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Aboriginal rock art from western Arnhem Land depicts style known as Northern Running Figures. Image credit: Tristen Jones.

Researchers Obtain First Reliable Radiocarbon Dates for Australian Aboriginal Rock Art

Dec 19, 2016 by News Staff

A novel technique developed by a team of researchers in Australia has made it possible to produce some of the first reliable radiocarbon dates for Australian...

The city’s acropolis is barely visible during a cloudy day on the Thessalian plains. Image credit: Swedish Institute at Athens / Ephorate of Antiquities of Karditsa / Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Archaeologists Find Previously Unknown Ancient City in Greece

Dec 13, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists from Sweden, Greece and the United Kingdom is exploring the ruins of a previously unknown ancient city at the village...

Wadi Faynan, where J.P. Grattan et al found evidence of ancient pollution caused by bead making and/or repeated combustion of copper ores in hot fires. Image credit: University of Waterloo.

World’s Very First Polluted River? Scientists Find Evidence of Ancient Metallurgical Activity in Jordan

Dec 6, 2016 by News Staff

A research team led by Liverpool John Moores University scientists has discovered what could be the world’s very first polluted river, contaminated 7,000...

Egyptian Queen Nefertari playing senet, one of the world’s earliest known board games; a painted depiction in the tomb of Nefertari, the Valley of the Queens, Thebes, Egypt.

Mummified Remains Identified as Queen Nefertari, Pharaoh Ramesses II’s Royal Spouse

Dec 5, 2016 by News Staff

A pair of mummified knees on display in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, belongs to Egyptian Queen Nefertari, the favorite wife of Pharaoh Ramesses...

Model of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. The placement of the burial chamber is marked white. Image credit: Steven J. Plunkett / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Middle Eastern Bitumen Found in Early Medieval Buried Ship in UK

Dec 2, 2016 by News Staff

Bitumen — a rare, tar-like material — from the Middle East is present in the 7th century Anglo-Saxon ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, UK,...

A flood-prone rice field being plowed by a farmer using water buffaloes. Image credit: International Rice Research Institute / CC BY 2.0.

Indus Civilization Farmers Cultivated Rice Over 4,000 Years Ago, Archaeological Evidence Suggests

Nov 27, 2016 by News Staff

New research on three archaeological sites of the famed Indus Valley civilization (3000-1500 BC) in north-west India has revealed that domesticated rice...

A wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Image credit: Vince Pahkala / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Turkeys Were Part of Native American Life Centuries before First Thanksgiving

Nov 24, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study by Florida State University researchers, Native Americans were keeping eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) as...

A 5,310-year-old maize cob from Tehuacan, Mexico. Image credit: Bruce Smith.

Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into Early Stages of Maize Domestication

Nov 23, 2016 by News Staff

According to an international team of scientists who have sequenced the genome of a 5,310-year-old maize cob from the Tehuacan Valley, the maize (Zea mays)...

Female wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) with young, from Birds of America by John James Audubon.

Ancient Zapotecs Kept and Bred Turkeys for Meat, Eggs, Religious Purposes

Nov 22, 2016 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists excavating the Mitla Fortress, a Zapotec site in Oaxaca, Mexico, dating to the Classic to Early Postclassic period (300-1200 CE),...

C.D. Spiteri et al discovered widespread evidence of prehistoric milk production in southern Europe. Image credit: Samuel Daniell.

Early Evidence of Dairying Discovered along Mediterranean Coast

Nov 16, 2016 by News Staff

An international research group has found evidence that humans have been utilizing milk and dairy products across the northern Mediterranean region from...

Sampling of a pine trunk with a hand-powered saw; the tree protrudes from the organic-rich sediment ridge seen to the left and is partly covered by sand. Image credit: Arne Sjöström.

Swedish Researchers Find Submerged Mesolithic Settlement

Nov 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of researchers headed by Lund University’s Professor Dan Hammarlund has uncovered an exceptionally well-preserved Mesolithic site off the Baltic...

Inner wall with preserved section of vault and remnants of the brick packing in situ on the exterior. Image credit: Josef Wegner.

Archaeologists Find Pharaonic Boat Burial at Abydos

Nov 9, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeological excavations at Abydos, Egypt, have revealed the remains of a subterranean boat burial dating to the reign of the pharaoh Senwosret III (c....

The mound of ruins at Bassetki, Iraq, with the broad area of the lower town where sheep now graze. Image credit: Peter Pfälzner.

Archaeologists Unearth Bronze Age City in Iraq

Nov 6, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the remains of a large Bronze Age settlement not far from the town of Dohuk in northern Iraq. The...

Nan Madol ruins on the island of Pohnpei. Image credit: C.T. Snow / CC BY 2.0.

Nan Madol: Archaeologists Uncover Earliest Evidence of Chiefdom in Pacific

Nov 4, 2016 by News Staff

Nan Madol, an ancient administrative and the former capital of the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, was the earliest among the Pacific islands to be ruled...

This papyrus, found in one of the Judean Desert caves, was dated to the seventh century BC. Image credit: Shai Halevi / Israel Antiquities Authority.

First Temple-Period Papyrus Mentioning ‘Jerusalem’ Found

Nov 1, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered a papyrus fragment that includes the earliest reference to Jerusalem in an extra-Biblical...

Cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea) by Heinrich Harder, 1920.

Stone Age Humans Hunted Cave Lions for Their Pelts, Research Suggests

Oct 26, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study, Stone Age humans may have hunted Eurasian cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) for their pelts, perhaps contributing to their extinction. Cave...

This image shows heated silcrete artifacts made by Middle Stone Age humans at Klipdrift Shelter, South Africa. Image credit: Katja Douze / University of the Witwatersrand.

Middle Stone Age Humans Used Innovative Heating Techniques to Make Tools

Oct 20, 2016 by News Staff

Early humans living in southern Africa in the Middle Stone Age after 65,000 years ago used advanced heating techniques to produce silcrete blades, according...

Lachish gate-shrine. Image credit: Guy Fitoussi / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Unearth First-Temple Period Gate-Shrine

Oct 18, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeologists excavating at the site of the ancient Biblical city of Tel Lachish have unearthed a gate-shrine dating to the 8th century BC (First Temple...

Higgs Bison: Mysterious Hybrid of Bison and Cattle Hidden in Ice Age Cave Art

Oct 18, 2016 by News Staff

A study led by University of Adelaide researcher Julien Soubrier has revealed that prehistoric European cave artists recorded a previously unknown hybrid...