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Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
New dog-sized dinosaur identified after fossil mix-up
(NewsNation) — A new species of dinosaur the size of a Labrador retriever has been identified after scientists managed to untangle a fossil mix-up. Incomplete fossil remains of the newly named enigmacursor mollyborthwickae were initially discovered in modern-day Colorado in 2021-22 but were misclassified by scientists as being the remains of a nanosaurus. In a newly published report, scientists behind the discovery note that the small herbivore was about 3 feet long, with its tail making up about half of its length. Dinosaurs didn't roar like in the movies. Here's how they sounded According to the museum, the name enigmacursor roughly translates to 'puzzle runner' in Latin. Despite its small stature, this two-legged dinosaur had long legs, which allowed it to quickly move away from predators. 'We can speculate that Enigmacursor probably wasn't that old, as it doesn't seem to have many of its neural arches fused in place. However, the way the fossil was prepared before it was acquired by the Natural History Museum has obscured some of these details, so we can't be certain,' Paul Barrett, co-lead author, said. New 2-clawed dinosaur discovered in Mongolia The remains, which date back to roughly 150 million years ago, are now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, marking the museum's first new dinosaur on display since 2014. Unearthed from the Morrison Formation of the Western United States, the dinosaur is said to have roamed the same region as dinosaurs like the stegosaurus and diplodocus. 'While the Morrison Formation has been well-known for a long time, most of the focus has been on searching for the biggest and most impressive dinosaurs,' professor Susannah Maidment, co-lead author of the report, told the museum. 'Engimacusor shows that there's still plenty to discover in even this well-studied region and highlights just how important it is to not take historic assumptions about dinosaurs at face value.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
National Geographic
18 hours ago
- General
- National Geographic
These treasures changed everything we thought we knew about the Celts
A warrior people Two horsemen face off and another combatant bears a large shield on this fifth-century B.C. bronze belt clasp found at Vače, Slovenia (Natural History Museum, Vienna). During the Iron Age (circa 1200-500 B.C.), a large swath of non-Mediterranean Europe was occupied by a people who became known for their craftsmanship, religion, and warfare. Different groups, now known collectively as Celts, spoke languages belonging to the Celtic family and shared a common ideological framework reflected in a series of divinities they worshipped in religious festivities. The Romans built up a stereotype of the Celts and other enemies, like the Germanic peoples, as barbarians. They caricatured them as blond, white-skinned giants from the north with a primitive tendency for drunkenness and violence. This cliché helped condition how researchers regarded the Celts. But in recent decades, new readings of the classical sources and some fascinating archaeological discoveries have overturned the stereotype of the Celts as primitive. New findings show that the Celtic culture was in fact a complex and refined civilization with various art styles, architecture, religious customs, technology, and social structures. In terms of urban planning and metallurgy, there were similarities with the Greco-Roman world. And like many other ancient peoples, the Celts had a culture that was both influenced and influential. The vast territories of Celtica, where the Celts lived, stretched from Ireland to the Balkans and into the Iberian Peninsula. The different Celtic groups were highly fragmented politically, and it's virtually certain they didn't consider themselves a single people, although there were common features. In fact, some scholars have debated the continued use of the term Celt, believing it might be insufficient in describing the diversity among these groups, especially over different time periods. Gauls, Celtiberians, Britons, and many others were included in this classification. (Cults, curses, and magic: This surprising European city has ancient links to Halloween) However, all the Celtic societies were hierarchical, with a ruling aristocratic minority. Most of the working majority were dedicated to agriculture, but there were also artists and merchants. Celtic nobles distinguished themselves by their military prowess. At first, in the Hallstatt culture, considered the proto-Celtic era, these nobles were also set apart by their access to luxury goods of Mediterranean origin that they obtained through trade. This is evidenced by treasures discovered in the royal tombs of Hochdorf and Hohmichele, two Hallstatt settlements. During this period, an initial phase of urbanism developed with the appearance of settlements such as Heuneburg and Hohenasperg, which, with their protective walls, distinct neighborhoods, and public spaces, closely resembled cities. Marked by war These urban centers were abandoned during the fifth century B.C., with the transition from the Hallstatt to the La Tène culture. The shift is often attributed to a decline in natural resources, including salt production, a change in trading opportunities, and a wealth disparity among settlements. Celtic society took on a more rural character, with people dispersed among scattered farmsteads, each inhabited by a few families. Many early La Tène sites were near rivers. Magazine for all ages starting at $25/year At the same time, the Celtic aristocracy accentuated its warlike character. It was then that the Celts burst onto the scene in the written sources of the Greco-Roman world through their dazzling military expansion—often in conflicts against Rome. The most dramatic moments were the Sack of Rome by the Gauls (390 B.C.) and the attack on the famous Greek sanctuary of Delphi (279 B.C.). In addition to participating in such sacking expeditions, many Celtic warriors joined the Hellenistic armies of the time as mercenaries. An image of the Celts as ferocious barbarians was seared into the collective consciousness of the Greeks and Romans. During this period, the Celts were also engaged in full-scale migrations in which entire groups of families settled new territory. Celtic populations established themselves in areas of the Danube Valley, the northern Balkans, and even outside Europe, in the Anatolian Peninsula. There's clear evidence from this period to show that Celtic culture, like that in much of the ancient world, was based on honor and status. A key element was the establishment of relationships between a powerful individual, the patron, and an individual subordinate to him, the client. This unequal relationship implied obligations on both sides: While the patron granted his client protection and ceded land, the client pledged to obey the patron and serve in his army. These clientelistic networks allowed aristocrats to accumulate entourages of hundreds, even thousands, of followers. From the second century B.C. onward, the expansionist trend of the previous two centuries was reversed as the territories of Celtic Europe began to fall one after the other, subdued by the aggressive Roman Republic. The collapse started with the Celts of Hispania; only Ireland and Scotland escaped a Roman takeover. But it would be a mistake to interpret this final phase of Celtic civilization as a period of decline. On the contrary, a last burst of urban development occurred, and dozens of fortified urban centers, called oppida, were built. Atop Mount Ipf, around 100 miles northwest of Munich in southern Germany, the local Celtic community built an oppidum, a fortified enclave that flourished at the beginning of the La Tène period, in the fifth century B.C. This photograph shows the modern reconstruction of its walls. BERTHOLD STEINHILBER/LAIF/CORDON PRESS This urban growth was based on a strong development of economic activities, such as agriculture, handicraft production, and trade. The population was likely also growing at this time. Ongoing discoveries of artifacts has painted a more informative picture for scholars about Celtic culture and practices outside of the classical sources. Given this rich history, it's fascinating to wonder what would have happened to the Celtic civilization if Roman expansion hadn't stopped it in its tracks. The Celtic art of warfare From the fifth century B.C. onward, the dominant Celtic culture that archaeologists call Hallstatt evolved into the more aristocratic warrior society known as La Tène, heavily influenced by Greek and Etruscan styles. The weaponry of the Celtic warriors became established in this period: a double-edged iron sword, iron-tipped spears, and an oval wooden shield. Aristocratic warriors of the period also carried defensive equipment, such as helmets and armor. The warrior sculpture known as the Prince of Glauberg wears armor similar to the Greek linothorax, made of hardened linen or leather. The Prince of Glauberg wearing a crown of leaves, a necklace, a cuirass, a ring, two bracelets, a shield, and a sword. The figure, carved in sandstone, stands over six feet tall and weighs more than 500 pounds. It was found next to a burial mound from the fifth century B.C. Museum of the Celtic World, Glauberg, Germany. Iron helmet found in the tomb of a third-century B.C. chief in the Romanian necropolis of Ciumești. It's 16.5 inches tall and topped by a bronze bird of prey with movable wings. National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest. Battersea shield made of bronze. It's decorated with appliqués and red enamel inlays. It measures 30.7 inches high. Third to first century B.C. British Museum, London. Bronze carnyx, a wind instrument. Topped with a stylized boar's head, it stands almost six feet high and was found at Tintignac, France. INRAP, Paris. In the third century B.C., the first chain mail was developed, a Celtic innovation that the Romans would copy. Influenced by Mediterranean cultures, Celtic fighters evolved from warrior bands into armies. Their orders were produced by the war horns, or carnyxes, whose sound was intended to subdue the enemy. For the Celts, warfare was a heavily ritualized activity, involving the performance of ceremonies before battle and often the ritual offering of some of the loot and sacrificing of captives after the combat was over. The horse in the Celtic world Although horses were valued as military and status symbols across Celtic societies, they were rarely part of agricultural work. The harnesses used in the Iron Age lacked a collar to spread weight to the horse's neck and shoulders; without such a collar, the animal's windpipe became compressed when pulling a plow and limited the weight it could drag. Untainted by rural toil and costly to maintain, horses became the animal par excellence of aristocrats. They played a prominent role in warfare, at first to pull light war chariots. Normally a pair of animals was used for each chariot, and in the fourth century B.C. full cavalry units appeared. A parade of horsemen on the side of the Gundestrup Cauldron, a ceremonial vessel composed of 13 silver plates from the first century B.C. to the first century A.D. National Museum of Denmark. Copper-alloy mount evoking a horse's head. It was found with other pieces of chariot tack at Melsonby, England. British Museum, London. BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE In time, the Celts would become renowned as horsemen throughout the ancient world, especially among the Romans, who often employed them as mercenaries to bolster their mounted forces. In the Celtic world, the value of the horse was not limited to the pragmatic: It also held religious significance. The Gauls recognized a horse divinity called Epona, whose cult spread throughout the Roman Empire. The Irish Celts had a war goddess called Macha, who was linked with horses. Sculptural reliefs, including those found at the Celtic sanctuaries of Roquepertuse and Nages in southern Gaul, depict the horse as a psychopomp, responsible for leading the souls of the deceased into the afterlife. Bronze model of a cart. Found in Spain, it carries a horseman accompanied by a dog, hunting a wild boar. Second-century B.C. National Museum of Archaeology, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. For the Celts, hunting was not only a means of acquiring food but also an eminently aristocratic activity. It was often practiced on horseback and could be dangerous. Hunting thus represented excellent training for war as well as a chance for participants to show off. The most common quarry was wild boar, an animal that for the Celts symbolized both war and hospitality. Red deer, roe deer, and fallow deer were also hunted, in addition to foxes and wolves. Classical authors reported that trained hunting dogs were involved: According to the geographer Strabo, hunting dogs bred in Britain were exported to Rome. Jewelry in life and the afterlife As in most societies, the Celtic aristocracy used the ownership and display of jewelry to proclaim and advance their privileged position in the hierarchy. Among the Celts, the custom of burying the deceased with grave goods was widespread, and ornaments occupied a preferential place. Archaeologists have found a large number of luxury items, both personal jewelry and ornaments for horse harnesses, inside burials. These pieces were appreciated for their materials—precious metals including silver and gold—and for the excellence of the craftsmanship. One piece of jewelry most associated with the Celts is the torque. This type of necklace, which can take many different forms, was worn by other peoples as well, such as the Thracians and Scythians. Back of the bronze Desborough Mirror (13.8 inches long), decorated with continuous curvilinear forms drawn using a compass. British Museum, London. BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE Gold torque or necklace made of twisted wires, with solid ring-shaped finials decorated with reliefs. It was discovered in Snettisham, England. British Museum, London. The Roman army gave torques to reward their soldiers, although in this case they were not worn around the neck, but on the armor. The torque was a symbol of authority and prestige and was worn by members of the nobility. It also appears in representations of divinities. A clear example of this appears on the famous Gundestrup Cauldron, where the horned god Cernunnos tames a snake in one hand, while holding a torque in the other. Other types of grave goods typically found in aristocratic Celtic burials were phalerae (decorative disks for horses' harnesses), fibulae (pins for fastening clothes), and mirrors. Banqueting played a fundamental part in Celtic life; it enabled aristocratic guests and their followers to socialize, and aristocratic hosts to flaunt their wealth. The position occupied by participants and the amount of meat they received were determined by their social status. The banquet reinforced hierarchies while confirming and strengthening existing relationships. In return for the generosity of the hosts, the bards (poet-singers) would laud their virtues. Drinking horn decorated with embossed gold leaf and finished with a ram's head found in the Kleinaspergle burial mound. Fifth century B.C. Clay dish painted and incised with geometric motifs. From a burial mound in Gomadingen (Germany). Württemberg State Museum, Stuttgart. Irish literary sources explain that the banqueters faced each other in duels of eloquence in which they defended their respective merits. The champion received the best cut of the cooked animal, which was usually a pig. The Story of Mac Da Thó's Pig, a ninth-century Irish tale, is likely influenced by this older Celtic tradition. It describes a banquet between the men of Ulster and Connacht, who are competing for a prize, a colossal pig that has been fattened for seven years. Like the pig, the banquet contest is larger than life, involving a huge cast and spreading across large areas of Ireland. A banquet also had a clear symbolic meaning in Celtic beliefs: The inclusion of banquetware among grave goods reflects the idea that through funeral rites, the deceased was led to a supreme banquet in the company of heroes and gods. Druids, gods, and severed heads Throughout Europe, Celtic culture was expressed in worship of common gods. The name of the god Lugh or Lugus occurs across the Celtic world; he was of special importance in Irish mythology, and is commemorated in the names of the French city of Lyon and the Spanish city of Lugo. In other cases, equivalent divinities had different names, such as the Gallic god Sucellus and the Irish god Dagda, which were both connected with agriculture and forests. The religion of the Celts was polytheistic and centered on rituals. Classical sources refer to a priestly class in some territories of Celtic Europe, including Gaul and Britannia. These were the famous Druids, an intellectual elite that acted as a repository of tradition and as a a mediator between men and gods. Unluckily for historians, they distrusted written texts and relied on transmitting their knowledge orally. (Why do we know so little about the Druids?) Laminated bronze figure representing a warrior deity found in the area of Saint-Maur-en-Chaussée. First century, Museum of the Oise, Beauvais, France. The god Taranis wields a thunderbolt in his right hand and holds a wheel in his left. Bronze figurine. National Museum of Archaeology, Saint- Germain-en-Laye, France. Two-headed male sculpture, discovered in the Celtic sanctuary of Roquepertuse. Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology, Marseille, France. Archaeologists have located a large number of sites that were originally Druid sanctuaries, such as Gournay-sur-Aronde (France), Emain Macha (Northern Ireland), and Libenice (Czech Republic), piecing together the rituals that took place there from the archaeological finds. These rituals involved sacrificing animals (and in some cases, humans) and exhibiting spoils, such as weapons or severed heads. The decapitation of enemies and the exhibition of skulls are rituals attested to in many places in Celtic Europe. Divinity of Bouray-sur-Juine with eyes inlaid with white and blue enamel was found in its namesake village in France. First to second centuries B.C. National Museum of Archaeology, Saint- Germain-en-Laye, France. One of the most controversial questions related to the Celtic priestly class, the Druids, is whether or not they believed in reincarnation and the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, as some classical authors claimed. Irish and Welsh mythology seems to suggest that the Celts of these territories didn't believe in reincarnation, though they did believe in the immortality of souls. First-century Roman historian Valerius Maximus notes that some Celts, so certain they will see each other again after death, arrange to repay debts in the world to come. This story appeared in the May/June 2025 issue of National Geographic History magazine.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'Zombie' Fungus Caught Bursting From Host Bodies 99 Million Years Ago
Scientists have caught ancient parasitic fungi in the act of bursting from insect hosts, in dramatic scenes frozen in amber. Dating back almost 100 million years, these two specimens are among the oldest evidence of 'zombie' fungus, second only to one early-Cretaceous species discovered back in 2008. Amber forms over millions of years from the sticky resin of trees, and is renowned for the many bizarre, unique, and enlightening moments it has preserved. These two pieces, now in the hands of the London Natural History Museum, include the new fungus species Paleoophiocordyceps gerontoformicae, with its tiny spore stalks sprouting from the body of a pupating ant, and P. ironomyiae, in the form of a singular, phallic fruiting body protruding from a fly's head. Related: These newfound species appear to share traits with living relatives, Ophiocordyceps, that continue to infect insects as a means of spreading their spores. Scientists think the Paleoophiocordyceps species may have separated from Ophiocordyceps around 130 million years ago. "The fossil evidence shows that the infectious fungi were already adapted to two different insect hosts a hundred million years ago, an ant and a true fly," says paleoentomologist Edmund Jarzembowski from the Natural History Museum. "This suggests that the fungus made this jump to other insects as they diversified with the rise of flowering plants and new insect groups, especially moths and butterflies." The research is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 100-Million-Year-Old Rock Reveals 40 Never-Before-Seen Squid Species Sea Slugs Steal Body Parts From Prey to Gain Their Powers Earth Is Pulsing Beneath Africa Where The Crust Is Being Torn Apart
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
Game 'reloots' African artefacts from Western museums
JOHANNESBURG: Under the cover of darkness, Nomali jumped over a wall, burst into a museum and snatched a human skull from a pedestal before escaping through a window to the wail of an alarm. The daring heist was not the work of a real-life criminal. Nomali is the protagonist of a new action-packed video game where players "reclaim" artefacts taken from African countries to be displayed in the West. Developed by Johannesburg studio Nyamakop, "Relooted" is set in an imaginary future but tackles a topical issue: calls for Western institutions to return to Africa the spoils of colonisation. Players are tasked with taking back 70 artefacts – all of which exist in real life – with a "team of African citizens", said producer Sithe Ncube, one of a team of 30 working on the game. The items include the "Benin Bronzes" sculptures removed from the former kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago, and which The Netherlands officially returned to Nigeria on June 21. Another is the sacred Ngadji drum from Kenya's Pokomo community, which was confiscated by British colonial authorities in 1902. "Its removal destabilised the community," Ncube said as an animated drawing of the wooden instrument flashed on her computer. Players "can see where it's from... and read about the history," she said, giving a demo. On the screen a crew of characters in Afrofuturist costumes debated a plan to recover the remains of Tanzanian chiefs hanged by German colonial forces. One asked: "Is it stealing to take back what was stolen?" "We are going to do whatever it takes to take back Africa's belongings, and we are going to do it together," said the character Nomali. "Sometimes the stories behind these (artefacts) are actually very upsetting," Ncube told AFP. "It makes you see how much colonialism has affected... and shaped the world." Growing up in Zambia, she knew of her country's iconic "Broken Hill Man", a skull about 300,000 years old held in London's Natural History Museum and which is also featured in "Relooted." But it was only when working on the game that Ncube realised how many African cultural artefacts were held abroad, she said. In France alone, museums stored about 90,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa, according to a 2018 report commissioned by the government. "Africans, to actually see these things that are part of their own culture, have to get a visa, pay for flights and go to a European country," Ncube said. "My whole life, I've never seen 'Broken Hill Man'." The looting of artefacts over centuries robbed communities of their "archives" and "knowledge systems", said Samba Yonga, co-founder of the digital Museum of Women's History in Zambia. "Our history predates colonisation by millennia," she told AFP, but many people "don't even realise that we have a skewed sense of self and identity." Reclaiming these objects would enable "a shift in how the next generation views their culture and identity," she said. The same hope underpinned "Relooted", which was unveiled this month at Los Angeles' Summer Game Fest where it attracted a lot of interest from the diaspora and other Africans, Ncube said. "I hope that the game encourages people from other African countries to want to tell their own stories and bring these things to light," she said. One character felt personal for the producer: Professor Grace, Nomali's grandmother and described as "the brains behind the mission." "I started seeing my own grandmother in her," Ncube said with emotion. "She represents a connection between our generations, fighting for the same thing we've always been fighting for." - AFP
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Game 'Reloots' African Artefacts From Western Museums
Under the cover of darkness, Nomali jumped over a wall, burst into a museum and snatched a human skull from a pedestal before escaping through a window to the wail of an alarm. The daring heist was not the work of a real-life criminal. Nomali is the protagonist of a new action-packed video game where players "reclaim" artefacts taken from African countries to be displayed in the West. Developed by Johannesburg studio Nyamakop, "Relooted" is set in an imaginary future but tackles a topical issue: calls for Western institutions to return to Africa the spoils of colonisation. Players are tasked with taking back 70 artefacts -- all of which exist in real life -- with a "team of African citizens", said producer Sithe Ncube, one of a team of 30 working on the game. The items include the "Benin Bronzes" sculptures removed from the former kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago, and which The Netherlands officially returned to Nigeria on June 21. Another is the sacred Ngadji drum from Kenya's Pokomo community, which was confiscated by British colonial authorities in 1902. "Its removal destabilised the community," Ncube said as an animated drawing of the wooden instrument flashed on her computer. Players "can see where it's from... and read about the history," she said, giving a demo. On the screen a crew of characters in Afrofuturist costumes debated a plan to recover the remains of Tanzanian chiefs hanged by German colonial forces. One asked: "Is it stealing to take back what was stolen?" "We are going to do whatever it takes to take back Africa's belongings, and we are going to do it together," said the character Nomali. "Sometimes the stories behind these (artefacts) are actually very upsetting," Ncube told AFP. "It makes you see how much colonialism has affected... and shaped the world." Growing up in Zambia, she knew of her country's iconic "Broken Hill Man", a skull about 300,000 years old held in London's Natural History Museum and which is also featured in "Relooted". But it was only when working on the game that Ncube realised how many African cultural artefacts were held abroad, she said. In France alone, museums stored about 90,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa, according to a 2018 report commissioned by the government. "Africans, to actually see these things that are part of their own culture, have to get a visa, pay for flights and go to a European country," Ncube said. "My whole life, I've never seen 'Broken Hill Man'." The looting of artefacts over centuries robbed communities of their "archives" and "knowledge systems", said Samba Yonga, co-founder of the digital Museum of Women's History in Zambia. "Our history predates colonisation by millennia," she told AFP, but many people "don't even realise that we have a skewed sense of self and identity." Reclaiming these objects would enable "a shift in how the next generation views their culture and identity," she said. The same hope underpinned "Relooted", which was unveiled this month at Los Angeles's Summer Game Fest where it attracted a lot of interest from the diaspora and other Africans, Ncube said. "I hope that the game encourages people from other African countries to want to tell their own stories and bring these things to light," she said. One character felt personal for the producer: Professor Grace, Nomali's grandmother and described as "the brains behind the mission". "I started seeing my own grandmother in her," Ncube said with emotion. "She represents a connection between our generations, fighting for the same thing we've always been fighting for." Producer Sithe Ncube says the video game shows how much colonialism shaped African identity AFP The 'Benin Bronzes", which The Netherlands returned to Nigeria on June 21, are among the objects featured in the game AFP
