Scientists have for the first time constructed a fully articulated, or jointed, Neandertal skeleton using castings from real Neandertal bones.
The reconstruction, which has been part of several exhibitions, presents a striking visual image of what the Neandertal (often spelled Neanderthal) looked like, experts say.
"At last I felt that somehow I had actually met a Neandertal," said Ian Tattersall, the curator of the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City.
Also here.
We are rather surprised this hadn't been done already. Or, rather, we're somewhat surprised a near-full skeleton hasn't been found either.
Viking update Viking sagas read through the lens of climate change
Ancient Icelandic sagas may be full of treachery, death and destruction, but the real villain behind all the foment could well have been climate change. According to a Canadian scientist, there's a direct link between changes in regional temperatures and the thematic content of the sagas.
The research is based on newly reconstructed temperature records gained from ocean sediment cores collected off the coast of Vestfirdir, the northwest peninsula of Iceland by scientists from the University of Colorado. Analysis of mollusc shells within these cores has provided an astounding, almost weekly, record of temperature changes in the region.
This may be old news Ancient Perfumery Found in Cyprus
What may be the world's oldest known perfumery, set atop a Cyprus hillside with sweeping views of the Mediterranean, has just been excavated by a team of archaeologists from the Italian Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, according to recent news reports.
Remains at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site near Nicosia include clay perfume bottle fragments that contain 14 perfumes of varied fragrances and ten odor essences. Archaeologists also found an olive oil press next to the perfume factory.
We seem to remember something similar to this a while back.
See updates to the pigs story below, too.