Las Dantas panel at Cerro Azul, La Lindosa (arrow points to proposed giant sloth painting).
Credit: José Iriarte, et al/Royal Society B 2022

Did ancient Americans in the forests of South America see strange prehistoric mammals before they disappeared forever at the end of the Ice Age? Cave paintings discovered in a remote region of Colombia appear to depict giant ground sloths, elephant-like gomphotheres, ancient horses, and a car-sized armadillo relative called a glyptodont. The paintings provide a rare glimpse of a long-lost ecosystem, populated by giant animals known as megafauna, that few people had ever set eyes upon.

The paintings were discovered at Serranía de la Lindosa, a natural rock shelter on the banks of the Guayabero River in central Colombia. Although the cave paintings were known to the Indigenous people of the region, they were inaccessible to scientists due to the remote location and ongoing civil conflict in the area. However, scientists have been able to study the paintings in detail in recent expeditions. The images were created using red ochre, a natural mineral pigment commonly used in cave paintings throughout the world.

The cave paintings show several familiar South American animals, including capybaras and horses. The researchers believe the paintings depict native horses from the region before they became extinct about 10,000 years ago rather than modern horses that were introduced to South America by the Spanish in the 1500’s.

Other figures seem to show strange Ice Age megafauna that became extinct thousands of years ago. One intriguing image depicts a large, stocky animal with elongated forearms next to what appears to be its cub. Researchers believe this image depicts a giant ground sloth, an extinct relative of the modern sloth that was as large as an elephant. The researchers identified other possible Ice Age species in the paintings, including a gomphothere (a relative of modern elephants), a glyptodont, and a bizarre hoofed mammal called Litopterna, which resembled an antelope with a short trunk-like snout.

There is abundant evidence from cave paintings in Europe and Asia that humans coexisted with Ice Age megafauna before they went extinct. However, similar cave paintings are rare in the Americas. No people lived in the Americas before Indigenous people arrived. Most scientists think the first people came to the Americas from Asia at least 15,000 years ago. Many of the animals depicted went extinct soon after the arrival of humans in the region. By about 10,000 years ago, horses, mammoths, gomphotheres, ground sloths, and glyptodonts had disappeared. Scientists continue to debate the role of human hunters in the extinction of Ice Age megafauna in the Americas. Many scientists believe that other factors, such as climate change at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch may have had a larger role in the extinction of these great beasts.

Fossilized human footprints that a White Sands National Park program manager first discovered.
Credit: © Dan Odess

Scientists in September 2021 announced the startling discovery of preserved ancient human footprints at Lake Otero, in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The discovery confirms that people inhabited North America at the height of the last ice age. The archaeologists who excavated the footprints determined through Carbon 14 dating that a group of teenagers walked and ran along the shore of a shallow lake there between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. The site is at least 5,000 years older than any other well-documented human occupation site in the Americas.

The footprints were discovered as archaeologists surveyed White Sands National Park, a region of wind-swept gypsum dunes that creep along Lake Otero, a dried-up alkaline lake. The shifting dunes sometimes reveal preserved footprints of prehistoric animals—including ground sloths and mammoths—that were laid down thousands of years ago. In 2018, the scientists discovered several sets of human footprints among the tracks of extinct ice age mammals. Many of the footprints are relatively small and likely made by teenagers as they ran and played on the ancient lakeshore. As scientists carefully excavated the fine layers of gypsum above and below the footprints, they recovered preserved seeds of an ancient grass sprinkled within various layers. Carbon 14 dates obtained from the seeds established the age of the tracks between 21,000 and 23,000 years old. This places them in a period known as the last glacial maximum, long before the North American ice sheets retreated. The astonishing dates were published in the journal Science.

For decades, archaeologists have debated when people first arrived in the Americas. Most agreed that it would have been difficult or impossible for people to migrate from Siberia to North America during the last ice age, before about 13,000 years ago. Vast ice sheets and glaciers covered much of northern North America, blocking entry. Once the ice sheets began to recede, people could migrate south into the Americas. Around this time, the Clovis culture, identified by distinctive stone spearheads found with the remains of extinct prehistoric animals, thrived in the Americas. Scientists long believed that the Clovis culture people were among the first to inhabit the Western Hemisphere.

However, a few archaeological sites have challenged this consensus view. One site is called Monte Verde, located at the southern tip of South America. There, stone tools and other remains show people occupied the site around 14,000 years ago, long before the Clovis culture thrived in North America. Archaeologists think people may have sailed in kayaks along the west coast of North and South America to reach the site, avoiding the ice sheets that covered much of the land.

Now, the Lake Otero site has been determined to be several thousand years older than Monte Verde. And, the footprints don’t just preserve a brief tourist visit. Archaeologists at Lake Otero excavated footprints from several distinct layers at the site, showing that people passed through the region frequently over a span of several thousand years. Archaeologists must now rethink their understanding of how and when people first arrived in the Americas.

Lake Surprise fills a volcano crater at Budj Bim National Park in southeastern Australia.
Credit: Peter (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Australia is famous for its unique culture, metropolitan cities, and unusual wildlife, among other things. Each week, this seasonal feature will spotlight one of Australia’s many wonders.

The inactive volcano and cultural site Budj Bim made history when, in 2019, it became the first World Heritage site listed exclusively for its value to Aboriginal culture. Such sites are places of unique cultural or natural importance as designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Budj Bim, once known as Mount Eccles, is located in southeastern Australia. The overlapping craters of Budj Bim hold lakes in which Aboriginal people maintained systems of aquaculture (the raising of water animals and plants) for thousands of years. Budj Bim means High Head in the language of the Gunditjmara people (also called the Dhauwurd Wurrung) of southwestern Victoria state. Budj Bim sits about 170 miles (270 kilometers) west of Melbourne. It is part of the 20,700-acre (8,370-hectare) Budj Bim National Park (formerly Mount Eccles National Park).

Gunditjmara tradition holds that Budj Bim is part of the body of an ancient creator being, who was revealed to Aboriginal people in an eruption around 30,000 years ago. The last known eruption of Budj Bim occurred about 8,000 years ago. Starting at least 6,600 years ago, the Gunditjmara people began creating a system of channels and dams to trap eels and other fish among the rock formations of Budj Bim. The result was an aquaculture system that provided plentiful food, and permanent Aboriginal settlements were established at nearby Lake Condah and Lake Gorrie. European settlers arrived in the area in the 1830’s.

Budj Bim—named Mount Eccles by European settlers—became a protected area in 1926 and a national park in 1960. Mount Eccles National Park was renamed Budj Bim National Park in 2017. The area is popular for camping, hiking, and picnicking.

A procession of 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies (18 kings and 4 queens) leave the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square and are driven to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, in Cairo, Egypt, on April 3, 2021.
Credit: © Abaca Press/Alamy Images

Last month, Egyptian royals paraded through downtown Cairo. Called the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade, the procession included 18 kings and 4 queens. The royals traveled from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. As they made the 3-mile (5-kilometer) journey, they were met with cheers from adoring fans. Although the fans were lively, the royals were quite reserved. In fact, the royals had been dead for hundreds of years.

The Pharaoh’s Golden Parade marked the relocation of 22 ancient Egyptian mummies. Mummy is a body that has been preserved through natural or artificial means.

The royal mummies were very fragile. Vehicles designed for the event cradled the mummies on their trip. The roads were even repaved to ensure that the kings and queens had a smooth ride. For protection, the bodies were placed in nitrogen-filled boxes. (Pure nitrogen gas is used as a “blanket” to keep away oxygen, which can further degrade the already-ancient corpses.)

Egyptians mummified their dead because they believed the body had to be preserved for use in the afterlife. The earliest Egyptian mummies were naturally preserved by being buried in the hot and dry desert sand. By about 3500 B.C., the Egyptians had developed an elaborate process of preparing mummies. Ancient texts indicate that the process took 70 days to complete. In this process, the stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines were removed from the body through an incision on the left side of the abdomen. The heart, which the Egyptians considered the center of reasoning, was usually left in place. In some cases, embalmers removed the brain with a hook through a hole pierced through the nose.

After the body was dried, it was treated with perfumes and resins that helped seal out moisture. The body could be stuffed with straw, linen, moss, or other material to give it a more lifelike appearance. The body was then wrapped in a great number of linen bandages. Mummies were usually placed in a coffin or a series of coffins, one inside the other.

Wealthy people could afford more elaborately prepared mummies than could the poor. The ancient Egyptians also mummified animals, including baboons, cats, jackals, and rams, which were associated with various Egyptian gods and cults. Pet cats and dogs were sometimes mummified as well. The ancient Egyptians practiced mummification until about A.D. 300, when it was replaced by simple burials following the introduction of Christianity.

Mummies were also made in other parts of the world. In China, some bodies were preserved using mercury salts. Among the Inca of South America, mummies were preserved through the use of smoke and resins. The dry climate of the Andes Mountains aided the preservation of the bodies. The people of the Aleutian Islands and the Ancestral Pueblo people (once called the Anasazi) of the American Southwest also mummified their dead. Mummification is still practiced today in the form of embalming. Among the most famous modern mummies are those of the Communist leaders V. I. Lenin of Russia and Mao Zedong of China.

A new archaeological discovery is seen in Luxor, Egypt.
Credit: © Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptology

In early April 2021, Egyptian archaeologists announced their discovery of a previously unknown ancient city that had been buried largely intact for thousands of years. The city, given the name Aten or The Rise of Aten, was built around 3,500 years ago near Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, a narrow gorge that was used as a cemetery by the pharaohs (kings) of ancient Egypt.

Egyptologists (scholars who study ancient Egypt) compared the importance of the discovery of Aten to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (sometimes called King Tut) in 1922. Others compare this site to Pompeii, an ancient city in Italy that disappeared after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Like Pompeii, Aten promises to give scholars a rare and relatively complete view of the daily life of ancient Egyptian commoners. Most other important discoveries in Egyptology involve tombs of pharaohs and other wealthy Egyptians.

The remarkable site of Aten preserves the ruins of many homes built of mud brick walls about 9 feet (3 meters) high. Archaeologists also found the remains of tools and other utensils used in the daily life of ancient Egyptians along with jewelry, scarab charms, pottery, and tools for making bread, yarn, cloth, and glass. The number of homes and workshops at the site shows that the city had a large population. The archaeologists have discovered a number of burials that preserve the skeletons of some of the city residents. Unlike wealthy people in ancient Egypt, the burials of these commoners were not preserved as mummies.

Pottery found at the site bore an inscription that allowed scholars to determine it was manufactured during the reign of the pharaoh Akhenaten. He ruled ancient Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 B.C. His wife, Queen Nefertiti, was famous for her great beauty and her dedication to her husband’s teachings. Akhenaten was originally known as Amenhotep IV. He was the son of Amenhotep III, one of the most powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom period (1539-1075 B.C.). During the New Kingdom, Egypt became the largest and strongest empire in the ancient world.

As pharaoh, Amenhotep IV was a religious reformer. He chose Aten as the only god of Egypt and dismissed the many gods and goddesses of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Aten had been a little-known sun god worshiped mainly in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Amenhotep was so devoted to the worship of Aten that he changed his own name to Akhenaten, meaning servant of Aten. Akhenaten’s religious reforms, known as the Amarna Revolution, led to an outpouring of art and sculpture that glorified the Aten. But the changes angered many Egyptians who wished to continue worshipping the old gods.

After the death of Akhenaten, his successor Tutankhaten removed -aten from his name and became Tutankhamun. He restored the old state religion, allowing the worship of the many old gods as well as Aten. Later pharaohs destroyed or removed all monuments built by or in honor of Tutankhamun and others who had accepted Aten as Egypt’s chief god. The city of Aten was abandoned and eventually became buried in the desert sand for more than 3,000 years until its rediscovery this year.

The flag of Wales features a red dragon on two broad horizontal stripes of white and green. The dragon has been a Welsh symbol for nearly 2,000 years. Credit: © Viktor Ostrovsky, Shutterstock

Did you wake up this morning feeling the need to pin a leek in your lapel, wave a daffodil, or take your pet dragon for a walk? If so, you might be Welsh! Today is St. David’s Day, the day that the people of Wales celebrate their beloved country. David is the patron saint of Wales. A patron saint is a saint chosen to protect the interests of a country, place, group, trade or profession, or activity. St. David’s Day is celebrated every year on March 1.

The people of Wales will be celebrating St. David’s Day, from the capital city of Cardiff in the south to the idyllic northern village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. (Yes, that is the name of a real place!) The Welsh traditionally celebrate with parades and festivals called eisteddfods. (For those of you who skipped Welsh classes, it’s pronounced eye STEHTH vods.) As is the case in many countries, Wales is currently restricting social activities to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But the Welsh will certainly still celebrate! The Welsh flag will adorn homes, families will cook traditional Welsh recipes (including cawl – a souplike stew), and people will sing the national anthem (“Old Land of My Fathers”) with extra fervor.

Wales is one of the four countries that makes up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Welsh take great pride in their country. Although Wales has been united with England for more than 450 years, the Welsh have kept alive their own literature, traditions, and language—one of the oldest in Europe. The Welsh name for Wales is Cymru (pronounced KUHM ree.)

Wales is not alone in celebrating a national patron saint. For example, the English observe St. George’s Day on April 23, and the Scottish commemorate St. Andrew’s Day on November 30. Most famously, Irish people in many parts of the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17.

You may associate St. Patrick’s Day with the color green—in Chicago they even dye the river bright green every year. For St. David’s Day, the color is red, from the bright red dragon that stands proudly on the Welsh flag. Other Welsh symbols include daffodils—considered the national flower—and the vegetable leek (considered the national emblem).

No matter where you live, we wish you a Happy St. David’s Day! Or as it’s said in Welsh, “Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!” (pronounced DEETH gwihl DEW ee HAHP uhs).

Stuffed toys in a Chinatown market celebrate the Chinese year of the ox.
Credit: © lennykaiser, Shutterstock

Friday, February 12, marks the first day of the Chinese New Year, the most important festival of the Chinese calendar. The date of the Chinese New Year is based on the cycles of the moon. It begins each year between January 21 and February 20. In ancient China, the monthlong festival marked the end of one farming season and the beginning of a new one. Today, the Chinese New Year festival usually lasts only a few days.

One important part of Chinese New Year is the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac, also called the Eastern zodiac, is a cycle of 12 animal signs used in a system of astrology practiced in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and some other Asian countries. This system assigns an animal sign to represent each lunar year. A lunar year is a year measured by tracking phases of the moon, rather than changes in the sun’s position in the sky. Each animal sign represents an entire year, and the cycle repeats every 12 years. The 12 animal signs are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit (or hare), dragon, snake, horse, goat (or sheep), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig (or boar). The year that begins in 2021 is the year of the ox.

Chinese people prepare for the new year by thoroughly cleaning and decorating the house. Decorations include spring couplets, red paper scrolls with phrases praising the renewal of life and the return of spring.

Family reunions are an important part of the celebration. Family members join in a festive New Year’s Eve dinner. Places are set at the table for absent family members to symbolize the unity of the family. Special foods that symbolize good fortune for the new year are served. For example, rice cakes, called nian gao, are a popular food for New Year’s Eve dinners. The Chinese word nian means year, and gao means high. This food signifies achievement in the new year. Children bow to their parents and grandparents to wish them a long life. Gifts of money in red envelopes are given to children to wish them luck and wealth in the new year.

On New Year’s Day, people visit relatives, neighbors, and friends. Dances featuring colorful dragon and lion costumes are often performed on this day. Parades are a popular New Year’s custom among Chinese communities in the United States and Canada.

However, like so many holidays this past year, Chinese New Year might look different than in years past. In many places, efforts are being made to prevent the spread of the pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Such efforts often include social distancing, meant to limit contact among people and thus the spread of germs. But, limiting the spread of germs doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the holiday!

One socially distant way to enjoy the holiday is to have a virtual cooking class with family and friends. You can make such foods as dumplings or nian gao. Both delicious dishes are traditional lunar New Year foods! To create a festive environment in which to eat your traditional foods, you can make paper lanterns and dragons for the table.

If you must visit friends or relatives, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before and after greeting others. Wearing a protective face mask when not eating can help prevent the spread of disease. However you choose to celebrate, we hope you have a safe and fun New Year!

In October 2020, archaeologists carrying out maintenance work discovered this giant geoglyph (ground etching) of a cat at the site of the famous Nazca Lines in Peru.
Credit: Jhony Islas, Peru’s Ministry of Culture

This month, archaeologists discovered a catlike figure carved into a hillside in Nazca, Peru. Archaeologists are people who study the remains of past human cultures. The cat is the latest geoglyph (ground etching) to be found in a region famous for its giant designs. The Nazca people marked into the ground these designs, also called the Nazca lines. The Nazca were a Native American culture that lived as early as 100 B.C. to A.D. 800 in the coastal desert of what is now southern Peru. Drawn centuries before such other famous cats as Garfield and the Chesire Cat, this catlike geoglyph illustrates the timeless appeal of our feline friends.

The catlike image in Nazca has pointy ears, round eyes, and a striped tail. It is also engaged in a favorite cat pastime—lounging. Its long body stretches 40 yards (37 meters) on the hillside. The geoglyph is said to date from 200 B.C. to 100 B.C.—making it a lot of cat years old. The cat is believed to be older than the other geoglyphs that have been discovered at Nazca over the years. Archaeologists came across the etching while they were remodeling a section of the hill.

The Nazca made the geoglyphs by removing surface stones and piling them along the edges of the designs. Removing the dark rocks exposed the bright sand beneath. The designs have lasted for centuries in the desert environment, with little rain or wind to wear them away. The geoglyphs can only be seen in full from the air.

Many of the geoglyphs form the outlines of gigantic animals and plants. They include figures of a killer whale, a lizard, a monkey, and a spider. More common are geometric forms, including spirals, straight lines, trapezoids, and triangles. Some of the lines appear to spread outward from small hills, like the spokes of a wheel. The lines stretch for miles or kilometers across the desert. Platforms lie near the bases of many of the trapezoids.

In 1994, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Nazca lines a World Heritage Site. UNESCO gives this designation to areas of unique natural or cultural importance.

Scholars believe that the Nazca lines had several functions. Investigations by scientists indicate that people gathered and walked on the lines. Scholars think that people placed offerings on platforms around the shapes to encourage the nature spirits to provide rain for their crops. The animal designs symbolized the essence of the nature spirits, whereas some of the geometric lines led pilgrims to ritual centers.

In Peru, a unique conservation effort is taking place near the city of Cusco at the Parque de la Papa (Park of the Potato). Located outside the Andes Mountains town of Pisac (or Pisaq), the park celebrates the Peruvian potato, of which there are some 3,000 varieties. The park is also a living tribute to the cultural heritage of the region’s indigenous (native) communities.

Potatoes originated in the highlands of Peru and nearby areas of the Andes Mountains. Credit: © Shutterstock

The Parque de la Papa is administered and farmed by the local Amaru, Chawaytire, Pampallacta, Paru Paru, and Sacaca indigenous communities. Within its grand boundaries—the park covers over 22,000 acres (9,000 hectares)—are grown more than 1,300 varieties of potato native to that area of the Andean highlands. Many potato varieties in the park are found nowhere else in the world. The cultivation of such rare potatoes helps ensure their existence for future generations, as does the park’s sharing of precious seeds with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a long-term seed storage facility in Norway.

The Parque de la Papa demonstrates the ability of potatoes to survive in the region’s harsh but changing conditions. The park sits in the cold and thin air at an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) above sea level. Climate change is bringing warmer temperatures, however, forcing farmers still higher to reach the optimum growing environment for some potato varieties.

Peru is home to some 3,000 varieties of potato. Credit: © Shutterstock

Visitors to the park learn about traditional potato cultivation, harvesting, cooking, and storage. They are also treated to delicious local potato dishes. Hiking trails allow people to walk off their meals while also providing panoramic views of the Andean highlands. The Parque de la Papa features a variety of local crafts and products—from cosmetics and teas to medicines and textiles—made from potatoes and other plants native to the area.

A patchwork of potato fields covers this section of the Altiplano, a cold plateau in the Andean highlands. Credit: © Roux Frederic, Shutterstock

The potato originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. Scientists believe cultivated potatoes came from a species that first grew around Lake Titicaca, in what are now Bolivia and Peru. People living there and in surrounding areas were growing potatoes long before Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500′s. Potatoes were then introduced to Europe and other parts of the world. The nutritious potato became a vital food crop in many regions.

March 13, 2020

This Sunday, March 15, is the bicentenary of the northeastern state of Maine. Throughout 2020, bicentennial celebrations and events are commemorating Maine’s entrance to the Union as the 23rd state in 1820.

The beautiful, rocky coast of Maine attracts thousands of vacationers to the state each year. The Portland Head Light, in Cape Elizabeth, is one of the best-known American lighthouses. It was built in 1791. credit: © Shutterstock

A special bicentennial flag is flying above Maine’s public and government buildings in 2020. This Sunday, Statehood Day celebrations in Augusta, the capital, include birthday cake, music, poetry, and speeches. Events later in the year include a bicentennial parade, a sailing ships festival, and the sealing of a time capsule. Special bicentennial programs include a “Maine in the Movies” series, which celebrates the state’s role in Hollywood films, and the mass planting of white pine saplings in new or existing public parks. The state is even publishing The Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook to showcase the state’s unique culinary traditions.

Maine state map. credit: World Book map; map data (c) MapQuest.com, Inc.

The Maine region was the home of Native Americans for thousands of years before English colonists first settled the area in 1607 (13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock). Such difficulties as cold weather and a lack of leadership, however, forced the settlers back to England in 1608. Colonists, primarily fishermen, returned to make permanent settlements in Maine in the 1620′s. Maine was a part of Massachusetts throughout its colonial history and for 44 years after the Declaration of Independence established the United States in 1776.

The Maine quarter features a lighthouse on a granite coast and a schooner. The lighthouse is the Pemaquid Point Light, northwest of Portland. The lighthouse dates from the 1820’s and is a popular tourist attraction. Granite is a common feature of Maine’s coastline and one of the state’s leading mined products. The schooner resembles one of Maine’s famous windjammers (sailing ships). credit: U.S. Mint

In 1785, a movement began for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and for Maine’s admission to the Union as an individual state. Many people in Maine protested heavy taxation, poor roads, the long distance to the capital city of Boston, and other conditions. But before the War of 1812, most voters wanted Maine to remain a part of Massachusetts. The separation movement grew much stronger after the war. Many of those who favored separation won election to the legislature. They swayed many voters to their side. The people voted for separation in 1819, and Maine entered the Union the next year.

The name Maine probably means mainland. Early English fishermen used the term The Main to distinguish the mainland from the offshore islands, where they settled. New Englanders often refer to Maine as Down East. They call people who live in Maine Down Easters or Down Easterners. These terms probably come from the location of Maine east of, or downwind from, Boston. Ships from that port sailed down to Maine, and ships from Maine traveled up to Boston.

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is from Portland, Maine’s largest city, and the American Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain is from the town of Brewer. The author Stephen King, a native of Portland, sets many of his novels in Maine.