Prehistoric cave painters who daubed colourful murals on the walls of deep caverns some 30,000 years ago may have been hallucinating due to a lack of oxygen. A new study speculates that the artists who produced numerous underground works across Europe may have deliberately starved themselves of oxygen. Among the paintings mentioned by Israeli researchers are … Read more
David Attenborough is bringing long-extinct prehistoric creatures into people’s homes through the magic of augmented reality in a new app. ‘Museum Alive’, from Alchemy Immersive and Atlantic Productions, is an extension of Sir David’s BAFTA-winning 2013 documentary ‘Natural History Museum Alive’. Suitable for all ages, the app uses your camera to create the illusion of … Read more
Russia is seeking to unlock unknown prehistoric viruses up to 50,000 years old by extracting biological material from carcasses of ancient animals frozen in permafrost. Scientists from the Kremlin’s equivalent of Porton Down are this week taking samples from a collection of specimens preserved in ice which have been found in recent years. They are … Read more
Ancient tools that once belonged to prehistoric civilizations have been found all over the world, but a discovery in Spain is unlike those traditionally made of stone or flint. A team excavating the megalithic tomb of Montelirio tholos in 2007 through 2010 uncovered a dagger formed from rock crystal that experts say is the ‘most … Read more
A giant prehistoric worm sprang from long tunnels in the seabed and sliced fish in half, according to a new study. Researchers found large, L-shaped burrows from layers of seafloor dating back to the Miocene period (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) of northeast Taiwan. These burrows are trace fossils – geological records of biological … Read more
A bizarre sea beast with a circular mouth full of serrated teeth triggered a prehistoric ‘arms race’ when it evolved eyes, new research has revealed. Radiodonts stalked the oceans more than 500 million years ago and are one of the earliest animal types to emerge on planet Earth. Now a new study has revealed how … Read more
Scientists have just identified a prehistoric crocodile measuring more than 16 feet long that stalked the swamps of Australia millions of years ago. Fossils of Paludirex vincenti, nicknamed the ‘swamp king,’ were first unearthed in the 1980s but the creature was only recently identified as a distinct species. It was an apex predator that preyed … Read more
The Sistine Chapel of the ancients’: Eight-mile wall of prehistoric paintings of animals and humans is discovered in heart of the Amazon rainforest Eight-mile wall of prehistoric rock art in Colombia features animals and humans Discovered in the Amazonian rainforest after it was created up to 12,500 years Found on cliff faces last year in … Read more
A family of undertakers have branched out and built a modern take on a prehistoric tomb to meet the demand for an alternative to burial. The Round Barrow in Corscombe, Dorset, is only the fifth tomb of its kind in the country and has recently opened. The project, which has 990 niches to hold urns … Read more
Fossils of a mastodon, a giant prehistoric ancestor of the modern-day elephant, have been discovered in a gold mine in central Colombia. Miners working in a tunnel near the town of Quinchia, in the central-west province of Risaralda, discovered the remains including an intact tusk measuring more than three feet long. While mastodon fossils have … Read more