Chinese Porcelain Vase found in a shoebox sells for $19 Million

In 2018 an 18th century Chinese vase found in a shoebox in an attic and forgotten for decades was sold in France for 16.2 million euros ($19 million) at auction in Paris. The price was more than 20 times the estimate Sotheby's had put on the item. It was the highest price reached for a single item sold by Sotheby's in France. The 30 cm, bulb-shaped vase, painted in delicate shades of green, blue, yellow and purple, was described as an exceptionally well-preserved porcelain vessel made for an emperor of the Qing dynasty. The vase bears a mark of the Qianlong Emperor who ruled China from 1736 to 1796.

Thanatotheristes degrootorum - "reaper of death"

The oldest known member of the Tyrannosaur family walked the plains of southern Alberta about 80 mya. That's the finding of a new study identifying the previously unknown dinosaur. Paleontologists confirmed that it was a new species. The name, Thanatotheristes degrootorum, means "reaper of death" in Greek. This tyrannosaur was as the only known large apex predator of its time in Canada. Tyrannosaurs were a type of carnivorous, bipedal dinosaur called therapods.

Mammoth tusk pirates in Russia

Russian miners are making a fortune by unearthing prehistoric woolly mammoth tusks preserved in the permafrost and selling them for thousands on the Asian 'ethical ivory' market. They are searching for the 'white gold.' They find it along the Yakutia river, about 4,300 miles east of Moscow. Tusks can fetch around $34,000 for 65kg. Miners also sell the tusks of woolly rhinos, worth more than their weight in gold, which are ground up to be sold as medicine in Vietnam.

Mammoths once roamed Russia's north from 400,000 years ago until their population declined at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 years ago. A few hung on outcrops of land, such as Wrangel Island, until they finally went extinct around 4,000 years ago.

Blythburgh hoard - Iron Age gold coins

The gold staters and quarter staters were attributed to pre-Roman tribal leader Addedomaros, King of Trinovantes. They are dated to 45-25BC, and were likely deposited after 20 AD. The Trinovantes were one of the Celtic tribes of pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in Essex and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London. They were bordered to the north by the Iceni, and to the west by the Catuvellauni.

The Parthenon

The existing temple sits on the site of an older building that was razed by the Persians in 480 BCE. Construction of the second temple to Athena began in 447 BCE under the direction of Pericles.

Ictinus and Callicrates were called upon to create the building. Estimates put the cost of the Parthenon at 470 silver talents. The cost to build and fully outfit the most advanced warship of the era, the trireme, was a talent.

Restoration efforts are underway and they began in 1975.

Pterosaur tooth found in rare ancient squid fossil

A new cephalopod fossil was unearthed with a surprising accessory: an embedded tooth. The fossilized evidence represents the first known that pterosaurs hunted cephalopods. Excavated in 2012 from a limestone formation in Bavaria, Germany, the fossil is a Plesioteuthis subovata cephalopod, a predecessor of today’s squids, octopuses and cuttlefish. The 11-inch-long creature was extremely well preserved with its ink sac and fins still partially intact. What is amazing is the tooth protruding from just below the animal’s head. Based on the size, shape and texture of the dentition, as well as its approximate age, researchers argue that it probably belonged to a Rhamphorhynchus muensteri pterosaur.

The mixed-species fossil immortalized a rare pterosaur-prey interaction and it is rare and unique.

Pleistocene Cave Bear

A fully articulated skeleton of a late prehistoric male cave bear, Ursus Spelaeus was offered for sale in 2018. The cave bear lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago. Estimate: $28k - 34k

Genetic research that reconstructed the population dynamics of the cave bear implicates Homo sapiens in their Ice Age extinction. Scientists obtained genome data from 59 cave bears from bones unearthed at 14 sites in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. A dramatic decline starting about 40,000 years ago coincided with the spread of Homo sapiens throughout Europe. Before the arrival of Homo sapiens, the bear’s population had remained robust.