Archaeology (Page 3)

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

Latest in Archaeology

Bow drill in action, New Kingdom tomb painting from Western Thebes, Tomb of Rekhmire, object 31.6.25, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain

Forgotten hand tool rewrites ancient Egyptian history

Bison bones are scattered across the Bergstrom site in central Montana.

Why bison hunters abandoned a kill site 1,200 years ago

By Laura Baisas

Scans of severed skull fragments from Iberian Peninsula

Severed head rituals were more widespread in Iron Age Iberia than we thought

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

‘King of Silver Dollars’ coin could fetch over $1M at auction

By Laura Baisas

a cave painting of two warty pigs

Pigs have been island hopping for 50,000 years

By Laura Baisas

A close-up, angled shot of a silver waiter's corkscrew in the process of opening a wine bottle. The metal lever of the corkscrew is braced against the lip of the dark glass bottle, while the black spiral "worm" is drilled deep into the center of the natural wood cork. The background is a soft, out-of-focus gradient of green and grey.

The corkscrew began as a tool for muskets, not merlot

By Andrew Coletti

coins in dirt and a can in dirt

A couple walking their dog found $10 million worth of rare coins

roman ruins in northern england

Diarrhea slowed down Roman soldiers

By Laura Baisas

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing a medieval dining scene involving Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

Famous phallic tapestry may have entertained monks during meals

By Laura Baisas

Man with metal detector stumbles on perplexing Viking Age grave

By Margherita Bassi

Rhesus macaque bones in Roman animal cemetery grave

Roman generals gifted kittens and piglets to their pet monkeys

a wooden boat on display in a dark museum exhibit

Who built Scandinavia’s oldest wooden plank boat? An ancient fingerprint offers clues.

By Laura Baisas

Artist's impression of sparks from flint and pyrite

Neanderthals harnessed fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought

An ancient Pompeii wall at a newly excavated site, where Associate Professor Admir Masic applied compositional analysis (overlayed to right) to understand how ancient Romans made concrete that has endured for thousands of years.

Pompeii’s ruins challenge Rome’s famous concrete recipe

a gold coin with a ship and queen elizabeth i etched into it

Elizabethan era gold coin sold for record-breaking price

By Laura Baisas

coins in a jug at an archaeologist dig

40,000 Roman-era coins discovered in French village

By Laura Baisas

pouring olive oil in a clear container

Ancient ‘dirty dishes’ may have led archaeologists astray for decades

By Laura Baisas

two donkeys looking directly at the camera in a green field with a blue sky

Why using a donkey to treat whooping cough makes sense

By Laura Baisas

Medieval grave slab made from Purbeck stone in museum exhibit case

Medieval shipwreck mistaken for underwater ‘rubbish’

an orange cat sits on ancient ruins

Roman military helped bring cats to Europe

By Laura Baisas

$Neanderthal human remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium). Highly fragmented bones bear traces characteristic of fresh bone fracturing and percussion, demonstrating intentional treatment of the bodies. The individuals (GNx, for “Goyet Neandertal” x), numbering six at minimum, were identified by genetic analyses: XX indicates female gender, and XY male gender.. Credit: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences /Scientific Reports$

The Neanderthals who ate their neighbors

A vibrant, digital illustration of a glowing DNA double helix structure against a dark blue background. The helix is composed of numerous small, multicolored, light-filled blocks and lines that represent the genetic code.

How scientists analyze ancient DNA from old bones

A scan of an Arabic manuscript of the dīwān of Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk dating back to 1181-1182 (left). The Annual perseid meteor seen in the sky on August 14, 2023. The meteors have a radiant bordering on Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis (right).

Medieval Arabic texts help researchers track down explosive star deaths

By Margherita Bassi

ancient reindeer antlers on rocks

Hiker stumbles on massive medieval reindeer traps in Norway

By Margherita Bassi

Close up of replica of silver goblet from Near East engraved with sun god

4,000-year-old silver goblet tells a tale of chaos and order

Scuba diver investigating propellor of WW2 aircraft crash underwater

80 years ago, a WWII B-17 bomber crashed in the Baltic. Scientists are finally learning who was onboard.

Glass openwork vessel excavated at Cologne dating to around 350–400 CE with an image of an inscription on the right. Inscription: BIBE MVLTIS ANNIS (Drink [may you live] for many years!). Credit: State Collection of Antiquities and Glyptothek, Munich. Photos by Christa Koppermann

Ancient Rome’s fanciest glasses are full of cryptic symbols

Close up of Egyptian ceramic vessel with inscriptions

Opium may have been a daily habit for Ancient Egyptians

Swedish silver medieval coins in a pile

Fisherman searching for worms finds 20,000 medieval silver coins

Various angles of fragmented human skull

Medieval duke’s remains recount his grisly murder

Fragment of a Roman milestone erected along the road Via Nova in Jordan. Credit: Adam Pažout, Itiner-e.

Travel ancient Rome’s 186,000 miles of roads in new online atlas

Skeleton in grave in Iron Age Celtic tribe

Celtic women held power—and were sacrificed

a stone circle in a field

‘Extremely rare’ Roman tomb discovered in Germany

By Margherita Bassi

Musket and cannonballs recovered in Scottish battlefield

18th century lead ammo found in Scottish Highlands

Four views of ochre fragment used by Neanderthals

Neanderthals used ‘crayons’ to color

Scan of hieroglyphs on Mayan Foundation Rock

Mystery Mayan ruler was no king

Archaeologists discover massive ancient Egyptian fortress

By Margherita Bassi

Skull of a soldier from the Napoleon army next to a button from a soldier's uniform.

The real killer of Napoleon’s army revealed by DNA testing

Roman skeletons in water well mass grave

Ancient Roman mass grave shows its army’s ethnic diversity

pinworm under microscope

Ancient poop from Mexico’s ‘Cave of the Dead Children’ teems with parasites

By Laura Baisas

A 50 cent coin from 1817 (left) and an 1846 Liberty head one-cent coin (right) are just two of the numerous objects uncovered in a dig in Troy, Ohio.

Rare 19th-century coins found after fire at historic tavern

By Laura Baisas

A 3D model of the ancient Roman water basin uncovered about 11 miles east of Rome.

Forgotten rival of Ancient Rome featured an impressive water basin

By Margherita Bassi

Paranthropus boisei. Reproduction of an adult skull. 1,8 million years ago. Pleistocene. Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

This overlooked human ancestor wielded tools with a gorilla-like grip

Aerial photo of ancient ice storage facility excavation next to photos of a burial jar containing Chinese coins

Ancient underground freezer unearthed at South Korean castle