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Drought may have led to an increase in civil conflict followed by political collapse in Mayapan, the capital of the Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula in the 13th and 14th centuries CE. Image credit: Bradley Russell.

Study: Prolonged Drought Played Key Role in Collapse of Mayan Capital City

Jul 20, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mayapan emerged as a regional Maya capital on the Yucatán Peninsula, following the demise of Chichen Itza between 1000 and 1100 CE. Drought may have...

The ancient rural mosque in Rahat, Israel. Image credit: Emil Elgam / Israel Antiquities Authority.

1,200-Year-Old Luxurious Estate and Mosque Unearthed in Israel

Jul 6, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have unearthed the ruins of a Byzantine-period luxurious estate and a rare rural mosque in Rahat,...

A group of Australopithecus afarensis. Image credit: Matheus Vieeira.

Australopithecus Fossils from Sterkfontein Caves are Much Older Than Previously Thought

Jun 28, 2022 by News Staff

The chronology and taxonomy of the ancient hominin genus Australopithecus in South Africa have long been controversial, with the Sterkfontein cave system...

A head of a marble statue found at the Antikythera shipwreck. Image credit: Nikos Giannoulakis.

Antikythera Shipwreck Yields New Trove of Artifacts

Jun 22, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Marine archaeologists have recovered a number of new artifacts, including a head of a Marble statue and numerous items from the ship’s equipment, from...

The Wreck of H.M.S. Gloucester off Yarmouth, 6 May 1682, by Monamy Swain, c. 1780. Image credit: National Maritime Museum, London.

340-Year-Old Wreck of British Frigate Gloucester Found

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

A team of professional divers has discovered the wreck of Gloucester — which sank on May 6, 1682 while carrying James Stuart, duke of York, later...

The village of Tel Tsaf, Israel: an overview of Area C with courtyard buildings, comprising rectangular and rounded rooms and rounded silos. Image credit: Y. Garfinkel.

New Evidence Suggests Olive and Fig Trees Were Cultivated as Early as 7,000 Years Ago

Jun 16, 2022 by News Staff

Archeologists excavating at the Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley, Israel, have discovered one of the earliest examples of fruit tree...

Aerial view of the excavations at the site of Kemune in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Image credit: Universities of Freiburg and Tübingen, KAO.

Extreme Drought Reveals Submerged City of Mitanni Empire in Iraq

Jun 8, 2022 by News Staff

The 3,400-year-old settlement with a palace and several large buildings could be the ancient city of Zakhiku, believed to have been an important center...

The ancient carved stone with the image of a phallus and graffiti found at the site of Vindolanda in Northumberland, England. Image credit: Vindolanda Trust.

1,700-Year-Old Graffiti Found at Vindolanda

Jun 7, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient carved stone with the image of a phallus and graffiti at the site of Vindolanda, an ancient Roman military fort...

Excavation area in Cueva de Ardales with evidence from the Middle Paleolithic period. Image credit: Ramos-Muñoz et al. / CC-BY 4.0.

Study: Spain’s Cueva de Ardales Was Used by Ancient Humans for Over 50,000 years

Jun 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Cueva de Ardales is a hugely important Paleolithic site in Malaga, Spain, owing to its rich inventory of rock art. According to new research, Neanderthals...

The ruins of the ancient agricultural farmstead at Horbat Assad in the Galilee region, Israel. Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Unearth 2,100-Year-Old Farmstead

May 30, 2022 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has uncovered the 2,100-year-old ruins of an agricultural farmstead in the Galilee...

Researchers Sequence First Pompeian Human Genome

May 27, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from the United States, Italy, Denmark and Brazil have successfully sequenced the genome of a 35-40 year-old male who died in the ancient city...

The site of Cotoca in the Llanos de Mojos region, Bolivia. Image credit: Heiko Prümers / DAI.

LiDAR Reveals Network of Pre-Hispanic Settlements in Amazonia

May 25, 2022 by News Staff

LiDAR (light detection and ranging) has documented 26 settlement sites, including two remarkably large, of the Casarabe culture in the Llanos de Mojos,...

13,000-Year-Old Red Ocher Quarry Found in Wyoming

May 19, 2022 by News Staff

Intact artifacts and features found at the Powars II site, a red ocher (also known as hematite) quarry located in the foothills of the southern Rocky Mountains...

The ancient temple at Esna, Egypt: the flying vultures on the central section of the ceiling, with the northern crossbeam (architrave) behind. Image credit: Ahmed Emam / MoTA.

Archaeologists Find Spectacular Frescoes in Ancient Egyptian Temple

May 18, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered a series of vibrantly-colored frescoes in an ancient temple at Esna, Egypt, located about 60 km south of the ancient Egyptian...

New Fossil Discovery Suggests Denisovans Lived in Laos 164,000-131,000 Years Ago

May 17, 2022 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have found a permanent lower molar of a young, likely female, hominin individual at the Tam Ngu Hao 2 limestone cave in the Annamite...

The smashed jars from the Giv’ati Parking Lot excavations on the southwestern slope of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Sasha Flit, Tel-Aviv University.

Judah Kingdom’s Elite Consumed Wine Enriched with Vanilla, Archaeologists Say

May 11, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Antiquities Authority have analyzed...

Mound A made almost entirely of oyster at the Crystal River site, Florida Gulf Coast, which is estimated to contain 20-30 million oysters which accumulated between 1,330 and 800 years ago. It covered at least 9,000 m2, even after approximately 1/3 of the mound was destroyed during the historical period. At its highest point, the mound stood 9 m above the surrounding landscape. Image credit: Victor Thompson.

North American and Australian Indigenous Communities Farmed Oysters for 5,000-10,000 Years

May 3, 2022 by News Staff

Despite several important studies, Indigenous fisheries generally receive less attention from scholars and managers than the 17th-20th century capitalist...

Copper-alloy daggers from Pragatto, a Bronze Age domestic site in northern Italy: (A) site location; (B) aerial view of the site highlighting excavation areas A, B and C; (C) copper-alloy daggers analyzed by Caricola et al. Image credit: Caricola et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3.

New Study Reveals Function of Bronze Age Daggers

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

According to an organic residue analysis performed on 10 copper-alloy daggers from Pragatto, a Bronze Age domestic site (1550-1250 BCE) in northern Italy,...

A fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing an explosive material from Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum.

Archaeologists Find Fragment of Medieval Hand Grenade

Apr 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have found sherds from four small sphero-conical vessels in a destruction layer, dating between the 11th and 12th century CE, in Jerusalem,...