Cultures News

September 23, 2016

One Migration Out of Africa: Today's Non-Africans

Body Ornaments of the Neanderthals

Ancient Mythological Statues Found in Jordan

Smarter Brains Are Blood-Thirsty Brains

Latest Headlines

updated 1:31am EDT

Scientists Unearth Centuries-Old Crocodile Stone

Sep. 1, 2016 — The discovery of a carved stone crocodile by archaeologists has provided a key to revising long-held ideas about the ruins of the ancient city of Lambityeco in what is now ... read more

Technology and Innovation Not Driven by Climate Change

Sep. 1, 2016 — Climate change was less important for technological innovation among Stone Age humans than ... read more

Fish Were More Prominent in Early Alaskans' Diets, Isotope Study Determines

Aug. 29, 2016 — Ice age inhabitants of Interior Alaska relied more heavily on salmon and freshwater fish in their diets than previously thought, according to a new study. A team of researchers made the discovery ... read more

Ancient Dental Plaque Sheds New Light on the Diet of Mesolithic Foragers in the Balkans

Aug. 29, 2016 — Micro-fossils trapped in dental calculus reveal that Late Mesolithic foragers were consuming domesticated plant foods c. ... read more

One of the Most Significant Etruscan Discoveries in Decades Names Female Goddess Uni

Aug. 24, 2016 — Archaeologists translating a very rare inscription on an ancient Etruscan temple stone have discovered the name Uni -- an important female goddess. ... read more

Tool or Weapon? Research Throws Light on Stone Artifacts' Use as Ancient Projectiles

Aug. 19, 2016 — Scientists contend that ancient stones discovered at an archeological site nearly 30 years ago served not as tools, as ... read more

Schizophrenia Emerged After Humans Diverged from Neanderthals

Aug. 15, 2016 — Schizophrenia poses an evolutionary enigma. The disorder has existed throughout recorded human history and persists despite its severe effects on thought and behavior, and ... read more

Rare Frescoes from the Roman Period Discovered at Zippori in the Galilee

Aug. 10, 2016 — A team has discovered hundreds of fragments belonging to frescoes from the Roman period, in the Zippori National Park. The fragments, which contain figurative images, floral ... read more

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

Textbook Story of How Humans Populated America Is 'Biologically Unviable,' Study Finds

Aug. 10, 2016 — Using ancient DNA, researchers have created a unique picture of how a prehistoric migration route evolved over thousands of ... read more

Mysterious Amulet Messages Discovered in Serbia

Shackled Remains at Ancient Greek Site Tell Tale of Intrigue

Last Words: Language of China's Emperors in Peril

Stolen Ancient Sculpture Returns to Italy

Destruction of Old St Paul's Cathedral Highlights Devastating Impact of Great Fire of London

Sep. 1, 2016 — "Thus lay in ashes that most venerable Church, one of the most antient pieces of early piety in the Christian world," wrote John Evelyn in September 1666. On the 350th anniversary of the ... 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, research ... read more

Heredity Explains African-American Paradox, Researcher Says

Aug. 9, 2016 — An evolutionary historian has determined that the region of origin of ancestors contributes to descendants' risk of developing certain medical ... 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 adjacent the Bronze Age city ... 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 been used for holding ... read more

Archaeology Team Makes World-First Tool Discovery

Aug. 8, 2016 — How smart were human-like species of the Stone Age? New research reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in a former oasis near Azraq, ... 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 flood ... read more

Whales' Ultrasonic Hearing Has Surprisingly Ancient History, Fossilized Ear Shows

Aug. 4, 2016 — All living toothed whales rely upon echoes of their own calls to navigate and hunt underwater, a skill that works best in conjunction with high-frequency hearing. Now, researchers who studied one of ... read more

Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers Experimented With Farming in Turkey Before Migrating to Europe

Aug. 4, 2016 — Clusters of hunter-gatherers spent much of the late Stone Age working out the basics of farming on the fertile lands of Turkey before taking this knowledge to Europe. In an analysis of ancient ... read more

Tracking Down the First Chefs

Aug. 2, 2016 — A piece of experimental research has shown that human bites on bones have distinctive features allowing them to be differentiated from the bites made by other animals, and that cooking the meat in ... read more

Ancient Temples in the Himalaya Reveal Signs of Past Earthquakes

July 26, 2016 — Tilted pillars, cracked steps, and sliding stone canopies in a number of 7th-century A.D. temples in northwest India are among the telltale signs that seismologists are using to reconstruct 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 and population dynamics ... 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 excavations at Tel-Hazor, north of ... read more

How Rope Was Made 40,000 Years Ago

July 22, 2016 — Rope and twine are critical components in the technology of mobile hunters and gatherers. In exceptional cases impressions of string have been found in fired clay and on rare occasions string was ... read more

What Hunter-Gatherers Can Tell Us About Fundamental Human Social Networks

July 21, 2016 — Long before the advent of social media, human social networks were built around sharing a much more essential commodity: food. Now, researchers reporting on the food sharing networks of two ... read more

Neanderthals in Germany: First Population Peak, Then Sudden Extinction

July 21, 2016 — Neanderthals once populated the entire European continent. Around 45,000 years ago, Homo neanderthalensis was the predominant human species in Europe. Archaeological findings show that there were ... 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 Age barrow and ... 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

Prehistoric Genomes from the World's First Farmers in the Zagros Mountains Reveal Different Neolithic Ancestry for Europeans and South Asians

July 14, 2016 — Populations in the ancient Fertile Crescent are the ancestors of modern day South Asians but not of Europeans, new research shows. The earliest farmers from the Zagros mountains in Iran, i.e., the ... 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

Thursday, September 1, 2016