Archeology

September 14, 2023

Fossilized Footprints Present Evidence of Earliest Known Shoes

When were the first shoes created and worn? While archeologists are not able to pinpoint an exact moment of invention, there are good reasons to believe that walking on artificial soles dates back about 148,000 years. Three sites in South Africa featuring prints from early human ancestors bear some striking signs of footwear. As described in a paper in Ichnos, researchers are working towards developing techniques to recognize shod-hominin tracks.

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August 6, 2023

Oldest Neanderthal Engravings Have Been Preserved in a Cave for 57,000 Years

Cave art is a fascinating window into the lives of past humans, including our ancient relatives, like the Neanderthals. About 40,000 to 400,000 years ago, this subspecies of archaic humans roamed Europe and Asia. They died out as modern homo sapiens rose to prominence; but before that, the two groups came into contact and even interbred. In fact, most people today have some small percentage of Neanderthal DNA.

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July 18, 2023

99-Million-Year-Old Baby Bird Feathers Study Sheds Light on Dinosaur Extinction

Birds may not seem like fascinating windows into the past, but for paleontologists our feathery friends are living relics. Birds have a direct line of continuity back to the age of the dinosaurs. Many varieties survived while the likes of the T-Rex went extinct through catastrophic events. But why the birds were able to survive is still a question for study.

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My Modern Met

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