New findings beneath the desert floor hint at entrances to long-lost chambers. This geophysical technique uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. Similar techniques have uncovered Viking longships in Norway, revealed lost civilizations in the Amazonian jungle, and even entire Roman cities without ever putting a shovel into dirt. And GPR has once again delivered near one of the most well-excavated sites in the world—the Great Pyramids of Giza. Researchers led by Tohoku University's Motoyuki Sato used GPR—along with a method known as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), which uses electrical resistance to map underground structures—to discover what's being described as an “L-shaped anomaly” in the western cemetery near the world-renowned pyramids. Below this L-shaped structure was an anomaly, lying 16 to 33 feet down, that the researchers described as “highly electrically resistive.” Such an anomaly could have a few explanations, but the team identified two main possibilities—a mixture of sand and gravel, or “sparse spacing with air voids.” While we know that the surrounding area (built roughly 4,500 years ago, around the same time as its adjacent pyramids) is filled with flat-roofed tombs known in Arabic as mastaba, the stretch of sand where the anomaly was found has not been nearly as intensely excavated, largely because the area sported no impressive structures to warrant a thorough investigation. So, what exactly could this L-shape structure and its lower anomaly represent? Speaking with Live Science, Sato said the structure is likely not natural, as the shape is too sharp. “It may have been an entrance to the deeper structure,” Sato and his colleagues wrote in the paper. That deeper structure sounds suspiciously like a tomb. China's Regreening Has Messed Up Its Water Cycle Could We Have Evidence That Cells Are Conscious? A College Student Broke the Laws of Thermodynamics

Excavations revealed everything from a 14th-century Black Death group burial to three skeletons from the late 12th or early 13th centuries buried in coffins. As archaeologists dug deeper into the ground, they found roughly 20 more burials, including one group grave likely tied to the 1348 “Black Death” plague. “Undertaking these two excavations has provided us with a generational opportunity to enhance our understanding of the evolution off the Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula, and the buildings which stood before it,” Alfred Hawkins, curator of historic buildings at Historic Royal Palaces, the organization that oversees the Tower, said in a statement. The dig began as a trial excavation in 2019 to prepare the on-site Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula for a new elevator. Subsequent excavations outside the chapel as deep as 10 feet below the surface revealed everything from a 14th-century Black Death group burial to three skeletons from the late 12th or early 13th centuries buried in coffins—an unusually expensive burial for that time. Jane Sidell, principal inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England, said the team is already gaining insight into the residents of the Tower in a way they never have before. “There is so much more to learn through further analysis about the people as well as the buildings of one of England's most evocative historic monuments.” It also served as a prison for high-status individuals (including King Henry VI), and housed the country's Royal Mint. But it has seemingly almost always had a chapel on its grounds. A compacted layer of stone found in the recent excavation could be a 1240 project at the site led by Henry III, showing there was a chapel before 1287. “The new excavations provide the opportunity to transform our understanding of the Tower's community,” Katie Faillace from Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology, and Religion, said in a statement. “Our work uses a biomolecular technique known as isotope analysis, which tells us about health, diet, and mobility in the past, all from a tiny fragment of a tooth. This cutting-edge method was unparalleled potential for reconstructing the experiences of the people who lived and died at the Tower, allowing us to build a rich picture of individuals' lives.” Richard Madgwick, archaeological scientist at Cardiff University and part of the team, told National Geographic that one individual was likely a middle-aged female who died between 1480 and 1550. Clues indicate she likely lived as far away as Wales at one point, and had a diet featuring sugar—an expensive ingredient at the time. “I'm looking forward to starting analysis of some of the other amazing finds we have uncovered along the way,” Hawkins said. Along with the remains, the team found a rare burial shroud from the late 12th or early 13th century (fabric doesn't usually last through the ages), jewelry, shards of stained glass, and rare grave goods in the form of funerary incense pots dated to between 1150 and 1250 (with charcoal still inside them). “At the moment we've got these lovely two biographies,” Madgwick said. “It hints at the dynamic movement of people and the dynamic life trajectories of the people who were buried in the Tower, but it's going to be really exciting to see whether we've picked two anomalies, or whether we see the broader range of lifeways that we see of those buried here.” Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics.

By examining DNA preserved in decades-old air samples collected by the Swedish Armed Forces, scientists at Lund University in Sweden have uncovered clear evidence that the seasonal release of spores by northern mosses has changed dramatically over the last 35 years. Yet the glass fiber filters used to trap airborne particles also preserved traces of DNA from pollen, spores, and other microscopic biological material. This unexpected scientific resource was identified by Per Stenberg, a researcher at Umeå University. "The samples have proved to be an unexpected, unique and very exciting archive of DNA from wind-dispersed biological particles," says Nils Cronberg, a botany researcher at Lund University. On average, mosses now begin releasing spores about four weeks earlier than they did in 1990, and the peak of spore dispersal arrives roughly six weeks sooner. "It's a considerable difference, especially considering that summer is so short in the north," says Nils Cronberg. When autumn temperatures stay higher for longer, mosses have more time to develop their spore capsules before winter arrives. This extra development time gives the plants a biological kick-start, allowing spores to be released earlier once spring begins. One of the most unexpected results was what did not influence spore timing. "We had expected that snow thaw or air temperature in the same year as spore dispersal would be crucial, but climate conditions the year before were shown to be the most important factor," says Fia Bengtsson, formerly a researcher in botany at Lund University, who is now at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Beyond documenting rapid ecological responses to climate change, the study introduces a powerful new approach for studying how plants and animals have changed over time. Because air samples have been collected from locations across Sweden, researchers can reconstruct ecological shifts over decades and compare trends from north to south. Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.