archaeology

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This FBI Team Probes 'Disruptions in the Spirit'

It's the Art Crime Team, which raids private collections

(Newser) - The FBI surrounded Don Miller's farmhouse with ATVs, squad cars, and a command vehicle—but this was no gunpoint arrest. It was the FBI's Art Crime Team, which scoured Miller's Indiana residence and found about 42,000 items including mammoth tusks, a shrunken head, dinosaur eggs, and...

Big Discovery Near Stonehenge Adds to Site&#39;s Mystique
Scientists Make Big Find
Near Stonehenge
in case you missed it
Jun 27, 2020 10:00 AM CDT

Scientists Make Big Find Near Stonehenge

Giant circle of pits discovered about 2 miles away

(Newser) - The more they look, the more intriguing the area around Stonehenge gets to archaeologists. The latest discovery comes about two miles away: Scientists found what Reuters describes as a "giant circle of pits." And this was no random circle: In the exact center is another ancient monument, previously...

This Is the Oldest, Largest Mayan Structure Ever Found
In Mexico, an
Unprecedented
Find, Thanks to
Laser Mapping
in case you missed it
Jun 7, 2020 2:05 PM CDT

In Mexico, an Unprecedented Find, Thanks to Laser Mapping

3K-year-old platform is oldest, largest Mayan structure ever discovered

(Newser) - Archaeologists have just discovered the oldest and largest known Mayan structure, which easily tops the Great Pyramid of Giza in volume. The elevated platform made from 3.8 million cubic meters of earth and clay—discovered at Aguada Fenix in Mexico's Tabasco state, near the Guatemalan border—was constructed...

Surprise Find: Ancient Israelites Got High on Weed
Ancient Israelites
Got High at Church
new study
May 29, 2020 10:27 AM CDT

Ancient Israelites Got High at Church

Cannabis residue turns up on altar going back 2,700 years

(Newser) - Scientists studying residue on an ancient Israeli altar found something they didn't expect: cannabis. And it appears those present knew exactly what they were doing. They figured out a way to keep it burning at a low temperature to get worshipers high, reports Haaretz . The sample was found on...

Writing Discovered on 'Blank' Dead Sea Scroll Fragments

'They are like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle you find under a sofa'

(Newser) - In the 1950s, Dead Sea Scroll fragments thought to be blank were given to a British leather expert so he could study their chemical composition. Almost 70 years later, a professor has discovered they had writing on them all along. King's College London professor Joan Taylor says she spotted...

This Death, You Did Not Want
This Death, You Did Not Want
new study
May 16, 2020 11:30 AM CDT

This Death, You Did Not Want

Modern-day bullet, meet the medieval longbow

(Newser) - Rather be hit by an arrow than a bullet? A new study might make you think otherwise. Researchers at the University of Exeter have dug up human remains that confirm just how similar a medieval arrow was to a modern bullet, the Smithsonian reports. The study, published in Antiquaries Journal...

Discovery Alters Notions About Early Humans&#39; Travel
Discovery Alters Notions
About Early Humans' Travel
new study
May 11, 2020 12:02 PM CDT

Discovery Alters Notions About Early Humans' Travel

It appears they reached Europe earlier than thought, hung out with Neanderthals

(Newser) - Human bones from a Bulgarian cave suggest our species arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought and shared the continent longer than realized with Neanderthals, per the AP . Scientists found four bone fragments and a tooth that detailed radiocarbon and DNA tests show are from four Homo...

Ancient Stones Give Up Their Secrets
2M-Year-Old Stones
Baffled Experts—Until Now
new study
Apr 19, 2020 12:30 PM CDT

2M-Year-Old Stones Baffled Experts—Until Now

An international team analyzes stones from Qesem Cave in Israel

(Newser) - Ancient humans didn't exactly have kitchen supplies, but still had to eat—a fact that might help solve an old mystery. In a new paper , researchers say they can explain the small stone balls found in archaeological sites across Asia, Africa, and Europe dating back nearly two million years....

Scientists Found Teeth in Peru That Shouldn't Be There

Extinct monkeys in South America apparently arrived there by raft from Africa

(Newser) - Archaeologists in the Amazon found four small teeth that had no business being in South America. The teeth are from an extinct species of monkeys from the family of primates known as parapithecids—which once roamed in North Africa. In a new paper in Science , researchers lay out what they...

50K Years Ago, Neanderthals Were Making String

Find hints at other abilities

(Newser) - It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other. Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making...

Ancient Ice Tells of a Murderous King&#39;s Struggles
Ancient Ice Tells
of a Murderous
King's Struggles
in case you missed it
Apr 4, 2020 11:15 AM CDT

Ancient Ice Tells of a Murderous King's Struggles

Lead pollution sheds light on British turmoil in 12th century

(Newser) - Scientists say they've found evidence of key moments in British medieval history, including the assassination of an archbishop, nearly 1,000 miles away in the Swiss Alps. There was no sword buried in the snow. Rather, scientists analyzed lead pollution in laser-carved slivers of ice, each representing a period...

Hidden in Plain View, an Ancient Sword

5K-year-old blade was initially labeled as medieval sword on display at monastery

(Newser) - A PhD student had a hunch that a monastery's sword, labeled as medieval, was actually much, much older. After two years of study, "it all came full circle," Italian archaeologist Vittoria Dall'Armellina, who's now completed her schooling at Venice's Ca' Foscari University, tells CNN...

Structure Made of Mammoth Bones Baffles Scientists
Structure Made of Mammoth
Bones Baffles Scientists
in case you missed it
Mar 22, 2020 6:42 AM CDT

Structure Made of Mammoth Bones Baffles Scientists

It was built 25K years ago in what is now Russia, and 'it does boggle my mind,' says researcher

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found plenty of structures made of mammoth bones across Eastern Europe over the years, but none quite like this one. Previously discovered ones were fairly small, suggesting they were used as dwellings. But this is not only older than the rest—figure about 25,000 years old—it'...

Ancient Earth May Have Been &#39;Water World&#39;
Ancient Earth May Have
Been 'Water World'
in case you missed it
Mar 7, 2020 10:29 AM CST

Ancient Earth May Have Been 'Water World'

Study suggests continents were nowhere to be found 3B years ago

(Newser) - Ready your Kevin Costner jokes : A new study suggests that ancient earth had no continents to speak of and was instead what scientists call a "water world," reports the Guardian . In this case, ancient refers to 3.2 billion years ago, and the study in Nature Geoscience is...

Treasures Abound on Canada's Legendary Wreck

HMS Erebus artifacts include a hairbrush, a lead stamp

(Newser) - When the flagship of a doomed 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage was discovered in Canada's Arctic in 2014, experts could hardly contain their glee at the thought of the artifacts lying in wait. They weren't disappointed. Some 350 items, including a 170-year-old wax seal boasting a...

Archaeologists May Have Found Rare 'Witch Bottle'

Could be a talisman used by Union troops in Virginia to ward off evil spirits

(Newser) - On the one hand, it might just be an old bottle that was used to store nails. But archaeologists who found it suspect something far more intriguing: They think Union soldiers used it as a "witch bottle" during the Civil War to fend off evil spirits, per a news...

3 Bodies Found During Alamo Renovations

Excavation work has been halted

(Newser) - Archaeologists have discovered three apparently long-forgotten bodies during a pre-renovation exploration of the Alamo, authorities say. Excavation work was halted and a tribal monitor was notified after the human remains were found in the Monks Burial Room and nave of the Alamo Church, NBC reports. "The remains encountered appear...

It Was Set to Be a Dump. Then, 'Largest Find of Its Kind'

Human-built pits in Mexico believed to be first known woolly mammoth traps

(Newser) - Humans were hunting woolly mammoths with traps some 15,000 years ago, according to a first-of-its-kind discovery. Archaeologists working the site of a planned garbage dump in Tultepec, Mexico, say they've found two pits used to capture the animals, as well as 824 bones from at least 14 mammoths—...

They Dug Up Tower of London Floor and Found Skeletons

They're the first bones from the Tower to have been analyzed

(Newser) - It's been almost 50 years since human remains were unearthed in the Tower of London, reports Live Science , which makes the recent discovery of two skeletons a noteworthy one—for more reasons than one. The Telegraph reports on the find: of a woman who died between the ages of...

20 Sealed Coffins Uncovered in Egypt

And nearby, evidence of funerary items produced on an 'industrial scale'

(Newser) - The colorful strokes, painted millennia ago, are still visible beneath a layer of dirt, which is partly why Egypt's antiquities ministry is celebrating the discovery of more than 20 ancient coffins as one of the "largest and most important" finds in the country in recent years. But the...

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