Tag Archive for 'Birch'

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Neanderthals May Have Used Birch Tar as Natural Antibiotic

Mar 18, 2026 by News Staff

New experiments show that tar made from birch bark — long known as a tool adhesive — can inhibit harmful bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus,...

The Neanderthal hearth structure could have been made following these steps. Image credit: Ochando et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109025.

65,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Hearth Structure Discovered in Gibraltar

Dec 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists say they have discovered a new type of Neanderthal hearth at Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar. This hearth structure coincides with predictions...

Birch composite frame saddle from Urd Ulaan Uneet, Mongolia (top left) and an artist’s reconstruction. Image credit: P. Lopez Calle.

1,600-Year-Old Wooden Saddle Unearthed in Mongolia

Dec 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New archaeological discoveries from Mongolia show that, despite a fragmentary archaeological record, horse cultures of the eastern Eurasian steppe were...

Reconstruction of the Kap København Formation ecosystem 2 million years ago. Image credit: Beth Zaiken.

Scientists Reconstruct 2-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem from Environmental DNA

Dec 8, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers have analyzed microscopic fragments of 2-million-year-old environmental DNA from of the Kap København Formation in Greenland. The DNA record...

Longitudinal cross-section showing microplastic particles inside a birch lateral root in a one-year-old birch tree after being exposed to contaminated soil for 5 months. Clockwise from top left shows cross sections using light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Arrows point to fluorescing microplastic particles. Inset in bottom right panel shows the area indicated by the arrows in the bottom left panel after enlargement. All images have been enhanced using a contrast and brightness correction. Scales are shown in the bottom right or left corner of the respective image. Image credit: Austen et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152085.

Microplastic Particles Detected in Roots of Birch Trees

Feb 22, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

New research led by the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries shows that individual microplastic particles with diameters between...

An artist’s reconstruction of Lola, a woman who chewed the Syltholm birch pitch. Image credit: Tom Björklund.

Researchers Extract and Sequence Human DNA from 5,700-Year-Old ‘Chewing Gum’

Dec 18, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of scientists has successfully sequenced ancient DNA extracted from a 5,700-year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from southern Denmark....