Australia wildfires: Canberra declares state of emergency as massive blaze threatens capital

‘Conditions are now very dangerous and the fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path,’ say emergency services



Authorities in Australia have declared a state of emergency for the country’s capital city for the first time since 2003.

Soaring temperatures and high winds threatened to send a large bushfire spiralling out of control in Canberra’s Orroral Valley and its surrounding regions, prompting the declaration on Friday.


Andrew Barr, chief minister for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said during a televised briefing there is “now no higher priority for the ACT government at this time than the bushfire threat.

“This fire may become unpredictable. It may become uncontrollable. The combination of extreme heat, wind and a dry landscape will place suburbs in Canberra’s south at risk.”

The Rural Fire Service advised residents to leave immediately and added: “Conditions are now very dangerous and the fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path.

Australia fires: What's next for towns devastated by wildfires?
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“Fire crews may not be able to protect you and your property. You should not expect a firefighter at your door.”

The state of emergency will stay in place for 72 hours to allow authorities greater power to order evacuations, close roads and take control of private property.

Heatwave conditions are expected to worsen, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of strong winds and “elevated fire danger” in parts of New South Wales, while severe thunderstorms are set to hit Victoria and Melbourne.

There are currently 58 active fires in NSW, 20 in Victoria and 22 in south Australia, which authorities are warning may worsen as temperatures are forecast to reach 41C on Saturday.

ACT Emergency Services Agency commissioner Georgeina Whelan told The Canberra Times: “What we’re seeing nationally and across the ACT is that we have the conditions conducive to bushfire activity, some are similar to 2003.

“What we’re seeing in 2020 is the fact that we have unprecedented bushfire behaviour, as a result of the weather, the drought and the volume of fire activity that’s across our landscape,” she added.
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Devastating image shows extent of damage done by Australian wildfires

In 2003, bushfires wreaked havoc and caused severe damage to suburbs and outer areas of the capital city, razing nearly 70 per cent of its pastures and nature parks, and destroying most of the Mount Stromlo Observatory. Four people were killed and 470 homes were destroyed.

The current bushfire was sparked by an army helicopter that was in the area to provide support for bushfire operations, said the Department of Defence.

The helicopter crew were conducting aerial reconnaissance and ground clearance to enable access to emergency services personnel when heat from the aircraft’s landing light started a grassfire underneath it while it was grounded.

The Department of Defence said in a statement: “It is deeply regrettable that our support operations have likely started this fire.

“Defence has taken immediate action to reduce the risk of fires being started by helicopters, including not using certain aircraft lighting in extreme weather conditions.”

Australia is still in the early months of fire season, which has been especially fierce this summer and resulted in the deaths of 33 people and an estimated one billion native animals since September.

First Byzantine Monastery Discovered In Spain

Archaeological experts from the University of Alicante in Spain have recently identified the first Byzantine monastery ever found on the Iberian peninsula.

Emperor Justinian, Ravenna
[Credit: El Pais]

They first came across several round metal objects at the archaeological site, which is located in the area of Elda, Alicante. The exact identification of these objects had proven to be a mystery since the 19th century.

In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian forced people to keep a cache of state-minted coins in the main churches of each city. In this way, merchants could show that the coinage they used in economic transactions corresponded with the official money that the Emperor had minted.

The churches used to work as guarantors that buyers of precious metals were not cheated and that the coins in general use had the actual value that they were meant to have. If the operations were fraudulent, the tax revenue was lower — something the Emperor kept close tabs on.

The remains of the Byzantine monastery in Elda, Alicante, Spain
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

“This apparently is how the monastery of “El Monastil” functioned as a Byzantine administrative and fiscal headquarters by order of the emperor,” explains Antonio Manuel Poveda, a professor of Ancient History and director of the Archaeological Museum of Elda.

The painstaking research at Elda lasted almost 25 years due to the difficulties of identifying the architectural remains. Many different clues had been found during this time, but nothing had proven conclusive.

But now, the results of the latest research have proven that what had been thought to be a Roman or Visigoth site on the highest part of a hill on the outskirts of Elda, was in fact a Byzantine basilica, the first ever built in Spain — and it functioned as an important center for fiscal administration in those times.

Byzantine coins found in the church of El Monastil in Spain
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

The first to point out the presence of possible remains at the monastery site was local municipal archivist Lamberto Amat in 1873, although he could not verify the exact date of its construction.

However, 50 years ago, the organization El Centro Excursionista Eldense discovered a large number of archaeological materials, but it still was unable to identify them categorically and put them into any specific time frame.

It wasn’t until the 1980s when archaeologist Enrique Llobregat could confirm what he called the “existence of a Christian monastery” at the top. He related that he had discovered some marble fragments made according to the Greek style


Two of the skeletons discovered at the Elda site
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

Now, in addition to the set of coins with descriptions in Greek, in the last excavations, directed by Antonio Manuel Poveda, a large octagonal column base has also been found, which is typical of Byzantine architecture and unique to date throughout the Peninsula.

A pyxide, or cylindrical ivory box, decorated with a scene of Hercules capturing the Cerinea deer was also found at the Elda site. Pyxides were common objects throughout the Greek world and often contained small objects. This seems to be indicative of an attempt by the Byzantines to fuse their Greco-Eastern ancestry with Western Christianity.

The convent church occupied an area of about 84 square meters (904 square feet) in this hilltop religious center. Various metal items from Byzantine-era liturgical rituals have now also been found and identified, including a tiny knife (lancia), used in the preparation of the sacred bread before Communion, as well as a teaspoon (cochlear), which is still used in the Communion rite today throughout Orthodoxy.



Byzantine column base found on the El Monastil site
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

Poveda asserts “These objects constitute the only Hispanic group belonging to the Byzantine Christian ritual in Spain. In addition, North African, Oriental and local ceramic materials have also been documented, dating from the second half of the 6th century.”

The archaeologist added that in 1991, when the A-31 highway was built in this same area, a total of ten graves with 16 bodies were unearthed during construction works. Four of the people had been wearing rings engraved with the Greek letter sigma, and one of them even had a Greek cross.

Author: Ola Goroveci | Source: El Pais via Greek Reporter [January 22, 2020]

Evidence Of Specialized Sheep-Hunting Camp Discovered In Prehistoric Lebanon


Anthropologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) have confirmed the existence more than 10,000 years ago of a hunting camp in what is now northeastern Lebanon - one that straddles the period marking the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural settlements at the onset of the last stone age.

Views of Nachcharini Cave and environs [Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Analysis of decades-old data collected from Nachcharini Cave high in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range that forms the modern-day border between Lebanon and Syria, shows the site was a short-term hunting camp that served as a temporary outpost to emerging and more substantial villages elsewhere in the region, and that sheep were the primary game.

The finding confirms the hypothesis of retired U of T archaeologist Bruce Schroeder, who excavated the site on several occasions beginning in 1972, but who had to discontinue his work when the Lebanese Civil War began in 1975.

"The site represents the best evidence of a special-purpose camp - not a village or settlement - in the region," said Stephen Rhodes, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T and lead author of a study published in PLOS ONE. "The cave was a contemporary of larger settlements further south in the Jordan Valley, and is the first site of its kind to show the predominance of sheep among the animals hunted by its temporary inhabitants."

El Khiam points and variants from Nachcharini, St. 4d
[Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Radiocarbon dating of animal bones recovered from the site shows that it dates to an era known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), a period from about 10,000-8,000 BCE during which the cultivation of crops, the construction of mud-brick dwellings and other practices of domestication began to emerge. The stone tools found at the sites are mostly tiny arrowheads used for hunting. The new dates presented place the main deposits at the cave securely in the PPNA.

"Previous dates established in the 1970s were problematic and far too recent for unknown reasons, possibly due to contamination or incorrect processing," said Rhodes, who coauthored the study with Professors Edward Banning and Michael Chazan, both members of the Department of Anthropology at U of T. "The results highlight the fact that people in the PPNA took advantage of a wide variety of habitats in a complex system of subsistence practices."

It was already known that sheep hunting was practiced in this region throughout periods that preceded the PPNA, and the evidence found at Nachcharini Cave reinforces that understanding. According to Rhodes, it consolidates our knowledge of the natural range of sheep, which pertains to a potential beginning of domestication in later years.

"We are not saying that hunters at Nachcharini were engaged in early stages of this domestication," he said. "But the evidence of a local tradition makes this area a possible centre of sheep domestication later on."

Source: University of Toronto [January 22, 2020]

Tiny, Ancient Meteorites Suggest Early Earth's Atmosphere Was Rich In Carbon Dioxide

Very occasionally, Earth gets bombarded by a large meteorite. But every day, our planet gets pelted by space dust, micrometeorites that collect on Earth's surface.

These tiny meteorites, about half a millimeter across, fell into the ocean and were collected from the deep sea.
Like the samples used in the new study, these more recent micrometeorites are made of iron
[Credit: Donald Brownlee/University of Washington]

A University of Washington team looked at very old samples of these small meteorites to show that the grains could have reacted with carbon dioxide on their journey to Earth. Previous work suggested the meteorites ran into oxygen, contradicting theories and evidence that the Earth's early atmosphere was virtually devoid of oxygen. The new study was published this week in the open-access journal Science Advances.

"Our finding that the atmosphere these micrometeorites encountered was high in carbon dioxide is consistent with what the atmosphere was thought to look like on the early Earth," said first author Owen Lehmer, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences.

At 2.7 billion years old, these are the oldest known micrometeorites. They were collected in limestone in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and fell during the Archean eon, when the sun was weaker than today. A 2016 paper by the team that discovered the samples suggested they showed evidence of atmospheric oxygen at the time they fell to Earth.

That interpretation would contradict current understandings of our planet's early days, which is that oxygen rose during the "Great Oxidation Event," almost half a billion years later.

Knowing the conditions on the early Earth is important not just for understanding the history of our planet and the conditions when life emerged. It can also help inform the search for life on other planets.

"Life formed more than 3.8 billion years ago, and how life formed is a big, open question. One of the most important aspects is what the atmosphere was made up of -- what was available and what the climate was like," Lehmer said.

The new study takes a fresh look at interpreting how these micrometeorites interacted with the atmosphere, 2.7 billion years ago. The sand-sized grains hurtled toward Earth at up to 20 kilometers per second. For an atmosphere of similar thickness to today, the metal beads would melt at about 80 kilometers elevation, and the molten outer layer of iron would then oxidize when exposed to the atmosphere. A few seconds later the micrometeorites would harden again for the rest of their fall. The samples would then remain intact, especially when protected under layers of sedimentary limestone rock.

The previous paper interpreted the oxidization on the surface as a sign that the molten iron had encountered molecular oxygen. The new study uses modeling to ask whether carbon dioxide could have provided the oxygen to produce the same result. A computer simulation finds that an atmosphere made up of from 6% to more than 70% carbon dioxide could have produced the effect seen in the samples.

"The amount of oxidation in the ancient micrometeorites suggests that the early atmosphere was very rich in carbon dioxide," said co-author David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

For comparison, carbon dioxide concentrations today are rising and are currently at about 415 parts per million, or 0.0415% of the atmosphere's composition.

High levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, would counteract the sun's weaker output during the Archean era. Knowing the exact concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could help pinpoint air temperature and and acidity of the oceans during that time.

More of the ancient micrometeorite samples could help narrow the range of possible carbon dioxide concentrations, the authors wrote. Grains that fell at other times could also help trace the history of Earth's atmosphere through time.

"Because these iron-rich micrometeorites can oxidize when they are exposed to carbon dioxide or oxygen, and given that these tiny grains presumably are preserved throughout Earth's history, they could provide a very interesting proxy for the history of atmospheric composition," Lehmer said.

Author: Hannah Hickey | Source: University of Washington [January 24, 2020]

800-Year-Old Rock Drawings At Mesa Verde Linked To Astronomical Observations

Archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University have found out that some of the rock drawings made by Native Americans about 800 years ago in the canyons located in the border region between the US states of Colorado and Utah were linked to astronomic observations, such as determining the dates of summer and winter solstices. The pioneering archaeological research in this field has been led by Dr Radoslaw Palonka from the JU Department of American Archaeology.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Since 2011 the JU Institute of Archaeology has been running an archaeological project in Mesa Verde region located on the border of Colorado and Utah. The area is famous to both archaeologists and tourists for the Pre-Columbian Pueblo culture settlements built in rock niches or carved into canyon walls and for numerous ancient works of rock art. The research is the first Polish independent archaeological project in the United States and one of the few such European projects in the region.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The sites studied by the JU researchers contain remains of several dozen small settlements centred around Castle Rock Pueblo, built in the 13th century AD by Pueblo people. So far, Dr Palonka’s team have discovered previously unknown cave galleries containing murals and petroglyphs from various historical periods.

Credit: Jagiellonian University



During their studies, the archaeologists started to speculate, based on the analogies to several other sites in the South-West USA, whether some of these stone carvings hidden in rock recesses could be used by the ancient Pueblo people to determine the dates some important days of the year, namely summer and winter solstice as well as spring and autumn equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Two such sites have been studied so far. At the first one, centred around a rock niche with remains of several buildings from circa 800 years ago, petroglyphs were carved on a flat rock wall facing south, shaded by an overhanging rock. The panel consists of three different spirals and several smaller elements, such as rectangular motifs and numerous hollows.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

“Our observations revealed a unique phenomenon, particularly visible during the sunset of the winter solstice on December 22, when the sun rays and shadows move across the middle part of the panel with petroglyphs, going through the subsequent spirals, longitudinal grooves, and other elements. To a much lesser extent, the phenomenon is also visible during the spring and autumn equinox. The interaction between light and shadow as well as the moving of sun rays across the entire panel is already visible some time before the winter solstice, as well as several weeks afterwards. We have not seen this phenomenon during the remaining part of the year”, explains Dr Palonka.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Similar illumination of petroglyphs by sun rays in specific periods of the year has been observed at another site in Sand Canyon. What was different was that the petroglyph was regularly lit by sun rays only in the morning and early afternoon during the summer solstice. The researchers are planning to continue to study the rock art’s relations with astronomy.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The JU archaeologists’ conversations with members of Hopi tribe, who are the descendents of Pueblo people, have confirmed that the spirals were most probably used as a sort of calendar. As pointed out by Dr Palonka, similar ethnographic studies from the 19th century also suggested the existence of solar calendars: both the horizontal ones, based on watching sunsets and sunrises over certain mountains, passes and valleys, and those related to observing sun rays shining on petroglyphs during solstices or equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

It is also worth noting that summer and winter solstices are still of great religious importance to contemporary Pueblo groups from Arizona and New Mexico, providing framework for rituals and celebrations related to key farming activities, such as sowing and harvesting, as well as the preparations to these crucial tasks.

Source: Jagiellonian University [January 28, 2020]

Communal Tombs For High Priests Uncovered Upper Egypt


Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Enany has announced the discovery of communal tombs for high priests at the Al-Ghoreifa area in Tuna El-Gabal archaeological site in Minya, which marks the first archaeological discovery by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the year 2020.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The communal tombs were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty and senior officials in the fifteenth nome of Upper Egypt and its capital, Ashmunin.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Minister El-Enany said that since 2018, several discoveries have been made in Minya governorate, including a cachette of mummies, as well as several tombs full of sarcophagi and funerary collections including jewelleries, ushabti figurines and funerary masks.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
“Minya is set to be put on Egypt’s tourists map for its distinguished archaeological sites,” El-Enany said.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The discovery was made by an archaeological mission headed by Mustafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri explained that the ongoing work by the archaeological mission has uncovered 16 tombs with about 20 sarcophagi and coffins of various shapes and sizes, including five anthropoid sarcophagi made of limestone and engraved with hieroglyphic texts, and five well-preserved wooden coffins.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Some of the coffins are decorated with the names and titles of their owners, and were discovered alongside more than 10,000 ushabti figurines made of blue and green faience, most of which are engraved with the titles of the deceased.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The mission also found more than 700 amulets of various shapes, sizes and materials, including heart scarabs, amulets of the gods, and amulets made of pure gold, such as the “Ba” and an amulet in the shape of a winged cobra.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Many pottery vessels of different shapes and sizes, which were used for funerary and religious purposes, were also unearthed along with tools for cutting stones and moving coffins, such as wooden hammers and baskets made of palm fronds.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The discovery also includes eight groups of painted canopic jars made of limestone with inscriptions showing the titles of their owner, who bore the title of the singer of the God Thoth. Two collections of four canopic jars made of alabaster for a woman and a man were also unearthed, as well as stone dough without any inscriptions representing the four sons of Horus.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri said that one of the stone sarcophagi belongs to the son of Psamtik, who took the title of the head of the royal treasury. He bore many titles, the most important of which were the priest of Osiris and Nut.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The second sarcophagus belongs to Horus and has a scene depicting the goddess Nut spreading her wings above the chest, and below it are inscriptions revealing the deceased's titles, including the title of royal treasurer. Also discovered was a sarcophagus of Epy with three vertical lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the names and titles of the deceased.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The sarcophagus of the Djed of Djehuty Iuf ankh, which is made of well-polished limestone, is considered one of the most important coffins discovered during this season due to the titles inscribed on the sarcophagus lid – that of royal treasurer and bearer of seals of Lower Egypt and the sole companion of the king.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The fifth sarcophagus has hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the surnames of the deceased, the most important of which is the title of “the assistant.”

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
It is worth mentioning that during its previous works, the mission discovered 19 tombs containing 70 stone coffins of various sizes and shapes.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [January 30, 2020]

Human Skull Caps Were Produced Systematically From End Of Paleolithic To Bronze Age In Europe


The ritual use of human skulls has been documented in several archaeological sites of different chronologies and geographical areas. This practice could be related to decapitations for obtaining war trophies, to the production of masks, as decorative elements (even with engravings) or to what is known as skull cups. In fact, some ancient societies considered that human skulls possessed powers or life force, justifying sometimes its collection as evidences of superiority and authority during violent confrontations.

Skull cups from El Mirador Cave in Atapuerca
[Credit: IPHES/Psaladie]

Different signals preserved on the bones help us to recognize possible ceremonial practices. The most common modifications related to the ritual treatment of skulls are those produced by stone tools or metal knives, that is, cut marks, during scalp removal. This practice is archeologically well documented among American Paleo-Indians, for example, who show circular arrangements around the head as signs of this type of practices.

In Europe, skull cup have been identified in assemblages ranging from Upper Paleolithic, about 20,000 years old to the Bronze age, about 4,000 years ago. The meticulous fracturing of these skulls suggests that they are not only related to the need to extract the brain for nutritional purposes, but that they were specifically and intentionally fractured for obtaining containers or vessels.

This is evidenced in a study carried out by a team of researchers from IPHES (Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution), the URV (Rovira and Virgili University of Tarragona) and the Natural History Museum in London (NHML), which have developed a statistical analysis to assess whether the cut marks on skull fragments of the TD6.2 level of Gran Dolina in Atapuerca, Gough’s Cave (Great Britain), Fontbregoua (France), Herxheim (Germany), and la Cueva de El Mirador also in Atapuerca respond to a systematic processing.

Representation of the cut marks (blue) found in the skulls from
El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca) [Credit: IPHES]

The results conclude that these striate certainly respond to a specific pattern in the most recent chronological sites, showing treating skulls practices that were perpetrated during almost 15,000 years.

The study considered the bone as a map on which surface modifications are distributed and where it can be assessed whether if it is possible to identify specific patterns on the elaboration of cup skulls, by comparing evidences among the different sites mentioned above.

Specific modifications related to this human behaviour have been identified and the relevance of the cut marks location in specific areas of the skulls has been statistically described. Signals made by using stone tools, when meticulously and repeatedly extracting the scalp and meat., Actions that indicate an intense cleaning of skulls in the specific cases of Gough’s Cave, Fontbregoua, Herxheim and El Mirador. However, this model has not been observed on the remains of Homo antecessor from level TD6.2.



Map of the sites examined in the study
[Credit: IPHES]

Systematic fabrication of the skulls began with the removal of the scalp and continued with the removal of muscle tissue. The elaboration of the skulls ended fracturing them to preserve the thickest part of the cranial vault. The use of these container-shaped bones is still unknown. The repetition of this observed pattern provides new evidences of skulls preparation for ritual practices, and are associated in most cases to human cannibalism during recent Prehistory.

The results of this research have been published in the prestigious Journal of Archaeological Science. The study has been led by Francesc Marginedas, who is currently pursuing the Erasmus Mundus Master in Quaternary Archaeology and Human Evolution (taught at the URV) and doing his research work in IPHES under the supervision of Dr. Palmira Saladie. Marginedas studied the degree in “Cultural Anthropology and Human Evolution”, jointly taught by the URV and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). It was while he was receiving these courses that he began his research career, specializing in this subject.

Source: IPHES [January 23, 2020]

The Blue Acceleration: Recent Colossal Rise In Human Pressure On Ocean Quantified

Human pressure on the world's ocean accelerated sharply at the start of the 21st century and shows no sign of slowing, according to a comprehensive new analysis on the state of the ocean.

Claiming ocean resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today’saspirations are unprecedented, according to new research [Credit: PxFuel]

Scientists have dubbed the dramatic rise the "Blue Acceleration". The researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, synthesized 50-years of data from shipping, drilling, deep-sea mining, aquaculture, bioprospecting and much more. The results are published in the journal One Earth.

The scientists say the largest ocean industry is the oil and gas sector, responsible for about one third of the value of the ocean economy. Sand and gravel are the ocean's most mined minerals to meet demand from the construction industry. As freshwater become an increasingly scarce commodity, around 16,000 desalination plants have sprung up around the world in the last 50 years with a steep rise since 2000, according to the analysis.

Lead author Jean-Baptiste Jouffray from the Stockholm Resilience Centre said, "Claiming ocean resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today's aspirations are unprecedented"

The industrialization of the ocean took off at the end of the last century, driven by a combination of technological progress and declining land-based resources.

Global trends in use of the marine environment. Usage reached an inflection point
around the turn of the new millennium [Credit: One Earth]

"This Blue Acceleration is really a race for ocean resources and space, posing risks and opportunities for global sustainability"

The study highlights some positive human impacts. For example, the area protected from some exploitation has increased exponentially with a surge since 2000 that shows no signs of slowing. And offshore wind farm technology has reached commercial viability in this period allowing the world to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The authors conclude by calling for increased attention to who is driving the Blue Acceleration, what is financing it and who is benefiting from it? The United Nations is embarking on a "decade of the ocean" in 2021. The scientists say this is is an opportunity to assess the social-ecological impacts and manage ocean resources for long-term sustainability.

They highlight there is a high degree of consolidation relating the seafood industry, oil and gas exploitation and bioprospecting with just a small handful of multinational companies dominating each sector. The team suggests that banks and other investors could adopt more stringent sustainability criteria for ocean investments.

Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre [January 24, 2020]

Archaeologists Analyze The Composition Of A Roman-Era 'Makeup Case'


A study carried out by researchers from the Merida Consortium, the University of Granada (UGR) and the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain has analysed the contents of a scallop shell discovered in a 1st century AD grave and found traces of makeup.

Image of the scallop with pigment residues
[Credit:University of Granada]

First discovered in 2000 during excavations of a funerary complex in the former capital of the Lusitania, Augusta Emerita (present-day Merida) the 'make-up case' was uncovered in a deposit of cremated remains alongside ceramic cups, bone spindles, nails, glassware and the remains of a detachable bone box.

The make-up case is made from a bivalve malacological mollusk specimen of pecten maximus (viera). Once the shell was opened, it was possible to document the cosmetic remains, specifically, a small ball of a “pinkish” powdery conglomerate via a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy and chromatographic analysis.

The study revealed that the pinkish deposit was composed of a granite lacquer, mixed with a rose madder  to obtain the colouration and then an astringent compound was used as a fixative agent [Credit: University of Granada]

The use of the mollusk as a cosmetic container is a practice that dates back thousands of years across various civilisations. One of the earliest examples is tiny shells in the Sumerian city of Ur from 2500 BC that contained pigments used for cosmetics.

The study revealed that the pinkish deposit was composed of a granite lacquer, mixed with a rose madder to obtain the coloration and then an astringent compound was used as a fixative agent.

The results of the study have been published in the latest issue of Saguntum.

Source: University of Granada [January 24, 2020]

The Zanclean Megaflood Of The Mediterranean – Searching For Independent Evidence


Beneath the waters of the Alboran Sea, and in the shadow of an underwater volcanic structure, is a body of sediment that seems to have accumulated during a major flood 5.3 million years ago that filled the basin of a partially drained Mediterranean Sea. These sediments are candidates to be added to the list of new evidence found in the last years of the so-called Zancliense mega-flood, according to an article published in the Earth-Sciences Reviews.

Satellite image of the Gibraltar Arc
[Credit: NASA]

The paper reviews the recent findings published so far that support the hypothesis of a mega-flood that put an end to the Messinian Salinity Crisis, an event that occurred some 6 million years ago during which the Mediterranean Sea was isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and became a gigantic salt pan.

"The sedimentary deposits we have identified are compatible with a large flood through the Strait of Gibraltar. It is an elongated sedimentary body that accumulated on the leeward side of the flood thanks to the protection that the volcanic building provided against the force of the water flow that came from the Atlantic Ocean and entered the Mediterranean basin", explains Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera of the CSIC (ICTJA-CSIC) and first author of the article.

According to the researchers, this accumulation of sediments has a maximum thickness of 163 metres, extends over about 35 km and is about 7 km wide. The identification of this group of materials has been possible thanks to the images obtained by means of the reflection of seismic waves on the bottom of the Alboran Sea. In these images, the authors of the study detected a series of chaotic and discontinuous stratified reflection profiles located between the Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary layers. In addition, these sediments are arranged parallel to an erosive channel identified in 2009 at the bottom of the Alboran Sea.

This channel, about 390 km long, extended from the Gulf of Cadiz through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Algerian Basin. The canal would have been excavated by the massive influx of water from the Atlantic Ocean once the connection with the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar was re-established some 5 million years ago.

Isobath map of the eastern Alboran basin with the volcanic edifice location. Orange lines
show the main flood paths [Credit: Garcia-Castellanos et al, 2020]
Once the massive inflow of water entered in the Alboran basin, the channel split into two branches to overcome the topographic obstacles in its path. The volcanic edifice may have been one of these topographic obstacles during the flood leading to the deposition of the recently identified sediments along the seamount lee side.

These sediments identified in the Alboran Sea can be added to the rest of evidence found and published in recent years that support the hypothesis of a massive flood and are summarized in the present article.

The Noto Canyon, in the northern Malta Escarpment, and a body of sediments of up to 860 m in thickness buried at the east of this canyon are two of the other pieces of evidence proposed in this article that may sustain the megaflood hypothesis. Both parts of evidence were analyzed in a previous study published in Scientific Reports in 2018.

However, and despite all summarized pieces of evidence, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos is cautious. "Ten years after publishing the first observations that were related with the Zanclean flood we are still finding new evidences to sustain it, but they are not conclusive. All of the evidences that have been summarized in this article may have other possible interpretations and, before convincing the scientific community it will be necessary to have other studies that consider the hypothesis from other angles."

Researchers from the University of Malta, the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (GEOMAR), the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Istituto Nazionale di oceanografia e di geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) and the University of Sevilla also participated in the study.

Source: Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera [January 26, 2020]