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For a long time, there has been a missing puzzle piece in Jerusalem’s history. Though ancient texts offered some clues, an archaeological record of the city during the Early Hellenistic Period, from 332 to 141 BC, was largely absent — until now.
Excavators at the Jerusalem Walls National Park unearthed two child-size gold rings set with shiny red gemstones from a dig site within less than a year.
Both pieces of jewelry were in such good condition that at first glance, archaeologists thought they were modern.
Now, they believe the 2,300-year-old rings were intentionally buried by young women as part of a coming-of-age ritual before marriage.
Together, the rings and other objects from the excavations are painting a more detailed portrait of a period of Greek influence in Jerusalem’s history.
Once upon a planet
Speaking of precious caches, most of Earth’s gold lies trapped in the planet’s seething, molten core. But a new analysis of volcanic rocks in Hawaii suggests gold and other precious metals such as platinum are escaping into the mantle.
Within the rock samples, researchers saw traces of a silver-gray metal about as rare as gold that was likely more abundant in Earth’s early building materials when the core developed about 4.5 billion years ago.
As volcanic islands form, gold and other metals eventually make their way to the surface — and more will probably emerge in Earth’s crust if the metallic core is still leaking, researchers say.
Defying gravity
SpaceX’s ninth test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off Tuesday reusing a Super Heavy booster for the first time.
The spacecraft made it farther than it had during the past two tests but failed to achieve key objectives, including deploying dummy satellites that went along for the ride and reigniting its engines in space.
Mission controllers lost contact with Starship, and the spacecraft spun out of control on reentry to Earth.
Ocean secrets
Sharks usually prefer dining alone. But observers captured footage of at least 12 sharks from two distinct species sharing a feast for more than eight hours off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.
Across the universe
Astronomers have detected an unusual object known as ASKAP J1832-0911 emitting flashes of radio waves every 44 minutes — and it may be a new entry in a class of recently discovered mysterious objects called long-period transients.
The object is releasing not only radio pulses but also powerful X-rays that NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory happened to observe. The high-energy X-rays are what sets ASKAP J1832-0911 apart from other cosmic phenomena.
“This object is unlike anything we have seen before,” said Dr. Andy Wang, an associate lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia.
Dig this
Excavations in Luxor have uncovered three tombs in an ancient Egyptian burial complex.
Located in a cemetery called Dra’ Abu el-Naga, which was reserved for prominent nonroyals, the burial chambers date to the New Kingdom, which lasted from around 1539 to 1077 BC.
Painted figures, hieroglyphs and inscriptions found inside the tombs helped researchers determine the names and occupations of those laid to rest there.
Take note
Catch up on the latest stories:
— Sixteen states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to end new policies by the National Science Foundation. Tasked with advancing scientific discoveries, the agency is halting millions of dollars’ worth of research across the country.
— Researchers say they now know what the massive megalodon really ate to meet its 100,000-calorie daily requirement.
— China’s Tianwen-2 mission is on a quest to land on an asteroid that might be a chunk of the moon and then fly by an “active asteroid” trailing dusty, comet-like tails.
— A roughly 43,000-year-old fingerprint, which appears to mark where a nose should be on a rock resembling a face, adds to evidence that ancient human ancestors were capable of creating art. Forensic police helped unravel the mystery of who made the print.
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