Mysterious East

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient human skull in China, dating back to 80,000 to 100,000 years, which may shed light on a shadowy chapter of evolutionary history. The finding was made by an excavation team led by Chinese archaeologist Li Zhanyang in the central province of Henan. According to National Geographic News, a report from the Chinese government earlier suggested that the fossil came from a modern human, which would have forced a radical reworking of current theories about when our species first left Africa. But, experts have said that the skull likely belongs to a sister or precursor species to modern humans. While still too early to judge the skull"s true significance, it hails from a pivotal evolutionary period, when modern-day humans beganto supplant the ancestral human species Homo erectus.

According to experts, the discovery raises the chances that the two species may have overlapped for some time in China, possibly interbreeding and sharing tools. "The skull shows characteristics of both archaic humans and of Homo sapiens," said Li. "If this is a "modern" Homo sapiens, with a high rounded skull, divided browridge, and chin, and is 80,000 to 100,000 years old, then it would indicate a very early dispersal of moderns eastwards from Africa and the Middle East," said Chris Stringer, a research leader in the Human Origins Program at the Natural History Museum in London. But according to Stringer, the fossil is much more likely to be that of an earlier species. Erik Trinkaus, a paleoanthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, offered a similar assessment after viewing photos of theHenan skull. "Based on the anatomy of the skull, with its large projecting browridge, this appears to be close to Peking Man," he said. The "Peking Man"� refers to a series of half-million-year-old skulls belonging to Homo erectus, which were found in a massive cave on the outskirts of Beijing in the 1920s and 1930s. Experts have said that the discovery of the older Henan skull is important because it increases the possibility that archaic and modern humans coexisted for a time in China, just as they did in Europe.

View: Full Article | Source: Top News

A unique and expensive type of coffee is made from beans that have been digested by elephants.At $1,100 per kilogram Black Ivory Coffee might seem fit only for the rich, but even those with plenty of money to spare are likely to think twice before sipping a mug of this particular brand. Produced in Thailand, the coffee is brewed from beans which have been fed to elephants and collected at the other end from their dung. The process is said to be the key ingredient inproviding the coffee"s unique flavor.Workers who gather the beans are required to follow the elephants and collect their droppings in order to retrieve the precious ingredient.

Many of the beans are crushed or destroyed during their trip through the elephant"s digestive system which increases the difficulty and costs of producing them. "When an elephant eats coffee, its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness," said Blake Dinkin who invented the brew. Forgetrobusta and arabica - this is the world"s most expensive coffee, given its unique flavour by. . . an elephant"s digestive tract.  

View: Full article |  Source: Daily Mail  

Construction work and heavy rainfall have been blamed for causing a large piece of the wall to collapse.Originally constructed in the 7th century BC the Great Wall was originally intended to keep invaders out of the Chinese Empire. Due to the vast size of the wall and the scale of its construction it is generally regarded to be one of the wonders of the ancient world, one ofonly a few to have survived in to modern times.

Fortunately officials assessing the damage believe that it should be possible to restore the collapsed section."There is an investigation into the causes of the collapse," said a city official. "A number of things may have contributed, including the building work." Workmen digging up a square in Zhangjiakou city, Heibei province, near the wall have been blamed for triggeringthe collapse of 100 ft of Great Wall.  

View: Full article |  Source: Telegraph  

Over 100 terracotta warriors have been unearthed near the Qin Emperor"s mausoleum in northern China.Archaeologists have been painstakingly excavating the figures which were created centuries ago to guard the tomb of China"s first emperor. 12 pottery horses along with the remains of chariots, weapons and tools were also found atthe site.

"The excavation on the 200sq m site has found a total of 110 terracotta figurines," said Shen Maosheng. "The most significant discovery this time around is that the relics that were found were well-preserved and colourfully painted." China archaeologists have unearthed 110 new terracotta warriors that laid buried for centuries, an official says.  

View: Full article |  Source: Herald Sun