Cenozoic Era
(65.5 MYA - Present)
The Prehistoric Giants Hall of Fame
What were the largest species of all time? Does the Tyrannosaurus rex make the list?
April 2012 |
By Brian Switek
How Titanoboa, the 40-Foot-Long Snake, Was Found
In Colombia, the fossil of a gargantuan snake has stunned scientists, forcing them to rethink the nature of prehistoric life
April 2012 |
By Guy Gugliotta
Blog Carnival #31: Ancient Earth, World's Oldest ToothAche, Pot-Bellied Dinos and More
Thirty Earths: ArtEvolved points us to this remarkable set of images depicting the changing physical appearance of the Earth over the last 750 million years. The thirty visual reconstructions were recently released by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo...
April 29, 2011 |
By Mark Strauss
Fate of the Cave Bear
The lumbering beasts coexisted with the first humans for tens of thousands of years and then died off. Why?
December 2010 |
By Andrew Curry
The Human Family's Earliest Ancestors
Studies of hominid fossils, like 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," are changing ideas about human origins
March 2010 |
By Ann Gibbons
Day 1: A Geological Trip Back in Time
Smithsonian Secretary Clough flies to Wyoming to learn about a period of intense global warming that occurred 55 million years ago
July 23, 2009 |
By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Day 2: Uncovering Earth’s History in the Bighorn Basin
Secretary Clough tours the different Smithsonian excavation sites and discovers some prehistoric fossils while there
July 23, 2009 |
By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Discovering the Titanoboa
As part of a multi-organizational team, Smithsonian scientist Carlos Jaramillo uncovered the fossils of a gigantic snake
April 20, 2009 |
By Bruce Hathaway
Dampier Rock Art Complex, Australia
On the northwestern coast of Australia, over 500,000 rock carvings face destruction by industrial development
March 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth
The Great Human Migration
Why humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world
July 2008 |
By Guy Gugliotta
Ancient Citadel
At least 1,200 years old, New Mexico's Acoma Pueblo remains a touchstone for a resilient indigenous culture
May 2008 |
By David Zax
Head Case
Two fossils found in Kenya raise evolutionary questions
August 01, 2007 |
By Robin T. Reid
The New World's Oldest Calendar
Research at a 4,200-year-old temple in Peru yields clues to an ancient people who may have clocked the heavens
May 2007 |
By Anne Bolen
Teeth Tales
Fossils tell a new story about the diversity of hominid diets
November 01, 2006 |
By Eric Jaffe
Glyph Dweller
Archaeologist Alanah Woody's infectious enthusiasm for Nevada's rock art knows no bounds
June 2005 |
By Christopher Hall
Traces of a Lost People
Who roamed the Colorado Plateau thousands of years ago? And what do their stunning paintings signify?
March 2005 |
By Kurt Repanshek
When Plants Migrate
The study of how plants moved north after the last ice age could mean new directions for conservation
September 1998 |
By James Trefil
