The Hebrew University of Jerusalem : archaeological excavations uncover Roman temple in Zippori (Sepphoris)

Findings show signs of mixed city of Jews, pagans and Christians

View of the remnants of the podium, the temple's façade and some steps. The long wall in the background belongs to the church whose foundations were built on the remains...

Ruins of a Roman temple from the second century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park in Israel. Above the temple are foundations of a church from the Byzantine period. The excavations, which were undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by of Prof. Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori.

The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built a temple in the heart of the city center. The central location of the temple which is positioned within a walled courtyard and its architectural relation to the surrounding buildings enhance our knowledge regarding the planning of Zippori in the Roman era.

The building of the church on the foundation of the temple testifies to the preservation of the sacred section of the city over time. This new finding demonstrates not only the religious life, culture and society in Roman and Byzantine Zippori, but also that this was a city in which Jews, pagans and later Christians lived together and developed their hometown with various buildings.

The newly discovered temple is located south of the decumanus - colonnaded street - which ran from east to west and was the main thoroughfare in the city during the Roman through Byzantine period. The temple, measuring approximately 24 by 12 meters, was built with a decorated façade facing the street. The temple's walls were plundered in ancient times and only its foundations remain.

No evidence has been found that reveals the nature of the temple's rituals, but some coins dating from the time of Antoninus Pius, minted in Diocaesarea (Zippori), depict a temple to the Roman gods Zeus and Tyche. The temple ceased to function at an unknown date, and a large church, the remains of which were uncovered by the Hebrew University excavation team in previous seasons, was built over it in the Byzantine period.

North of the decumanus, opposite the temple, a monumental building was partially excavated this summer. Its role is still unclear, although its nature and size indicate that it was an important building. A courtyard with a well-preserved stone pavement of smooth rectangular slabs executed in high quality was uncovered in the center of the building, upon which were found a pile of collapsed columns and capitals - probably as a result of an earthquake. The decoration on these architectural elements was executed in stucco. Beyond a row of columns, an adjacent aisle and additional rooms were discovered. Two of them were decorated with colorful, geometrical mosaics.

University of Exeter : New evidence implicates humans in prehistoric animal extinctions

Protemnodon skull from cave at Mt. Cripps, northwest Tasmania.

Research led by UK and Australian scientists sheds new light on the role that our ancestors played in the extinction of Australia's prehistoric animals. The study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, provides the first evidence that Tasmania's giant kangaroos and marsupial 'rhinos' and 'leopards' were still roaming the island when humans first arrived. The findings suggest that the mass extinction of Tasmania's large prehistoric animals was the result of human hunting, and not climate change as previously believed.

Scientists have long argued over the reasons behind the worldwide mass extinctions that took place towards the end of the last ice age. The main culprits are generally thought to be climate change or some form of human impact. People only arrived in Tasmania around 43,000 years ago, when the island became temporarily connected by a land bridge to mainland Australia. None of Tasmania's giant animals, known as 'megafauna' were known to have survived until this time. This appeared to clear humans of any involvement in the disappearance of the island's large megafauna.

This new international study reports the discovery of giant kangaroos surviving in Tasmania until people arrived, placing humans back on the list of likely culprits for the subsequent extinction of the megafauna.

Palorchestes azael. A marsupial similar to a ground-sloth. Weight: approx 500 kg.

Using the latest radiocarbon and luminescence dating techniques, the team were able to determine the age of the fossilised remains of the megafauna more accurately than ever before. The results showed that some of these animals survived until at least 41,000 years ago—much later than previously thought and up to 2,000 years after the first human settlers arrived. As climate in Tasmania was not changing dramatically at this time, the researchers argue that this is evidence of these species being driven to extinction through over-hunting by humans.

Professor Chris Turney of the University of Exeter, lead author of the paper, said: "Ever since Charles Darwin's discovery of giant ground sloth remains in South America, debate has ensued about the cause of early extinction of the world's megafauna. Now, 150 years on from the publication of Darwin's seminal work The Origin of Species, the argument for climate change being the cause of this mass extinction has been seriously undermined. It is sad to know that our ancestors played such a major role in the extinction of these species – and sadder still when we consider that this trend continues today."

The researchers believe that the tale from Tasmania is relevant to many other parts of the world. Given Tasmania's history as an island, these findings should help to disentangle the role of humans and climate change in other island environments, such as Britain. Author Professor Tim Flannery of Macquarie University, Australia, said "Island environments offer an excellent test of competing hypotheses. They typically have a similar megafauna and climate to neighbouring continental landmasses but human arrival was often delayed."

Previous research by Professor Flannery and Professor Bert Roberts of the University of Wollongong, Australia, has shown that 90 per cent of mainland Australia's megafauna disappeared about 46,000 years ago, soon after humans first settled the continent. But humans did not reach Tasmania until a few thousand years later, when the island became connected to the mainland by a land bridge as sea levels fell during the last glaciation. "The Tasmanian results echo those on mainland Australia, putting humans squarely back in the frame as the driving force behind megafaunal extinction", said Professor Roberts.

The most recent discoveries were made serendipitously by cavers exploring a labyrinth of tunnels under the rainforest-clad Mt Cripps in north-west Tasmania. Author Craig Reid at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Tasmania, said "The skeletal remains provide key evidence of Tasmania's final megafauna in the dim, if not-too-distant, past."

The victims of Tasmania's first humans:

• Zygomaturus trilobus. A rhino-like marsupial. Weight: approx 500 kg.
• Palorchestes azael. A marsupial similar to a ground-sloth. Weight: approx 500 kg.
• Metasthenurus newtonae. A large, short-faced kangaroo that browsed like an antelope. Weight: approx 150 kg.
• Simosthenurus occidentalis. A smaller short-faced kangaroo. Weight: 100-130 kg
• Protemnodon anak. A long-faced, long-necked kangaroo, like a long-necked browsing antelope. Weight: approx 120 kg.
• Thylacoleo carnifex. A leopard-like marsupial. Weight: approx 70-100 kg.
• Megalibgwilia sp. A monotreme (egg-laying mammal) similar in shape and size to the long-beaked echidna of New Guinea. Weight: approx 10 kg.

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This study was conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter (UK), University of Wollongong (Australia), Macquarie University (Australia), Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (Australia), Australian National University, University of Oxford (UK), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (Australia), University of Newcastle (UK), University of Strathclyde (UK), Queen's University Belfast (UK).

The research was supported by The Royal Society and the Australian Research Council.