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Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort just south of Hadrian’s Wall. The fort was founded in 85 CE by Belgian auxiliary soldiers and was inhabited in various forms and layouts until well after 410 CE. It was garrisoned at different times by several units, most importantly the First Cohort of Tungrians and the Third and Ninth Cohorts of Batavians. Image credit: Vindolanda Trust.

25 Ancient Writing Tablets Unearthed at Roman Fort of Vindolanda

Jul 31, 2017 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found a collection of 1,900 year old ink documents at the Vindolanda Roman fort in Northumberland, northern England, one of the most...

The Grapes of Canaan, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot. Image credit: Jewish Museum, New York.

Lebanese are Direct Descendants of Biblical Canaanites, Study Suggests

Jul 27, 2017 by News Staff

In the first study of its kind, a Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute-led team of researchers has uncovered the genetics of the ancient Canaanites and a firm...

Geographic and local position of the artifact at the summit of the Lötschenpass. Image credit: Rolf Wenger, Marcel Cornelissen & Badri Redha / Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern.

Archaeologists Find Frozen Bronze Age Wooden Container with Cereal Remains in Swiss Alps

Jul 26, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have found a well-preserved Early Bronze Age wooden vessel in the Swiss Alps. The artifact could help researchers shed new light on the...

Photograph of the Madjedbebe rockshelter during the 2015 excavation. Image credit: Clarkson et al, doi: 10.1038/nature22968.

New Evidence Pushes Back Aboriginal Occupation of Australia to 65,000 Years Ago

Jul 20, 2017 by News Staff

New evidence from a rockshelter in northern Australia shows human occupation of the continent for at least 65,000 years — much longer than other...

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui to its earliest inhabitants, is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Image credit: Yerson Retamal.

Easter Islanders Didn’t Cause Ecological Disaster on Their Island, New Research Finds

Jul 12, 2017 by News Staff

New research provides evidence contrary to the widely-held belief that the prehistoric population of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) caused an ecological disaster...

This image shows the Trelleborg-type Viking fortress of Fyrkat. Image credit: Heritage Agency of Denmark.

Borgring Fortress Discovery: Dendrochronological Dating Results

Jul 7, 2017 by News Staff

In September 2014, archaeologists from Aarhus University and the Museum of South East Denmark announced the discovery of a Viking ring fortress at Borgring,...

Portus Cosanus pier, Orbetello, Italy. Image credit: J.P. Oleson.

New Research Shows How Natural Chemistry Strengthened Ancient Roman Marine Concrete

Jul 4, 2017 by News Staff

While modern marine concrete structures crumble within years, ancient Roman piers and breakwaters endure to this day, and are stronger now than when they...

Dr. Louderback stands behind large stone metates, the grindstones on which ancient Native Americans processed their food. Image credit: University of Utah.

Researchers Discover Earliest Evidence of Wild Potato Use in North America

Jul 3, 2017 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists and anthropologists, led by the University of Utah, has discovered potato starch residues in the crevices of a 10,900-year-old...

Monumental round-oval buildings with their characteristic T-shaped monolithic pillars at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Image credit: Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute.

Modified Skulls from Gobekli Tepe Provide Evidence of Neolithic ‘Skull Cult’

Jun 29, 2017 by News Staff

Three carved skull fragments uncovered at Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic site in southeast Turkey known for its impressive megalithic architecture with characteristic...

Prof. Darnell examines the hieroglyphs from atop a tall scaffold. Image credit: Yale University.

Archaeologists Find Earliest Monumental Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Jun 26, 2017 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from Belgium, the United States and Egypt has uncovered some previously unknown rock inscriptions, which include 5,200-year-old...

The ruins of a 12th-century mosque in Harlaa, eastern Ethiopia. Image credit: Timothy Insoll, University of Exeter.

Archaeologists Unearth Ancient, Forgotten City in Eastern Ethiopia

Jun 19, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by University of Exeter archaeologists has discovered the ruins of an ancient city — once thought to be...

The recto (upper image) and the verso (lower image) of the ostracon Arad 16: color images, multispectral images and manual drawings of the proposed reading. In red: team’s alterations and additions with respect to the original publication. Image credit: Faigenbaum-Golovin et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178400.

Advanced Imaging Technology Reveals 2,600 Year-Old Hebrew Inscription

Jun 15, 2017 by News Staff

Using multispectral imaging, a team of Israeli researchers has discovered a hitherto invisible text on the back side of an ostracon (ink-inscribed pottery...

A suspected speartip made from material sourced more than 60 miles (100 km) east of Pod Hradem Cave. Image credit: Miroslav Kralik.

Cave Discoveries in Czech Republic Hint at How Humans Outlasted Neanderthals

Jun 14, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has provided a window into one of the most exciting periods in human history — the transition between Neanderthals...

Huaca Prieta mound situated on the Sangamon Terrace: buried terrace surface with Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene cultural deposits is indicated by dotted line below the mound; arrows show location of individual units excavated from the top of the mound down through and to the buried cultural deposits in the terrace. Scale shown by humans standing on the mounds. Image credit: Tom D. Dillehay, Vanderbilt University / Science Advances, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1602778.

Coastal Peru was Rest Stop for Early Americans, Archaeologists Say

May 25, 2017 by News Staff

A Vanderbilt University-led team of archaeologists has made a remarkable discovery in Peru: thousands of 15,000- to 10,000-year-old artifacts, including...

A 21st-century view looking east across the River Trent to the prominent bluff and the Viking winter camp. Image credit: Dawn Hadley & Julian Richards / Antiquaries Journal, doi: 10.1017/S0003581516000718.

Archaeologists Uncover Viking Army Camp in England

May 19, 2017 by News Staff

A long-held archaeological mystery has been solved as researchers have revealed the exact location, extent and character of a huge winter camp of the Viking...

Barrow Island. Image credit: University of Western Australia.

Barrow Island’s Cave Reveals Earliest Australians Lived on Coast 50,000 years ago

May 19, 2017 by News Staff

Archaeological deposits from a cave on Barrow Island, a large limestone continental island located 60 km off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, reveal...

Ploughing with a yoke of horned cattle in Ancient Egypt.

Did Hunter-Gatherers Intentionally Domesticate Wild Plants?

May 18, 2017 by News Staff

New research from the University of Sheffield, UK, has shed light on how hunter-gatherers adopted agriculture and how crops were domesticated to depend...

First Humans Arrived in North America 116,000 Years Earlier than Thought: Evidence from Cerutti Mastodon Site

Apr 27, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers digging at the Cerutti Mastodon site, an archaeological site from the early late Pleistocene epoch near San Diego, California, found animal...

An underground chamber near the city of Beit Shemesh, Israel. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Ancient Settlement Unearthed in Israel

Apr 3, 2017 by News Staff

Israeli archaeologists excavating near the city of Beit Shemesh have unearthed an extensive complex of ritual baths and underground refuges used by Bar...