DNA find reveals new insights into the history of cattle in Europe

Date:

July 29, 2014

Source:

Universität Basel

Summary:

Scientists have made a surprising find in a Neolithic settlement at the boarders of Lake Biel in Switzerland: The DNA of a cattle bone shows genetic traces of the European aurochs and thus adds a further facet to the history of cattle domestication.

Continued

'Alien mammal' invasion of Europe

Alien mammals, including mink, wild boar, racoons, shrews and beavers, have invaded Europe to a greater extent than we thought.

A new study has found that 71 mammal species have invaded Europe since Neolithic times, while another 30 species have successfully extended their ranges across the continent.

At least 58 of these species directly harm either human health or the environment, according to the report published in the journal Integrative Zoology.

The study was conducted by Piero Genovesi and colleagues at the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research in Rome, Italy, and Riccardo Scalera of the Invasive Species Specialist group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) based in Valby, Denmark.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19474287

9,000-Year-Old Mask From The Neolithic Area

A 9,000-year-old mask is set to be auctioned off at Christie’s June 8. The 9,000-year-old limestone mask will be the oldest art piece to ever grace the famed auction house, reports Yahoo.

It’s estimated that the 9,000-year-old mask could fetch upwards of $600,000. The mask is Neolithic and is meant to represent a human skull and resembles a modern-day hockey mask.

The 9,000-year-old limestone mask found in the Judean dessert, estimated to be from around the 7th millenium B.C., is about 9 inches long and resembles a human skull, according to the listing on the website of auction house Christie's.

Molly Morse Limmer, head of Christie’s Antiquities department in New York, believes that the mask was one of the first attempts to connect with the spiritual world.

This sort of mask is particularly rare. Although others were thought to have existed at some point in time, very few remain intact. Molly Morse Limmer, head of Christie’s Antiquities department in New York, says that the Judean desert’s dry climate is what helped preserve the item for so many years. However, nobody seems to know what purpose the mask served upon its creation.

http://www.incredipedia.info/2012/05/9000-year-old-mask-from-neolithic-area.html