archaeology

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Stonehenge Is a Monument to Unity
Stonehenge Might Not
Be a Calendar After All
NEW STUDY
Dec 24, 2024 8:44 AM CST

Stonehenge Might Not Be a Calendar After All

Archaeologist suggests it's a monument to unity, requiring 'significant coordination across Britain'

(Newser) - Researchers spoke of the connectivity of Neolithic society in announcing Stonehenge's six-ton altar stone was likely transported at least 460 miles from northeast Scotland to southern England 4,500 years ago. Now, a leading expert says the prehistoric megalithic structure could only have been created with the unity of...

Early Americans Essentially Ignored Small Game
Early Americans Essentially
Ignored Small Game
NEW STUDY
Dec 5, 2024 12:05 PM CST

Early Americans Essentially Ignored Small Game

For the Clovis people, it was all about megafauna, particularly mammoths

(Newser) - Prehistoric inhabitants of North America were expert mammoth hunters and based their diet on the massive beast, new research suggests, upending assumptions that they mainly hunted small game. The findings emerged from the bones of an 18-month-old boy who lived nearly 13,000 years ago in what is now Montana....

Statues Buried in Cambodia Are a 'Remarkable Discovery'

A dozen centuries-old sandstone statues found at Angkor World Heritage Site

(Newser) - Archaeologists in Cambodia have unearthed a dozen centuries-old sandstone statues in a "remarkable discovery" at the Angkor World Heritage Site near the city of Siem Reap, authorities said Wednesday. The statues—depicting so-called "door guardians"—were discovered last week near the north gate leading to the 11th-century...

Mayan Capital City Has Been Hiding 'in Plain Sight'

Valeriana in southern Mexico reportedly features 6,764 buildings over 6.5 square miles

(Newser) - A presumed capital city of the Maya has been discovered "hidden in plain sight" under vegetation in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. The hidden complex—showing evidence of pyramids, amphitheaters, sports fields, and causeways connecting districts—is made up of three sites in the southeastern state of Campeche, per...

In Mountains Along Silk Road, 'an Amazing Treasure Trove'

Lost high-altitude cities suggest medieval trade routes were more complicated than we knew

(Newser) - An archaeologist says "the history of Central Asia is now changing" with the discovery of two lost medieval cities, some three miles apart, in the mountains along the Silk Road, per the BBC . The Silk Road was a series of trade networks stretching from China to Venice, through which...

Untouched Tomb to Tell Secrets of Mysterious Petra
At Petra, 'a Discovery of
Historic Proportions'
in case you missed it
Oct 19, 2024 6:00 AM CDT

At Petra, 'a Discovery of Historic Proportions'

Untouched tomb containing 12 skeletons could reveal secrets of the ancient site

(Newser) - One of the Seven Wonders of the World is still giving up its secrets. In what's being called "a discovery of historic proportions," researchers working around the Treasury monument in Petra, Jordan, have unearthed a tomb containing a dozen skeletons, apparently undisturbed for the past 2,000...

Viking Burial Ground Yields Clues to 10th Century

More than 50 skeletons in Denmark are incredibly well-preserved

(Newser) - In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery that could hold important clues to the Viking era: a burial ground, containing some 50 skeletons. "This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved," says archeologist...

Poet's Long-Lost Body Found in Notre Dame Dig

Joachim Du Bellay died in 1560 but his coffin wasn't found in 1758 excavation

(Newser) - Archaeological digs after the fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019 cracked what the French media calls a centuries-old "cold case." The French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research—INRAP—revealed Tuesday that researchers believe they have found the body of Joachim Du Bellay, a Renaissance poet...

Battle of Waterloo Dig Turns Up 15 Limbs

Along with the remains of horses

(Newser) - At least 20,000 men lost their lives in the battle of Waterloo—and a handful of newly uncovered limbs belonging to a few of them is exposing the "carnage and horror" of the 1815 battle, reports the Guardian . The Duke of Wellington led the defeat of Napoleon, and...

Egypt Wants Its Nefertiti Bust Returned

Zahi Hawass starts a petition to that end

(Newser) - Nefertiti is one of Egypt's most famous queens. An equally famous bust of her resides a continent away—and Egypt is seeking to change that. The 3,400-year-old bust has been on display at Berlin's Neues Museum since 2009; it's been in Germany's possession far longer....

Museum to Kid Who Broke Ancient Artifact: Come Back

Israel's Hecht Museum let the 4-year-old who accidentally smashed jar piece it back together

(Newser) - A 4-year-old boy who accidentally broke a rare 3,500-year-old jar in an Israeli museum has been forgiven and was even invited back on Friday to help piece the jar back together, as curators hoped to turn the disaster into a teachable moment. Alex Geller, the boy's father, said...

Virginia Colonial-Era Garden Yields Clues to Enslaved Workers

Archaeologists excavating Martha Washington's first father-in-law's opulent Williamsburg garden

(Newser) - Archaeologists in Virginia are uncovering one of colonial America's most lavish displays of opulence: An ornamental garden where a wealthy politician and enslaved gardeners grew exotic plants from around the world. Such plots of land were the 18th-century equivalent of buying a Lamborghini. The garden in Williamsburg belonged to...

Mammoth Hunters Might've Been More Clever Than Thought

Thrown spears? They might have had a more effective strategy, say UC Berkeley researchers

(Newser) - Ice Age hunters who took down mammoths and other large game may not have done so by tossing spears. New research suggests this "would have been less than useless—leaving a hunter with no spear and an angry mammoth," per the Hill . Because no one knows for sure...

We Have More Evidence of Human 'Hobbits'
We Have More
Evidence of
Human 'Hobbits'
NEW STUDY
Aug 7, 2024 4:48 PM CDT

We Have More Evidence of Human 'Hobbits'

Flores island discoveries include smallest known hominin humerus

(Newser) - More remains of "hobbits" discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores lend strength to the theory that these unusual humans descended from an isolated group who experienced dwarfism , researchers say. The 700,000-year-old teeth and upper arm bone, described in a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications , are among...

Pompeii Pair Survived Eruption. Then Came the Quakes
Pompeii Pair Survived Eruption.
Then Came the Quakes
NEW STUDY
Jul 18, 2024 11:13 AM CDT

Pompeii Pair Survived Eruption. Then Came the Quakes

Other deaths may have been wrongly attributed to volcanic activity, researcher says

(Newser) - Scientists can now definitively say they have the first physical evidence that deadly earthquakes accompanied the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Last year, scientists announced they'd discovered the skeletons of two men who appeared to have been crushed to death. They brought in experts in fields including archaeoseismology, the...

Musket Balls From 'Shot Heard Round the World' Are Found

Archaeologists discover five from famed battle of 1775 in Massachusetts

(Newser) - Archaeologists working at a historical site in Massachusetts have made a remarkable find—five musket balls fired by members of a Colonial militia in a battle memorialized by the line "the shot heard round the world." The 250-year-old musket balls were discovered at Minute Man National Historical Park...

Beach Buried for 2K Years Is Now Open to Public

Excavated beach at Herculaneum welcomes first visitors since AD79 Vesuvius eruption

(Newser) - Visitors to Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town devastated by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, can now walk along its beach just as its doomed inhabitants once did. Careful conservation work has restored the beach to its original level of sand, buried some two millennia ago. It now appears "...

On Island of Crete, an 'Extremely Interesting' Find

Archaeologists unearth 4K-year-old building from Minoan civilization; airport project may be disrupted

(Newser) - A big, round, 4,000-year-old stone building discovered on a Crete hilltop is puzzling archaeologists and threatening to disrupt a major airport project on the Greek tourist island. Greece's Culture Ministry said Tuesday the structure is a "unique and extremely interesting find" from Crete's Minoan civilization, famous...

Exploration Has Begun on 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks'
Deep in the Caribbean,
an 'Unprecedented'
Mission Is Underway
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 1, 2024 11:40 AM CDT

Deep in the Caribbean, an 'Unprecedented' Mission Is Underway

Colombian government begins exploring Spain's San Jose galleon, the 'holy grail of shipwrecks'

(Newser) - In June of 1708, the Spanish galleon San Jose was attacked by the British Royal Navy and sank in the Caribbean off the coast of Cartagena, resting on the ocean floor with a reputed $20 billion in treasure on board. Only a handful of the 600 or so men on...

When Humans First Treated Cancer Just Got a Big Update

Cut marks around brain lesions in 4K-year-old Egyptian skull suggest surgical intervention

(Newser) - A new study describes a potential awe-inspiring achievement of the ancient Egyptian civilization far apart from the pyramids. According to the research, ancient Egyptians may have been the first to explore and treat cancer. The finding is based on two skulls discovered in Giza and held at the University of...

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