2009-07-09 – Scoperti i più grandi denti di dinosauro (Spain, biggest dinosaurs teeth)

Scoperti i più grandi denti di dinosauro: misurano 9,83 cm

Misurano 9,83 centimetri di lunghezza  i più grandi denti di un dinosauro carnivoro mai scoperti. Sono  stati rinvenuti in Spagna, nella Arzobispo Formation, da un  gruppo di ricercatori della Teruel-Din¢polis Joint Palaeontology  Foundation e appartenevano a un dinosauro della famiglia degli  Allosauroidi, che comprendeva grandi esemplari che misuravano  fra i sei e i 15 metri.
I dinosauri, spiegano i ricercatori, durante la loro vita  perdevano i denti «da latte» e ne mettevano di nuovi: quello  descritto sulla rivista Estudios Geol¢gicos, sembra un dente  permanente e non da latte perchè non mostra alcun segno di  riassorbimento sulla superficie. Secondo i paleontologi, la  presenza di un grande dinosauro del gruppo Allosauroidea  completa le testimonianze fossili di dinosauri già scoperti  nella medesima formazione in Spagna. In passato, infatti, sono  emersi numerosi fossili (da denti a parti di arti) di dinosauri  vegetariani, come i sauropodi, gli stegosauridi e gli  ornitopodi.

Fonte: Gazzetta di Parma

2009-07-06 – La masticazione degli Adrosauri (chewing of Adrosaurs)

Lo studio al microscopio elettronico delle tracce sui denti di alcuni Adrosauri ne rivelano la complessa tipologia di masticazione.

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Dino tooth sheds new light on ancient riddle

Scientists discover major group of dinosaurs had unique way of eating unlike anything alive today

		IMAGE: These are teeth from the lower jaw of a hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus, showing its multiple rows of leaf-shaped teeth. The worn, chewing surface of the teeth is towards the top.Click here for more information.

Microscopic analysis of scratches on dinosaur teeth has helped scientists unravel an ancient riddle of what a major group of dinosaurs ate- and exactly how they did it!

Now for the first time, a study led by the University of Leicester, has found evidence that the duck-billed dinosaurs- the Hadrosaurs- in fact had a unique way of eating, unlike any living creature today.

Working with researchers from the Natural History Museum, the study uses a new approach to analyse the feeding mechanisms of dinosaurs and understand their place in the ecosystems of tens of millions of years ago. The results are published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Palaeontologist Mark Purnell of the University of Leicester Department of Geology, who led the research, said: “For millions of years, until their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, duck-billed dinosaurs – or hadrosaurs – were the World’s dominant herbivores. They must have been able to break down their food somehow, but without the complex jaw joint of mammals they would not have been able to chew in the same way, and it is difficult to work out how they ate. It is also unclear what they ate: they might have been grazers, cropping vegetation close to the ground – like today’s cows and sheep – or browsers, eating leaves and twigs – more like deer or giraffes. Not knowing the answers to these questions makes it difficult to understand Late Cretaceous ecosystems and how they were affected during the major extinction event 65 million years ago.

		IMAGE: These are teeth from the upper jaw of a hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus. The specimen was molded and coated with gold for examination using a Scanning Electron Microscope to give high power…Click here for more information.

“Our study uses a new approach based on analysis of the microscopic scratches that formed on hadrosaur’s teeth as they fed, tens of millions of years ago. The scratches have been preserved intact since the animals died. They can tell us precisely how hadrosaur jaws moved, and the kind of food these huge herbivores ate, but nobody has tried to analyse them before.”

The researchers say that the scratches reveal that the movements of hadrosaur teeth were complex and involved up and down, sideways and front to back motion. According to Paul Barrett palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum “this shows that hadrosaurs did chew, but in a completely different way to anything alive today. Rather than a flexible lower jaw joint, they had a hinge between the upper jaws and the rest of the skull. As they bit down on their food the upper jaws were forced outwards, flexing along this hinge so that the tooth surfaces slid sideways across each other, grinding and shredding food in the process”.

The scratch patterns provide confirmation of a theory of hadrosaur chewing first proposed 25 years ago, and provides new insights into their ecology, say the researchers.

The research also sheds light on what the dinosaurs ate. Vince Williams of the University of Leicester said: “Although the first grasses had evolved by the Late Cretaceous they were not common and it is most unlikely that grasses formed a major component of hadrosaur diets. We can tell from the scratches that the hadrosaur’s food either contained small particles of grit, normal for vegetation cropped close to the ground, or, like grass, contained microscopic granules of silica. We know that horsetails were a common plant at the time and have this characteristic; they may well have been an important food for hadrosaurs”.

		IMAGE: This is a highly magnified Scanning Electron Microscope view of the surface of one of the hadrosaur teeth, showing the scratches created about 67 million years ago by tooth movements…Click here for more information.

One of the big surprises of this study is that so much information about such large animals can be gleaned from such a tiny patch of tooth. “By looking at the pattern of scratches in an area that is only about as wide as a couple of human hairs we can work out how and what these huge herbivores were eating” notes Williams. “And because we can analyse single teeth, rather than whole skeletons, the technique has the potential to tell us a lot more about dinosaur feeding and the ecosystems in which they lived.”

 

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For interviews contact:
Dr Mark A. Purnell
Reader in Geology
Department of Geology
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester LE1 7RH
UK
Tel +44 116 252 3645
Fax +44 116 252 3918
http://www.le.ac.uk/people/map2

1. The erroneous idea that all dinosaurs could chew is so widely accepted that the memorable ‘Chewits’ advertising campaigns of the 1980s were based on the idea. Note that the dinosaur shown in the adverts is not a hadrosaur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJUwQIXPCBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=420UecB2YZQ

2. The paper “Quantitative analysis of dental microwear in hadrosaurid dinosaurs, and the implications for hypotheses of jaw mechanics and feeding” by Vincent S. Williams, Paul M. Barrett and Mark A. Purnell is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (online Early Edition).

3. Vince Williams and Mark Purnell are at the University of Leicester, UK; Paul Barrett is at the Natural History Museum, London, UK. A pdf of the paper is available from Mark Purnell: map2@le.ac.uk

4. Winner of Visit London’s 2008 Kids Love London Best Family Fun Award, the Natural History Museum is also a world-leading science research centre. Through its collections and scientific expertise, the Museum is helping to conserve the extraordinary richness and diversity of the natural world with groundbreaking projects in 68 countries

5. To arrange an interview with Paul Barrett please contact: Claire Gilby, Senior Press Officer, Natural History Museum, Tel: 020 7942 5106 Email: c.gilby@nhm.ac.uk (not for publication)

6. Following images can be obtained from University of Leicester pressoffice@le.ac.uk

Captions follow:

 
• Teeth from the lower jaw of a hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus, showing its multiple rows of leaf-shaped teeth. The worn, chewing surface of the teeth is towards the top. Credit: Vince Williams, University of Leicester.
• Teeth from the upper jaw of a hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus. The specimen was moulded and coated with gold for examination using a Scanning Electron Microscope to give high power magnification of the microscopic scratches. Credit: Vince Williams, University of Leicester.
• Highly magnified Scanning Electron Microscope view of the surface of one of the hadrosaur teeth, showing the scratches created about 67 million years ago by tooth movements and feeding. The small black boxes show the areas, each less than half a millimetre wide, in which scratches were analysed. Credit: Vince Williams, University of Leicester.
• Artists reconstruction of a hadrosaur eating; analysis of tooth wear indicates grazing low growing silica rich plants, like horsetails, was more likely than browsing on bushes. Contact c.gilby@nhm.ac.uk for image.

Hadrosaur fact file
This study is based on Edmontosaurus: Lived USA and Canada 65-68 million years ago; Length up to 13 m, weight up to 3 tonnes; One of the most abundant dinosaurs of its time; Known from many complete skeletons, including several mummies with skin impressions and gut contents preserved.

 Notes for editors:

2009-07-05 – Indonesian elephant fossil

Indonesian elephant fossil opens window to past

By NINIEK KARMINI – Jun 22, 2009

Scientists arrange the bones of an estimated 200,000 year-old giant elephant at Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, June 18, 2009. Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of an ancient elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin. Based on the fossil, the ancient elephant stood four meters (13-feet) tall, was five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons, considerably larger than the great Asian mammals now on Earth. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

 BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin.

The prehistoric elephant is believed to have been submerged in quicksand shortly after dying on a riverbed in Java around 200,000 years ago. Its bones — almost perfectly preserved — were discovered by chance in March when an old sand quarry collapsed during monsoon rains.

The animal stood four meters (13-feet) tall, five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons — closer in size to the woolly mammoth of the same period than to the great Asian mammals now on Earth.

Animal fossils are rare in the humid, hot climate of the equator because decomposition occurs extremely quickly.

Following a monthlong excavation, a team of seven paleontologists from the Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java, set the bones in plaster for the trip back to their office where they will be laboriously pieced back together.

“We believe from the shape of its teeth that it was a very primitive elephant,” but little else has been verified, said paleontologist Fachroel Aziz, who is heading a 12-strong skeletal reconstruction team.

Scientists agree it is the first time an entire prehistoric elephant skeleton has been unearthed since vertebrate fossil findings began to be recorded in Indonesia in 1863.

“It is very uncommon to discover a fossil like this in a tropical region like Indonesia,” said Edi Sunardi, an independent expert at Indonesia’s Pajajaran University in Bandung, West Java. “It apparently was covered by volcanic sediment that protected it from high temperatures, erosion and decay.”

The next challenge will be removing the delicate bones from their molds and joining them into a stable, upright structure, a process that experts said is already being hampered by a lack of funding, inadequate tools and poor expertise.

Indonesia, an emerging and impoverished democracy of 235 million people, cannot afford to allocate more than a token sum to its aging museums, even for projects that have the potential to advance knowledge about the origin of key native species.

Gert van den Berg, a researcher at Australia’s Wollongong University who helped dig up the skeleton, said tests are under way to determine its precise age and species, and that they will help provide details “about when the modern elephants evolved into what they are now.”

About 2,000 old elephant remains have been found across the island nation over the past 150 years, but never in such good condition, Aziz said.

“We want to exhibit it publicly because this is a spectacular discovery,” he said.

 The Associated Press

2009-07-04 – Myanmar: nuovo Primate fossile (new fossil Primate)

New Fossil Primate Suggests Common Asian Ancestor, Challenges Primates Such As ‘Ida’

ScienceDaily (July 1, 2009) — According to new research published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) on July 1, 2009, a new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe.

The discovery of this new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe. (Credit: Mark A. Klingler/Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

A major focus of recent paleoanthropological research has been to establish the origin of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes and humans) from earlier and more primitive primates known as prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers and their extinct relatives). Prior to recent discoveries in China, Thailand, and Myanmar, most scientists believed that anthropoids originated in Africa. Earlier this year, the discovery of the fossil primate skeleton known as “Ida” from the Messel oil shale pit in Germany led some scientists to suggest that anthropoid primates evolved from lemur-like ancestors known as adapiforms.

According to Dr. Chris Beard–– a paleontologist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a member of the international team of researchers behind the Myanmar anthropoid findings––the new primate, Ganlea megacanina, shows that early anthropoids originated in Asia rather than Africa. These early Asian anthropoids differed radically from adapiforms like Ida, indicating that Ida is more closely related to modern lemurs than it is to monkeys, apes and humans.

The 38-million-year-old Ganlea megacanina fossils, excavated at multiple sites in central Myanmar, belong to a new genus and species. The name of the new species refers to a small village, Ganle, near the original site where the fossils were found, and the greatly enlarged canine teeth that distinguish the animal from closely related primates. Heavy dental abrasion indicates that Ganlea megacanina used its enlarged canine teeth to pry open the hard exteriors of tough tropical fruits in order to extract the nutritious seeds contained inside.

“This unusual type of feeding adaptation has never been documented among prosimian primates, but is characteristic of modern South American saki monkeys that inhabit the Amazon Basin,” says Dr. Beard. “Ganlea shows that early Asian anthropoids had already assumed the modern ecological role of modern monkeys 38 million years ago.”

Ganlea and its closest relatives belong to an extinct family of Asian anthropoid primates known as the Amphipithecidae. Two other amphipithecids, Pondaungia and Myanmarpithecus, were previously discovered in Myanmar, while a third, named Siamopithecus, had been found in Thailand. A detailed analysis of their evolutionary relationships shows that amphipithecids are closely related to living anthropoids and that all of the Burmese amphipithecids evolved from a single common ancestor. Some scientists had previously argued that amphipithecids were not anthropoids at all, being more closely related to the lemur-like adapiforms.

The discovery of Ganlea strongly supports the idea that amphipithecids are anthropoids, because adapiforms never evolved the features that are necessary to become specialized seed predators. Indeed, all of the Burmese amphipithecids appear to have been specialized seed predators, filling the same ecological niche occupied by modern pitheciine monkeys in the Amazon Basin of South America. During the Eocene when Ganlea and other amphipithecids were living in Myanmar, they inhabited a tropical floodplain that was very similar to the environment of the modern Amazon Basin.

Fossils of Ganlea megacanina were first discovered in Myanmar in December 2005. The fieldwork is a long-term collaboration by scientists from several institutions in Myanmar; as well as the University of Poitiers and the University of Montpellier in France; Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA; and the Department of Mineral Resources in Bangkok, Thailand. Funding was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France.

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Adapted from materials provided by Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630202125.htm

2009-09-03 – Australia: 3 nuovi dinosauri (Australia, 3 new dinosaurs)

Fossili di 3 grandi dinosauri scoperti in Australia

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Fossili di tre nuove specie di dinosauri sono stati scoperti in Australia, di cui quello di un carnivoro più grande del Velociraptor dei film di Jurassic Park, lasciando intendere che l’Australia potrebbe avere un passato preistorico più complesso di quanto si pensi.

I tre fossili, due di erbivori e uno di un carnivoro — i primi resti di grandi dinosauri rinvenuti dal 1981 — sono stati trovati nel Queensland e risalgono al Cretaceo, 98 milioni di anni fa.

“Questa scoperta ci fa conoscere non solo due affascinanti giganti dal collo lungo del continente australiano antico, ma anche il nostro primo grande predatore” ha detto oggi il paleontologo John Long, del Museo Victoria.

Il paleontologo Ben Kear dell’Università La Trobe di Melbourne ha detto che la scoperta apre la strada a nuovi studi sui dinosauri australiani e il loro habitat.

“L’Australia è una delle grandi risorse poco sfruttate per la comprensione della vita nel periodo dei dinosauri”, ha detto Kear. “Questo … farà sicuramente crescere l’interesse nelle finora incomplete ma rilevanti scoperte in questo continente”.

fonte:

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Triple Fossil Find Puts Australia Back On The Dinosaur Map

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2009) — Scientists have discovered three new species of Australian dinosaur discovered in a prehistoric billabong in Western Queensland.

Artistic representations of the three new Australian dinosaur taxa: Australovenator (top); Wintonotitan (middle); Diamantinasaurus (bottom). (Credit: Artwork by: T. Tischler, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History / Scott A. Hocknull, Matt A. White, Travis R. Tischler, Alex G. Cook, Naomi D. Calleja, Trish Sloan, David A. Elliott. New Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) Dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE, 2009; 4 (7): e6190 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006190)

Reporting on July 3 in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal, PLoS ONE, Scott Hocknull and colleagues at the Queensland Museum and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History describe the fossils of three new mid-Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Winton Formation in eastern Australia: two giant, herbivorous sauropods and one carnivorous theropod, all of which are to be unveiled in Queensland on July 3. The three fossils add to our knowledge of the Australian dinosaurian record, which is crucial for the understanding of the global paleobiogeography of dinosaurian groups.

Australia’s dinosaurian fossil record is extremely poor, compared with that of other similar-sized continents, such as South America and Africa. However, the mid-Cretaceous Winton Formation in central western Queensland has, in recent years, yielded numerous fossil sites with huge potential for the discovery of new dinosaurian taxa. Between 2006 and 2009, extensive excavations have yielded many well-preserved dinosaur fossils, as well as the remains of other contemporaneous fauna.

In a single, comprehensive, publication, Hocknull and colleagues describe the remains of three individual dinosaur skeletons, found during joint Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and Queensland Museum digs in two different sites in the Winton Formation. They represent three new genera and species of dinosaur: two giant herbivorous sauropods and a carnivorous theropod.

The carnivore, named by the authors on the paper Australovenator wintonensis (nicknamed “Banjo”) is the most complete meat-eating dinosaur found in Australia, to date and sheds light on the ancestry of the largest-ever meat-eating dinosaurs, the carcharodontosaurs, a group of dinosaurs that became gigantic, like Giganotosaurus.

“The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile,” said lead author Scott Hocknull. “He could run down most prey with ease over open ground. His most distinguishing feature was three large slashing claws on each hand. Unlike some theropods that have small arms (think T. rex), Banjo was different; his arms were a primary weapon.

“He’s Australia’s answer to Velociraptor, but many times bigger and more terrifying.”

The skeleton of Australovenator solves a 28-year-old mystery surrounding an ankle bone found in Victoria, which was originally classified as a dwarf Allosaurus, although this classification remained controversial until the discovery of Australovenator—the researchers are now able to confirm that the ankle bone belonged to the lineage that led to Australovenator.

The two plant-eating theropods, named Witonotitan wattsi (“Clancy”) and Diamantinasaurus matildae (“Matilda”), are different kinds of titanosaur (the largest type of dinosaur ever to have lived). While Witonotitan represents a tall, gracile animal, which might have fitted into a giraffe-like niche, the stocky, solid Diamantinasaurus represents a more hippo-like species.

All three dinosaurs are nicknamed after characters from a world-famous, Australian poet. Banjo Patterson composed Waltzing Matilda in 1885 in Winton, where the song was also first performed (and where the fossils were discovered). Waltzing Matilda is now considered to be Australia’s national song.

In a quirky twist of fate, the song Waltzing Matilda describes the unfortunate demise of a swag-man, who steals a jumbuck (sheep) but is driven to leap into a billabong (an Australian word for a small oxbow lake) to avoid being captured by the police. He ends up drowning in the billabong alongside the stolen sheep.

Banjo and Matilda were found buried together in what turns out to be a 98-million-year-old billabong. Whether they died together or got stuck in the mud together remains a mystery; however, echoing the song, both predator and possible prey met their end at the bottom of a billabong, 98 million years ago. This shows that processes that were working in the area over the last 98 million years are still there today. “Billabongs are a built-in part of the Australian mind,” said Hocknull, “because we associate them with mystery, ghosts and monsters.”

The finding and documentation of the fossils was a 100% Australian effort. Both Matilda and Banjo were prepared by Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum thanks to thousands of hours of volunteer work and philanthropy.

“This is the only place in Australia where you can come off the street and be taught to be a palaeontologist and find, excavate and prepare your own part of Australian natural history,” said Hocknull. The dinosaurs will now be part of a museum collection and this effort will enable future generations of scientists to be involved in a new wave of dinosaur discoveries and to bring the general public in touch with their own natural heritage.”

This collaborative effort links closely with PLoS ONE’s philosophy of making science freely accessible to the general public. “One of my major motivations for submitting to PLoS ONE was the fact that my research will reach a much wider community, including the hundreds of volunteers and public who gave their time and money to the development of natural history collections,” said Hocknull. “They are the backbone of our work (excuse the pun) and they usually never get to see their final product because they rarely subscribe to scientific journals.”

All three new taxa, along with some fragmentary remains from other taxa, indicate a diverse Early Cretaceous sauropod and theropod fauna in Australia, and the finds will help provide a better understanding of the Australian dinosaurian record, which is, in turn, crucial for the understanding of the global palaeobiogeography of dinosaurian groups.

The authors agree that even though hundreds of bones have already been found at the site, these fossils are just the tip of the iceberg. “Many hundreds more fossils from this dig await preparation and there is much more material left to excavate,” they said. Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and Queensland Museum staff and volunteers will continue to dig at this and other sites in 2010.

The fossils will be unveiled at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in Queensland, Australia, July 3 by Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland. Stage 1 of the museum, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, science initiative that aims to bring Australian dinosaurs to the world, will also be opened by Ms Bligh on July 3.

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Journal reference:

1. Scott A. Hocknull, Matt A. White, Travis R. Tischler, Alex G. Cook, Naomi D. Calleja, Trish Sloan, David A. Elliott. New Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) Dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE, 2009; 4 (7): e6190 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006190

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703070846.htm

2009-07-02 – Germania: Flauto preistorico (Germany, Prehistoric Flute)

GERMANIA: TROVATO UN FLAUTO PREISTORICO DI 35. 000 ANNI

(AGI) – Parigi, 24 giu. – La Germania si sta rivelando una miniera di reperti preistorici. Un flauto risalente a 35.000 anni fa e’ stato ritrovato vicino Ulm nella valle di Ach, nel Sud del Paese nello stesso sito dove e’ stata rinvenuta la cosiddetta ‘Venere di Hohle Fels’ una statuina di avorio raffigurante una donna appena abbozzata. La scoperta’ e’ frutto del lavoro di un’equipe di archeologi guidati da Nicholas Conard. Secondo quanto riferisce Nature il flauto, realizzato con un osso di avvoltoio ha cinque buchi, e’ lungo 22 centimetri e si puo’ suonare come uno strumento attuale.

fonte: http://www.agi.it/estero/notizie/200906242311-est-rt11367-germania_trovato_un_flauto_preistorico_di_35_000_anni

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Prehistoric flute in Germany is oldest known

June 24th, 2009

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–>EnlargeThe flute. Foto: H. Jensen. Copyright: Universität Tübingen.

Excavations in the summer of 2008 at the sites of Hohle Fels and Vogelherd produced new evidence for Paleolithic music in the form of the remains of one nearly complete bone flute and isolated small fragments of three ivory flutes.

 

 

 

 

 

The most significant of these finds, a nearly complete bone flute, was recovered in the basal Aurignacian deposits at Hohle Fels Cave in the Ach Valley, 20 km west of Ulm. The flute was found in 12 pieces. The fragments were distributed over a vertical distance of 3 cm over a horizontal area of about 10 x 20 cm. This flute is by far the most complete of all of the musical instruments thus far recovered from the caves of Swabia.

The preserved portion of the bone flute from Hohle Fels has a length of 21.8 cm and a diameter of about 8 mm. The flute preserves five finger holes. The surfaces of the flute and the structure of the bone are in excellent condition and reveal many details about the manufacture of the flute. The maker carved two deep, V-shaped notches into one end of the instrument, presumably to form the proximal end of the flute into which the musician blew. The find density in this stratum is moderately high with much flint knapping debris, worked bone and ivory, bones of horse, reindeer, mammoth, cave bear, ibex, as well as burnt bone. No diagnostic human bones have been found in deposits of the Swabian Aurignacian, but we assume that modern humans produced the artifacts from the basal Aurignacian deposits shortly after their arrival in the region following a migration up the Danube Corridor.

The maker of the flute carved the instrument from the radius of a griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus). This species has a wingspan between 230 and 265 cm and provides bones ideal for large flutes. Griffon vultures and other vultures are documented in the Upper Paleolithic sediments of the Swabian caves.

The 2008 excavations at Hohle Fels also recovered two small fragments of what are almost certainly two ivory flutes from the basal Aurignacian. The different dimensions of the fragments indicate that the two finds are not from the same instrument. Excavators at Vogelherd in the Lone Valley 25 km northwest of Ulm recovered another isolated fragment of another ivory flute.

The technology for making an ivory flute is much more complicated than making a flute from a bird bone. This process requires forming the rough shape along the long axis of a naturally curved piece of ivory, splitting it open along one of the bedding plains in the ivory, carefully hollowing out the halves, carving the holes, and then rejoining the halves of the flute with an air-tight seal. Given the tendency of delicate ivory artifacts to break into many pieces, it is not unusual to find isolated pieces of such artifacts.

The 10 radiocarbon dates from the basal Aurignacian fall between 31 and 40 ka BP. Available calibrations and independent controls using other methods indicate that the flutes from Hohle Fels predate 35,000 calendar years ago. Apart from the caves of the Swabian Jura there is no convincing evidence for musical instruments predating 30 ka BP.

These finds demonstrate that music played an important role in Aurignacian life in the Ach and Lone valleys of southwestern Germany. Most of these flutes are from archaeological contexts containing an abundance of organic and lithic artifacts, hunted fauna, and burnt bone. This evidence suggests that the inhabitants of the sites played musical instruments in diverse social and cultural contexts and that flutes were discarded with many other forms of occupational debris. In the case of Hohle Fels, the location of the bone flute in a thin archaeological horizon only 70 cm away from a female figurine of similar age suggests that a possible contextual link exists between these two finds.

The flutes from Hohle Fels, Vogelherd and previous finds from nearby Geißenklösterle Cave demonstrate that a musical tradition existed in the cultural repertoire of the Aurignacian around the time modern humans settled in the Upper Danube region. The development of a musical tradition in the Aurignacian accompanied the development of the early figurative art and numerous innovations, including a wide array of new forms of personal ornaments, as well as new lithic and organic technologies. The presence of music in the lives of Upper Paleolithic peoples did not directly produce a more effective subsistence economy and greater reproductive success, but music seems to have contributed to improved social cohesion and new forms of communication, which indirectly contributed to demographic expansion of modern humans relative to the culturally more conservative Neanderthal populations.

The flutes from the caves of the Swabian Jura constitute a key part a major exhibit in Stuttgart entitled Ice Age Art and Culture, which will run from September 18, 2009 – January 10, 2010.

More information: The authors of the paper “New flutes document the earliest musical tradition in southwestern Germany” are Nicholas J. Conard Maria Malina and Susanne C. Münzel. The paper will be published as Advance online publication in Nature, June 25, 2009.

Provided by Universitaet Tuebingen

source: http://www.physorg.com/news165069257.html

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2009-06-21 – Oetzi in Svezia (Oetzi, exposure in Sweden)

PALEONTOLOGIA: APPRODA IN SVEZIA LA MOSTRA ITINERANTE SU OETZI

Bolzano, 18 giu. – (Adnkronos) – La mostra itinerante su Oetzi e’ giunta oggi al ”Lansmuseet Varberg”, in Svezia. Il Lansmuseet Varberg e’ il museo storico-culturale della provincia di Halland ed e’ noto a livello internazionale, in quanto espone il ”Bockstenmannen”, un corpo fossilizzato in una torbiera, risalente al XIV secolo, di cui si sono conservati anche i vestiti originali, come nel caso di Oetzi.

Affollata la cerimonia di apertura: presente anche la direttrice del Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige Angelika Fleckinger, che ha presentato i piu’ recenti risultati scientifici riguardanti l”’Uomo venuto dal ghiaccio”. Torstein Sjovold, dell’Universita’ di Stoccolma, che in passato ha analizzato le ossa ed i tatuaggi di Oetzi, lo ha messo a confronto col Bockstenmannen.

La mostra itinerante su Oetzi intende divulgare all’estero i contenuti dell’esposizione permanente allestita a Bolzano. Lo fa servendosi di riproduzioni e di installazioni multimediali. I reperti originali rimangono come sempre ben conservati nel Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige, da cui per ragioni di conservazione non possono essere spostati. La mostra rimarra’ in Svezia fino al 13 settembre 2009.

fonte: http://www.libero-news.it/adnkronos/view/139979 (leggermente corretto)

Links:

• Lansmuseet Varberg : http://www.lansmuseet.varberg.se/default.asp

2009-06-20 – Spagna, Teruel: trovato nuovo ornitopode (Spain, new Ornithopod) (Espana, nuevo ornitópodo)

Paleontologists of  Dinópolis Foundation have found the back leg of new a dinosaur ornithopod of small size near a vertebra and a tooth of the “Turiasaurus riodevensis”. These remains are been founded in the deposit going back to 145 million years ago of Barrihonda-El Chimney of Riodeva, in Teruel , Spain.
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El nuevo ornitópodo de Teruel

Pata trasera del ornitópodo encontrado en Teruel. / Fundación Dinópolis

• Hallan la pata trasera de un nuevo dinosaurio de pequeño tamaño
• También han localizado una vértebra y un diente del ‘Turiasaurus riodevensis’

La pata de un nuevo dinosaurio, seguramente un ornitópodo de hace unos 145 millones de años, es el último tesoro paleontológico encontrado en el yacimiento de Barrihonda-El Humero de Riodeva, en Teruel, en las excavaciones de este año de la Fundación Dinópolis.

Junto con este fósil, ya han aparecido una vértebra y un diente más del gigantesco ‘Turiasaurus riodevensis’, considerado el más grande de Europa, cuyo esqueleto cada vez está más completo.

El hallazgo de la pata trasera del nuevo dinosaurio fue una auténtica sorpresa, como explica Luis Alcalá, director de la Fundación Dinópolis: “Apareció el primer día de las excavaciones en el yacimiento, que es una explanada del tamaño de un campo de baloncesto. Estaban limpiando la zona cuando toparon con el fósil, a unos cuatro metros del ‘Turiasaurus’. Enseguida vimos que era otro dinosaurio nuevo, del grupo de los ornitópodos, pero aún no sabemos de qué especie”, explica el paleontólogo.

Los ornitópodos eran dinosaurios de tamaño pequeño, unos cinco metros incluida la cola, que comían plantas y andaban a cuatro patas. No tenían armadura, ni cuernos ni colmillos; posiblemente las únicas defensas con que contaron fueron su pico grande y fuerte y la cresta (aunque solo algunos).

A pocos metros de este ejemplar, se ha encontrado una vértebra del gigante de Riodeva, así como otro diente. Completar lo más posible su esqueleto es el objetivo prioritario del proyecto de la excavación, cuando ya se tiene un 45%. También han salido a la luz restos de carnívoros, entre ellos uno de grandes dimensiones.

A falta de realizar un exhaustivo estudio de los últimos huesos, el director de la Fundación plantea que podría haber habido una avalancha o algún otro suceso natural que provocó la muerte simultánea de varios dinosaurios, debido a la gran acumulación de huesos que hay en el mismo sitio.

Hace unas semanas, los investigadores confirmaron que animales carnívoros, alguno de grandes dimensiones, habían devorado a ‘Turiasaurus’, en cuyos restos de la cadera se identificaron perforaciones hechas por las mordeduras.

Las excavaciones en este yacimiento continuarán hasta el 20 de julio, si sigue este ritmo de hallazgos. “No podemos sacar más fósiles de los que podemos estudiar en los ocho meses siguientes. Y también hay que preparar el material”, comenta Alcalá.

Hasta ahora, el yacimiento de Barrihonda-El Humero está siendo una mina. Junto con el gigante de Europa y varios carnívoros, se había encontrado un estegosaurio, y la lista aumenta ahora con el nuevo ornitópodo.

Rosa M. Tristán | Madrid

source: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/06/16/ciencia/1245171379.html

2009-06-19 – Mongolia: Nuovo Psittacosauro (new Psittacosaur)

Parrot-like dinosaur found in Mongolia

A new dinosaur resembling a giant parrot has been discovered in Mongolia.

 By Chris Irvine
Published: 7:00AM BST 17 Jun 2009

A new dinosaur, named Psittacosaurus gobiensis, meaning ‘parrot dinosaur’ has been discovered in Mongolia

The creature, Psittacosaurus gobiensis whose name means “parrot lizard”, is thought to have lived about 110 million years ago.

Psittacosaurs are noted for being the most species-rich dinosaur genus with at least nine different species, including the latest found in the Gobi Desert, a famous dinosaur graveyard.

Features of the dinosaur included a near perfect skull, strong jaw muscles and a powerful biting and crushing bill – showing that it evolved structures like those in today’s parrots.

The three feet long psittacosaurs may also have had a diet dominated by nuts and seeds, owing to the presence of many large stomach stones, according to the findings published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Prof Paul Sereno, a Biologist from the University of Chicago, said analysis of its skull showed it chewed its food in a similar way to modern parrots.

“These and other features, along with the presence of numerous large stomach stones, suggest that psittacosaurs may have had a high-fibre, nut eating diet,” he said.

Its short snout just a third of the skull length was different to most dinosaurs, giving the skull its parrot-esque profile.

They ate nothing but plants and walked normally on two legs but could reach the ground with their three-fingered hands.

They were good runners and were extremely successful in Asia about 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.

“Psittacosaurs are all relatively small in body size, ranging from one to two metres in body length. Their geographic range is limited to central Asia, and their temporal range may be as narrow as 10-20 million years in the mid Cretaceous,” said Prof Sereno.

It is a member of the Ceratopsia group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs, which also include the more famous Triceratops.

source: telegraph.co.uk

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Other links: click here

2009-06-18 – Limusaurus inextricabilis and the evolution of dinosaurs hands

per informazioni in italiano vedi:

BLOG THEROPODA – Limusaurus inextricabilis Xu et al. (2009) – Prima Parte: Un Ceratosauria senza denti dal Giurassico Superiore della Cina!

————————————–  New dinosaur gives bird wing clue

The Limusaurus fossil sits among small crocodile fossils A new dinosaur unearthed in western China has shed light on the evolution from dinosaur hands to the wing bones in today’s birds. The fossil, from about 160 million years ago, has been named Limusaurus inextricabilis. The find contributes to a debate over how an ancestral hand with five digits evolved to one with three in birds. The work, published in Nature, suggests that the middle three digits, rather than the “thumb” and first two, remain. Theropods – the group of dinosaurs ancestral to modern birds and which include the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex – are known for having hands and feet with just three digits. It’s a really weird animal – it’s got no teeth, had a beak and a very long neck, and very wimpy forelimbs James Clark, GWU It has been a matter of debate how the three-fingered hand developed from its five-fingered ancestor. Each digit among the five was composed of a specific number of bones, or phalanges. Palaeontologists have long argued that it is the first (corresponding to the thumb), second, and third fingers from that ancestral hand that survived through to modern birds, on grounds that the three fingers in later animals exhibit the correct number of phalanges. However, developmental biologists have shown that bird embryos show growth of all five digits, but it is the first and fifth that later stop growing and are reabsorbed. The remaining three bones fuse and form a vestigial “hand” hidden in the middle of a bird’s wing. ‘Weird animal’ James Clark of George Washington University in Washington DC and Xing Xu from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing hit an palaeontologist’s gold mine in the Junggar Basin of northwestern China. Previous digs have unearthed the oldest known fossil belonging to the tyrannosaur group and the oldest horned dinosaur among several others. The dinosaurs had beaks and may have had feathers This time, the ancient mire has yielded a primitive ceratosaur, a theropod that often had horns or crests, many of whom had knobbly fingers without claws. “It’s a really weird animal – it’s got no teeth, had a beak and a very long neck, and very wimpy forelimbs,” Professor Clark told BBC News. “Then when we looked closely at the hand, we noticed it was relevant to a very big question in palaeontology.” The fossil has a first finger which is barely present, made up of just one small bone near the wrist. The fifth finger is gone altogether. It is a fossil that appears to offer a snapshot of evolution, proving that the more modern three-fingered hand is made up of the middle digits of the ancestral hand, with the outer two being shed. The third finger is made up of the four phalange bones that the second should have, and it is presumed that the second would lose one bone to become like the first finger that was missing in the fossil. This process of shifting patterns of gene expression from one limb or digit to another is known as an “identity shift”, and was again caught in the act – making the conflicting theories of bird hand origin suddenly align. “This is amazing – it’s the first time we’ve seen this thing actually starting to disappear,” Jack Conrad, a palaeontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, told BBC News. “There’s been this fundamental rift – there was no way to make peace between the good data we were seeing from the developmental biologists and the palaeontological evidence that showed with every fossil we found we were seeing [fingers] one, two and three.”

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8105513.stm

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Other links:

Fossil Solves Mystery of Dinosaur Finger Evolution

FOXNews - ‎17/giu/2009‎

By Jeanna Bryner Bird wings clearly share ancestry with dinosaur “hands” or forelimbs. A school kid can see it in the bones.

Fossil Catches Dinosaur Red-Handed, Evolving Into Bird Wired News

NEW DINOSAUR: Fossil Fingers Solve Bird Wing Mystery? National Geographic

BBC News - Telegraph.co.uk - Discover Magazine - Science Daily (press release)

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