At https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250107194051.htm … the Popo Agie is a rock formation in Wyoming that harbours lots of mangled animal remains mixed in with dinosaurs. It is now upturning some consensus opinions on when dinosaurs first evolved. The article was published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society and a new dinosaur species has been given the name, or title, Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, which appears to be an early member of the sauropods. It was a lot smaller than the titans of the Jurassic period. It was in fact a foot tall and 3 feet from head to tail. The name is derived from one of the researchers, a Shoshone or Arapaho native. These people had a distinct culture and appear to have occupied the same basic territory for thousands of years.
The fossil graveyard is dated to the Carnian pluvial episode. Put that in your search engine. However, although the new dinosaur is earlier than others in North America, there are what is thought to be dinosaur tracks too and they are interesting.
At https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.197 … a mega fortress unearthed in the southern Caucasus region. It is Iron Age but goes back into the LB period – around 1500BC.
Some books to wet your appetite. ‘A date with 2 Cerne Giants; reinvestigating an iconic British hill figure‘ edited by MJ Allen and published by Oxbow books [Oxford].
Andrew Green, ‘Voices on the Path‘ [2024] – which has a focus on hiking in Wales. It has an extensive chapter on Welsh drovers – forerunners of American cowboys.
See also https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46161-7 … which tells us there were reduced numbers of Neanderthals in Europe between 70,000 and 45,000 years ago. and https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213061120 … on the Persian Plateau and the survival of Neanderthals.