Hidden City Built 140,000 Years Ago Discovered at Bottom of Ocean  

The fossils were discovered by maritime sand miners in 2011. (Getty) 
The fossils were discovered by maritime sand miners in 2011. (Getty) 
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Hidden City Built 140,000 Years Ago Discovered at Bottom of Ocean  

The fossils were discovered by maritime sand miners in 2011. (Getty) 
The fossils were discovered by maritime sand miners in 2011. (Getty) 

Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in Indonesia that could rewrite the story of human origins.

They found the skull of Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor, over 140,000 years after it was first buried, preserved beneath layers of silt and sand in the Madura Strait between the islands of Java and Madura, according to the Daily Mail.

Experts say the site may be the first physical evidence of the lost world, a prehistoric landmass known as Sundaland that once connected Southeast Asia in a vast tropical plain.

Alongside the skull bones, researchers recovered 6,000 of animal fossils of 36 species including those of Komodo dragons, buffalos, deer, and elephant.

Some of these had deliberate cut marks which is proof that early humans were practicing advanced hunting strategies.

These findings provide rare insight into ancient human life and the now-lost lands of Sundaland, offering a glimpse into the behaviors and adaptations of early human populations in response to environmental changes.

The fossils were discovered by maritime sand miners in 2011, but experts just recently established their age and species, marking an important milestone in paleoanthropology.

“This period is characterized by great morphological diversity and mobility of hominin populations in the region," said Harold Berghuis, an archaeologist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands who led the investigation.

Between 14,000 and 7,000 years ago, melting glaciers caused sea levels to rise more than 120 meters, submerging the low-lying plains of Sundaland.

The discovery began during marine sand mining in the Madura Strait, where dredging brought up fossilized remains.



Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
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Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)

Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the teeth of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton found in a sealed funeral pot in an Egyptian tomb site dating to between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago.

Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished.

"The finding is highly significant" because it "is the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at" in prior work," said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.

Earlier archeological evidence has shown trade links between Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as similarities in pottery-making techniques and pictorial writing systems. While resemblances in dental structures suggested possible ancestral links, the new study clarifies the genetic ties.

The Nile River is "likely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people," said Antoine, who was not involved in the study.

The skeleton was found in an Egyptian tomb complex at the archaeological site of Nuwayrat, inside a chamber carved out from a rocky hillside. An analysis of wear and tear on the skeleton - and the presence of arthritis in specific joints - indicates the man was likely in his 60s and may have worked as a potter, said co-author and bioarchaeologist Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University.

The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation, including the construction of the Giza pyramids.

"This is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it," said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen.

At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system.

Researchers said analysis of other ancient DNA samples is needed to obtain a clearer picture of the extent and timing of movements between the two cultural centers.