Archaeology(Page 7)

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

Latest in Archaeology

An aerial view of a desert kite in the Jebel az-Zilliyat region of Saudi Arabia. The kite dates back to the Stone Age and was a kind of hunting trap.

Blueprints engraved in stone from Saudi Arabia and Jordan could be the world’s oldest

By Laura Baisas

The skull of a victim of the explosion of earthquakes that accompanied the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 ce.

‘Violent’ earthquakes accompanied the infamous volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii

By Laura Baisas

A rock called Grotte Mandrin with a mountain in Mediterranean France. The cave records some of the earliest migrations of Homo Sapiens in Europe.

Humans and Neanderthals could have lived together even earlier than we thought

By Laura Baisas

Ligurian plates recovered from the hospital waste dump that date back to the second half of the 16th century CE.

Renaissance-era doctors used to taste their patients’ pee

By Laura Baisas

Red cherry shaped as butt on orange and purple ombre background

A scientific exploration of big juicy butts

By Rachel Feltman

An artist's impression of Watling Lodge fortlet, which also once stood along the Antonine Wall, and would have been similar to the fortlet discovered near Carleith Farm.

Archaeologists found a lost Roman fortlet in Scotland

By Laura Baisas

Emae Island, one of the Outlier islands located in Central Vanuatu.

‘Fingerprints’ confirm the seafaring stories of adventurous Polynesian navigators

By Laura Baisas

An animal coffin with a human-headed part-eel, part-cobra figure wearing a double crown. The figure is associated with Atum, an ancient Egyptian god of pre-existence and post-existence.

Ancient Egyptians mummified animals and put them in beautiful tiny coffins

By Laura Baisas

Ancient Maya idol in Copán, Guatemala

Ancient Maya masons had a smart way to make plaster stronger

The dig at the Villa of the Quintilii. The cella vinaria are in the foreground and treading floor and presses are behind.

This ancient Roman villa was equipped with wine fountains

By Laura Baisas

Scottish Tartans Authority chair John McLeish (right) and tartan historian Peter MacDonald (left), bring the Glen Affric tartan to V&A Dundee curator James Wylie (center) to be exhibited for the first time at the museum.

Slàinte mhath! The oldest piece of Scottish tartan fabric has been identified.

By Laura Baisas

Two Swahili women in traditional headwear and dresses. Black and white portrait.

Ancient DNA confirms Swahilis’ blended African and Asian ancestry

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Notre Dame cathedral in Paris with scaffolding and construction work following a fire in 2019.

The Notre Dame fire revealed a long-lost architectural marvel

By Laura Baisas

Underwater image of sunken ship, Ironton, in Lake Huron

Get a high-tech tour of the long-lost Ironton shipwreck discovered in the Great Lakes

Mexico's Monte Alban archaeological site, including stone step and structures with mountains in the distance.

What the longest-lasting Mesoamerican cities all had in common

By Laura Baisas

The skeleton of a possible Yamnaya horse rider.

People may have been riding horses as early as 5,000 years ago

The entrance to the Mycenae citadel in Greece called the Lion Gate.

Details of life in Bronze Age Mycenae could lie at the bottom of a well

By Laura Baisas

A scientist holds up a tooth recovered from an archaeological dig in Denmark.

Scientists tracked the plague’s journey through Denmark using really old teeth

By Laura Baisas

$Recreations of tiny points found in Grotte Mandrin that were reproduced using the same flint and replicating the same technologies from thousands of years ago. These experimental points were then used as arrowheads and shot by bow to analyze the categories of fractures appearing on these arrowheads and compare them with the scars found on the archeological material.$

Archery may have helped humans gain leverage over Neanderthals

By Laura Baisas

A 6.3 inch long phallus shaped artifact that was discovered in England, at the Roman fort of Vindolanda.

Scientists think they found a 2,000-year-old dildo in ancient Roman ruins

By Laura Baisas

Fossil hippo skeleton and associated Oldowan artifacts at the Nyayanga site in July 2016.

2.9 million-year-old tools found in Kenya stir up a ‘fascinating whodunnit’

By Laura Baisas

Ruins of Linlithgow Castle, near Edinburgh, Scotland, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Codebreakers have finally deciphered the lost letters of Mary, Queen of Scots

By Laura Baisas

An uncooked brown crab sitting among among seaweed and water.

Neanderthals caught and cooked crabs 90,000 years ago

By Laura Baisas

A scan of a mastodon skeleton with an arrow pointing to the trajectory of the spear.

Ancient humans used mastodon bones to hunt the giant beasts

By Laura Baisas

a colorful illustration of ancient egyptians wearing robes embalming a dead body with wrappings and chemicals

This is the best look yet into ancient Egyptians’ mummy-making chemicals

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

ancient-style illustration of poseidon and workers building seawall

Inside the project to bring ‘self-healing’ Roman concrete to American shorelines

Am ancient Egyptian statue of a person with short hair from a recently discovered burial site.

A gold-laced mummy could be the ‘oldest and most complete’ specimen found in Egypt

By Laura Baisas

A mummy's coffin on a dark background.

This teen mummy was buried with dozens of gold amulets

By Laura Baisas

An overview of mummified crocodiles during an excavation.

Ancient Egyptians had a unique way of mummifying crocodiles

By Laura Baisas

A lost temple for Poseidon may have finally been rediscovered

A lost temple for Poseidon may have finally been rediscovered

By Sara Kiley Watson

A drawing dating back to the Ice Age on a cave with markings circled.

Cave drawings from 20,000 years ago may feature an early form of writing

By Laura Baisas

A still from a 3D model of the 16th-century ship found at Dungeness quarry

A ship from the 16th century was just dredged up in England

By Laura Baisas

Clay pots in a modern day pottery studio.

Ancient social networks spread pottery trends across the world

By Laura Baisas

An archeologist’s quest to find seafood’s place on the ancient Mediterranean menu

An archeologist’s quest to find seafood’s place on the ancient Mediterranean menu

By Paul Greenberg / Hakai Magazine

A page from an 18th Century copy of Dhātupāṭha of Pāṇini from the Cambridge University Library.

This ancient language puzzle was impossible to solve—until a PhD student cracked the code

By Laura Baisas

Rising sun viewed from the stone causeway of the solar observatory on Mount Tlaloc, Mexico.

The Aztecs’ solar calendar helped grow food for millions of people

By Laura Baisas

Rice plants growing

People in China have been harvesting rice for more than 10,000 years

By Laura Baisas

A team from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum examines a shipwreck unearthed by hurricanes in Florida.

Storm erosion brings 200-year-old shipwreck to the surface of a Florida beach

By Laura Baisas

For thousands of years, kids have been fascinated with owls

For thousands of years, kids have been fascinated with owls

By Laura Baisas

These ‘fake’ ancient Roman coins might actually be real

These ‘fake’ ancient Roman coins might actually be real

By Laura Baisas

Tomb of a forgotten queen is one of several new stunning Egyptian discoveries

Tomb of a forgotten queen is one of several new stunning Egyptian discoveries

By Laura Baisas

Scientists still are figuring out how to age the ancient footprints in White Sands National Park

Scientists still are figuring out how to age the ancient footprints in White Sands National Park

By Laura Baisas

Ancient ivory comb shows that self-care is as old as time

Ancient ivory comb shows that self-care is as old as time

By Laura Baisas

Climate change is threatening archeological treasures from Alaska to Egypt

Climate change is threatening archeological treasures from Alaska to Egypt

By Laura Baisas

Sex, not violence, could’ve sealed the fate of the Neanderthals

Sex, not violence, could’ve sealed the fate of the Neanderthals

By Laura Baisas

This Renaissance-era baby died from living in darkness for a year

This Renaissance-era baby died from living in darkness for a year

By Laura Baisas

These now-extinct whales were kind of like manatees

By Laura Baisas

Egyptian sculptures of musicians.

Who invented music?

By Laura Dallman / The Conversation

Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to scientist who sequenced Neanderthal genome

Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to scientist who sequenced Neanderthal genome

By Laura Baisas

Orange and white pottery shards sit scattered on top of a dark blue background.

Cacao was probably loved by all, even 1,000 years ago in Maya culture

By Helen Bradshaw

2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners include ducks in a row, constipated scorpions, ice cream, and more

2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners include ducks in a row, constipated scorpions, ice cream, and more

By Laura Baisas

The leg and hip bones of an ancient skeleton, with the left foot missing halfway down the calf.

A 31,000-year-old grave in Indonesia holds the earliest known amputation patient

By Philip Kiefer

a close up of a fossil horse tooth

A centuries-old horse tooth holds clues to the mystery of the Chincoteague ponies

By Kate Baggaley

DNA from plague victims’ teeth may unravel the origin of Black Death

DNA from plague victims’ teeth may unravel the origin of Black Death

By Kate Baggaley

Shifting ancient climates shaped human evolution

Shifting ancient climates shaped human evolution

By Philip Kiefer

Anthropologists are still wrestling with their obligations to the living and dead

Anthropologists are still wrestling with their obligations to the living and dead

By Philip Kiefer

Incense burning with ancient smells in front of a Buddhist temple

Can ancient smells help us time travel through human history?

a female astronaut on the international space station takes a picture of section of the station with equipment

What an extraterrestrial archaeological dig could tell us about space culture

By Tatyana Woodall

A mountaintop covered in green grass and surrounded by stone structures with staircases.

The ancient Mexican city of Monte Albán thrived with public works, not kings

By Philip Kiefer

San Andreas fault's Soda Lake.

Earthquake models get a big shakeup with clues buried in the San Andreas fault

Boats on the waters of Rhode Island.

Has Captain Cook’s lost ship been found? Maybe.

A wild sheep with curled horns in front of trees.

Humans probably didn’t mean to tame sheep and goats

By Philip Kiefer

A bronze helmet shown from the front and the side. It has curving horns coming out of the sides of the head, and a birdlike face.

Horned helmets came from Bronze Age artists, not Vikings

By Philip Kiefer

Horse bones being measured.

Medieval knights rode tiny horses into battle