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Some 5.000 years separate us from the birth of Ancient Egypt, in 3.100 BC. Add another 5.000 years, and you still haven’t reached the date when Göbekli Tepe was built. The temple (now in southern Turkey) took shape over 11.000 years ago, around the same time Plato’s hypothetical Atlantis goes under, 5 millennia before the […]
Modern humans started ‘replacing’ Neanderthals some 40.000 years ago, and for a long time, it was thought this came as a result of the more advanced human intelect and a better ability to adapt; but as more and more studies unfold, the Neandertals’ capabilities are still greatly debated. Many scientists now argue that Neandertals had […]
Chersonesos was an ancient city on the Crimean peninsula, in today’s Ukraine; the name itself means ‘peninsula’, and Greeks founded it some 2500 years ago, to supply their homeland with grain and other strategic resources. The famed Greek city-states had much need of such resources in order to survive and thrive. Archaeologists from Aarhus (Denmark) […]
The first known case of a bone tumor has been discovered in a Neanderthal who lived about 120,000 years ago in what is now present-day Croatia. The bone samples come from the already famous cave/archaeological site Krapina, which now hosts a Neanderthal Museum. Bone tumors are exceptionally rare finds in fossils and archaeological records, with […]
The French didn’t invent wine, no more than Colombians invented coffee or the Italians discovered tomatoes. But… who did? What is the actual homeland of this wonderful drink? After analyzing some limestone residue, archaeologists working at University of Pennsylvania claims to have found the earliest evidence of European winemaking. The 2,400-year-old stone is apparently a […]
Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a marvelous collection of pre-Hispanic paintings in 11 sites different sites in the caves and mountain gaps of the municipality of Burgos in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States. In all, the researchers have numbered so far 4,926 paintings, however it’s been very difficult for them to […]
A great evolutionary leap forward in our lineage occurred once our hominid ancestors first began to hunt game to acquire meat, which once part of their diet greatly helped them to develop larger brains – especially cooked meat. When exactly this first occurred is controversial to answer. A team of archaeologists, however, have come across […]
Apparently, every month brings forth a new theory on the demise of the Neanderthals – the cookies one being that bunnies were the main culprit. This month’s theory claims that the Neanderthal skull has larger eye sockets than the human one, therefore it had bigger eyes, therefore the brain spent more of its processing power […]
The mystery surrounding Stonehenge is still actual, puzzling archaeologists for decades; how was it built, why there, and most interesting, what purpose does it serve? Now, after dating some bone fragments of men, women and children, a team of researchers believe they have the answer. Centuries before the imposing monument was raised, the site started […]
A group of French researchers have published a paper in which they reveal how King Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, had its heart mummified after he succumbed from gangrene in 1199. Apparently the great monarch’s heart was preserved in mercury, mint and frankincense, among other sweet-smelling plants. As it was customary at the time, Richard’s […]
A facelift of the Colosseum brought to light centuries of markings and inscriptions on its walls, but archaeologists have little idea to what they mean. Removing the accumulated grime and calcification, experts discovered layers of inscriptions on the section of a wall depicted above, ancient designs in red and fade grey blended with black left […]
In the excavations near the ancient temple of Tebtunis archaeologists found a big number of papyri in a garbage dump near the temple that later turned out to be slave contracts with a significant hystorical value. In the text translated from 100 papyruses, an incredible fact was revealed: not only that the slaves voluntarily […]
Gold coins found in Iraq Archaeologists working in the area unearthed 66 magnificent gold coins that are at least 1,400 years old, dating back to the Sassanid era that extended from 225 BC to 640 AD. The coins were sent to the lab for age analysis which will better pinpoint their origin in time. The […]
Polish researchers have found the earliest evidence of prehistoric cheese-making from a study of 7,500-year-old pottery fragments that are perforated much like today’s modern cheese strainers. When early men figured out how to make cheese, it was a big thing; at that time, livestock was too precious to use just for the meat, and mankind […]
Early humans developed sophisticated hunting weapons half a million years ago, 200.000 years before researchers believed they did. As surprising as it may be, humans aren’t the only species who used spears: Western Chimpanzees have also been observed to do it, breaking straight limbs off trees, stripping them of the bark then sharpening with their […]
Tiaras, snake-head bracelets and buttons – all made of gold, were found in the Getae burial site near northern village of Sveshtari, Bulgaria. Bulgaria really seems to be an archaeological paradise at the moment; after finding the oldest European prehistoric town, archaeologists have stumbled upon another great treasure, in a different area. The artefacts have […]
Archaeologists working in Bulgaria have unearthed what they claim to be the remains of the oldest prehistoric town in all of Europe; they believe the settlement existed since between 4700 and 4200 BC. Excavation of the site has been in progress since 2005, when two story homes and three meter high walls surrounding the town […]
In yet another breakthrough archaeological find, the tomb of what’s considered by many the founder of the Mayan civilization has been found at the pre-Columbian archaeological site of Tak’alik Ab’aj in western Guatemala’s Retalhuleu region, about 45km from the border of Mexican state of Chiapas. The tomb was built between 700 and 400 BC, according to carbon-dating […]
Attempts to decipher the 5000 year-old proto-Elamite writing system have so far rendered little results, much of it still consisting a troublesome puzzle for the scientists studying it. After using a high-tech imaging technique that has rendered the symbols in incredible details, scientists are now finally confident they’re nearing a breakthrough. The Elamite civilization spanned […]
Fusing ancient, medieval, renascent and modern influences, the city of Rome is truly relic of time. It’s actually so old, that many construction projects in Rome have to go through a tiresome process before they can even start work, since there’s always the chance some forgotten tomb or catacomb of some sort might lie underneath. If you’re wondering what are the […]
A Buddhist statue brought to Germany by a Nazi expedition to Tibet has been proven to be of extraterrestrial origin. Sounds like an Indiana Jones movie, right? Well, it isn’t. Known as the ‘Iron man’ the 24 cm high sculpture was carved out from a Chinga meteorite (rich in iron) found near the Mongolian-Russian border […]
A team of archaeologists led by Professor Michael Hoff, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has unearthed a Roman mosaic measuring 148 square meters. Judging by its quality and appearance, researchers believe it to be the largest Roman mosaic of its type ever found. “Its size signals, in no small part, that the outward signs of […]
A group of archeologists have identified the oldest known Roman military fortress in Germany, located near the small town of Hermeskei. The site has been hypothesized as once being a roman military encampment since it was first discovered in the 19th century, however only after recently surfaced evidence, coupled with modern analysis tools, could it be confirmed. […]
University of Leicester announced the discovery of what they believe to be the medieval Grey Friars Church – the almost mythical burial place of Richard III. Richard III only ruled England for two years, but his reign was memorable from a number of points of view. He was the last king of the House of […]
In an archeological dig in the Danish bog Alken Enge wetlands lies the remains of an army long dead. There scientists recently uncovered hundreds of skeletons, some presenting clear evidence of a violent death, along with a slew of shields, armors, spears or axes. Researchers are still trying to determine the soldiers’ identities, places of origin, […]
During the Neolithic period, man made the big jump from hunter-gatherer to farmer and agriculturalist, eventually moving on to larger and larger settlements, with a variety of animals and plants. The transition also brought significant changes in terms of economy, architecture, and apparently, woodworking. Dr. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University‘s Department of Archaeology and […]
Our family tree may be much more complex than we know – it may have sprouted some long lost branches which go back some 2 million years. A messy family tree A team led by Meave Leakey, daughter-in-law of distinguished scientist Louis Leakey found facial and jaw bones from three specimens that led them to […]
A colossal sculpture, both in physical and artistic terms, was unearthed by archaeologists at the Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP) excavation site in southeastern Turkey. Aside from this new treasure, they also found a large semi-circular column base, ornately decorated on one side. The pieces are part of a monumental gate complex from the upper citadel […]
Deep in the dense Guatemalan jungle, archaeologists have come across a veritable jewel of their trade. An 1600-year old Mayan temple, almost in mint condition, going by the of name Temple of the Night Sun, beautifully or frighting decorated, as you prefer, with giant masks of the Maya sun god. The find was made at the El Zotz […]
Scientists from U.S., Britain and Denmark have recently reported in a new study that conclusive evidence, in the form of stone tools and human DNA, attests the presence of a second stone age culture in North America, separate from the Clovis culture, the earliest human society discovered and confirmed thus far. The findings were made […]
In a fantastic discovery, a team of Chinese and US archaeologists have come across fragments belonging to a 20,000 year-old bowl in modern day China, confirmed as the earliest evidence of pottery. The findings push back the invention of pottery by 10,000 years and suggest that human were more socially advanced than previously thought. The pottery fragments […]
Hand stencils, red dots and animal figures currently represent the oldest examples yet found so far in cave art in Europe; using a new, improved technique, researchers have dated the walls at 11 Spanish locations, including the World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo, and found that one motif, a faint red […]
Located in the western region of South Asia, and spread over what are now Pakistan, northwest India, and eastern Afghanistan, was the once flourishing Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan civilization as it’s also referred to, by the the city of Harappa, which was the first excavated city. The Harappan was one of the first attested […]
A stash of 300 year-old jewelry was unearthed by archaeologists near the biblical, ancient city of Megiddo, where the New Testament predicts the final battle of Armageddon. Firstly, archaeologists unearthed a jug which didn’t seem to have anything special – but after they were able to clean it, and safely open it, they found pieces […]
She was a sacrifice, so you can look at it this way: the Inca chose her to go and live with the gods. But you can look at it this way too: the Inca brutally killed a 15 year old girl, for no other reason than religion. Furthermore, grim evidence showed that the Inca fattened […]
Astronomers at Nottingham Trent University have presented evidence that a 4000-year-old stone monolith, located at Gardom’s Edge less than an hour’s drive from Manchester, was used by Neolithic locals at the time as an astronomical marker. The monolith is 7.2-foot tall (2.2-meter), triangular in shape, angles up toward geographic south, and features packing stones arranged around […]
Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient urn dated from the Mayan classical period, which after a thorough chemical analysis was found to contain traces of nicotine. Though it has been documented in Mayan texts and folklore that tobacco use was a common part of the local community, this is the first hard evidence supporting the fact that Mayans […]
The Stonehenge site, 5,000 years old (new discoveries place it far back in history), still remains of the world’s greatest archeological mysteries. One of its biggest question marks revolves around its conception. It’s fairly understood why it was build, as a site of sun worshiping, but how it was actually built remains unknown, considering these […]
In a remarkable find, archeologists have uncovered two ancient pits, perfectly aligned with the sun’s natural summer cycle. These suggest that the Stonehenge site was a place for sun worship at least 500 years before the first stone was erected. Archaeologists from the universities of Birmingham, Bradford and Vienna were involved in an on-going survey work […]
The black and white spotted horses found on cave paintings existed during the last ice age, some 25.000 years ago, according to a new research published by scientists from the University of York. The ancient Dalmatian style painted horses have puzzled archaeologists and paleontologists for years now, as they were unable to figure out just […]
They didn’t actually use other mastodons as killer pets, instead it’s been found that early hunters used mastodon bones for making deadly sharp spear heads. One interesting consequence to this is that Mastodon game season seems to have opened 800 years earlier than previously thought, offering a possible explanation for the blitzkrieg mass extinction of […]
Archaeologists have uncovered fully intact Viking boat burial site in the United Kingdom, in the west Highlands. Artefacts buried along the viking suggest he was a high ranking warrior, revered and respected. According to Dr. Hannah Cobb, the “artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain”. The […]
If you ask me, the Greeks are by far the most remarkable ancient people, laying the base for science, philosophy and even art as we know it today. They also loved to trade, in order to achieve the means for the life they desired. However, we are only learning how and what they used to […]
Overlooking the Indian Ocean, lies the beautiful Blombos Cave in South Africa. It was here that archeologists uncovered red and yellow dyes, as well as shell containers that could have been used as paint pots – all around 100,000 years old! This extraordinary find proves humans were thinking in a modern way hundreds of thousands of […]
Paleontologists in South Africa have reported finding an extraordinary number of fossils of a species that predated humans, belonging to the prehuman species Australopithecus Sediba that lived almost 2 million years ago. The species had human-like hands and ape-like feet; it was found in a rearkable collection of fossils which includes the most complete early […]
Gladiators had it rough – to say the least. Their cells barely were big enough to allow them to turn around in for the time allotted them until death; usually four or five battles in the arena. In what has been described as an archaeological sensation, a model of a Roman gladiator school was found […]
Humans might have started using sophisticated tools some 1.76 million years ago, much earlier than previously believed. This has been suggested by the discovery of hand axes from that period which belong to the complex Archeulean culture. This could also change what we believe about the period when humans started leaving Africa. Anthropologists consider the […]
The King’s Knot, a geometrical earthwork located in the royal gardens near Sterlin castle has been covered in mystery and speculation for centuries. The formation, as it is today, is believed to be from around the 1620, but it’s center part is believed to be much, much older. So much older that we could be […]
A dog skull recently found in the Altai mountains in Siberia, Russia shows the earliest signs of domestication ever to be found; but if dog was man’s best friend back then, human loyalty is questionable at best – pretty much like things are now. The dog lived shortly before the peak of the last ice […]
Archeologists unearthed from Mexico’s underground a spectacular Olmec-style stone carving depicting three sitting felines, dated from 700 B.C. Dubbed the “Triad of Felines” by the archeologists who first discovered the monolith, the carving was found just 60 miles from Mexico City in Chalcatzingo, a famous archeological site known for its numerous Olmec culture artifacts found […]
