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Painted cylinder vase depicting a foaming drink in a vase and tamales in a plate. Image credit: Justin Kerr, mayavase.com, Kerr number: 6418 (88).

Cacao Was Not Food Exclusive to Ancient Maya Elite, New Study Says

Sep 30, 2022 by News Staff

Cacao, known as the money that grew on trees and as a food from the gods, was brought to the world stage by ancient Mesoamericans. The historical background...

A cinnabar-painted vessel from the Maya site of Kaminaljuyu in southern Guatemala. Image credit: Kidder et al. / Cook et al., doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.986119.

Settlements of Ancient Maya were Contaminated with Mercury, Scientists Say

Sep 23, 2022 by News Staff

The ancient Maya in Mesoamerica used mercury — predominantly cinnabar, but rarely elemental mercury — for decorative and ceremonial purposes,...

The 500,000-year-old tusk of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find 500,000-Year-Old Tusk of Straight-Tusked Elephant

Sep 18, 2022 by News Staff

The straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is an extinct species of elephant that lived throughout Europe and Asia between 1.5 million and 100,000...

Surgically amputated site of the left tibia and fibula of the Liang Tebo individual: (a) left and right legs with pelvic girdle, demonstrating the complete absence of the distal third of the left lower leg; (b) left tibia and fibula showing the amputation surface, atrophy and necrosis; the bone surface is more porous because lysis occurred to remove the dead bone (necrosis); (c) radiograph of the left tibia and fibula; (d) left tibia medial aspect; (e) left tibia medial aspect; (f) left fibula anterior aspect. Scale bars - 5 cm in (a), 5 mm in (b and c) and 2 mm in (d-f). Image credit: Maloney et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05160-8.

Stone Age Humans Conducted Surgical Amputation 31,000 Years Ago

Sep 12, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists excavating Liang Tebo Cave on the Indonesian island of Borneo have discovered the skeletal remains of a young individual who had the distal...

An ‘Unstan’ type bowl recovered from the lake bed at Loch Arnish. Image credit: Chris Murray.

Archaeologists Detect Cereal-Specific Biomarkers in Neolithic Pottery from Scottish ‘Crannogs’

Sep 7, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have focused on the analysis of preserved lipids from 5,600-5,300-year-old vessels recovered from a group of artificial/semi-artificial...

Top: map of South Africa with the location of Ga-Mohana Hill (GHN); inset map shows the approximate extent of the Kalahari Basin in southern Africa and the location of the region of interest in relation to it. Bottom: representative photographs of each of the tufa morphologies identified on the Ga-Mohana hillside. Image credit: von der Meden et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270104.

Ancient Humans Lived in Kalahari Desert More Than 20,000 Years Ago

Aug 18, 2022 by News Staff

Detailed, well-dated palaeoclimate and archaeological records are critical for understanding the impact of environmental change on human evolution. In...

The 2,500-year-old Olmec relief from the state of Tabasco, south-eastern Mexico. Image credit: INAH Tabasco Center.

Two 2,500-Year-Old Olmec Reliefs Unearthed in Mexico

Aug 10, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The two stone monuments depict local Olmec rulers and are at least 2,500 years old (Late Olmec period). The 2,500-year-old Olmec relief from the state...

Dr. Daron Duke speaks with visitors to an archaeological site on the Utah Test and Training Range, July 18, 2022. Image credit: R. Nial Bradshaw, U.S. Air Force.

12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in Utah

Aug 9, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers has discovered 88 fossilized human footprints in Utah’s West Desert, the United States. Dr. Daron Duke speaks with visitors to...

A bedroom in the House of the Lararium in Pompeii, Italy. Image credit: Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism.

New Pompeii Finds Shed Light on Life of Middle-Class Romans

Aug 8, 2022 by News Staff

Italian archeologists have unearthed four new rooms in the House of the Lararium in Pompeii filled with various everyday household objects, such as amphorae,...

Small-shell version of octopus lures. Upper image: an ethnographic example from Tonga, made with two cowrie shell plates (Cypraea tigris), each with drilled holes, bound onto a gray stone sinker, using plaited sennit fiber, in the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, England. Middle and bottom rows: exterior and interior views of three cut and drilled dorsum pieces of Cypraea spp. shells of octopus lures (the ‘early from’ in the Marianas), excavated from the Mariana Islands, specifically from 1100 to 500 BCE at House of Taga (left), 1500 to 1100 BCE at Unai Bapot (center), and 1500 to 1100 BCE at House of Taga (right). Image credit: Carson & Hung, doi: 10.1080/00438243.2021.1930134.

3,500-Year-Old Octopus Lures Found on Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan

Aug 2, 2022 by News Staff

Starting as early as 1500 BCE in the Mariana Islands, people used distinctive rigging of cut and drilled pieces of cowrie shells, as parts of compound...

This mix of ribs, broken cranial bones, a molar, bone fragments, and stone cobbles is a refuse pile from the butchered mammoths; it was preserved beneath the adult mammoth’s skull and tusks at the site of Hartley in New Mexico, the United States. Image credit: Timothy Rowe / University of Texas at Austin.

Humans Lived in New Mexico 37,000 Years Ago, New Study Claims

Aug 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have found butchered bones from a mother mammoth and her calf and signs of controlled fire at the Hartley locality, an open-air site on...

Citrullus seeds from Uan Muhuggiag, Libya. Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: A. Bieniek.

Study: 6,000-Year-Old Watermelon from Libya Was Used for Its Nutritious Seeds, Not Its Flesh

Aug 1, 2022 by News Staff

Iconographic evidence from Egypt suggests that watermelon pulp was consumed there as a dessert as early as 4,360 years ago. The oldest known watermelon...

The 1,850-year-old zodiac drachm, reverse. Image credit: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists Find Rare Zodiac Coin in Israel

Jul 28, 2022 by News Staff

According to archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, this bronze drachm was struck at the mint of Alexandria in Egypt by the Roman emperor...

Delsol et al. support early colonial accounts that suggest Spanish Andalusia was the source of the first horses brought to the Caribbean.

Researchers Sequence DNA of Post-Columbian Domestic Horse

Jul 27, 2022 by News Staff

Species of the horse genus Equus first appeared on the North American continent during the Pliocene era and spread to and across Eurasia beginning around...

Mount Piramagrun, showing the location of the main Rabana and Merquly settlements. Image credit: Michael Brown / Rabana-Merquly Archaeological Project.

Archaeologists Find Parthian-Era Fortress in Iraqi Kurdistan

Jul 20, 2022 by News Staff

The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly was one of the major regional centers of the Parthian Empire, according to new research led by Heidelberg University. Mount...

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...