Archaeology News | Sci.News

The ruins of the upper mainland courtyards of Tintagel Castle, England. Image credit: Kerry Garratt / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Seventh Century Inscribed Stone Discovered at Tintagel Castle in England

Jun 18, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Cornwall Archaeological Unit and English Heritage have found a stone inscribed with Christian symbols as well as Latin and Greek...

Fifteen moais of Ahu Tongariki. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ancient Easter Islanders Used Rope and Ramps to Put Massive Stone Hats on Moai

Jun 11, 2018 by News Staff

The ancient people of Easter Island, Chile, were able to move so-called pukao — massive stone hats of the island’s famed monumental statues (moai)...

The 4,000-year-old storage jar in which traces of olive oil were found. Image credit: Polo Regionale di Siracusa per i siti e musei archeologici Museo Paolo Orsi.

Ancient Pottery Tests Reveal Italy’s Oldest Olive Oil

May 31, 2018 by Sergio Prostak

Amorphous organic residue from a large storage jar found at the Early Bronze Age settlement of Castelluccio in Sicily, Italy, suggests olive oil was being...

Domestic donkeys were being ridden and controlled with bits during the early 3rd millennium BC in the southern Levant, very soon after they were domesticated in the late 4th millennium in northeast Africa. Image credit: Open Clipart Vectors.

Domestic Donkeys May Have Worn Bits As Early As 5,000 Years Ago

May 22, 2018 by News Staff

An analysis of a complete skeleton of an early domestic donkey from the Early Bronze Age (2800-2600 BC) deposits at the site of the Biblical city ‘Gath...

A day in Ancient Rome, being a revision of Lohr’s ‘Aus dem alten Rom,’ with numerous illustrations, by Edgar S. Shumway. Image credit: Internet Archive Book Images.

Lead Pollution Recorded in Deep Greenland Ice Shows Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilizations

May 18, 2018 by News Staff

Annual lead emissions in Europe closely varied with historical events, including imperial expansion, wars, and major plagues, according to new research...

3,250-year-old cuneiform tablets were found inside a clay vessel at the archaeological site of Bassetki in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Image credit: Peter Pfälzner, University of Tübingen.

Assyrian Clay Tablets Found in Iraq Reveal Location of Lost Ancient City of Mardama

May 11, 2018 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists and philologists from the Universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, Germany, has identified the location of the ancient royal...

Selected artifacts from the Panga ya Saidi site: (a) Levallois core; (b) two backed lithic artifacts; (c) backed lithic artifact; (d-e) notched bones; (f) ocher crayon; (g) ostrich eggshell bead; (h) conus shell bead; (i) gastropod shell bead. Image credit: Shipton et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3.

Kenyan Cave Provides New Insights into Later Stone Age

May 10, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered more than 30,000 artifacts at Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya, which is...

An archaic hominin. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Archaic Hominins Arrived in Philippines as Early as 700,000 Years Ago

May 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has unearthed 57 stone tools and butchered animal bones at Kalinga in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon, the largest...

The engraved flint flake from the Kiik-Koba site, Crimea, Ukraine; the arrow indicates the point of impact. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Majkić et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195049.

Engraved Flint Flake Found in Ukraine May Demonstrate Neanderthal Symbolism

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, a 35,000-year-old flint flake found at a Middle Paleolithic site in Crimea, Ukraine, was likely...

An artist’s impression of prehistoric humans in Europe.

Neolithic Humans Used Dried Fungi to Start and Transport Fires

May 2, 2018 by News Staff

Some 7,000 years ago, inhabitants of a small settlement at the Early Neolithic waterlogged site of La Draga (Girona, Spain) dried non-edible fungi for...

Some of the bronze coins found at the Ophel site near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Eilat Mazar / Hebrew University.

Hoard of Bronze Coins from ‘Great Revolt’ Unearthed in Jerusalem

Apr 10, 2018 by News Staff

A cache of rare coins from the period of the Jews’ Great Revolt against the Romans has been discovered at the Ophel archaeological site near the Temple...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Fluted Spear Points Prove Early Native Americans Liked to Travel

Apr 3, 2018 by News Staff

Analyses of numerous spear points with fluted edges found in northern Alaska and Yukon, and artifacts from further south in Canada, the Great Plains,...

Photograph of a human footprint (center) at the Meay Channel I archaeology site on Calvert Island. Image credit: Duncan McLaren.

13,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found on Canada’s Calvert Island

Mar 29, 2018 by News Staff

A team of Canadian scientists from the University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute has found fossilized human footprints of at least three different...

1,900-Year-Old Boxing ‘Gloves’ Unearthed at Vindolanda

Mar 27, 2018 by News Staff

Two very unusual pieces of leather have been uncovered during the excavation of a pre-Hadrianic cavalry barrack (c. 100 CE) at the Vindolanda Roman fort...

2,200-year-old liquor. Image credit: Li Yibo, Xinhua.

2,200-Year-Old ‘Rice Wine’ Found in China

Mar 21, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology in China has unearthed a bronze kettle with liquor dating back to the Qin Dynasty...

Retoucher from the early hominin Lingjing site, China; white brackets indicate the areas where impact scars are present. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: Doyon et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194318.

Archaeologists Unearth 115,000-Year-Old Bone Tools in China

Mar 19, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers led by Université de Montréal’s Dr. Luc Doyon has found seven bone soft hammers at the early hominin Lingjing...

The 700-year-old bronze ring depicts St. Nicholas. Image credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Rare Byzantine-Period Ring Uncovered in Israel

Mar 12, 2018 by News Staff

A 700-year-old bronze ring engraved with a portrait of St. Nicholas — the 4th century Orthodox Christian saint who inspired the iconography of Santa...

The 1,800-year-old Roman mosaic uncovered in Caesarea, Israel. Image credit: Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Colorful Roman Mosaic Unearthed in Israel

Feb 27, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered a 1,800-year-old beautiful mosaic in the Caesarea National Park, Israel. The...

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.

Iberian Peninsula’s Earliest Cave Paintings Were Made by Neanderthals: Study

Feb 23, 2018 by News Staff

A new study shows that paintings in three cave sites on the Iberian Peninsula — a red linear motif in Cave of La Pasiega, a hand stencil in Maltravieso...