The question of whether the Late Jurassic dino-bird Archaeopteryx was an elaborately feathered ground dweller, a glider, or an active flyer has fascinated palaeontologists for decades. Valuable new information obtained with state-of-the-art synchrotron microtomography at the ESRF, the European Synchrotron (Grenoble, France), allowed an international team of scientists to answer this question in Nature Communications. The wing bones of Archaeopteryx were shaped for incidental active flight, but not for the advanced style of flying mastered by today's birds.

The Munich specimen of the transitional bird Archaeopteryx. It preserves a partial skull (top left), shoulder girdle and both  wings slightly raised up (most left to center left), the ribcage (center), and the pelvic girdle and both legs in a 'cycling' posture (right); all connected by the vertebral column from the neck (top left, under the skull) to the tip of the tail (most right). Imprints of its wing feathers are visible radiating from below the shoulder and vague imprints of the tail plumage can be recognized extending from the tip of the tail [Credit: ESRF/Pascal Goetgheluck]

Was Archaeopteryx capable of flying, and if so, how? Although it is common knowledge that modern-day birds descended from extinct dinosaurs, many questions on their early evolution and the development of avian flight remain unanswered. Traditional research methods have thus far been unable to answer the question whether Archaeopteryx flew or not. Using synchrotron microtomography at the ESRF's beamline ID19 to probe inside Archaeopteryx fossils, an international team of scientists from the ESRF, Palacký University, Czech Republic, CNRS and Sorbonne University, France, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum Solnhofen, Germany, shed new light on this earliest of birds.

Reconstructing extinct behaviour poses substantial challenges for palaeontologists, especially when it comes to enigmatic animals such as the famous Archaeopteryx from the Late Jurassic sediments of southeastern Germany that is considered the oldest potentially free-flying dinosaur. This well-preserved fossil taxon shows a mosaic anatomy that illustrates the close family relations between extinct raptorial dinosaurs and living dinosaurs: the birds. Most modern bird skeletons are highly specialised for powered flight, yet many of their characteristic adaptations in particularly the shoulder are absent in the Bavarian fossils of Archaeopteryx. Although its feathered wings resemble those of modern birds flying overhead every day, the primitive shoulder structure is incompatible with the modern avian wing beat cycle.

The Munich specimen of Archaeopteryx at beamline ID19 at the ESRF. The limestone plate was mounted on a rotating sample stage and the beam is here centered on the skull using lasers. The X-ray beam, coming from the right of the picture, travels through the sample and arrives at the detector (visible left) where a camera records the signal [Credit: ESRF/Pascal Goetgheluck]

"The cross-sectional architecture of limb bones is strongly influenced by evolutionary adaptation towards optimal strength at minimal mass, and functional adaptation to the forces experienced during life," explains Prof. Jorge Cubo of the Sorbonne University in Paris. "By statistically comparing the bones of living animals that engage in observable habits with those of cryptic fossils, it is possible to bring new information into an old discussion," says senior author Dr. Sophie Sanchez from Uppsala University, Sweden

Archaeopteryx skeletons are preserved in and on limestone slabs that reveal only part of their morphology. Since these fossils are among the most valuable in the world, invasive probing to reveal obscured or internal structures is therefore highly discouraged. "Fortunately, today it is no longer necessary to damage precious fossils," states Dr. Paul Tafforeau, beamline scientist at the ESRF. "The exceptional sensitivity of X-ray imaging techniques for investigating large specimens that is available at the ESRF offers harmless microscopic insight into fossil bones and allows virtual 3D reconstructions of extraordinary quality. Exciting upgrades are underway, including a substantial improvement of the properties of our synchrotron source and a brand new beamline designated for tomography. These developments promise to give even better results on much larger specimens in the future."

Dennis Voeten indicates the bone wall thickness of the 'Chicken Wing' specimen of Archaeopteryx on the top computer screen for comparison against the bone walls of a primitive pterosaur on the bottom screen. A three-dimensional model of the 'Chicken Wing' is held up, the referred bone cross section is that of the humerus, the uppermost arm bone visible most right on the 3-D-printed model [Credit: ESRF]

Scanning data unexpectedly revealed that the wing bones of Archaeopteryx, contrary to its shoulder girdle, shared important adaptations with those of modern flying birds. "We focused on the middle part of the arm bones because we knew those sections contain clear flight-related signals in birds," says Dr. Emmanuel de Margerie, CNRS, France. "We immediately noticed that the bone walls of Archaeopteryx were much thinner than those of earthbound dinosaurs but looked a lot like conventional bird bones," continues lead author Dennis Voeten of the ESRF. "Data analysis furthermore demonstrated that the bones of Archaeopteryx plot closest to those of birds like pheasants that occasionally use active flight to cross barriers or dodge predators, but not to those of gliding and soaring forms such as many birds of prey and some seabirds that are optimised for enduring flight."

"We know that the region around Solnhofen in southeastern Germany was a tropical archipelago, and such an environment appears highly suitable for island hopping or escape flight," remarks Dr. Martin Röper, Archaeopteryx curator and co-author of the report. "Archaeopteryx shared the Jurassic skies with primitive pterosaurs that would ultimately evolve into the gigantic pterosaurs of the Cretaceous. We found similar differences in wing bone geometry between primitive and advanced pterosaurs as those between actively flying and soaring birds," adds Vincent Beyrand of the ESRF.

Since Archaeopteryx represents the oldest known flying member of the avialan lineage that also includes modern birds, these findings not only illustrate aspects of the lifestyle of Archaeopteryx but also provide insight into the early evolution of dinosaurian flight. "Indeed, we now know that Archaeopteryx was already actively flying around 150 million years ago, which implies that active dinosaurian flight had evolved even earlier!" says Prof. Stanislav Bureš of Palacký University in Olomouc. "However, because Archaeopteryx lacked the pectoral adaptations to fly like modern birds, the way it achieved powered flight must also have been different. We will need to return to the fossils to answer the question on exactly how this Bavarian icon of evolution used its wings," concludes Voeten.

It is now clear that Archaeopteryx is a representative of the first wave of dinosaurian flight strategies that eventually went extinct, leaving only the modern avian flight stroke directly observable today.

Source: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility [March 13, 2018]

The newcomers who arrived in the little farming villages of medieval Germany would have stood out: They had dark hair and tawny skin, spoke a different language and had remarkably tall heads.

Skulls unearthed from 1,400-year-old burials in southern Germany may show signs of intensive or moderate skull modification, left and center, which researchers believe is a cultural practice seen in tribes from further east [Credit: State collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy Munich]

Now scientists who investigated the unusually shaped skulls say they provide evidence that women also migrated long distances across medieval Europe, not just men. A genetic analysis showed the women traveled from what is now Romania, Bulgaria and northern Greece at a time when the continent was being reshaped by the collapse of the Roman Empire.

In a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers say the women's elongated heads—a result of binding done after birth—suggest they might have been high-class individuals.

"These women looked extremely different to the local women, very exotic if you will," said one of the researchers, Joachim Burger, a population geneticist at the University of Mainz, Germany.

With colleagues from Europe and the United States, Burger compared the genetic profile of almost 40 human remains unearthed from 5th and 6th century burial sites in Bavaria, along the Isar and Danube rivers.

They expected to find the telltale signs of centuries of Roman presence in the area—soldiers from the Mediterranean leaving their genetic mark on the location population. Instead, it looked "very central or northern European—blond and fair-skinned, like modern-day Scandinavians," Burger said.

The exception was a group with deformed skulls. Known from various cultures across the world, artificially elongated skulls may have been considered a form of beauty or denoted high status because of the time and effort required to bandage a child's head, said Burger.

While the practice is often associated with the Huns who swept into Europe from the East during the 5th century, the genetic makeup of the women found in Bavaria showed little Asian ancestry, suggesting that either head binding had been adopted by people living in southeastern Europe or emerged there independently.

"This is a sound study with quite interesting results," said Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. He had no role in the research.

"Usually large-distance movements involve more males—explorers, soldiers, political elite, etc.—and short range movements are more common for females (spouses moving to their husband's family)," Hublin said via email.

While it's unclear why the women—apparently without men—traveled such a long distance, the study's authors speculate that they may have represented strategic alliances between distant populations across Europe.

"They must have come on purpose," said Burger. "It's not a single case, there are quite a few of them."

Despite their foreign origins, the women integrated into Bavarian society, according to the researchers. They wore the same clothes as the locals and were buried with the same artifacts. Burger said further research is needed to see whether the women intermarried with the local population.

Author: Frank Jordans | Source: The Associated Press [March 12, 2018]

In the Late Neolithic, a new style of pottery appears among the grave goods buried with the dead in many parts of Europe. A new genetic study shows that, with one exception, its dissemination was not accompanied by large-scale migration.

"Das Bode-Becher" of Quedlinburg, Germany [Credit: K. Ulrich /Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt]

At the end of the Neolithic, on the threshold to the Early Bronze Age, around 2600 BCE, a new set of religious beliefs began to spread across Europe. This is indicated in the archaeological record above else by the appearance of a novel form of pottery among the grave goods buried with the dead. These highly characteristic, decorated vessels are known as bell beakers, and their dissemination from Spain as far as Hungary, and across Northwestern Europe into Britain is known as the Bell Beaker phenomenon.

A team made up of geneticists and archaeologists has now explored whether the diffusion of these pots was driven by the influx of new migrants. Their findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Nature. The new study, for the first time, combines archaeological data relating to the distribution and ages of the Bell Beaker phenomenon in Europe with genetic analysis of human DNA sequences obtained from skeletal remains dated to the same period. This approach has enabled the team to compare the spread of the bell beakers (pots) with that of the migrants (people) who brought the new ideology. The results indicate that the diffusion of the pottery in continental Europe was not accompanied by large-scale migration.

"The study demonstrates that the spread of cultural elements need not involve migrational movements. In this case, it was the ideas that were propagated," says Professor Philipp Stockhammer of the Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, one of the leading archaeologists among the authors. The results refute the long accepted theory that the spread of the new religion through Western and Central Europe was associated with significant incursions of migrants. Britain, however, represents a striking exception to this. Here, the appearance of the Bell Beaker phenomenon coincides with genetic evidence for the arrival of large numbers of migrants from continental Europe.

In the course of their investigation, the authors obtained DNA sequence data from 400 human skeletons, making it the largest study of ancient DNA carried out so far. This material had been excavated from 136 different sites, most of them in Britain, Spain and Germany. The new DNA samples from Germany originated from excavations carried out in the Valley of the River Lech. In a recent paper based on material from this area, Philipp Stockhammer reported evidence that reveals the surprising mobility of women in the Bronze Age.

"We will now have to compare these three regions in order to determine the degree of spatial variability in mobility across the transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age," he says. The ability to recover and analyze ancient DNA from human burials on such a large scale was made possible by the advent of new techniques. These advances will usher in "a new era in palaeogenetics," he adds.

Indeed, Stockhammer himself is among the authors of a second article in the same issue of Nature. This paper looks at the pattern of migration of farmers and herders from Anatolia into Southeastern Europe 8500 years ago. That study also uses ancient DNA to reveal how the resident hunter-gatherer population reacted to the arrival of the newcomers. In some areas the two groups lived together and in other regions, they avoided contact and lived apart for hundreds of years. In the Danube Valley, the evidence suggests that some of the new farming communities subsequently abandoned agriculture and adopted the hunter-gatherer lifestyle favored by the locals.

Source: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen [February 22, 2018]

Prehistoric people may well have had an emotional bond with domesticated dogs much earlier than we thought. Leiden Ph.D. candidate and vet Luc Janssens discovered that a dog found at the start of the last century in a grave dating back 14,000 years had been sick for a long time and had been cared for.

The teeth of the younger dog from the grave, with traces of the morbilli virus (canine distemper) [Credit: Pütz Martin, Jürgen Vogel, Ralf Schmitz (LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn)]

The grave itself, including the remains of a man, a woman and two dogs, was discovered by chance in 1914 by a group of workers not far from Bonn. Recent research shows that the remains date from the Palaeolithic era, making them 14,000 years old. This is the oldest known grave where humans and dogs were buried together, and it is among the earliest evidence of the domestication of dogs. It now appears that not only were the dogs domesticated, they were probably also intensively cared for.

The younger dog in the grave must have been 27 or 28 weeks old when it died. Vet and Leiden Ph.D. candidate Luc Janssens examined the remains of the animal's teeth. Based on his findings, he concluded that the dog was probably suffering from a serious infection of the morbilli virus (also known as canine distemper).

Overview of the bone fragments of the dog found in the grave in Bonn-Oberkassel [Credit: Pütz Martin, Jürgen Vogel, Ralf Schmitz (LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn)]

It is not possible to make a definitive diagnosis because the genetic material of the virus has perished. The characteristic damage to the dog's teeth leads Janssens to believe that the animal contracted the illness as a puppy (at around 3 to 4 months). After this the dog may have had two or possibly even three periods of serious illness lasting 5 to 6 weeks.

"Without adequate care, a dog with a serious case of distemper will die in less than three weeks," Janssens explains. This dog was clearly seriously ill but it survived a further eight weeks, which would only be possible if it had been well cared for. "That would mean keeping it warm and clean and giving it food and water, even though, while it was sick, the dog would not have been of any practical use as a working animal. This, together with the fact that the dogs were buried with people who we may assume were their owners, suggests that there was a unique relationship of care between humans and dogs as long as 14,000 years ago."

The article by Luc Janssens, entitled "A new look at an old dog: Bonn-Oberkassel reconsidered" was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Source: Leiden University [February 08, 2018]

A new study led by the University of Birmingham shows that the brain of turtles has evolved slowly, but constantly over the last 210 million years, eventually reaching a variety in form and complexity, which rivals that of other animal groups.

The image shows a reconstruction of Proganochelys (the oldest turtle with a complete shell) as it would have appeared in  life. This reconstruction is based on a digital model of the fossil skull, which was scanned using computed tomography  and is shown in the middle. Shown in the front is the digitally reconstructed brain of Proganochelys analyzed  in the current study [Credit: Stephan Lautenschlager, University of Birmingham]

The study also discovered that the first turtles with a fully formed shell were very likely to be living on land and not in water or in an environment where they burrowed underground.

Turtles are one of the oldest vertebrate groups still alive today. Their origins date back nearly 250 million years, yet they have changed very little since then. Almost all fossil turtles looked very similar to modern turtles today and this probably enabled turtles to survive several mass extinctions.

An international team of scientists from the UK, Brazil and Germany used modern computer analysis to look at what happened to the turtle brain over this long period of evolution.

The team's research, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, focussed on the fossils of the oldest turtle with a fully formed shell: Proganochelys quenstedti, found in the Triassic sediments (ca. 210 million years) of Germany. Using computed tomography scanning of two fossil skulls, the researchers generated digital models of the brain of Proganochelys and compared them to brain models of modern turtles.

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager, lead author from the University of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: 'Our results demonstrate that Proganochelys, the oldest turtle with a real shell, had a very simple brain structure. Vision and hearing were probably not very good, while the sense of smell was moderately developed.'

Results of this study further showed that the turtle brain increased in size and complexity over the course of evolution to modern turtles. Modern turtles show a wide variety of brain shapes and sizes, which reflects their sensory capabilities and their life styles.

Co-author Dr Ingmar Werneburg from the Senckenberg and University Tubingen, Germany, added: 'Over a period of 200 million years the brain of turtles became more complex, allowing them to adapt to different habits and living conditions. This is very important as we see similar diversifications in other animal groups such as mammals and birds.'

The team's results further helped to clarify some mysteries of turtle origins. Different competing hypotheses exist as to whether turtles originated in an aquatic, terrestrial or even fossorial (digging underground) environment.

Gabriel Ferreira from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, who also co-authored the study, explained: 'By comparing the digital brain reconstruction of Proganochelys with those of modern turtles we can show that the first turtles with a fully formed shell were very likely living on land and not in the water or in an fossorial environment. It was only later that they explored those different habitats.'

Source: University of Birmingham [February 01, 2018]

Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich report the first description of the geologically oldest fossil securely attributable to the genus Archaeopteryx, and provide a new diagnostic key for differentiating bird-like dinosaurs from their closest relatives.

The geologically oldest, but most recently discovered specimen of Archaeopteryx [Credit: O. Rauhut, LMU Munich]

Some 150 million years ago in what is now Northern Bavaria, Archaeopteryx, the oldest bird species ever discovered, inhabited a subtropical environment characterized by reef islands and lagoons set in a shallow sea that was part of the primordial Mediterranean. All the specimens of Archaeopteryx so far recovered were found in the valley of the Altmühl River, in geological settings that represent this habitat—the Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago. The latest find was made there in 2010, and this new specimen has now been analyzed by a team of researchers led by LMU paleontologist Oliver Rauhut, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences who is also affiliated with the Bavarian State Collections for Paleontology and Geology in Munich. Stratigraphic analysis of the find locality reveals that the fossil is the oldest known representative of the genus Archaeopteryx.

"Specimens of Archaeopteryx are now known from three distinct rock units, which together cover a period of approximately 1 million years," Rauhut explains. Notably, the oldest example exhibits features that were not observed in the other specimens. "Among other things, they reveal that Archaeopteryx was very similar to advanced predatory dinosaurs in many respects," says Rauhut. Moreover, in the new study, he and his colleagues provide a diagnosis that reliably distinguishes Archaeopteryx from its closest relatives, both non-avialan theropod dinosaurs and basal birds. This key will be very valuable, as a whole series of bird-like predatory dinosaurs has been described in recent years, mainly from China, which has greatly complicated the taxonomic classification of the group.

The new specimen is the 12th fossil to be attributed to the genus. However, in a study published in the online journal BMC Evolutionary Biology last year, Rauhut's group reported that the first of these to come to light—the so-called Haarlem specimen discovered in 1861—does not actually belong to the group. This result thus reduces the number of Archaeopteryx fossils to 11, although some doubts remain concerning the assignment of two of these. This underlines the necessity for a diagnosis to clearly identify Archaeopteryx.

Moreover, the investigation of the 11th specimen demonstrates that the known specimens span a remarkable range of anatomical variation. Potential explanations for the broad spectrum of variation extend from intraspecific developmental polymorphism to evolutionary differentiation, i.e., the possibility that the fossil material so far recovered represents more than one species. "The high degree of variation in the teeth is particularly striking—none of the specimens shows the same pattern of dentition as any other, which could reflect differences in diet," Rauhut says. "This is very reminiscent of the famous case of Darwin's finks on the Galapagos, which show remarkable variation in their beak shapes. It is even conceivable that this primeval bird genus might, in a similar fashion, have diversified into several specialized forms on the islands of the Solnhofener Archipelago. In that case, the Archaeopteryx fossils could represent a species flock, a Jurassic analog of Darwin's finches."

Source: Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich [January 26, 2018]

In a newly published study in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, Senckenberg scientist Professor Dr. Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke, in conjunction with an international team of renowned Stone Age experts, refutes a recent publication regarding the dispersal of humans in Europe. This publication postulates that the first humans occurred in Northern and Central Europe as early as about one million years ago -- more than 200,000 years earlier than previously documented. Moreover, the team of scientists around the Ice Age researcher from Weimar was able to show that the specimens of the archaeological study were presumably stolen from the research excavation in Untermassfeld.

Untermassfeld research excavation: Top (a) – Exposed skeleton parts of various large mammal species, with a completely  preserved metacarpal bone (rectangle) of an early fallow deer (Dama nestii vallonnetensis) on the day prior to the theft.  Photo: T. Korn, Senckenberg Weimar. Bottom (b) – Vandalism caused by illegal excavation: The lower part of the rare  deer bone was broken off and stolen (rectangle) [Credit: J.-A. Keiler, R.-D. Kahlke, Senckenberg Weimar]

Saber- and dirk-toothed cats, giant hyenas, hippopotamuses and elephants -- the Untermassfeld fossil site in the Thuringian Werra Valley offers a unique representation of the time period around one million years ago. "Each recovered fossil helps us to understand the ecosystem at that time and offers a detailed view into the life history on earth," explains Professor Dr. Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke of the Senckenberg Research Station for Quaternary Paleontology in Weimar, and he continues, "The diversity of the more than 17,000 specimens retrieved to date ranges from a tiny frog skeleton to the largest known cheetahs in geological history."

A recently published study in the Journal of Human Evolution now announced a new "sensational discovery" from the Thuringian fossil site. The study's authors describe several bones that were "processed with tools by humans." This is taken as proof for the presence of early humans in Central Europe around one million years ago, according to the study's senior author and hobby collector from Hesse.

"We have been digging in Untermassfeld since the 1970s, with a cumulative total of 90 months of recovery activity. More than 30 researchers from 20 institutes in Germany and abroad are involved in the analysis of our discoveries and results. None of us has ever before encountered traces of fossil hominids," cautions Kahlke. For the Ice Age researcher from Weimar, this was sufficient reason to get to the bottom of this asserted claim, together with a German-Dutch team of archaeologists, including Professor Dr. Wil Roebroeks (University of Leiden), Professor Dr. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser (University of Mainz) and Professor Dr. Michael Baales (University of Bochum).

Left and center: (a, b) – Lower part of the stolen bone specimen, recovered via an anonymous  package (rectangle, cf. image 1), and associated upper part, which was left behind by the robbers.  Front and back views. Right (c) – Stolen and retrieved parts of the find, combined with parts recovered by Senckenberg [Credit: S. Döring, R.-D. Kahlke, Senckenberg Weimar]

"The archaeological studies clearly show that the described bones and rocks neither constitute human tools, nor do the objects reveal signs of processing," explains Kahlke. Upon closer inspection, the marks on the fossil animal bones that were described as signs of cutting and hammering caused by humans turned out to be "the results of root etching, feeding traces by predators and rodents, as well as improper retrieval," according to Gaudzinski-Windheuser.

In addition, the team of scientists was able to prove that the 'archaeological specimens' were obtained by the senior author through questionable means. They also refuted the author's claim that the objects came from an "old GDR collection." "We diligently documented the excavation in Untermassfeld with daily photographs; therefore, we can state with certainty that the 'analyzed' fossils were only broken out of the excavation surface in the period between 2009 and 2012 and therefore cannot originate from an old collection," adds John-Albrecht Keiler, the Senckenberg excavation leader in Untermassfeld.

The team of scientists from Weimar links the described objects to a series of thefts between 2002 and 2012 at the fossil site -- this assumption is primarily based on a fossil fallow deer bone, which found its way into the Senckenberg Research Station's collection by way of an anonymous mailing via the Natural History Museum "Schloss Bertholdsburg Schleusingen." Kahlke comments as follows: "Among others, this bone fragment is presented as part of the archaeological study refuted by us -- and it was demonstrably stolen from our excavation in 2009." All in all, about 400 specimens with a potential six-figure total value were taken. With the support of the Free State of Thuringia, these specimens shall now be made available to science again. "Following the series of thefts, we have significantly expanded our safety concept, in cooperation with the police agencies. We hope that illegal excavations and the resulting faulty scientific 'findings' will now be a thing of the past," offers Kahlke in conclusion.

Source: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum [January 15, 2018]

Archaeologists have determined the exact date of construction of the Porta Nigra in Trier — it was built 1,848 years ago. It's the oldest monument of its kind in Germany.

Aerial view of the Porta Nigra [Credit: DPA]

Until now, the date of construction of Trier's Porta Nigra, the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps, could only be estimated. Researchers dated it back to somewhere between 150 AD and 320 AD.

Scientists have now managed to determine exactly when the city gate was built, thanks to ancient wood that was found in archaeological digs. It was built in 170 AD —  or 1,848 years ago.

Excavation head Christian Lindner documents discovery of wood in waterlogged earth at the Trier city wall [Credit: Christian Lindner, Ludwig Maximilian/University of Munich]

"This is a milestone in the history of the city of Trier," said the director of Trier's Rheinisches Landesmuseum, as the results of the findings were made public on Friday.

The Porta Nigra (Latin for "black gate") was named that way due to the darkened color of its stone. The largest Roman monument of its kind in Germany, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site ensemble, called the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier.

Porta Nigra wood piling [Credit: DPA]

The fact that the ancient oak wood that was found could be dated to the winter of 169/170 AD was a "stroke of luck," said Mechthild Neyses-Eiden, an expert in dendrochronology — the science of three-ring dating — who led the research at the Trier museum. At the time, wood was used for construction immediately after being felled, she explained.

Source: Deutsche Welle [January 13, 2018]

Greece’s government is officially asking a German museum for the return of a head sculpture which once graced the Athens Parthenon.

Head of centaur from Parthenon metope, three-quarter view of face  [Credit: Karl Öhrlein, Martin von Wagner-Museum, Würzburg]

The sculpture, a centaur’s head which was located in the metope of Parthenon, has been an exhibit at the Martin Von Wagner museum in the University of Wurzburg for the past 160 years.

It is 2,400 years old and was part of the Parthenon metope piece which has been in the British Museum in London for the past 200 years.

The piece came into Martin Von Wagner’s possession in the early 19th century from a private Italian art collection. The German painter, sculptor and art collector had no idea that the sculpture was part of the Parthenon when he acquired it.

The Greek government is now officially asking for its return but University of Wurzburg archaeology professor and museum director Jochen Griesbach refuses to comply with the request.

Griesbach claims the museum has been receiving letters from a Swiss committee for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures for years, but he also refuses the requests.

The main argument for the German university refusing any such request, is that the sculpture was a donation by Wagner who, in an 1858 manuscript, had implicitly stipulated that it is not to be sold, transported or donated.

Author: Theo Ioannou | Source: Greek Reporter [January 12, 2018]