Who sailed the Aegean over 450,000 years ago? ● Dolphins also get Alzheimer’s disease ● The vast graveyard of prehistoric marine fossils was actually something much more impressive

Who sailed the Aegean over 450,000 years ago?

The discovery of nearly half a million-year-old stone artifacts on the islands of Kopaka and Matsanas in the Aegean Sea has Greek archaeologists and geologists from the University of Patras scratching their heads. More precisely, to put them in front of a dilemma related to the cognitive abilities of primitive species that lived at that time in southern Europe and beyond.

For nearly a decade, it has been proven that Neanderthals swam in the Ionian Sea more than 100,000 years ago, perhaps even 200,000 years ago, and with this discovery the myth that only Homo sapiens developed the knowledge of swimming has been dispelled. The problem is that 450,000 years ago, even Neanderthals did not appear in the world, and the moment of the appearance of the first seafarers should definitely be sent much further back in time.

It was also thought that individuals more than 450,000 years ago, probably of the species Homo erectus or the increasingly controversial species Homo heidelbergensis, simply walked on the ice sheets that connected the islands mentioned by mainland Greece. Or, even simpler, that the islands at that time did not exist at all, being part of the continental shelf.

All these hypotheses fell apart after a computer reconstruction of the climate and topography of the last half million years showed that the islands had been there for a long time. However, the fossil fauna revealed endemic animals that revealed an insular past, by no means a continental one. In addition, climate models have shown that at the lowest level of the Aegean Sea, the mentioned islands were still islands, and there were no ice sheets connecting them to the mainland. At most the islands were connected together.

In conclusion, Homo erectus was skilled enough to cross miles of sea to reach seemingly inaccessible places. The authors of the study at Quaternary International also say that if they had sailed the Aegean Sea, individuals of that time could have easily crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.

Despite this, the discovery explains the appearance of some technologies in the primitive species of the Mediterranean basin, but does not explain their genesis. why Because in southern Asia, through the Philippines and Indonesia, Homo erectus was free swimming about 700,000 years ago. Why yes, we should wonder not that he did it in the Mediterranean, but rather why he did it so late.

Dolphins also suffer from Alzheimer’s disease

To understand what makes dolphins and whales stop off the coast of Scotland and beyond, several researchers from the University of Glasgow, the University of Edinburgh and the Moredun Research Institute joined forces and reached a completely unexpected result. In short, they examined the brains of 22 stranded dolphins that had nothing to do with the deaths anyway, looking for clues that would solve the stranding mystery.

The study, published by them in the European Journal of Neuroscience, describes the presence of pathology characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, pathologies previously known only in humans. In practice, with their discovery, the Scottish researchers demonstrated that these conditions also apply to cetaceans, and not just to humans, especially since they were found in three different species.

What the study doesn’t explain, and what scientists don’t yet know, is how Alzheimer’s disease and dementia affect dolphins. Are the cognitive effects identical to human ones, or are there differences. It is certain that the presence of affection in group leaders may explain why they lead their comrades to almost certain death on the beach.

The vast graveyard of prehistoric marine fossils was actually something much more impressive

Dozens of specimens of ichthyosaurs, Mesozoic marine reptiles, died and fossilized in the same place, according to discoveries in Humboldt-Toyabe National Park in Nevada, USA, where the first fossilized specimens were unearthed more than 70 years ago.

The problem for the researchers, however, was the cause of the death of so many people in one place, especially since the deaths occurred over a long period of time, possibly more than 100,000 years. And the simplest explanation was that this place was a cemetery where ichthyosaurs went to take their last breath. Another explanation questioned the possibility of the site being toxic, a phenomenon likely caused by a massive increase in algae.

However, recent analyzes tell a different story. An international group of American, Belgian and British researchers conducted the most in-depth analysis of sediments in the said park and put forward a completely new hypothesis, namely that female ichthyosaurs gathered there to give birth. In fact, the behavior we see today in whales, as an example, existed for more than 200 million marine reptiles, modern dinosaurs.

The fact that only adult specimens of fossilized ichthyosaurs, sometimes embryos, but not juveniles, have been identified supports the idea that ichthyosaurs used this place to give birth to their young. During this process, some females died, and their bodies ended up at the bottom of the sea, where the conditions were ideal for fossilization.

The most interesting is yet to come. This is due to the fact that the aforementioned paleontologists want to repeat the research in all the places in North America that have provided ichthyosaur fossils, and on their basis for the first time reconstruct not only the routes they took, but also the places they used to give birth. or other activities. Well, that would be an achievement indeed, especially since we are talking about a species that appeared about 245 million years ago.

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