Archaeology News

August 18, 2016

When Was the Atlantic Separated from Pacific?

Pre-Hispanic Mexicans Bred and Managed Rabbits

Early Primate Evolution Now More Puzzling

Rare Frescoes from the Roman Period

Latest Headlines

updated 8:30pm EDT

The Hunt for War Treasure in the Philippines Has Hidden Meanings

Aug. 10, 2016 — Many believe that enormous quantities of gold lie buried somewhere in the Philippines. According to a popular account, Japanese soldiers used the Philippines as a base to hide treasures they had ... read more

Sensational Grave Find in Cypriote Bronze Age City

Aug. 9, 2016 — An archaeological expedition has discovered one of the richest graves from the Late Bronze Age ever found on the island of Cyprus. The grave and its offering pit, located ... read more

Stone Age Hunters Really Did Hunt Well by Throwing Stones

Aug. 10, 2016 — Stone objects collected by prehistoric hunters were effective as throwing weapons to hunt animals, ... read more

First Bell Beaker Earthwork Enclosure Found in Spain

Aug. 9, 2016 — Archaeologists have discovered an earthwork enclosure in southern Spain dating from the Bell Beaker period of 2,600 to 2,200 BCE. The complex of concentric rings may have ... read more

Fresh Look at Burials, Mass Graves, Tells a New Story of Cahokia

Aug. 8, 2016 — A new study challenges earlier interpretations of an important burial mound at Cahokia, a pre-Columbian city in Illinois near present-day St. Louis. The study reveals that a ... read more

Geological Data Provide Support for Legendary Chinese Flood

Aug. 4, 2016 — Researchers have provided geological evidence for China's 'Great Flood,' a disastrous event on the Yellow River from which the Xia dynasty is thought to have been born. The ... read more

DNA Analyses Reveal Genetic Identities of World's First Farmers

July 25, 2016 — Conducting the first large-scale, genome-wide analyses of ancient human remains from the Near East, an international team of scientists has illuminated the genetic identities ... read more

Historic Find: A Statue of an Egyptian Official at Tel-Hazor in Israel

July 25, 2016 — In a historic find, a large fragment of an Egyptian statue measuring 45 X 40 centimeters, made of lime-stone, was discovered in the course of the current season of ... read more

Bronze Age Barrow and Anglo-Saxon Cemetery

July 21, 2016 — A new project has investigated how different generations have re-used ancient sacred places. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have recently excavated a Bronze ... read more

Ancient Feces Provides Earliest Evidence of Infectious Disease Being Carried on Silk Road

July 21, 2016 — Intestinal parasites as well as goods were carried by travelers on the iconic route, say researchers examining an ... read more

Mysterious Amulet Messages Discovered in Serbia

Shackled Remains at Ancient Greek Site Tell Tale of Intrigue

Rare Roman Mosaic Is Uncovered in Cyprus's Larnaca

Last Words: Language of China's Emperors in Peril

Fire Clues in Cave Dripwater

July 21, 2016 — When mineral-rich water drips from a cave's ceiling over centuries and millennia, it forms rocky cones that hold clues to the Earth's past climate. Now, researchers in Australia and the UK ... read more

New Dinosaur Species May Give Clues to Evolutionary Origin of Megaraptorid Clade

July 20, 2016 — A new species of megaraptorid dinosaur discovered in Patagonia may help discern the evolutionary origins of the megaraptorid ... read more

Solving the Mesopotamia Timeline Puzzle With Tree-Rings and Radiocarbon Research

July 19, 2016 — Tree-ring dating and radiocarbon research has established an absolute timeline for the archaeological, historical and environmental record in Mesopotamia from the early second millennium ... read more

Cave Discoveries Shed New Light on Native and European Religious Encounters in the Americas

July 19, 2016 — Archeologists have discovered remarkable evidence which shows how the first generations of Europeans to arrive in the Americas engaged with indigenous peoples and their spiritual beliefs deep inside ... read more

23 Ancient Shipwrecks Discovered Off Greece

July 14, 2016 — An expedition to the Fourni archipelago in Greece has found 23 new shipwrecks dating from around 1,000 BC to the 19th century ... read more

Terrified Insect Escapes a Permanent Tomb -- 50 Million Years Ago

July 14, 2016 — Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type -- the one that got away. This insect ... read more

Technological and Cultural Innovations Amongst Early Humans Not Sparked by Climate Change

July 13, 2016 — Environmental records obtained from archaeological sites in South Africa's southern Cape suggest climate may not have been directly linked to cultural and technological innovations of Middle ... read more

Archeology: Rare Discovery of Late Roman Official Buried in Leicester

July 7, 2016 — Archaeologists have recently excavated a Late Roman cemetery at Western Road in Leicester's West End. Amongst the 83 skeletons recorded by the team, one burial is proving to be very ... read more

No One Is an Island: The History of Human Genetic Ancestry in Madagascar

July 5, 2016 — To get at the heart of Malagasy genetic ancestry and reconstruct their history, a researcher team investigated genome-wide genotyping data of Malagasy populations along with populations across the ... read more

Fire Discovery Sheds New Light on 'Hobbit' Demise

June 29, 2016 — Crucial new evidence has revealed modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago, narrowing the time gap between the last hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and the first ... read more

Ancient 'Deep Skull' from Borneo Full of Surprises

June 27, 2016 — A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the 'Deep Skull' -- the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia -- has revealed this ancient person was not related to ... read more

Exploring the Prehistory of Palawan Island Through Human Remains

June 24, 2016 — Researchers are excavating human remains from caves in Palawan Island in the Philippines to learn more about the diversity of burial and other cultural practices over the past 10,000 ... read more

Ancient DNA Shows Perfect Storm Felled Ice Age Giants

June 17, 2016 — Giant Ice Age species including elephant-sized sloths and powerful sabre-toothed cats that once roamed the windswept plains of Patagonia, southern South America, were finally felled by a perfect ... read more

Bone Artifacts Suggest Early Adoption of Poison-Tipped Arrow Technology in Eastern Africa

June 17, 2016 — Researchers studying bone artifacts have discovered in the Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, have found evidence to suggest that bone tools were used for hunting, and even as poison arrow tips. The findings ... read more

New Research Counters Claim That the 'Hobbit' Had Down Syndrome

June 8, 2016 — Analysis of a wealth of new data contradicts an earlier claim that LB1, an ~80,000 year old fossil skeleton from the Indonesian island of Flores, had Down syndrome, and further confirms its status as ... read more

Fossil Teeth Suggest Prehistoric Red Deer in the Adriatic Migrated Seasonally

June 8, 2016 — Analysis of oxygen isotopes in fossil teeth from red deer near the Adriatic Sea suggest that they migrated seasonally, which may have driven the movements of the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers that ate ... read more

Single Strain of Plague Bacteria Sparked Multiple Historical and Modern Pandemics

June 8, 2016 — A single entry of the plague bacterium into Europe was responsible for the Black Plague of the mid-14th century. This same strain sparked recurrent outbreaks on the continent over the following four ... read more

Old World Metals Traded on Alaska Coast Hundreds of Years Before Contact With Europeans

June 8, 2016 — Two leaded bronze artifacts found in northwestern Alaska are the first evidence that metal from Asia reached prehistoric North America prior to contact with Europeans, according to new ... read more

Lucy Had Neighbors: A Review of African Fossils

June 6, 2016 — If 'Lucy' wasn't alone, who else was in her neighborhood? Key fossil discoveries over the last few decades in Africa indicate that multiple early human ancestor species lived at the ... read more

Early Farmers from Across Europe Were Direct Descendants of Aegeans

June 6, 2016 — Paleogeneticists have shown that early farmers from across Europe have an almost unbroken trail of ancestry leading back to the ... read more

Thursday, July 21, 2016