Mysterious Pyramid Complex Discovered in Peru
Kelly Hearn in Buenos Aires, Argentina
for National Geographic News
February 20, 2008
Digg!
The remnants of at least ten pyramids have been discovered on the coast of Peru, marking what could be a vast ceremonial site of an ancient, little-known culture, archaeologists say.
In January construction crews working in the province of Piura discovered several truncated pyramids and a large adobe platform
Officials from Peru's National Institute of Culture (INC) were dispatched to inspect the discovery.
Last week they announced that the complex, which is 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide, belonged to the ancient Vicús culture and was likely either a religious center or a cemetery for nobility.
The Vicús was a pre-Hispanic civilization that flourished in Peru's northern coastal desert from 200 B.C to 300 A.D. and is known for its decorated ceramics.
Experts say little is known about the culture, because its sites have been heavily looted over the years.
"We found several partial pyramids, at least ten," said César Santos Sánchez, chief archaeologist for INC's Piura division.
"We also found a large adobe platform that we speculate could have been used for burial rituals. But we cannot know without further testing."
Skull Fragments
The platform, measuring 82 feet (25 meters) by 98 feet (30 meters), was found alongside one of the larger pyramids in the complex.
Another of the larger pyramids contained some artifacts as well as bone fragments from a human skull.
The fact that the skull fragments were found several meters below the surface, indicating a deep grave that took much time to dig, prompted researchers to to theorize that the individual buried there had high social status.
Santos added that the complex is surrounded by four large hills: Pilán, Vicús, Chanchape, and Tongo.
"We think that because of its geographic location the complex could have been a place of strategic value," Santos sai
The area containing the pyramids is surrounded by a cemetery that has been looted by grave robbers.
"But the complex itself is intact," Santos said.
Who Were the Vicús?
"The Vicús are very interesting but so poorly understood, given that most of what we know about them is through looted ceramic art," said Steve Bourget, an archaeologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
"This could be an important find, because it is one of the few with monumental architecture. But it is too soon to tell."
Experts say the Vicús ceramic style is similar in some respects to that of the Moche, a fact that has spawned research on the relationship between the two cultures.
The Moche civilization flourished in areas south of the Vicús from around A.D. 100 to 750, producing intricately painted pottery as well as gold ornaments, irrigation systems, and monuments.
(Read about a Moche mummy and pyramid discovered in Peru in 2006.)
The two cultures thrived within a relatively short distance of each other_less than that between Los Angeles and San Francisco_experts point out.
"It is possible that the Vicús for part of its history was closely affiliated with the Moche culture," said Joanne Pillsbury, an archaeologist at the Washington, D.C.-based Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute affiliated with Harvard University.
The discovery of the Vicús pyramids comes as perceptions about the Moche have shifted, she added.
"It was once thought that Moche was a single monolithic state, but people don't think that is true anymore," Pillsbury said.
"It was likely a series of regional or multi-valley kingdoms that shared a broader culture. And Vicús was probably part of that sphere of interaction."
Kelly Hearn in Buenos Aires, Argentina
for National Geographic News
February 20, 2008
Digg!
The remnants of at least ten pyramids have been discovered on the coast of Peru, marking what could be a vast ceremonial site of an ancient, little-known culture, archaeologists say.
In January construction crews working in the province of Piura discovered several truncated pyramids and a large adobe platform
Officials from Peru's National Institute of Culture (INC) were dispatched to inspect the discovery.
Last week they announced that the complex, which is 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide, belonged to the ancient Vicús culture and was likely either a religious center or a cemetery for nobility.
The Vicús was a pre-Hispanic civilization that flourished in Peru's northern coastal desert from 200 B.C to 300 A.D. and is known for its decorated ceramics.
Experts say little is known about the culture, because its sites have been heavily looted over the years.
"We found several partial pyramids, at least ten," said César Santos Sánchez, chief archaeologist for INC's Piura division.
"We also found a large adobe platform that we speculate could have been used for burial rituals. But we cannot know without further testing."
Skull Fragments
The platform, measuring 82 feet (25 meters) by 98 feet (30 meters), was found alongside one of the larger pyramids in the complex.
Another of the larger pyramids contained some artifacts as well as bone fragments from a human skull.
The fact that the skull fragments were found several meters below the surface, indicating a deep grave that took much time to dig, prompted researchers to to theorize that the individual buried there had high social status.
Santos added that the complex is surrounded by four large hills: Pilán, Vicús, Chanchape, and Tongo.
"We think that because of its geographic location the complex could have been a place of strategic value," Santos sai
The area containing the pyramids is surrounded by a cemetery that has been looted by grave robbers.
"But the complex itself is intact," Santos said.
Who Were the Vicús?
"The Vicús are very interesting but so poorly understood, given that most of what we know about them is through looted ceramic art," said Steve Bourget, an archaeologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
"This could be an important find, because it is one of the few with monumental architecture. But it is too soon to tell."
Experts say the Vicús ceramic style is similar in some respects to that of the Moche, a fact that has spawned research on the relationship between the two cultures.
The Moche civilization flourished in areas south of the Vicús from around A.D. 100 to 750, producing intricately painted pottery as well as gold ornaments, irrigation systems, and monuments.
(Read about a Moche mummy and pyramid discovered in Peru in 2006.)
The two cultures thrived within a relatively short distance of each other_less than that between Los Angeles and San Francisco_experts point out.
"It is possible that the Vicús for part of its history was closely affiliated with the Moche culture," said Joanne Pillsbury, an archaeologist at the Washington, D.C.-based Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute affiliated with Harvard University.
The discovery of the Vicús pyramids comes as perceptions about the Moche have shifted, she added.
"It was once thought that Moche was a single monolithic state, but people don't think that is true anymore," Pillsbury said.
"It was likely a series of regional or multi-valley kingdoms that shared a broader culture. And Vicús was probably part of that sphere of interaction."
The Commonality of Earths
Based on a JPL news release
Many, Perhaps Most, Nearby Sun-Like Stars May Form Rocky Planets
Astronomers have discovered that terrestrial planets might form around many, if not most, of the nearby Sun-like stars in our galaxy. These new results suggest that worlds with potential for life might be more common than we thought.
University of Arizona, Tucson, astronomer Michael Meyer and his colleagues used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to determine whether planetary systems like ours are common or rare in our Milky Way galaxy. They found that at least 20 percent, and possibly as many as 60 percent, of stars similar to the Sun are candidates for forming rocky planets.
Meyer is presenting the findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. The results appear in the Feb. 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The astronomers used Spitzer to survey six sets of stars, grouped depending on their age, with masses comparable to our Sun. The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old. "We wanted to study the evolution of the gas and dust around stars similar to the Sun and compare the results with what we think the Solar System looked like at earlier stages during its evolution," Meyer said.
The Spitzer telescope does not detect planets directly. Instead it detects dust - the rubble left over from collisions as planets form - at a range of infrared wavelengths. The hottest dust is detected at the shortest wavelengths, between 3.6 microns and 8 microns. Cool dust is detected at the longest wavelengths, between 70 microns and 160 microns. Warm dust can be traced at 24-micron wavelengths. Because dust closer to the star is hotter than dust farther from the star, the "warm" dust likely traces material orbiting the star at distances comparable to the distance between Earth and Jupiter.
"We found that about 10 to 20 percent of the stars in each of the four youngest age groups shows 24-micron emission due to dust," Meyer said. "But we don't often see warm dust around stars older than 300 million years. The frequency just drops off.
"That's comparable to the time scales thought to span the formation and dynamical evolution of our own solar system," he added. "Theoretical models and meteoritic data suggest that Earth formed over 10 to 50 million years from collisions between smaller bodies."
In a separate study, Thayne Currie and Scott Kenyon of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., and their colleagues also found evidence of dust from terrestrial planet formation around stars from 10 to 30 million years old. "These observations suggest that whatever led to the formation of Earth could be occurring around many stars between three million and 300 million years old," Meyer said.
Kenyon and Ben Bromley of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, have developed planet formation models that provide a plausible scenario. Their models predict warm dust would be detected at 24-micron wavelengths as small rocky bodies collide and merge. "Our work suggests that the warm dust Meyer and colleagues detect is a natural outcome of rocky planet formation. We predict a higher frequency of dust emission for the younger stars, just as Spitzer observes," said Kenyon.
The numbers on how many stars form planets are ambiguous because there's more than one way to interpret the Spitzer data, Meyer said. The warm-dust emission that Spitzer observed around 20 percent of the youngest cohort of stars could persist as the stars age. That is, the warm dust generated by collisions around stars three to 10 million years old could carry over and show up as warm dust emission seen around stars in the 10- to 30- million-year-old range and so on. Interpreting the data this way, about one out of five Sun-like stars is potentially planet-forming, Meyer said.
There's another way to interpret the data. "An optimistic scenario would suggest that the biggest, most massive disks would undergo the runaway collision process first and assemble their planets quickly. That's what we could be seeing in the youngest stars. Their disks live hard and die young, shining brightly early on, then fading," Meyer said. "However, smaller, less massive disks will light up later. Planet formation in this case is delayed because there are fewer particles to collide with each other."
If this is correct and the most massive disks form their planets first and the wimpiest disks take 10 to 100 times longer, then up to 62 percent of the surveyed stars have formed, or may be forming, planets. "The correct answer probably lies somewhere between the pessimistic case of less than 20 percent and optimistic case of more than 60 percent," Meyer said.
The next critical test of the assertion that terrestrial planets like Earth could be common around stars like the Sun will come next year with the launch of NASA's Kepler mission.
Meyer's 13 co-authors include John Carpenter of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
More information about Spitzer is at http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer and http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer.
Based on a JPL news release
Many, Perhaps Most, Nearby Sun-Like Stars May Form Rocky Planets
Astronomers have discovered that terrestrial planets might form around many, if not most, of the nearby Sun-like stars in our galaxy. These new results suggest that worlds with potential for life might be more common than we thought.
University of Arizona, Tucson, astronomer Michael Meyer and his colleagues used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to determine whether planetary systems like ours are common or rare in our Milky Way galaxy. They found that at least 20 percent, and possibly as many as 60 percent, of stars similar to the Sun are candidates for forming rocky planets.
Meyer is presenting the findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. The results appear in the Feb. 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The astronomers used Spitzer to survey six sets of stars, grouped depending on their age, with masses comparable to our Sun. The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old. "We wanted to study the evolution of the gas and dust around stars similar to the Sun and compare the results with what we think the Solar System looked like at earlier stages during its evolution," Meyer said.
The Spitzer telescope does not detect planets directly. Instead it detects dust - the rubble left over from collisions as planets form - at a range of infrared wavelengths. The hottest dust is detected at the shortest wavelengths, between 3.6 microns and 8 microns. Cool dust is detected at the longest wavelengths, between 70 microns and 160 microns. Warm dust can be traced at 24-micron wavelengths. Because dust closer to the star is hotter than dust farther from the star, the "warm" dust likely traces material orbiting the star at distances comparable to the distance between Earth and Jupiter.
"We found that about 10 to 20 percent of the stars in each of the four youngest age groups shows 24-micron emission due to dust," Meyer said. "But we don't often see warm dust around stars older than 300 million years. The frequency just drops off.
"That's comparable to the time scales thought to span the formation and dynamical evolution of our own solar system," he added. "Theoretical models and meteoritic data suggest that Earth formed over 10 to 50 million years from collisions between smaller bodies."
In a separate study, Thayne Currie and Scott Kenyon of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., and their colleagues also found evidence of dust from terrestrial planet formation around stars from 10 to 30 million years old. "These observations suggest that whatever led to the formation of Earth could be occurring around many stars between three million and 300 million years old," Meyer said.
Kenyon and Ben Bromley of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, have developed planet formation models that provide a plausible scenario. Their models predict warm dust would be detected at 24-micron wavelengths as small rocky bodies collide and merge. "Our work suggests that the warm dust Meyer and colleagues detect is a natural outcome of rocky planet formation. We predict a higher frequency of dust emission for the younger stars, just as Spitzer observes," said Kenyon.
The numbers on how many stars form planets are ambiguous because there's more than one way to interpret the Spitzer data, Meyer said. The warm-dust emission that Spitzer observed around 20 percent of the youngest cohort of stars could persist as the stars age. That is, the warm dust generated by collisions around stars three to 10 million years old could carry over and show up as warm dust emission seen around stars in the 10- to 30- million-year-old range and so on. Interpreting the data this way, about one out of five Sun-like stars is potentially planet-forming, Meyer said.
There's another way to interpret the data. "An optimistic scenario would suggest that the biggest, most massive disks would undergo the runaway collision process first and assemble their planets quickly. That's what we could be seeing in the youngest stars. Their disks live hard and die young, shining brightly early on, then fading," Meyer said. "However, smaller, less massive disks will light up later. Planet formation in this case is delayed because there are fewer particles to collide with each other."
If this is correct and the most massive disks form their planets first and the wimpiest disks take 10 to 100 times longer, then up to 62 percent of the surveyed stars have formed, or may be forming, planets. "The correct answer probably lies somewhere between the pessimistic case of less than 20 percent and optimistic case of more than 60 percent," Meyer said.
The next critical test of the assertion that terrestrial planets like Earth could be common around stars like the Sun will come next year with the launch of NASA's Kepler mission.
Meyer's 13 co-authors include John Carpenter of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
More information about Spitzer is at http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer and http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer.
San Francisco Chronicle
New threat to our way of life: giant pythons
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 21, 2008
In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.
The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.
"We have not yet identified something that would stop their spreading to the Bay Area," Rodda said.
If pet pythons were introduced into the wild in California by irresponsible pet owners, as happened in Florida, they could become established here even faster, without need of a cross-country journey.
The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.
The snake that managed to slither 100 miles turned up on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida. Another python made it as far as Vero Beach, Fla., on the Atlantic coast. Vero Beach is the spring training site for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the team has not reported any casualties, although its pitching staff could use help. Other on-the-move pythons have journeyed to Key Largo, where Humphrey Bogart once battled Edward G. Robinson.
At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.
"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.
The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.
"Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them," Rodda said. "No beaver would be safe from a python."
The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons.
"A large alligator will eat a small python," Rodda said. "But we are not recommending you import alligators into California. That would not be a good idea."
Along with the climate map, the geological survey also released a fearsome photograph showing just what the Bay Area is in for. In the picture, a 20-foot-long python is encircling and attempting to strangle a full-grown alligator, while the alligator is doing its best to swallow the python. It is not for the faint of heart.
The snakes also like to eat rodents, deer and other mammals. Small Florida deer have been turning up inside the digestive tracts of Everglades pythons, which has alarmed deer lovers and also the deer.
As for other potential prey, human beings - like rodents, beavers and deer - are mammals, government scientists confirmed.
According to the new USGS map, the python would find about one-third of the United States - including much of California - to be comfortable for its expansion. In California, the only safe places to avoid the migrating pythons would be the colder areas - the Sierra, the Cascades or the North Coast. Such remote areas, however, could not support every panicked Californian seeking to avoid the giant snakes.
The control of nonnative species is an increasing problem for local biologists, who are currently battling the dread zebra mussel and the voracious northern pike. The mussel is threatening to clog Bay Area reservoirs, and pike are gobbling Northern California salmon and trout. Some studies have said the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the most-invaded ecosystem on the planet, with hundreds of introduced species that endanger native critters.
USGS researchers say pet owners must be responsible about snakes, especially when they no longer want them. There is nothing bad about snakes, the misunderstanding in a certain garden notwithstanding. Snakes are just being snakes. It's up to people to exercise their free will about snakes, which is the oldest lesson in the book.
"Americans are wealthy enough to possess exotic pets and ethical enough to decide the right thing to do when they can no longer keep them," Rodda said.
Releasing them into the wild is a very bad idea.
"Nobody wants to screw up the environment," Rodda said. "But that's what's happening."
Burmese python facts
Size: They can grow to 250 pounds and stretch over 23 feet.
Popular pets: They're often released into the wild by irresponsible owners.
Lifestyle: When young, the pythons spend much of their time in trees. In adulthood, their weight makes tree-climbing too difficult.
Food: They survive on small mammals and birds but have been known to eat deer and alligators.
Eggs: They lay up to 100 at a time.
E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.
New threat to our way of life: giant pythons
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 21, 2008
In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.
The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.
"We have not yet identified something that would stop their spreading to the Bay Area," Rodda said.
If pet pythons were introduced into the wild in California by irresponsible pet owners, as happened in Florida, they could become established here even faster, without need of a cross-country journey.
The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.
The snake that managed to slither 100 miles turned up on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida. Another python made it as far as Vero Beach, Fla., on the Atlantic coast. Vero Beach is the spring training site for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the team has not reported any casualties, although its pitching staff could use help. Other on-the-move pythons have journeyed to Key Largo, where Humphrey Bogart once battled Edward G. Robinson.
At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.
"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.
The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.
"Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them," Rodda said. "No beaver would be safe from a python."
The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons.
"A large alligator will eat a small python," Rodda said. "But we are not recommending you import alligators into California. That would not be a good idea."
Along with the climate map, the geological survey also released a fearsome photograph showing just what the Bay Area is in for. In the picture, a 20-foot-long python is encircling and attempting to strangle a full-grown alligator, while the alligator is doing its best to swallow the python. It is not for the faint of heart.
The snakes also like to eat rodents, deer and other mammals. Small Florida deer have been turning up inside the digestive tracts of Everglades pythons, which has alarmed deer lovers and also the deer.
As for other potential prey, human beings - like rodents, beavers and deer - are mammals, government scientists confirmed.
According to the new USGS map, the python would find about one-third of the United States - including much of California - to be comfortable for its expansion. In California, the only safe places to avoid the migrating pythons would be the colder areas - the Sierra, the Cascades or the North Coast. Such remote areas, however, could not support every panicked Californian seeking to avoid the giant snakes.
The control of nonnative species is an increasing problem for local biologists, who are currently battling the dread zebra mussel and the voracious northern pike. The mussel is threatening to clog Bay Area reservoirs, and pike are gobbling Northern California salmon and trout. Some studies have said the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the most-invaded ecosystem on the planet, with hundreds of introduced species that endanger native critters.
USGS researchers say pet owners must be responsible about snakes, especially when they no longer want them. There is nothing bad about snakes, the misunderstanding in a certain garden notwithstanding. Snakes are just being snakes. It's up to people to exercise their free will about snakes, which is the oldest lesson in the book.
"Americans are wealthy enough to possess exotic pets and ethical enough to decide the right thing to do when they can no longer keep them," Rodda said.
Releasing them into the wild is a very bad idea.
"Nobody wants to screw up the environment," Rodda said. "But that's what's happening."
Burmese python facts
Size: They can grow to 250 pounds and stretch over 23 feet.
Popular pets: They're often released into the wild by irresponsible owners.
Lifestyle: When young, the pythons spend much of their time in trees. In adulthood, their weight makes tree-climbing too difficult.
Food: They survive on small mammals and birds but have been known to eat deer and alligators.
Eggs: They lay up to 100 at a time.
E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.
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