Baby teeth reveal previously unknown ancient Siberians
An international research group has found two 31,000-year-old milk teeth – and through them a previously unknown population group in north-eastern Siberia.
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The team was exploring an archaeological site on the Russian River Jana when it discovered two 31,000-year-old human milk teeth. DNA analysis revealed that the teeth belonged to people from a previously unknown population group: the Ancient North Siberians, who were alive during the last ice age.
The results of the study show that the Ancient North Siberians lived under extreme conditions and were very mobile. They ate woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses and bison.
The study, which was published in the specialist journal Nature on Wednesday, also brought further remarkable findings to light: 10,000-year-old human remains at another site in Siberia revealed a genetic relationship with the indigenous peoples of America. It was the first time such a genetic connection was discovered outside the United States.
This is the missing link in the chain to understand the genetic lineage of the indigenous peoples of America, says study leader Eske WillerslevExternal link, professor at St John’s College at the University of Cambridge and director of the Lundbeck Foundation Center for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen.
In research, it is generally accepted that humans came to America for the first time by crossing the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska, using a land bridge that existed before the last ice age ended.
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Facing up to Switzerland’s Roman past
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Meet Adelasius Ebalchus. He lived in what is now northern Switzerland some 1,300 years ago, centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Swiss football boss wants crackdown on individual hooligans
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The head of the Swiss Football League says he prefers a harsher approach to individual hooligans rather than collective punishment measures affecting all fans.
Amherd: Council of Europe is ‘as urgently needed as ever’
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The Swiss government emphasised on Sunday the vital role of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, 75 years after it was founded.
Swiss minister: Italy will back Switzerland in EU talks
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Bern can count on the backing of Italy as it re-enters talks with the European Union on future relations, Viola Amherd says.
Student protestors at University of Lausanne continue pro-Palestine sit-in
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Since Thursday, a hall on campus has been occupied by students calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and a ceasefire in Gaza.
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Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF are drastically reducing their communications via the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Israel: president of Swiss universities rejects academic boycott
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Luciana Vaccaro, president of Swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities, is not in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities.
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Dozens of skeletons found under a Swiss school
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Choir practice is on hold until archaeologists finish digging up dozens of skeletons buried beneath a school auditorium in Zurich.
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Divers have made an extraordinary discovery during excavations at a lake near Zurich. They found a shoe dating back to the Neolithic age of around 3300-2800 B.C.
Intricate Roman mosaic discovered in western Switzerland
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A detailed Roman mosaic depicting two birds perched on a vessel has been uncovered during routine water pipe maintenance in canton Vaud.
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