Mammoth artefacts from David Attenborough documentary on display
"It's been an amazing achievement," said Sally Hollingworth, who led the project with her husband Dr Neil Hollingworth.Mrs Hollingworth explained how the dig began in 2017 when she found spotted a Neanderthal hand axe."That's what led to the Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard documentary," she said.The site is believed to date back to 220,000 years ago."The finds that were from the site were truly unique," said Dr Hollingworth."It's an internationally important location, because there's very few locations around where you'll find Neanderthal stone tools mixed up with mammoth bones and ice age animals."Mrs Hollingworth explained the site also has fossils and ammonites from the Middle Jurassic Period, dating back 167 million years.
The dig involved experts, volunteers and students from 20 universities from across the country, with most of them camping at the site."We managed to get material from the quarry floor to museum display within six months - that's pretty unique in the palaeontology world," said Mrs Hollingworth.Dr Hollingworth described the dig as a "brilliant piece of co-operative work" and said it often takes years for finds like these to go on display.Following the exhibition, the Hollingworths plan for the fossils to tour around other museums in the south west.The longer-term plan is to build a new biodiversity centre in the Cotswolds Lake area, keeping the fossils local to the area.
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Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Parts of David Attenborough's latest series filmed in fish tank, BBC admits
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Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Daily Mail
VERY fishy behaviour! Parts of Sir David Attenborough's latest series Parenthood are filmed in a TANK, BBC admit
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Scottish Sun
28-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
Horrifying ancient meal loved by Neanderthals is a dieter's dream – but would YOU eat sickening dish?
Similar to the historical diets of some indigenous communities, Neanderthals too may have dined on decaying meat FORK-ET THAT! Horrifying ancient meal loved by Neanderthals is a dieter's dream – but would YOU eat sickening dish? Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NEANDERTHALS may have feasted on maggot-infested meat as a core part of their diet, according to a new study. But the pungent delicacy was more than simply "starvation rations", said Melanie Beasley, assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, Indiana. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Research from Beasley and her team suggests that Neanderthals had a hidden delicacy: maggots Credit: Getty A number of Indigenous communities have viewed putrefied - or fermented - meat as highly desirable. It is easier to digest, meaning the body can better and more quickly absorb nutrients without cooking. Experts have long known that Neanderthals - our extinct human ancestor - were omnivores, eating meat and vegetables like most modern people. But chemical signatures found in Neanderthal remains suggest they ate as much meat as lions. Analysis of their bones found too much nitrogen than what a classic omnivore would have. But hominins simply cannot tolerate eating the high levels of protein that large predators can. When humans eat as much protein as Earth's apex predators – or hypercarnivores – over long periods of time, without consuming enough other nutrients they can develop protein poisoning. Also known as "rabbit starvation", protein poisoning can lead to malnutrition and death. Research from Beasley and her team suggests that Neanderthals had a hidden delicacy: maggots. Similar to the historical diets of some indigenous communities, Neanderthals too may have dined on decaying meat. Stunningly lifelike face of 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman in her 40s recreated after 'best-preserved' skull found It is this that would have boosted their internal nitrogen levels to hypercarnivore-levels, according to the study. Maggots, which are fly larvae, can be a fat-rich source of food. They are unavoidable after you kill another animal, easily collectible in large numbers and nutritionally beneficial. Melanie Beasley, assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, Indiana "We suspected that maggots could have been a different potential source of enriched nitrogen-15 in the Neanderthal diet," Beasley explained in a recent article published in The Conversation. "Maggots, which are fly larvae, can be a fat-rich source of food. "They are unavoidable after you kill another animal, easily collectible in large numbers and nutritionally beneficial." Beasley and her colleagues used data from a forensic anthropology project focused on how nitrogen might help estimate time since death to investigate the possibility. "I had originally collected modern muscle tissue samples and associated maggots at the Forensic Anthropology Center at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to understand how nitrogen values change during decomposition after death," she said. "While the data can assist modern forensic death investigations, in our current study we repurposed it to test a very different hypothesis. "We found that stable nitrogen isotope values increase modestly as muscle tissue decomposes, ranging from -0.6 permil to 7.7 permil." The researchers found that maggots found in dried, frozen or cached animal foods would have inflated the nitrogen levels in ancient humans during the Late Pleistocene era. Research shows that [nitrogen-15] values are higher for cooked foods, putrid muscle tissue from terrestrial and aquatic species, and, with our study, for fly larvae feeding on decaying tissue. "Neanderthals' cultural practices, similar to those of Indigenous peoples, might be the answer to the mystery of their high [nitrogen-15] values. "Ancient hominins were butchering, storing, preserving, cooking and cultivating a variety of items. "All these practices enriched their paleo menu with foods in forms that nonhominin carnivores do not consume. "Research shows that [nitrogen-15] values are higher for cooked foods, putrid muscle tissue from terrestrial and aquatic species, and, with our study, for fly larvae feeding on decaying tissue." Although maggots may not solely explain the lion-like nitrogen levels in Neanderthals, according to the researchers. It is still unclear how many maggots an ancient human would need to eat to account for so much nitrogen. More research is needed on changes in nitrogen-15 values of foods processed, stored and cooked following Indigenous traditional practices to "help us better understand the dietary practices of our ancient relatives," said Beasley.
