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Tikal, one of the most powerful Classic Maya cities. Image credit: Bruno Girin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Autocratic Maya Polities Experienced Higher Wealth Inequalities than Other Mesoamerican States

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have examined the remains of houses in Uxbenká and Ix Kuku’il, two medium size, peripheral Classic Maya (250-900 CE) polities located...

Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Study: Oldowan and Acheulean Flaked Stone Technologies Older than Previously Thought

Mar 25, 2021 by News Staff

The Oldowan and the Acheulean — currently the two oldest, well-documented stone tool technologies known to archaeologists — are roughly 30,000...

Archaeologists May Have Found ‘Original Stonehenge’

Mar 24, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by University College London archaeologists has discovered a 5,000-year-old dismantled stone circle in west Wales, close to Stonehenge’s...

Ancient Maya Used Salt Cakes as Money, New Research Suggests

Mar 23, 2021 by News Staff

The ancient Maya made salt by boiling brine in pots over fires in salt kitchens, according to a paper by Louisiana State University’s Professor Heather...

The 4,000-year-old Murrawong bone point. Image credit: Flinders University.

Archaeologists Unearth Rare Bone Artifact in Australia

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered bone artifact was likely used for piercing soft materials or possibly as a projectile point. The 4,000-year-old Murrawong bone point....

The 2,500-years-old figurine depicts a bare-breasted woman wearing a scarf. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Rare 2,500-Years-Old Amulet Found in Israel

Mar 17, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered figurine was meant to protect children or increase fertility, according to archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The...

The new Dead Sea scroll fragments from the Cave of Horror, the Judean Desert, Israel. Image credit: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority.

New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Found in Israel

Mar 16, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered dozens of parchment fragments of a Biblical scroll, which is written in Greek and...

Computer model of the Antikythera Mechanism’s display: in the center, the dome of the Earth, the phase of the Moon and its position in the Zodiac -- then rings for Mercury, Venus, true Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Date, with ‘little sphere’ markers and smaller markers for oppositions. Scale marks and index letters for the synodic cycles of the planets are inscribed on the planet rings. Surrounding these, the Zodiac and the Egyptian Calendar. The true Sun ring has a ‘little golden sphere’ with ‘pointer.’ When the Moon and Sun pointers coincide, the Moon sphere shows black for New Moon; when the pointers are on opposite sides, the Moon sphere shows white for Full Moon. The Head of the Dragon Hand shows the ascending lunar node; the Tail the descending node. Small triangles on the true Sun ring, near the pointer, show wider and narrower eclipse limits. Eclipses are possible if the Dragon Hand is within these limits. When the Moon pointer is before the Head of the Dragon, the Moon is South of the node; after, it is North of the node -- conversely for the descending node. A Date pointer is attached to a narrow date ring, showing the date in the Egyptian Calendar. Image credit: Freeth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w.

Scientists Step Closer to Understanding Full Capabilities of Antikythera Mechanism

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from University College London and the Cyprus Institute’s Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center has...

Gold Scythian pectoral from a royal kurgan in Towsta Mohila, Pokrov, dated to the 2nd half of the 4th century BCE. The central lower tier shows three horses, each being torn apart by two griffins. Image credit: D. Kolosov.

Scythians Led More Complex Lives Than Previously Assumed

Mar 11, 2021 by News Staff

Scythian-era populations in ancient Ukraine were less mobile than previously thought and were engaged in agro-pastoralism focused primarily on millet agriculture,...

Human arrival in the northern Bahamas: (A) Blackwood Sinkhole and key localities for inferring Lucayan migration patterns through The Bahamas; Church’s Bluehole provides pollen and charcoal evidence of late Holocene vegetation change; archaeological evidence from the Coralie Site (Grand Turk) and Three Dog Site (San Salvador) documents human arrival in the southern Bahamas by about 750 CE; red arrows highlight Lucayan migration in less than 100 years; (B) Blackwood Sinkhole and key sites providing evidence for Lucayan occupation on Great Abaco Island; (C) aerial photo of Blackwood Sinkhole showing proximity to the nearby wetlands and the Atlantic Ocean. Image credit: Fall et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2015764118.

Humans Arrived in Northern Bahamas Earlier than Thought

Mar 4, 2021 by News Staff

Humans were present in Florida by 14,000 years ago, and until recently, it was believed The Bahamas — located only a few km away — were not...

Computer-generated virtual unfolding of the sealed letter DB-1538 from the Brienne Collection. Image credit: Dambrogio et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21326-w.

Scientists Digitally Unfold 300-Year-Old Sealed Letters

Mar 3, 2021 by News Staff

Using a highly sensitive X-ray microtomography scanner, a team of researchers has scanned four unopened letters from the Brienne Collection, a 17th-century...

A Meidum goose (left), life reconstruction (center) and a modern red-breasted goose (right). Image credit: A. Romilio / Tambako the Jaguar.

4,600-Year-Old Egyptian Painting Depicts Extinct Species of Goose

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

University of Queensland’s Dr. Anthony Romilio has examined the ‘Meidum Geese,’ a painting from the Chapel of Itet at Meidum in Egypt. A Meidum goose...

Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid that lived in Africa more then 4 million years ago. Illustration by Arturo Asensio, via Quo.es.

4.4-Million-Year-Old Ardipithecus Hand Reveals ‘Big Evolutionary Jump’

Feb 26, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and South Africa have examined the fossilized hand of Ardipithecus ramidus, a...

A naturalistic painting of a kangaroo in Australia. Image credit: Peter Veth / Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation / Pauline Heaney.

Australia’s Oldest Known Rock Painting is a Kangaroo

Feb 23, 2021 by News Staff

A 2-m- (6.6-foot) long painting of a kangaroo in a rock shelter in the north-eastern Kimberley region of Western Australia is dated to between 17,500...

DigVentures archaeologist Ben Swain shows of the size of the largest roundhouse, with the hillfort in the background. Image credit: DigVentures.

Iron Age Settlement and Roman Villa Unearthed in England

Feb 17, 2021 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from DigVentures has uncovered the remains of at least 15 roundhouses dating from 400 to 100 BCE and the remains of a large Roman...

The 1,800-year-old Roman bronze coin. Image credit: Nir Distelfeld, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Rare Roman Bronze Coin Unearthed in Israel

Feb 16, 2021 by News Staff

The obverse of the 1,800-year-old bronze coin bears the head of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. The 1,800-year-old Roman bronze coin. Image credit: Nir...

Venetian glass trade beads found in northern Alaska. Image credit: Kunz & Mills, doi: 10.1017/aaq.2020.100

Venetian Glass Beads Found in Arctic Alaska Predate Arrival of Columbus

Feb 16, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found Venetian glass trade beads at three prehistoric Inuit sites in Alaska. In the absence of trans-Atlantic communication, the most...

Reconstruction of the seashell horn being played. In the background, a red dotted buffalo decorates the walls of Marsoulas Cave; similar motifs decorate the instrument. Image credit: Gilles Tosello.

Listen to Sound of 18,000-Year-Old Seashell Horn

Feb 12, 2021 by News Staff

About 18,000 years ago, the Magdalenian occupants of Marsoulas Cave in what is now France transformed a shell of the predatory sea snail Charonia lampas...

The 2,100-year-old silver coins found in the ancient city of Aizanoi, Turkey. Image credit: Pamukkale University.

Huge Trove of Roman Silver Coins Unearthed in Turkey

Feb 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Hundreds of silver coins dating to the first century BCE have been unearthed by archaeologists from Pamukkale University. The 2,100-year-old silver coins...