An astonishing collection of fossil animals from southern Australia is reported by scientists.

The creatures were found in limestone caves under Nullarbor Plain and date from about 400,000-800,000 years ago. The palaeontological "treasure trove" includes 23 kangaroo species, eight of which are entirely new to science. Researchers tell Nature magazine that the caves also yielded a complete specimen of Thylacoleo carnifex, an extinct marsupial lion.

It appears the unsuspecting creatures fell to their deaths through pipes in the dusty plain surface that periodically opened and closed over millennia. Most of the animals were killed instantly but others initially survived the 20m drop only to crawl off into rock piles to die from their injuries or from thirst and starvation.

The preservation of many of the specimens was remarkable, said the Nature paper's lead author, Dr Gavin Prideaux.

"To drop down into these caves and see the Thylacoleo lying there just as it had died really took my breath away," the Western Australian Museum researcher told the BBC's Science In Action Programme. "Sitting in the darkness next to this skeleton, you really got the sense of the animal collapsing in a heap and taking its last breath. It was quite poignant. Everywhere we looked around the boulder piles, we found more and more skeletons of a very wide array of creatures."

In total, 69 vertebrate species have been identified in three chambers the scientists now call the Thylacoleo Caves. These include mammals, birds and reptiles. The kangaroos range from rat-sized animals to 3m giants. The team even found an unusual wallaby with large brow ridges.

"When we first glanced at the animal, we thought they were horns; but on closer inspection we realised they must have performed some sort of protective function," Dr Prideaux explained. "The beast must have been sticking its head into spiny bushes and browsing on leaves."

The scientists' investigations indicate the ancient Nullarbor environment was very similar to that of today - an arid landscape that received little more than 200mm of rainfall a year. What has changed significantly is the vegetation. Whereas the Thylacoleo Caves' animals would have seen trees on the plain, the modern landscape is covered in a fire-resistant chenopod shrub. This observation goes to the heart of a key debate in Australian palaeontology, the team believes.

The continent was once home to a remarkable and distinctive collection of giant beasts. These megafauna, as researchers like to call them, included an immense wombat-like animal (Diprotodon optatum) and a 400kg lizard (Megalania prisca).

But all - including the marsupial lion - had disappeared by the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (11,500 years ago). Some scientists think the significant driver behind these extinctions was climate change - large shifts in temperature and precipitation.

But Dr Prideaux and colleagues argue the Thylacoleo Caves' animals give the lie to this explanation because they were already living in an extremely testing environment. "Because these animals were so well adapted to dry conditions, to say that climate knocked them out just isn't adequate. These animals survived the very worst nature could throw at them, and they came through it," co-author Professor Bert Roberts told BBC News. "If you look at the last four or five glacial cycles, where the ice ages come and go, the animals certainly suffered but they didn't go extinct - they suffered but survived," the University of Wollongong scientist said. This assessment would be consistent with the other favoured extinction theory - extermination by humans, either directly by hunting or indirectly by changing the landscape through burning. As the name suggests, there are precious few trees on the Nullarbor Plain..................

Latinist laments 'dying language'
By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Rome

One of the world's foremost scholars in Latin has said he believes the language is dying out. Father Reginald Foster, who was appointed the papal Latinist 38 years ago, says Latin is almost extinct. He says priests are no longer compelled to study it at seminaries and find it impossible to read important theological texts.

Father Foster has also condemned the loss of Latin teaching in schools across most of Europe.Father Foster has just opened a new Latin academy in Rome near the Pantheon, in his final effort to preserve the official language of the priesthood. He hopes to attract 130 students a year.

But the chief Latinist, who has translated speeches and letters for four popes, says he can see no future for the language he is teaching and has been forced to acknowledge that Latin is dying out.

The reason is that more junior members of the Catholic hierarchy are less enthusiastic about Latin than the recent Popes. At the Vatican, bishops appointments are still written on papyrus in Latin as are letters of congratulations from the pope, but many bishops and cardinals write back asking for translations.

He has also condemned the loss of Latin teaching in Europe.

In Italy, most schoolchildren are still taught Latin for at least four hours a week until they are 18. But in other European countries it has been replaced by the more modern languages. Father Foster believes that without Latin they are missing out on important elements of history. "St Augustine thought in Latin, you can't read his text in English, it's like listening to Mozart through a jukebox," he says.

Reports that Pope Benedict XVI might re-introduce Latin mass are way off the mark says Father Foster, not least because of the pontiff's desire to avoid more controversy. In any case, he says, it just makes the Vatican look medieval. Father Foster does, however, propose a solution - he has called on the Pope to lead by example.

Instead of a siesta, he says, Benedict should announce that he will be reading Latin in his Vatican quarters.

Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Discovered, Archaeologists Say

Maria Cristina Valsecchi in Rome
for National Geographic News
January 26, 2007

Archaeologists say they have unearthed Lupercale—the sacred cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed the twin founders of Rome and where the city itself was born. The long-lost underground chamber was found beneath the remains of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of the city. Archaeologists from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Rome Municipality came across the 50-foot-deep (15-meter-deep) cavity while working to restore the decaying palace.

"We were drilling the ground near Augustus' residence to survey the foundations of the building when we discovered the cave," said Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the area. "We knew from ancient reports that the Lupercale shouldn't be far from the Emperor's palace, but we didn't expect to find it. It was a lucky surprise.

"We didn't enter the cave but took some photos with a probe," Iacopi added. "They show a richly decorated vault encrusted with mosaics and seashells, too rich to be part of a home. That's why we think it could be the ancient sanctuary, but we can't be sure until we find the entrance to the chamber."

According to myth, Lupercale is where a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the war god Mars and mortal priestess Rhea Silvia, who had been abandoned in a cradle on the bank of the Tiber River. The cave's name, in fact, comes from the Latin word for wolf, lupus. The brothers are said to have later founded Rome on April 21, 753 B.C., at the site. But they eventually fought for the leadership of the new city, and Romulus killed his brother.

That didn't stop the site from becoming a sacred place to ancient Romans.

Every year on February 15 ancient priests killed a dog and two goats and smeared the foreheads of two boys from noble families with the sacrificial blood as part of the Lupercalia celebration. (Related: "'Rome' TV Wardrobe Not Built in a Day [August 26, 2005].)

The ceremony survived until A.D. 494, when Pope Gelasius put an end to the tradition.

The Palatine Hill also became the residential area of the most affluent Roman citizens beginning in 500 B.C. When the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire in the first century B.C., Augustus even built himself and his wife Livia palaces on top of the hill. Later emperors followed his example and built larger and larger homes on the same spot. Now the whole hill is a honeycomb of buildings and tunnels extending far underground.

The English word "palace" derives from "Palatium," the Latin name of the area.

"The tale of the birth of Rome is part myth and part historical truth," said Andrea Carandini, historian and archaeologist at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. "The story of the twins reflects the previous tradition of the Lares, the twin deities protecting the area, but there was indeed a historical founder who constituted the Palatine Hill as the sacred heart of the city around 775 B.C.," he added. "The archaeological findings are providing more and more evidence that the tale of Rome's foundation isn't a later legend but originates from historical facts," he said.

Time may been running out for additional discoveries, however.

"The remains are now crumbling due to atmospheric agents and lack of funds for maintenance," head archaeologist Iacopi said. "Most of the buildings are closed to the public for safety reasons. It's a real pity. "Archaeologists are doing what they can to restore and stabilize the ruins," she added. "Now we have to find the entrance and study the chamber," Iacopi said. "In the meantime we are going to finish the restorations in Augustus' palace. We hope to open part of the emperor's residence to the public in a few months."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070126-rome-palatine_2.html