legs Archives - New Historian

Ovatiovermis cribratus, a 500-million-year-old worm no bigger than a thumb and with leg-like appendages, has recently been identified as a new species. The fossil specimen resembles a flattened shrimp, but the tiny creature, a distant relative of arthropods and tardigrades, hung around in North America’s shallow seas eons before shrimp existed. Evolutionary biologists based their approximation of the worm-like creature on two fossils, the first discovered decades ago and a second which was found by a tourist in 2011 visiting the Burgess Shale. The Burgess Shale Formation, where both specimens were found, is a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its extraordinary deposit of marine fossils. The Formation, a former seafloor, is found in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia and boasts more than just exoskeletons and bones. It’s also known for the exceptional preservation of the soft tissues of the fossils there. At 508 million years old, Burgess is one of the earliest fossil beds known to contain soft-part imprints. The rock formation is black shale and is visible at several locations near the city of Field, B.C., in Yoho National Park and Kicking Horse Pass – a high mountain pass on the border of Alberta and British Columbia. Another outcrop is located 42 km south, in Kootenay National Park. The Burgess Shale was discovered in 1909 by Charles Walcott, a paleontologist. He returned with his family in 1910 and established a quarry at Fossil Ridge. The importance of soft-bodied preservation, and the wide range of organisms Walcott recognized as being new to science, caused him to return to the site numerous times until 1924. By 1924, at age 74, Walcott had collected more than 65,000 specimens. The name, Ovatiovermis cribratus, stems from how researchers believe the creature fed. Ovatiovermis because it’s thought the creature stood up on the seafloor, in an ongoing standing ovation of sorts, and cribratus in reference to the way it may have sieved passing water in order to collect food. Lobopodians (meaning “blunt feet” in Greek) are worm-like organisms with stubby legs. “Lobopodians have mostly been seen so far as an eclectic group. We think that suspension feeding was common among them and turned out to be important in the initial ‘burst’ of that colossal group that gave rise to water bears, velvet worms and arthropods,” Cédric Aria, a co-author of the recently published study, said in a statement. Other animals, the skeleton shrimp for example, have comparable eating patterns. The Burgess Shale Formation and its fossil-carrying deposits correlate to the Stephen formation, a collection of dark mudstones approximately 508 million years old. The beds holding the fossils were deposited at the bottom of a cliff that was around 160 meters tall, deep enough to be below the agitation caused by waves during a storm. Originally it was believed the Burgess Shale was set down in anoxic conditions, ongoing research, however, suggests oxygen was present on a continual basis. Ovatiovermis cribratus was identified in an article recently published in BMC Evolutionary Biology. Photo courtesy of Jean-Bernard Caron—Royal Ontario Museum ]]>

Long Discovered Mummified Legs Belonged to Queen Nefertari

Site with Reburied Skeletons Discovered by Accident

Western Digs: “This is one of the few archaeological contexts registered by archaeologists in this region, if we confirm the hypothesis [that this burial dates from] the Late Archaic, we could have a site with information about the transition to agricultural, sedentary communities in the region.” A number of the remains, both avian and human, had been naturally mummified by the arid climate. In addition to the skeletons and bird remains; textiles, baskets, stone points and other artifacts were also found. The two sets of remains were surrounded with an array of goods, including a large sea shell and a dress or bag made from deer hide. The gender and exact age of the child is unknown, although the size suggests at the time of death they were between one and three years old. The partial adult skeleton had large leg bones that had been tied together, similar to other, later finds in northern Mexico. The practice of reburying partial skeletons was not uncommon. Starting around 1100, the citizens of Paquime are known to have dug up and then re-buried their dead, sometimes collecting the bones in large jars or bundles, possibly to be buried with relatives. If this new cave site predates Paquime, the burial may be earlier evidence of the practice. Not found at the graves were artifacts, such as ceramics, associated with the Puebloans who built and then settled in trade centers like Paquime during the Medio Period. This absence indicates the graves predate the creation of Paquime, which happened around the year 700. The early date also makes the discovery of the bird, a scarlet macaw, especially significant because tropical birds are not indigenous to the high desert region of Chihuahua. The discovery of the macaw in this pre-Medio Period site indicates the presence of long-distance trade in exotic goods which pre-dates Paquime by centuries. “This finding verifies once again that the [mountains of Chihuahua] have been a cultural corridor between the coast and the desert north with the south,” Gallaga is quoted as saying in Western Digs. “At the end of the day, this discovery shows us that there is still a lot to do in the northern Mexico region, archaeologically speaking.” Gallaga’s team was called to the site when the property owner uncovered the strange remains while using heavy equipment to level the cave’s floor. “Many archaeological discoveries are the result of planned research and are conducted during years of intellectual efforts,” Gallaga says in Western Digs. “Others are the result of an accident.” ]]>

Snakes Evolved on Land, Hunted by Night

Farming To Blame For Our Weakened Bones