assessed within a robust analytical framework. …
All around the deserts of Utah, Nevada, southern Oregon, and eastern California, ancient shorelines line the hillsides above dry valley floors, like bathtub rings — remnants of the lakes once found throughout the region. Even as the ice sheets retreated at the end of the last ice age, 12,000 years …
Scientists may have uncovered the first evidence of farming in the Mideast. While researchers believed that farming was "invented" about 12,000 years ago in Iraq, the Levant, parts of Turkey and Iran, this new study seems to indicate otherwise. The researchers actually focused on the discovery of the first weed …
This is according to a new study that claims the earliest civilisations in the Middle East and Fertile Crescent felt the impact of rapid global warming. The finding is based on an analysis of ancient peat deposits found deep within Neor Lake in Northwest Iran, which revealed unusual weather patterns …
On Aug 31, 1665, Samuel Pepys noted dolefully in his diary: “Thus this month ends, with great sadness upon the public through the greatness of the plague, everywhere through the Kingdom almost. Every day sadder news of its increase. In the City died this week 7496; and of them 6102 …
Ancient DNA may shed some light on how past environments impacted ancient human populations. Researchers have found that epigenetic marks on DNA can be detected in a large number of ancient human remains. "By looking at epigenetic marks, we can better understand what genes are expressed during a person's life …
Scientists are learning a bit more about prehistoric climate change. It turns out that the steady drip of water deep underground can reveal quite a bit of information about the constantly changing cycles of heat and cold and precipitation and drought in the atmosphere above. As water seeps through the …
We have examined a 5th to 6th century inhumation from Great Chesterford, Essex, UK. The incomplete remains are those of a young male, aged around 21–35 years at death. The remains show osteological evidence of lepromatous leprosy (LL) and this was confirmed by lipid biomarker analysis and ancient DNA (aDNA) …
Massive floods in the Mississippi River valley may have wiped out an ancient civilization, according to a new study. Cahokia were the largest prehistoric settlement in the Americas north of Mexico until the year 1200 AD, when the once thriving population began to decline, ultimately disappearing by 1400. Many factors …
A new study may reveal an unprecedented surge in biodiversity that occurred 20 million years ago. Researchers have discovered that species migrations across the Isthmus of Panama began during this time period, which is six times earlier than commonly assumed. "Even organisms that need very specific conditions to survive, such …
An international team of scientists has used the 23-million-year fossil record to calculate which marine animals and ecosystems are most at risk of extinction today. In a paper published in the journal Science, the researchers found those animals and ecosystems most threatened are predominantly in the tropics. “Marine species are …
Ice cores pulled from miles below Antarctica’s surface are revealing new evidence of ancient links between the climates of Earth’s Northern and Southern hemispheres. A cylinder of ice drilled from a depth of more than 11,100 feet has allowed scientists to document 68,000 years of climate history, including a consistent, …
Climate change may be responsible for the abrupt collapse of a civilization on the fringes of the Tibetan Plateau around 2000 BC. Scientists have discovered that cooling global temperatures may have pushed humans over the edge during that time period. During the Holocene Climatic Optimum, our planet experienced a 4,000-year …
Just as modern nation-states struggle to manage the cultural and economic impacts of migration, ancient civilizations dealt with similar external pressures and set policies to regulate people’s movements. In one of the earliest urban societies, the Indus Civilization, mechanisms linking city populations to hinterland groups remain enigmatic in the absence …
It is one of science's enduring mysteries: what caused the worst mass extinction in Earth's history. And, no, it is not the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Scientists said on Thursday that huge amounts of carbon dioxide spewed from colossal volcanic eruptions in Siberia may have turned the world's …
Ancient Chilean mummies that have been preserved for over 7,000 years are gradually turning into what has been referred to as "black ooze" due to climate change, reports said on Monday. Humid air is rapidly allowing bacteria to grow in the famous Chinchorro mummies, and their skin is going black …
The Cauvery delta encompasses legendary farmlands for at least over the last 2300 years BP that had supported the growth of the famous Chola and Pandya kingdoms. The chrono-stratigraphic study from six sediment cores taken from the Cauvery basin indicates Holocene evolution of the present delta in response to past …
