Archaeologists discover 3,500-year-old city in Peru
Drone footage released by researchers shows a circular structure on a hillside terrace at the city's centre, surrounded by the remains of stone and mud buildings. Eight years of research at the site unearthed 18 structures, including ceremonial temples and residential complexes.In buildings at the site, researchers discovered ceremonial objects, clay sculptures of human and animal figures and necklaces made from beads and seashells.Peñico is situated close to where Caral, recognised as the oldest known civilisation in the Americas, was established 5,000 years ago at around 3,000 BC in the Supe valley of Peru. Caral features 32 monuments, including large pyramid structures, sophisticated irrigation agriculture and urban settlements. It is believed to have developed in isolation to other comparative early civilisations in India, Egypt, Sumeria and China.Dr Ruth Shady, the archaeologist who led the recent research into Peñico and the excavation of Caral in the 1990s, said that the discovery was important for understanding what became of the Caral civilisation after it was decimated by climate change.The Peñico community was "situated in a strategic location for trade, for exchange with societies from the coast, the highlands and the jungle", Dr Shady told the Reuters news agency.At a news conference unveiling the findings on Thursday, archaeologist Marco Machacuay, a researcher with the Ministry of Culture, said that Peñico's significance lies in it being a continuation of the Caral society.Peru is home to many of the Americas' most significant archaeological discoveries, including the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Andes and the mysterious Nazca Lines etched into the desert along the central coast.
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Some babies really are born fussy, expert reveals - and there's not much parents can do about it
If you've ever wondered why your newborn seems hardwired to cry for hours while your friend's baby settles easily, new research suggests the answer might lie in their genes. Researchers have discovered that DNA accounts for a large portion of how much babies cry and how easily they calm down. The findings might provide some reassurance for exhausted families, who feel like they've tried everything to get their youngster to settle. However, it suggests that not much can be done to combat the issue. The team, from Uppsala University in Sweden, tracked 998 twins at two months and five months old. By comparing identical twins, who share 100 per cent of their DNA, with fraternal twins, who share around half of their DNA, they were able to separate genetic influences from environmental ones. The researchers asked parents questions about the children's sleep, crying and ability to settle. Their analysis, published in the journal JCPP Advances, revealed that at the age of five months genetic factors explained up to 70 per cent of the differences in crying duration among babies. Dr Charlotte Viktorsson, postdoctoral fellow in psychology and lead author of the study, said: 'What we found was that crying is largely genetically determined. 'At the age of two months, the children's genetics explain about 50 per cent of how much they cry. At five months of age, genetics explain up to 70 per cent of the variation. 'For parents, it may be a comfort to know that their child's crying is largely explained by genetics, and that they themselves have limited options to influence how much their child cries.' The study found a baby's ability to settle down was also largely determined by their DNA, accounting for up to 67 per cent of the variation between infants. 'How rapidly the infant settled was primarily due to the environment at two months of age, but by five months their genetics had gained some significance,' Dr Viktorsson explained. 'This reflects the rapid development that occurs in infants, and may indicate that parents' efforts in getting their child to settle may have the greatest impact in the first months.' However, genetics played less of a role when it came to how many times the children woke up during the night. This was mainly influenced by environmental factors, they discovered, such as sleep routines and the environment in which the child sleeps. Researchers from the RIKEN Centre for Brain Science in Japan claim that the trick to soothe a crying infant is carrying them in your arms for five minutes, then sitting with them in your arms for five to eight minutes, before placing them in their crib A study has previously claimed to have the 'recipe' to lull a baby to sleep - and it's surprisingly simple. From offering a pacifier to desperately singing lullabies, most exhausted parents will go to any lengths to get their baby to stop crying. But researchers from the RIKEN Centre for Brain Science in Japan claim that the trick to soothe a crying infant is to carry them in your arms for five minutes, then sit with them in your arms for five to eight minutes, before placing them in their cot. The team hopes the method will provide an immediate solution for crying infants, although they're unsure whether it will improve sleep in the long-term.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shortest day in history set for TOMORROW as Earth's rotation unexpectedly speeds up
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Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Archaeologists make surprising discovery at Easter Island - turning everything we know on its head
There's no doubt Easter Island is geographically one of the most isolated places on Earth. More than 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile, it was first settled by humans around AD 1200, who built its famous enlarged head statues. Historically, the original inhabitants, known as the Rapa Nui, were assumed to have long been completely shut off from the wider world. However, a new study by researchers in Sweden challenges this long-held narrative. They say the 63.2 sq mile island in the southern Pacific was not quite as isolated over the past 800 years as previously thought. In fact, the island was populated with multiple waves of new inhabitants who bravely traversed the Pacific Ocean from west to east. 'Easter Island was settled from central East Polynesia around AD 1200-1250,' study author Professor Paul Wallin at Uppsala University told MailOnline. 'The Polynesians were skilled sailors so double canoes were used.' Due to its remote location, Easter Island is traditionally assumed to have remained socially and culturally isolated from the wider Pacific world. This idea is reinforced by the fact that Easter Island's famous Moai statues, estimated to have been built between AD 1250 and 1500, are unique to the location. The huge human figures carved from volcanic rock were placed on rectangular stone platforms called 'ahu' – essentially tombs for the people that the statues represented. For their study, the team at Uppsala University compared archaeological data and radiocarbon dates from settlements, ritual spaces and monuments across Polynesia, the collection of more than 1,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Their results, published in the journal Antiquity, show that similar ritual practices and monumental structures have been observed across Polynesia. The experts point out that ahu stone platforms were historically constructed at Polynesian islands further to the west. These rectangular clearings were communal ritual spaces that, in some places, remain sacred to this day. 'The temple grounds ahu [also known as marae] exist on all East Polynesian islands,' Professor Wallin added. EASTER ISLAND TIMELINE 13th century: Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is settled by Polynesian seafarers. Construction on some parts of the island's monuments begins. Early 14th to mid-15th centuries: Rapid increase in construction 1600: The date that was long-thought to mark the decline of Easter Island culture. Construction was ongoing. 1770: Spanish seafarers landed on the island. The island is in good working order. 1722: Dutch seafarers land on the island for the first time. Monuments were in use for rituals and showed no evidence of societal decay. 1774: British explorer James Cook arrives on Rapa Nui His crew described an island in crisis, with overturned monuments. The team agree that an early population of people spread from the west of the Pacific to the east before encountering Easter Island and populating it around AD 1200. But they argue that Easter Island was populated several times by new seafarers – not just once by one group who remains isolated for centuries as previously assumed. 'The migration process from West Polynesian core areas such as Tonga and Samoa to East Polynesia is not disputed here,' they say in their paper. 'Still, the static west-to-east colonization and dispersal suggested for East Polynesia and the idea that Rapa Nui was only colonized once in the past and developed in isolation is challenged.' Based on their evidence, they also think ahu originated on Easter Island before the trend spread east to west across other western Polynesian islands during the period of AD 1300-1600. It was only after this that Polynesian islands – including but not limited to Easter Island – might have become isolated from each other. As hierarchical social structures developed independently – at Easter Island, Tahiti and Hawai'i for example – large, monumental structures were built to display power. Overall, the study indicates there were robust 'interaction networks' between Polynesian islands, which allowed the transfer of new ideas from east to west and back again. Ultimately, arrival of European explorers at Easter Island in the 18th century led to a rapid decline of the population, brought on by murder, bloody conflict and the brutal slave trade – although the population there may have already been weakening. Today, Easter Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with only a few thousand inhabitants. But it attracts large numbers of tourists, largely thanks to its monumental and world-famous stone statues that stare sternly out over the island. Tourism, which has grown exponentially on the island over the last 20 years, has come at a price, according to co-author Professor Helene Martinsson-Wallin. 'When I was there in the 1980s, the sandy beach was white and there were almost no people around,' she said. 'When I came back in the early 00s, I thought the sand looked blue, and when I looked closer I saw that it was due to tiny, tiny pieces of plastic washed up by the sea from every corner of the Earth.' WHAT ARE THE STATUES ON EASTER ISLAND AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN? What are the statues? The Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, between 1,250 and 1,500 AD. All the figures have overly-large heads and are thought to be living faces of deified ancestors. The 887 statues gaze inland across the island with an average height of 13ft (four metres). Nobody really knows how the colossal stone statues that guard Easter Island were moved into position. Nor why during the decades following the island's discovery by Dutch explorers in 1722, each statue was systematically toppled, or how the population of Rapa Nui islanders was decimated. Shrouded in mystery, this tiny triangular landmass, stranded in the middle of the South Pacific and 1,289 miles from its nearest neighbour, has been the subject of endless books, articles and scientific theories. All but 53 of the Moai were carved from tuff , compressed volcanic ash, and around 100 wear red pukao of scoria. What do they mean? In 1979 archaeologists said the statues were designed to hold coral eyes. The figures are believed to be symbol of authority and power. They may have embodied former chiefs and were repositories of spirits or 'mana'. They are positioned so that ancient ancestors watch over the villages, while seven look out to sea to help travellers find land. But it is a mystery as to how the vast carved stones were transported into position. In their remote location off the coast of Chile, the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island were believed to have been wiped out by bloody warfare, as they fought over the island's dwindling resources. All they left behind were the iconic giant stone heads and an island littered with sharp triangles of volcanic glass, which some archaeologists have long believed were used as weapons.
