#paelontology — Public Fediverse posts

Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites approximately 400 years ago have proven impossible to categorize.

Researchers in the UK suggest in a report (yet to be peer reviewed) that Protaxites are a type of organism with no modern equivalent

https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-giants-may-be-a-whole-new-kind-of-life-that-no-longer-exists

#science #fossils #Prototaxites #paelontology #weird

Ice Age ❄️ cave art 🎨 from 20k ya has marks for the breeding seasons of prey animals 🐎🐄🐘.

Dots or lines tally lunar 🌕 months, from Spring 🌱, and "Y" shows birth 👶:

:mastodance: ///Y

This was spotted by a hobbyist, Ben Bacon, who worked with academics 🎓 to confirm and publish 📝 the theory.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64162799

Open access article:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/an-upper-palaeolithic-protowriting-system-and-phenological-calendar/6F2AD8A705888F2226FE857840B4FE19

#CitizenScience #Paelontology #IceAgeHumans #HunterGatherers #CaveArt #Archaelogy #PaleolithicEurope #Paleolithic #StoneAge