1 . Lisa St. Coeur Cormier, a high school science teacher in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, found a tree root. When she took a closer look, she found the shape was very strange. She realized it wasn’t a tree root though it shared the same color. She felt it was hard to break and noticed an impression of bones of what looked like some kind of animal.

Cormier sent a photo of the find to Laura MacNeil who used her knowledge in this field to confirm that what Cormier had seen really was a fossil (化石). MacNeil runs tours of sites where prehistoric fossils have been found and also helps people identify fossils. She visited the site of Cormier’s find to take more photos of it.

MacNeil contacted John Calder, a scientist, who examined the fossil and led a team of scientists to study it. John Calder said it could be as much as 300 million years old. He said it’s probably from a reptile (爬行动物) of some kind — likely one that is unknown to scientists. Scientists spent 5.5 hours carefully digging out the fossil from the ground so they could study it more in-depth and find out exactly what kind of animal it is. That research could take a year or more.

“This is an important discovery here on Prince Edward Island. It is the second of the only two articulated skeletons (关节相连的骨头) found on PEI,” Laura MacNeil said. “This creature lived about 300 million years ago. This find tells us there is a great possibility for future scientifically important fossils that could be discovered on PEI. It will lead to more researchers paying a visit.”

3 . According to a new research, published in the journal Nature by a team from the University of Liverpool, humans were building structures made of wood, dating back at least 476,000 years ago. The research team found well-preserved wood at the site of Kalambo Falls, Zambia. Stone tool cut-marks on the wood show that these early humans shaped and joined two large logs (原木) to make a structure, probably the foundation of a platform. This is the earliest evidence in the world of the designed arrangement of logs to fit together.

Until now, evidence for the human use of wood was limited to its use for making fire, digging sticks and other tools. Wood is rarely found in such ancient sites as it usually rots and disappears, but at Kalambo Falls permanently high water levels kept the wood.

This discovery challenges the prevailing view that Stone Age humans were moving around. Here humans not only had a constant source of water, but the forest around them provided enough food to enable them to settle and make structures. Professor Larry Barham, from the University of Liverpool, who leads the “Deep Roots of Humanity” research project said, “This find has changed how I think about our early ancestors. They used their intelligence, imagination, and skills to create something they’d never seen before, something that had never previously existed.”

The special new luminescence (冷光) dating technique was carried out by experts, which explains the last time materials in the sand surrounding the finds were exposed to sunlight, to determine their age. This research forms part of the pioneering “Deep Roots of Humanity” project. Professor Barham added, “Kalambo Falls is an extraordinary site in Zambia. The Deep Roots team is looking forward to more exciting discoveries coming from its waterlogged sands.”

4 . Human footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico aroused an argument two years ago when scientists found the prints to be surprisingly old.

In 2021, researchers described more than 60 footprints preserved in New Mexico. Radiocarbon dating(放射性碳定年法)of an aquatic(水生的)plant’s seeds in and around the footprints suggested that the first humans in North America came from Siberia via a land bridge between 23,000 and 21,000 years ago, almost 7000 years earlier than the long-held theory.

But some scientists noted that the aquatic plants used to date the footprints could have absorbed ancient carbon in groundwater. “There’s a possibility then for the plant to give overstated viewpoints on its age,” says Davis, who wrote a criticism of the 2021 paper.

Now, two other ways probably solving the argument, researchers report in the Oct. 6 Science. Pigati and colleagues radiocarbon-dated pollen(花粉)stuck in the same layers as some of the footprints. The pollen came from land plants, mainly pine, avoiding the groundwater carbon issue. The researchers also collected stones above the lowest footprints and used a dating method that estimates how long the stones had been buried.

The pollen gave an age range of 23,400 to 22,600 years old, and the stone an age minimum of about 21,500 years old. Both results proved the previous age estimate. Despite possible errors in the individual dating methods, “the data overall from the new study strongly indicate human presence in the Americas” around 22,000 years ago, says Bente Philippsen, a physicist at the Norwegian University.

One thing is certain: There’s still plenty to uncover about the footprints.Coauthor Kathleen Springer says, “We are learning more every time we go out there,” she says. “This paper is literally the latest chapter in the White Sands story.”

5 . A city in the jungle

In the summer of 1848, in Guatemala, a man called Ambrosio Tut went out into the jungle (丛林), as he did almost every day. Tut was a gum (树胶) collector, looking for gum in the jungle.     1     One day, he got to the top of one tree and something caught his eyes. He looked out across the trees and saw the tops of some old buildings.

    2     He ran to tell the local governor excitedly, and together they walked into the jungle. There they found Tikal, the city that the Mayans had built, many hundreds of years before. The two men saw pyramids (金字塔), squares and houses.

For a long time before that day, local people had known that somewhere in the jungle there was an old Mayan city.     3     Between 200 and 900 AD, the city of Tikal had been the centre of Mayan civilisation (文明) in the area, but then the Mayans left it—nobody knows why! After 1000 AD, the jungle began to cover it.     4    

Seven years before Tut found Tikal, two British explorers had gone to Guatemala and had written a report about Mayan treasures in the jungle—but they hadn’t mentioned Tikal. Even earlier than this, local Indians had told people about a great city hidden in the trees, but no one had listened to them.     5     Now the lost city had been found again, and people went there immediately to see it.

7 . For archaeologists (考古学家) in Israel, eight prehistoric ostrich (鸵鸟) eggs-thought to be between 4,000 and 7,500 years old-proved as valuable as treasure when they were dis-covered near an ancient fire pit in the Negev, a desert region in the south of the country.

They were discovered during an archaeological excavation (挖掘) in the agricultural fields of Be’er Milka, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Thursday. The eggs’ location suggests that they were collected by the prehistoric (史前的) desert nomads (游牧民) who used the campsite, according to a press release from IAA, and further lab analysis will provide more information about their uses and ages. Although the nomads did not build permanent structures at this site, the finding allows us to feel their presence in the desert. The campsites were covered by sand, keeping the eggs exceptionally well-preserved.

Ostriches were common in the region until they became extinct in the wild during the 19th century. Their eggs were beautifully decorated and were prized items during the Bronze and Iron Ages (青铜和铁器时代). As well as being used as decorative items, ostrich eggs were also used as a source of food. One ostrich egg has the nutritional value of about 25 normal chicken eggs.

While ostrich eggs are not uncommon in excavations, the bones of the large bird are not found. This may indicate that in the ancient world, people avoided dealing with the ostrich and were content with collecting their eggs.

8 . The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town­city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was partially destroyed and buried under 4 m to 6 m of ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

By the 1st century AD, Pompeii was one of a number of towns located near the base of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The area had a large population which grew prosperous(繁荣的) from the region’s agricultural fertility(丰产). Many of Pompeii’s neighboring communities also suffered damage or destruction during the 79 AD eruption. The eruption occurred on August 24.

A study of the eruption products and victims indicated that at Vesuvius and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ash suffocation(窒息). The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 ℃ hot surges at a distance of 10 kilometres from the vent(出口) was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings.

In 1748, a farmer called Andre and his brother dug a cupboard made of metal. To their surprise, there are a lot of dissolved jewelry and ancient money in it.

This news took air. The farmers were thinking of the legend of disappeared Pompeii that ancestors told them. So, many archaeologists, historians, and even treasure hunters swarmed(蜂拥) there. In 1876, Italy government agreed with experts to dig the Pompeii out. Through a hundred years’ working, they dug the Pompeii out completely.

The historian Vanya said, “What a horrifying scene! Many people died when they are dormant(休眠的), and some people died behind the door of home. They were raising their hands and breathing ...”

Compared with nature, human seems small and weak. We don’t have enough power to compete with nature, so we should respect nature and protect the environment to lessen disasters.

9 . Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea had the largest harbor on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonder of engineering for its time. Then disaster struck. Written records say a huge wave destroyed the harbor. What kind of wave caused it? Did it ally happen? No one had ever found the evidence of the wave... until now.

Dr Goodman is part of a team of scientists studying samples at Caesarea to figure out what happened in the past. A sample is taken by striking a tube into the seafloor. When the tube is pulled up, it contains sediments (沉淀物) that have collected on the seafloor for hundreds or thousands of years. Looking down through the mixture of sand, stones and other sediments is like looking back in time.

That’s what Dr. Goodman was doing when she found something astonishing. It was a layer (层) of shells — all came from the time the harbor was destroyed. Dr. Goodman knew this shell layer had a story to tell.

Usually, shells are part of the mixture of sediments collected on the seafloor. A shell layer is as thin as your finger. Yet Dr. Goodman was staring at a layer nearly 1 meter thick! Almost all the shells were broken.

The thick layer of broken shells meant a sudden, powerful event swept these shells into the area. The broken shells were evidence that a huge wave really did destroy the harbor. Dr. Goodman could even tell the direction of the wave from the way the shells lined up.

Here’s what Dr. Goodman thinks happened. First, an earthquake struck north of Caesarea along the coast. Energy from the movement of rock during the earthquake caused a tsunami. This huge wave raced across the sand and kicked up shells along the way and broke them into pieces. Finally, the wave crashed into the harbor and destroyed it.

Dr. Goodman plans to gather evidence for other ancient tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast. This will help her predict what areas are likely to be struck by future tsunamis. Then people can avoid building in these areas.