Archaeology News

Queen Hetepheres’ Silver Bracelets Shed Light on Trade Networks in Ancient Egypt

Two silver bracelets of queen Hetepheres. Image credit: Sowada et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103978.
May 30, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Egypt has no domestic silver ore sources and silver is rarely found in the Egyptian archaeological record until the Middle Bronze Age. Bracelets found in the tomb of queen Hetepheres I — mother of king Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza (date of reign 2589-2566 BCE) — form the largest and most famous collection of silver artifacts from early Egypt. In new research, scientists from Macquarie University and elsewhere analyzed samples...

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The 153,000-year-old footprint, lightly ringed with chalk, in the Garden Route National Park, South Africa; it appears long and narrow because the trackmaker dragged their heel. Image credit: Charles Helm.

153,000-Year-Old Homo sapiens Footprint Discovered in South Africa

May 26, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

The 153,000-year-old footprint, which was found in the Garden Route National Park, a national park in the Garden Route region of the South African Western...

Oblique aerial picture of a desert kite in Jordan. Image credit: Globalkites Project.

Neolithic Engravings are Oldest Architectural Plans of Humanmade Mega-Structures

May 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two prehistoric engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia depict ‘desert kites’ — humanmade mega-traps that are dated to at least 9,000 years ago...

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.

Strontium Isotope Analysis Provides Insights into Hunting Habits and Diets of Neanderthals

May 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

In new research, scientists examined chemical properties locked inside tooth enamel of two Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and a Magdalenian human from...

Overview of the non-destructive DNA extraction method: (a) workflow of the gradual, non-destructive DNA extraction method using sodium phosphate buffer at elevated temperatures; (b) four 3D surface texture measurements indicated on the outline of a tooth used for testing before and after non-destructive DNA extraction showing no substantial surface alterations; (c) photographs of the Denisova Cave tooth pendant before and after cleaning and non-destructive DNA extraction. Image credit: Essel et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2.

Scientists Extract Human and Deer DNA from Paleolithic Pendant Found in Denisova Cave

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Application of a novel non-destructive DNA extraction method to a Paleolithic deer tooth pendant from Denisova Cave, Siberia, resulted in the recovery...

The 6,000-year-old copper fish hook from Ashkelon, Israel. Image credit: Israel Antiquity Authority.

6,000-Year-Old Fish Hook Found in Israel

May 2, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) have found an ancient copper fishing hook — possibly for hunting sharks — in the Agamim...

The Monolith of the Stone of the Sun, also known as the Aztec calendar stone, in the National Museum of Anthropology and History, Mexico City, Mexico. Image credit: El Comandante / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scholars May Have Finally Deciphered Secrets of Maya 819-Day Calendar

May 1, 2023 by News Staff

Arguably the most enigmatic of the Maya calendar cycles, the 819-day count has challenged modern scholars for decades. Even today it is not completely...

Innovative methods revealed new information, including previously unrecorded markings and further evidence of the Stone of Destiny’s provenance. Image credit: Historic Environment Scotland.

New Analysis Reveals Hidden Markings on Stone of Destiny

Apr 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Stone of Destiny is an ancient symbol of Scotland’s monarchy, used for centuries in the inauguration of its kings. Seen as a sacred object, its earliest...

Giesche et al. aimed to reconstruct indications of both the winter and summer rainy seasons from their multi-proxy time series and evaluate the impact these changes may have had on the Indus Civilization. Image credit: Giesche et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-023-00763-z.

Recurring Summer and Winter Droughts Led to Demise of Bronze Age Indus Civilization

Apr 27, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, scientists from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere reconstructed changes in summer and winter rainfall from trace elements and...

Kuitems et al. provide evidence that the Norse were active on the North American continent in the year 1021 CE. Image credit: Oscar C.R.

Vikings Abandoned Southwest Greenland Due in Part to Sea-Level Rise, New Research Suggests

Apr 18, 2023 by News Staff

The first records of Greenland Vikings date to 985 CE. Archaeological evidence yields insight into how they lived, yet drivers of their disappearance in...

The 10th-century BCE inscribed pithos from the Ophel, Israel. Image credit: Daniel Vainstub / Eilat Mazar.

Sabaean Inscription Points to Connections between King Solomon’s Israel and Kingdom of Sheba

Apr 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

During the 2012 excavations in Jerusalem, Israel, a partially preserved inscription engraved on the shoulder of a pithos was found in a context dated to...

Hala Sultan Tekke developed in the 15th century BCE from a village to an important maritime trade hub with a minimum size of 25 hectares as indicated by the results of geophysical survey. Image credit: Peter M. Fischer, doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103722.

Copper Production Turned Bronze Age Cypriot Village into Interregional Trade Hub

Mar 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Field works at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, shed light on the scope of interregional trade in which this Bronze Age harbor city participated from the 15th...

Main architectural features of a mustatil located 55 km east of the modern city of Al Ula in Saudi Arabia. Image credit: Kennedy et al., 10.1371/journal.pone.0281904.

Real Function of Saudi Arabia’s Neolithic Monuments Exposed in New Research

Mar 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Since the 1970s, monumental stone structures now known as mustatils (previously known as ‘gates’) have been documented across Saudi Arabia. However,...

East-West cut view of the Great Pyramid and front view of the North face Chevron area: (a) subterranean chamber; (b) queen’s chamber; (c) grand gallery; (d) king’s chamber; (e) descending corridor; (f) ascending corridor; (g) al-Ma’mun corridor; (h) north face Chevron area; (i) ScanPyramids Big Void with horizontal hypothesis (red hatching) and inclined hypothesis (green hatching). Image credit: Procureur et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36351-0.

Cosmic-Ray Muons Reveal Hidden Structure in Khufu’s Pyramid

Mar 6, 2023 by News Staff

Khufu’s Pyramid is one of the largest archaeological monuments all over the world, which still holds many mysteries. In 2016 and 2017, the ScanPyramids...

Oldowan tools from the site of Nyayanga in Kenya: a dorsal flake, a ventral flake, and a core. Image credit: Plummer et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abo7452.

3-Million-Year-Old Oldowan Tools and Cut-Marked Bones Unearthed in Kenya

Feb 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Oldowan tools, consisting of stones with one to a few flakes removed, are the oldest widespread and temporally persistent hominin tools. The oldest of...

The Lion Gate flanked by two towers in Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire. Image credit: Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Severe Multi-Year Drought Caused Collapse of Hittite Empire: Study

Feb 9, 2023 by News Staff

The Hittites were one of the great powers in the ancient world across almost five centuries, between 1650 and 1200 BCE, with an empire centered in Anatolia...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Neanderthal Diet Included Crab Meat, Archaeologists Say

Feb 7, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed a rich assemblage of human-accumulated terrestrial and marine faunal remains, including those of several crab species, in...

Reconstruction of the distal end of the Manis projectile point. Image credit: Waters et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ade9068.

13,900-Year-Old Projectile Point Found in Washington

Feb 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have found fragments a human-made projectile point in a rib of an American mastodon (Mammut americanum) from the Manis site, Washington, the...

Professor Gaudzinski-Windheuser standing next to a life-size reconstruction of an adult male European straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany. Image credit: Lutz Kindler, LEIZA.

Neanderthals Hunted Straight-Tusked Elephants 125,000 Years Ago

Feb 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) were the largest terrestrial mammals of the Pleistocene epoch, present in Europe and western Asia between...

La Pasiega Cave, section C, cave wall with paintings: the ladder shape composed of red horizontal and vertical lines (center left) dates to older than 64,000 years and was made by Neanderthals. Image credit: P. Saura.

World’s Oldest Art Was Created by Neanderthals, Researcher Says

Jan 24, 2023 by The Conversation

Neanderthal art was perhaps more abstract than the stereotypical figure and animal cave paintings Homo sapiens made after Neanderthals disappeared about...

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