Archaeology

The latest digs, ideas, and discoveries about our past, from ancient cities to our prehistoric ancestors.

Latest in Archaeology

a mummy's decorative outer shell on display in a musuem

Scientists want you to smell ancient Egyptian mummies

By Laura Baisas

A close-up of a person's mouth smiling, showing teeth fitted with metal dental braces on both the upper and lower rows. The image focuses on the orthodontic brackets and wires, with the person’s nose and lips framing the smile.

Why our ancestors had straight teeth without braces

By Sara Kiley Watson

Various angles of silver pendant with Roman gem inlay next to measurement references

Metal detectorist finds medieval pendant with a Roman ‘secret’

ruins of a roman bath

How a hobbyist’s hunch uncovered hidden Roman military camps

By Mack DeGeurin

Two paleolithic skeletons displaying dwarfism in museum exhibit

Skeletons reveal Stone Age mother and daughter had a rare genetic condition

State park official on beach next to 19th century shipwreck wood

Winter storms uncover 19th-century shipwreck on New Jersey beach

A full-length color photograph of a young woman figure skating on an outdoor ice rink. She is wearing a pale green long-sleeved skating dress and white skates, captured in a graceful pose with her arms extended and one leg trailing behind her. The background features a tall, modern office building, bare trees, and a mountain range under a pale sky, reflecting a mid-century winter aesthetic.

From bones to steel: Why ice skates were a terrible idea that worked

Medieval portrait of Richard Rolle

Forgotten, priceless medieval book found in school library

rock art showing a clawed hand and an animal

World’s oldest-known rock art found in Indonesian cave

By Laura Baisas

Canada and USA reenacting the war during 1812

British soldier’s long-lost memoir rediscovered in Cleveland

A Roman fresco showing a young maked girl reading and three other adult women draped in fabric togas on a bright red background.

What were books like in ancient Greece and Rome?

By Konstantine Panegyres / The Conversation

A shark tooth next to a spoon used to excavate it from sand in Oman

In ancient Arabia, people dined on sharks and stingrays

A sample of the dental remains excavated in Pontecagnano that date to the 7th-6th century BCE.

Iron Age teeth reveal the hidden lives of ancient Italians

Depiction of the fourth horseman of the apocalypse, Death, riding a mythical creature, presumably a winged lion. Below him is a personification of famine (Fames), pointing to her open mouth. The depiction was created in Erfurt in the mid-14th century; the connection to Neuses may be drawn due to the date – St. Mark’s Day – of the annual memorial procession leading to the mass grave. Source: Klassik-Stiftung Weimar

Medieval plague victims likely found in mass grave in Germany

Diver underwater investigating Viking shipwreck

600-year-old Viking shipwreck is the largest of its kind

An elevated, long-range photograph of the Rano Raraku volcanic crater on Easter Island, showing several moai statues partially buried in the grassy hillside. The massive stone heads and torsos are scattered across a sloped landscape that leads up to a rugged, rocky cliff face with visible excavation sites. Some areas of the background rock feature unnatural blue markings, likely from digital editing or site markers.

3D map of Easter Island takes you places visitors aren’t allowed

a medieval ring made of gold with a large blue stone at the center

Ornate medieval ring discovered in Norway’s oldest town

By Margherita Bassi

Group of ancient Roman whetstones discovered in Britain

800 ancient Roman blade sharpeners found in Britain

Both sides of one of the arrowheads analysed. The left-hand image shows the organic remains in which the arrowhead residues were identified. Photo: Marlize Lombard

World’s oldest poison-tipped arrow discovered in South Africa

a celtic gold coin

Rare Celtic coin found by metal detectorist

By Laura Baisas