The world’s oldest recorded tree is a 9,550 year old spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden. The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes over time.

For many years the spruce tree has been regarded as a relative newcomer in the Swedish mountain region. ”Our results have shown the complete opposite, that the spruce is one of the oldest known trees in the mountain range,” says Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umeå University.

A fascinating discovery was made under the crown of a spruce in Fulu Mountain in Dalarna. Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from the highest grounds.

PARIS (AFP) - A new, simplified family tree of humanity has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears.

Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published Sunday by the journal Nature declares.

Archaeologists and scientists have revealed that 1,000 years ago cod was traded extraordinary distances across Europe, from the Norwegian Arctic to England and the Baltic.

The research may force yet another revision of the image of the Vikings, from longship ram-raiders, to mainly traders and colonising farmers, to the fishmongers of Europe. Vikings in York were eating cod caught off the Norwegian coast.

KABUL, Afghanistan: A controlled explosion of old ordnance found near remains of the famed Bamiyan Buddha statues did not cause damage to the 1,500-year old ruins, the United Nations said.

The blast carried out Thursday by NATO-led troops near the smaller of two towering Buddha statues — destroyed by the Taliban seven years ago — had prompted an angry reaction from a provincial official who said it threatened Afghanistan's heritage.

The wraps have come off one of Westminster Abbey's least known treasures, a medieval marble pavement foretelling the end of the world, while conservation experts consider how to preserve the ancient stones for the next 740 years.

Few modern visitors have ever seen it, although since 1268 kings and princes, queens and cardinals have walked across a symbol laden mosaic as intricate as a piece of jewellery.

Many visitors to the American South West come back with turquoise jewellery: the Native American people of Arizona and New Mexico exploited local sources, and modern craftsmen have developed a prosperous industry. Thirty years ago the archaeological scientists Garman Harbottle and Edward Sayre used neutron activation analysis to show that turquoise mosaics from Mexico, found as far away as the great Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan and dating back to around AD900, used raw material originating in the Cerrillos mines between Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico, an overland distance of some 3,200 km (2,000 miles). It was assumed that the Cerrillos mines had also supplied more local demand, for instance from the Chaco Canyon communities west of Santa Fe. A new technique of source characterisation, using hydrogen and copper isotope ratios established by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), shows that this picture was altogether too simple.

Iranian archeologists joined by French colleagues are to detect the remains of Persepolis, using georadars and electrostatic methods.

Iran's cultural heritage organization, the country's archeological research center, France's National Center for Scientific Research, Lumiere University of Lyon and University of Paris will join together to excavate the site.

THANJAVUR: Granite pillars containing inscriptions at the 11th century Brahadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur have suffered serious damage during restoration and maintenance work by the Archaeological Survey of India.

A visit to the 'Big temple', as it is popularly known, revealed that five stone pillars, brought down and laid in the open prahara as part of the restoration work, were found chipped and cracked, and in the case of at least one pillar, broken.

AMESBURY, ENGLAND -- The mysterious circle of stones that rises on Salisbury Plain near here has stood as an archaeological marvel for thousands of years, its origins and purpose shrouded in the mists of history.

But a just-completed excavation of Stonehenge, the first within the ancient circle in more than 40 years, could provide some of the first reliable explanations for one of the greatest wonders of the prehistoric world.

WHEN a Bolton "mummy" went to hospital for an x-ray, radiologists made a startling discovery... the mummy was 700 years old and its hands and feet were missing.

As part of research into two Peruvian mummies, Bolton Museum had the bodies scanned at the Royal Bolton Hospital to find out more about how the ancient civilisation may have lived.

The startling results are revealed in a new exhibition at the museum which opens today.