Launching Palaeopress: where history buffs, paleontologists, and curious minds share their love for the past. If you're passionate about (pre)history, we'd love it if you followed or wrote for us! https://medium.com/palaeopress/palaeopress-a-publication-for-those-who-love-the-past-c0ef7921839a
Scientists just described a new extinct koala species (Phascolarctos sulcomaxilliaris) from Western Australia that had distinctive grooves in its skull, essentially giving it "dimples." It likely went extinct ~28,000 years ago when climate change wiped out its forests https://medium.com/fossils-et-al/dimpled-koalas-new-study-just-discovered-a-new-koala-fossil-from-western-australia-eab2eaa7dd7a
New study found scurvy in ancient California infants as young as 40 weeks but not in their mothers. Slower bone turnover in adults may have hidden signs of deficiency, possibly exacerbated by food taboos and pregnancy nutrient needs https://medium.com/palaeopress/scurvy-in-the-womb-why-ancient-californias-babies-had-scurvy-but-their-mothers-didn-t-27bcc9748be7
Archaeologists just identified ~55,000-year-old heat-treated chert at Nauwalabila I in Australia making it the oldest in the world, predating Eurasian examples by at least 40,000 years. https://medium.com/the-academic/fire-stones-the-worlds-oldest-heat-treated-chert-in-the-world-was-just-found-in-australia-ff4be323e8a8
Bronze Age Chinese oracle bones recorded inquiries about "disaster," interestingly, the disaster character resembles jagged flood waves, but why?
https://medium.com/science-spectrum/typhoons-oracle-bones-bronze-age-disasters-how-ancient-storms-toppled-dynasties-how-the-past-2968bb2a76ef
What would you do if you found bones in your backyard?
https://medium.com/science-spectrum/unearthed-during-lockdown-recent-study-uncovers-the-oldest-human-burials-on-patagonias-atlantic-0653c0d8255b