Ancient Note Pad

These days, most people do a lot of their shopping by clicking a few buttons. That might be convenient, but it can make it difficult to keep track of when your new armoire or bookshelf will actually show up. In ancient Turkey, somebody kept such details written down on a palm-sized piece of clay.

The Accana Mound is the site of the ancient Anatolian city of Alalah, which served as the capital of the Mukis Kingdom. The ruins found there date as far back as 4,000 years ago. At an excavation at the Accana Mound, researchers recently unearthed a small clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing. A study of the tablet has narrowed its origin to some time in the 15^th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age.

Initial readings of the tablet’s Akkadian cuneiform revealed details of a major furniture purchase, including an ample number of wooden tables, chairs, and stools. The experts are still working through the writing and are slowly gathering information about the buyers and sellers involved. Therefore, this small tablet offers a window into the city’s economic processes. Alalah was located along a trade route at the time, so it would have been a center of commerce in addition to being a capital.

The small piece of clay measures only 4.2 centimeters by 3.5 centimeters and is just 1.6 centimeters thick. It weighs 28 grams. But despite its small size, the tablet will help paint a much larger picture of Bronze Age Turkey.

There have been other similar discoveries in the region, including in 2023 when another cuneiform tablet was discovered that details the purchase of an entire city and, one presumes, the furniture in it.

The area was first excavated in the late 1930s. But, after finding this clay list of furniture, it seems there’s still plenty of things to discover.

And who knows? Perhaps the tablet’s details will provide some home-décor inspiration.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/archaeologists-uncovered-a-mysterious-ancient-tablet-with-major-historical-implications/ar-AA1M0JK3?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=fdce9a9bb7794d6189ca2cd589838f5c&ei=14

World’s Most Armored Dinosaur

It was the world’s most armored dinosaur, until evolution did something strange.

Fossils found in Morocco have revealed that the armored body of Spicomellus was also covered in bone spikes that reached nearly a meter in length. The preserved remains are dated to more than 165 million years ago. They also show that the animal lost some of its armor as it evolved.

Spicomellus had a multitude of plates and spikes all over its body. These included meter-long neck spikes, huge spikes projecting upwards over the hips, and a range of long, blade-like spikes.

Spicomellus was a type of ankylosaur, which were heavily armored herbivores with bony skins similar to turtles. They lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period but went extinct 66 million years ago when a comet wiped out most dinosaurs.

Sometimes described as ‘walking coffee tables’, ankylosaurs were four-legged, squat and under 10 feet in length.

Usually, species become better at defending themselves over time. But this discovery showed that ankylosaurs lost some of their protection, despite their environment being more dangerous in the Cretaceous period. This particular fossil is the oldest known ankylosaur. Scientists thought that later species might have inherited similar features, but they didn’t. Therefore, experts believe the fearsome variety of spikes may have actually been used for attracting mates and showing off to rivals rather than for defense.

In later species, the spikes are gone, having been replaced by flat plates, which were likely used only for defense. The scientists speculate that as larger and more fearsome predators evolved, ankylosaur armor became simpler, less showy, and more defensive. This suggests they wanted to draw less attention to themselves.

The end of Spicomellus’ tail hasn’t been found, but some of the vertebrae have been fused together, which suggests it had a club or similar tail weapon.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/this-was-world-s-most-armoured-dinosaur-then-evolution-did-something-strange/ar-AA1LkPbP?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=9c063d459322482f930a164f96dd0e06&ei=68

The Tree of Life’s First Branch

There was one common ancestor for all animals on Earth. If you trace the history of any creature—from humans to slugs—you’d eventually follow all the branches of the animal tree of life back to its trunk.

Coming from the other direction, that trunk had to branch off at some point, or we wouldn’t have a diverse collection of animals. Unfortunately, that first split has been elusive to scientists because it took place around 600 million years ago.

Scientists have figured out that the first split resulted in the birth of two creatures. One was the ancestor of almost all animals, while its “sister” gave rise to just one group of modern animals.

For decades, scientists have debated which group of animals came from the “sister” ancestor. They had two contenders—sea sponges and comb jellies. Thanks to new methods that enable researchers to analyze these animals’ chromosomes, they think they have the answer.

The key was to look not just at what genes each animal had, but where those genes were located on the chromosomes. As a creature evolves, chromosomes will rearrange, and genes will move around. But once genes move, it’s almost impossible for them to return to their original position. Therefore, whichever animal showed the least re-shuffling of genes on its chromosomes must have come into existence first. Out of the two options, whichever animal has the least shuffling is the sister.

The team compared the placements of certain groups of genes in sponges and comb jellies to the placements of those same groups in their closest single-cell non-animal relatives. (The single-cell relatives would have been closely related to the “trunk” organism and would have evidence of what that original genome looked like.) The closer an organism is to that genome, the less it has changed, and the more likely it is the sister.

In both the non-animals and the comb jellies, they found 14 groups of genes located on separate chromosomes. But in the sponges, they found those 14 groups were rearranged into 7 groups, which indicated they split from the original genome later than the comb jellies.

Consequently, the sister to all other animals, the first to branch off, and the most genetically isolated animal is the comb jelly.

Besides answering a long-standing biological question, scientists can investigate what this knowledge tells us about animal evolution, and the mechanisms of that evolution. And so the search for more answers continues.

Thank goodness they figured that out. I don’t think I could have remained sane another day without knowing which animal came first.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-have-found-the-first-branch-on-the-tree-of-life/ar-AA1LAkS2?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=cddbc1e105374c51afa382b8cdd3674d&ei=18

1600 Year Old Churches in Egypt

Archaeologists have found two 1,600-year-old churches in Egypt’s western desert. This discovery offers rare evidence of Christianity’s rise in Egyptian desert settlements.

The churches were found at Kharga Oasis, an ancient settlement roughly 350 miles southwest of Cairo. The Christian remains include cemeteries, churches, and a mural of Jesus curing a sick man, but the Oasis has been inhabited since antiquity, thanks to underground water sources.

The archaeologists uncovered the remains of an entire settlement at Kharga Oasis, including multiple residential buildings made of mudbrick, with some walls still retaining plaster. The team also found ovens and large clay jars that were set into the ground to store food. Other finds included inscribed pottery shards, vessels, glass and stone pieces, and several burials.

However, the centerpiece of the excavation was the discovery of two churches. Both date back to the early Coptic era, which is Egypt’s Christianization period that began in the 4^th century AD.

One church was a grand basilica made of mudbrick. It held remnants of a large hall and two aisles.

The second church was smaller. It had a rectangular layout and was surrounded by the remains of seven external columns. Some of its inner walls were decorated with Coptic inscriptions. The remains of service buildings were found to the west of the smaller church.

This discovery sheds light on the beginnings of the Coptic period in Egypt. It also shows the importance of Egypt’s western oases as centers of religious and social life in various eras. It highlights the tolerance and cultural and religious diversity of Egyptian civilization.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-find-1-600-year-old-churches-and-mural-of-jesus-in-egyptian-desert-settlement/ar-AA1LAKXW?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=9cfbbedf980846debce3c660196a3d2e&ei=61