Tag: Africa
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Discovery of First Fossil Hand Linked to P. Boisei Suggests the Bygone Human Relative Could Have Used Tools
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about tool use in our ancient cousins. A recent discovery of the first hand and foot bones on Paranthropus boisei has shed light on whether the species was able to use tools. The research was published in the journal Nature. “The authors make a compelling case that this individual would…
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Rare half-pink rough diamond with ‘astounding’ weight of 37.4 carats discovered in Botswana
Live Science has a story about the discovery of a very large pink diamond. The diamond weighs 37.4 carats. It was discovered in Botwana and likely formed in two stages as it has two colors… pink and colorless. The pink half probably formed first, but from what scientists know about colorful diamonds, there’s a good…
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Video for ESCONI October 2025 General Meeting – “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa”
The October 2025 General Meeting was held on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 via Zoom. Foreman Bandama with the Field Museum presented on African archaeology and anthropology. His presentation is titled “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa” There are over twenty-five great African civilizations, besides Egypt.…
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ESCONI October 2025 General Meeting – October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa”
The October 2025 General Meeting will be held on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 via Zoom. Foreman Bandama with the Field Museum will be presenting on African archaeology and anthropology. His presentation is titled “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa” There are over twenty-five great African…
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Oldest Human Genomes Reveal How a Small Group Burst Out of Africa
The New York Times’ Origins column has an article about a group of early humans. Around 45,000 years ago, a small group of people, likely fewer than 1,000, lived on the icy edges of Europe, hunting large game such as woolly rhinoceroses. This group is identified as the LRJ culture. They are believed to have…
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PBS Eons: There’s No Single Cradle of Humankind
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about human origins. Where did our ancestors evolve? It would take decades for paleontologists to realize that maybe there wasn’t just one so-called “cradle of humankind,” and realize that maybe they’d been asking the wrong question all along.
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PBS Eons: We Helped Make Mosquitoes A Problem
PBS Eons has a new video on Youtube. This one is about the pesky mosquitoes. Around 6,000 years ago, in the Sahel region of Africa, a lone female mosquito buzzed through the lush, green savannah. She couldn’t know it, but the planet itself was about to change in ways that would see her descendants evolve…
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PBS Eons: Why The Giraffe Got Its Neck
PBS Eons has a new video on Youtube. This one is about the evolution of long necks in giraffes. How and why the giraffe's neck emerged in the first place has been a mystery that generations of biologists have argued over – one that has made us reconsider our understanding of how evolution actually works…
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5 million-year-old fossils reveal 2 new species of saber-toothed cats in South Africa
LiveScience has a story about some fossil discoveries in South Africa. Two new species of saber-toothed cats, Dinofelis werdelini and Lokotunjailurus chimsamyae, have been discovered near the town of Langebaanweg on the west coast of South Africa. These animals lived about 5.2 million years ago. While excavating the fossil bones, two known species were also found,…
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Is Africa splitting into two continents?
LiveScience has a story about plate tectonics and Africa. A rift in eastern Africa might be tearing it into two pieces. The rift is known as the East African Rift. It stretches for over 2,000 miles and consists of a system of valleys from the Red Sea to Mozambique. So will Africa rip apart completely,…
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Smithsonian: Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of alligator-like amphibians from the Permian Period. The animals, Rhinesuchus, were found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa. They lived more than 255 million years ago. They are thought to be salamander-like, but the size of modern day alligators. The rhinesuchid temnospondyls were described in the…
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PBS Eons: The Extinct Human Species Found In Remote Cave Chambers
There's a new episode of PBS Eons over on Youtube. This one is about human evolution… the discovery of Homo naledi in a cave in Africa back in 2013. Deep in the Rising Star Cave system lies a mystery of paleoanthropology: a chamber filled with the bones of Homo naledi.
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PBS Eons: How Our Deadliest Parasite Turned To The Dark Side
There’s a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about the origin of malaria. Did you know that Plasmodium is a plant?!? Around 10,000 years ago, somewhere in Africa, a microscopic parasite made a huge leap. With a little help from a mosquito, it left its animal host – probably a gorilla –…
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Throwback Thursday #57: Loch Ness Outdone: Rediscovery of the Coelacanth
This is Throwback Thursday #57. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! Youtube has many good videos. Some are regular series. One of my favorites to watch during my workout…
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NYT: Was This Dinosaur More Subaquatic Killer or Giant Wading Bird?
The New York Times’ Science column Trilobites has a story about a new theory as to how Spinosaurus made a living. Spinosaurus lived about 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, in what is now North Africa. Its bones were first discovered in 1915. Ever since, due to some bizarre features, there have debates…
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365-Million-Year-Old Lungfish Unearthed in South Africa
Sci-News has a story about a recently discovered Lungfish from South Africa. The new fish, called Isityumzi mlomomde, lived about 365 million years ago during the Devonian period in what is now modern day South Africa. Lungfish origins stretch back about 410 million years ago to the early Devonian. Details on this new find can…
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PBS Eons: When Giant Hypercarnivores Prowled Africa
There’s a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about the giant carnivores of Africa. These hyaenodonts gave the world some of its largest terrestrial, carnivorous mammals ever known. And while these behemoths were the apex predators of their time, they were no match for a changing world.
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A Jawbone Is the Oldest Modern-Human Fossil Outside of Africa
The Atlantic has a story about a recent discovery that threatens to rewrite the early history of modern humans. The find from an Israeli cave dates to between 177,000 and 194,000 years ago. These dates, along with a 315,000 year old fossil from Ethiopia, call into question the previous “Out of Africa” estimates of 50-60,000…
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Meet the giant dinosaur that roamed southern Africa 200 million years ago
Lara Sciscio, University of Cape Town Globally at around 200 million years ago, in what’s known as the Early Jurassic, small and agile two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods roamed the ancient landscapes. In southern Africa, we know of their existence from their rare body fossils but also, importantly, from their fossil footprints. Now our team’s…
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Theft at Johannesburg Geological Museum
We have to inform you that the Johannesburg Geological museum has suffered yet another recent theft of specimens and this has been a major theft. Most of the gemstones were stolen as well as some mineral specimens. Two of the mineral specimens are rhodochrosites from the Kalahari manganese field. There are two pictures attached of…
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Oldest Dinosaurs Found: Evidence of Organized Nesting
Image: Nobu Tamura, www.palaeocritti.com Article except via The Guardian: (click link to see beautiful photograph of fossils) Oldest dinosaur nests discovered in South Africa Massospondylus nesting site – with fossilised eggs and tiny footprints – is 100m years older than any previously discovered – A dinosaur nesting site older than any discovered before suggests that the creatures…
