World's oldest purse may have been found in Germany

[National Geographic]  Excavators at a site near Leipzig (map) uncovered more than a hundred dog teeth arranged close together in a grave dated to between 2,500 and 2,200 B.C. According to archaeologist Susanne Friederich, the teeth were likely decorations for the outer flap of a handbag."Over the years the leather or fabric disappeared, and all that's left is the teeth. They're all pointing in the same direction, so it looks a lot like a modern handbag flap," said Friederich, of the Sachsen-Anhalt State Archaeology and Preservation Office.

Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded

[BBC]  One of the strongest lines of evidence that dinosaurs were cold-blooded, like modern reptiles, has been knocked down. The idea that dinosaurs are cold-blooded, or ectothermic, goes back to the 19th Century. But a number of discoveries 1960s have been challenging that notion.

Early humans shared the Earth with a winged and toothed giant

[Brisbane Times]  The ancient feathered creatures, known as bony-toothed birds for the sharp, teeth-like serrations along their beak, were the largest flying animal to exist on Earth after the extinction of pterosaurs, a flying reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.''The wing span of these birds was as great as the height of a giraffe,'' Dr Fitzgerald said.

Some Prehumans Feasted on Bark Instead of Grasses

[NY Times]  Almost two million years after their last meals, two members of a prehuman species in southern Africa left traces in their teeth of what they had eaten then, as well as over a lifetime of foraging. Scientists were surprised to find that these hominins apparently lived almost exclusively on a diet of leaves, fruits, wood and bark.

Astronomers may have discovered the oldest galaxy in the universe

[io9]  The galaxy's "oldest-ever" status ultimately boils down to whether other recent discoveries are as accurate as claimed. In 2010, French astronomers used Hubble Telescope to observe a galaxy they determined to be 13.1 billion light years away. Last year, a team of California astronomers used Hubble again to obseve a galaxy said to be 13.2 billion light years away. But these findings have yet to be verified to many researchers' satisfaction.

Remains of five Ice Age mammoths discovered at Serbian coal mine

[Scotsman]  Serbian archaeologists have discovered a rare mammoth field containing the remains of at least five of the giant beasts that lived tens of thousands of years ago. The discovery at the Kostolac coal mine, east of the Serbian capital of Belgrade, is the first of its kind in the region. It could offer important insight into the Ice Age in the Balkans

Asia's oldest known farming site discovered

[Washington Post]  On South Korea’s east coast, the site may be up to 5,600 years old. That’s more than 2,000 years older than what is now the second-oldest known site, which also is in South Korea.

16th Century Treasure Trove Found on Danish island

[Naharnet]  Some 400 coins had been recovered but many more are expected to be unearthed from the field where an unnamed man found them using a metal detector.The find has been dated back to the time of the so-called Count's Feud which took place between 1534 and 1536. The Feud was named after Count Christopher of Oldenburg, who sparked a civil war over who should be king of Denmark.The museum says it expects the Moen trove will be larger and more important than the last major find, of 1,545 coins in 1927.

Why was Ancient Roman jewelry in a 5th century Japanese tomb?

[The Japan Daily Press]  This discovery opens up a whole new set of questions on the influence of the Roman Empire and its extent.

Mysterious 10,000-year-old ruins found in Syrian desert

[Fox News]  Bits of tools Mason found nearby suggest the mystery he discovered in the desert...may date to the Neolithic Period or early Bronze Age, 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Gazette said. Egypt’s oldest pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was built about 4,500 years ago.

Prehistoric 'giant wombats' discovered

[UPI]  Remains of about 50 diprotodons, the largest marsupial that ever lived, were found in Queensland and are believed to be between 100,000 and 200,000 years old, researchers said.

Early Theater of Shakespeare Is Unearthed in London

[NY Times]  Archaeologists who delved into the dirt in London have found what they say is a momentous site from that playwright’s career: the theater where Shakespeare plays, including “Romeo and Juliet” and possibly “Henry V,” were originally performed.

New evidence tells of Amelia Earhart's last days on a Pacific atoll

[Christian Science Monitor]  The tale hints at lost opportunities to locate and rescue the pair in the first crucial days after they went down, vital information dismissed as inconsequential or a hoax, the failure to connect important dots regarding physical evidence

Mysterious underwater structure found in Wales

[Live Science]  The strange ruin, its discoverers say, is unlike anything found before in the United Kingdom and possibly all of Europe.

First Americans may have been Alaska beachcombers

[Alaska Dispatch]  The massive glaciers of the last ice age retreated from an island off the Alaska Peninsula much earlier than once thought, suggesting that people could have been migrating along Alaska’s ice-free southern coast for millennia before any corridor opened over land. The findings — based partly on analysis of ancient pollen in lake sediments on Sanak Island — offers dramatic indirect support for a controversial theory that North America was settled by sea and not by land.

Stonehenge built as monument to unify the peoples of Britain?

[University of Sheffield]  Its stones are thought to have symbolized the ancestors of different groups of earliest farming communities in Britain, with some stones coming from southern England and others from west Wales, according to research just concluded.

Welsh people could be most ancient in UK

[BBC]  Research suggests the Welsh are genetically distinct from the rest of mainland Britain.
Professor Peter Donnelly, of Oxford University, said the Welsh carry DNA which could be traced back to the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago.

Bones found under a church floor in Bulgaria may be of John the Baptist

[Science News] In a separate study, another Oxford researcher Dr Georges Kazan has used historical documents to show that in the latter part of the fourth century, monks had taken relics of John the Baptist out of Jerusalem and these included portions of skull. These relics were soon summoned to Constantinople by the Roman Emperor who built a church to house them there.

Ancient Rome Mystery Solved

[PhysOrg]  In ancient Roman times A.D., Palmyra was the most important point along the trade route linking the east and west, reaching a population of 100 000 inhabitants. But its history has always been shrouded in mystery: What was a city that size doing in the middle of the desert? How could so many people live in such an inhospitable place nearly 2 000 years ago? Where did their food come from? And why would such an important trade route pass directly through the desert?

Neanderthals May Have Been First Cave Painters

[Si-News] The practice of cave art in Europe began up to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, a new uranium-series dating study has revealed. The study has also suggested that Iberian cave paintings were created either by the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or, perhaps, by Neanderthals.