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Putting the past together can be a complicated puzzle.
Individual clues are collected to glimpse a person’s life or paint a broader portrait of a distant civilization.
While analysis of DNA is one factor, archaeologists have relied on other clues to gain insight, such as grave goods. Whether the true meaning of these objects can ever be deciphered, they often symbolize that of an individual social status, the role that person played, or resources deemed necessary for the afterlife.
European archaeologists made a “spectacular” find in 2008 of a tomb near Seville, Spain, that belonged to an ancient individual of great importance.
New research has just revealed that the discovery was even more unexpected than they realized.
We are family
The 5,000-year-old skeleton discovered in Spain was buried with the crystal dagger shown above and other valuables. But the individual, initially called the “Ivory Man,” is actually the “Ivory Lady.”
A new method that involves analyzing tooth enamel was used to confirm that the skeleton belonged to a woman, and it has changed the way scientists interpret the whole site.
The Ivory Lady, who may have held a leading role, was likely revered by her society for generations after her death. Graves spanning 200 years after her death surround the woman’s grave.
“She must have been (a) very charismatic person. She probably traveled or had connections with people from distant lands,” says archaeologist Leonardo García Sanjuán, professor of prehistory at the University of Seville.
Other worlds
When SpaceX launched Starship in April, the most powerful rocket ever built made its mark at Boca Chica State Park in Texas.
As Starship’s engines sprang to life for liftoff, they destroyed the launch pad and sent tangled rebar, chunks of concrete, and other debris through the protected wilderness.
The park is home to birds such as snowplovers, a species that experts say declined when SpaceX began testing and launching from the site five years ago.
Now the plovers nest in the rubble hundreds of feet away from the site of a future launch – or so some scientists and conservationists believe proximity to the launch site just one part of a growing list of concerns for both wildlife and local residents.
Wild kingdom
The cheerful squawks of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were once carried through the rainforests of Indonesia until tens of thousands of birds were poached from the wild to be kept as pets in the 20th century.
Only about 2,000 of the critically endangered birds remain – and 10% of them have taken up residence in an unlikely place: bustling Hong Kong.
The city’s wild cockatoo population likely arose from captive birds being released or escaped. And the talkative, adaptable survivors in the urban jungle are growing in number, away from the threats they faced in Indonesia.
Ocean Secrets
At first glance, one of the largest marine animals that roamed the seas 508 million years ago looks like a terrifying predator. But the shrimp-like creature called Anomalocaris canadensis can simply be misunderstood.
Scientists made a 3D reconstruction of the animal, which had an armored mouth, to see how it hunted.
While the researchers determined that the “soft and squishy” creature was probably incapable of eating hard prey like trilobites, the team found out how Anomalocaris actually used the spiky appendages that sprouted from its head.
About 20 million years ago, the colossal apex predator megalodon, a type of megatoothed shark, emerged as a veritable te
rror of the ancient seas. Scientists have now discovered a surprising reason that may have caused its extinction.
Defy gravity
When the Ingenuity helicopter took off for its 52nd Mars flight in April, the tiny helicopter didn’t call home to let NASA know it had landed safely. The silence lasted 63 days.
As Ingenuity and the Perseverance rover begin to explore more challenging terrain, obstacles can block communication between the two – and Perseverance is the only one that can “call” Earth.
Perseverance took off, and when the rover climbed a hill in late June, it spotted Ingenuity sitting safely on its newest airfield.
Meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope turned its infrared gaze to Saturn and captured a new image showing the cosmic glow of its signature rings.
Explorations
Don’t miss these stories:
— Earth reached the highest temperature on Earth this week, and experts warn that the record is likely to be broken several more times this year.
– Like humans, snakes can keep each other calm and even help each other lower their heart rate during stressful situations, according to a new study.
— Doodles drawn in a prayer book were left by Henry VIII, and the scholar who saw them believes the markings reveal telling insights into the infamous English king’s inner life.
— Luminous celestial bodies called quasars helped astronomers determine that time moved in slow motion in the early days of the universe.
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