Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Extinctions update This one has been making the rounds recently, but I kind of neglected linking to it because the first story I saw didn't have anything to do with archaeology per se:

Scientists find more bones of big camels
Hunters stalked giant camels as tall as some modern-day elephants in the Syrian desert tens of thousands of years ago and archaeologists behind the find are wondering where the camels came from and what caused them to die off.

The enormous beasts existed about 100,000 years ago and more of the bones, first discovered last year, have been found this year in the sands about 150 miles north of the capital, Damascus.

The animal, branded the "Syrian Camel" by its Swiss and Syrian discoverers, stood between three and four yards high — about twice the size of latter-day camels and the height at the shoulder of many African elephants.


Hawks linked to it, but I haven't found anything in any of the reports suggesting that people hunted the damn things, just that some hominid bones and tools were found in the general vicinity. So, make of it what you will.