Intriguing discoveries have cropped up in the realms of ancient
studies.
First, in archaeology, a new hypothesis has been put forth to explain the enigmatic visage on the famous Shroud of Turin, which purportedly shows the likeness of Jesus. Many claim he was wrapped in this cloth after his death and that through supernatural means the cloth took on the image of the deceased like a photographic plate.
However, a new study shows that neutron emissions from an earthquake that rocked ancient Jerusalem (where the shroud was originally found) could have produced the image as well as account for the odd radiocarbon levels that many believe proves the artifact was less than 800 years old.
And DNA extracted from a prehistoric early inhabitant of North America provides a tantalizing link between Native Americans and the rest of the world. These findings hint at an occupied North America perhaps as much as 14,000 years before the Clovis people–the oldest known group in the region. Clovis, named for the discovery site in New Mexico, lived south of a massive ice sheet that reach down from Canada. It was believed that no cultures could have lived further north because of this massive glacier. However, the bones of the child whose DNA has led to these startling conclusions was found in Montana.
Speaking of ancient hunter-gatherers, construction workers in Seattle have unearthed an Ice Age mammoth tusk.
And a massive fossil find in Canada might change the way we look at evolution.
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