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The 2-km-wide ring of shafts around the great henge at Durrington Walls and the famous site at Woodhenge. Image credit: Gaffney et al, doi: 10.11141/ia.55.4.

Archaeologists Find Giant Ring of Shafts near Stonehenge

Jun 22, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have discovered a 4,500-year-old ring of large ‘shafts’ around the great henge at Durrington Walls and the famous site at Woodhenge,...

View of the wall paintings on the western wall of a house in Chajul, Guatemala. The panel features a possible dwarf with a long stick (individual 1) striding behind the backs of two musicians wearing Spanish costumes (individuals 2 and 3), and approached by a man in Indian-Spanish attire (individual 4). The first musician (individual 2) is shown playing a short wind instrument, probably a flute (xhuli aj) or a chirimía -- instruments still popular in traditional music of the Ixil Maya. The chirimía is a form of a double-reed woodwind instrument (resembling an oboe), which was introduced by the Spaniards. The second musician plays a large drum, beating it with sticks with rounded heads. The same set of instruments (large drum and flute/chirimía) is used today to accompany different feasts and ritual ceremonies. Individuals 1-3 wear typical European costume, comprising a short mantle worn over one shoulder; a kaftan with puffed sleeves and ruff; a broad belt with its loose end dangling to the front, long slim trousers (or perhaps short trousers and stockings); and heeled shoes with long, pointed toes. The individuals wear hats with broad brims adorned with a feather or brush made from animal hair. The only legible fragment of inscription, located above the drummer's head, reads ‘…CADORES’, which probably refers to the word ‘tocadores’, or ‘musicians.’ A figure, possibly a dancer (individual 4), is shown striding towards the musicians, holding a green object resembling a bottle in his extended hand. His costume comprises both European and Indian elements. Image credit: R. Słaboński.

Spectacular Maya Wall Paintings Discovered in Guatemala

Jun 22, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

An unparalleled set of Maya wall paintings, most probably from the 17th to 18th centuries CE, discovered in a local house in the Guatemalan city of San...

A Nenets man traveling on a sled pulled by three reindeer, Tambei region of the Yamal peninsula, June 2018. In his left hand he holds the khorei (a wood pole) and in his right the nenzamindya’sa (head rope), both of which are used to communicate with the reindeer during sledding. Image credit: Losey et al, doi: 10.1007/s10816-020-09455-w.

Earliest Evidence of Reindeer Domestication Found in Arctic Siberia

Jun 17, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of archeologists has unearthed numerous L-shaped barbed antler objects at three early sites — Ust’-Polui, Tiutei-Sale I,...

Bone projectile points (A to H) and scrapers (I to K) from Fa-Hien Lena. Image credit: Langley et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3831.

48,000-Year-Old Arrowheads Unearthed in Sri Lanka

Jun 15, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found over a hundred bone arrow points at the Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in Sri Lanka. The artifacts were used to hunt tree-dwelling...

Lingjing bird carving: (A) photographs of the six aspects of the carvings; (B) 3D renderings of the carving obtained by CT scan. Scale bars - 2 mm. Image credit: Li et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233370.

Archaeologists Find 13,500-Year-Old Bird Figurine in China

Jun 11, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered a diminutive carving, depicting a standing bird, at the Paleolithic site of Lingjing in Henan, China....

Falerii Novi: GPR time-slice at an estimated depth of 0.8-0.85 m: (1) forum tabernae (shop units); (2) a temple; (3) a theater; (4) a macellum; (5) a bath complex; (6) a porticus; (8) streets. Image credit: L. Verdonck / Google Earth.

Archaeologists Use Ground-Penetrating Radar to Map Ancient Roman City of Falerii Novi

Jun 9, 2020 by News Staff

The first high-resolution ground-penetrating radar survey of a complete ancient Roman town — Falerii Novi, in Lazio, Italy — has revealed previously...

High-resolution lidar images of Aguada Fénix (main panel) and La Carmelita (inset). Scale bar - 500 m (both images are on the same scale). Image credit: Inomata et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4.

Archaeologists Discover Largest and Oldest-Known Maya Monument

Jun 4, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has discovered an artificial structure — which is 1,400 m in length, 10-15 m in height, has 9 causeways radiating...

Anava et al used ancient DNA extraction from Dead Sea Scroll fragments made of animal skin to determine fragment origin and show unification of scrolls from distinct geological locations, highlighting the potential for genetics to illuminate the history of archaeological objects. Image credit: Anava et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.046.

Scientists Unravel Genetic Mysteries of Dead Sea Scrolls

Jun 3, 2020 by News Staff

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had an incomparable impact on the historical understanding of Judaism and Christianity. ‘Piecing together’ scroll...

Frontal view of the cella of the shrine at Arad, as rebuilt in the Israel Museum from the original archaeological finds. The inserts show a top-down view of the altars: on the left, the larger altar; on the right, the smaller altar. Note the visible black residue. Scale bar - 20 cm. Image credit: Laura Lachman / Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Scientists Find Traces of Cannabis and Frankincense on 2,700-Year-Old Altars

May 29, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Israeli researchers have analyzed organic residues from two altars of the 8th century BC shrine at the Biblical fortress of Arad and found that one of...

Botanical remains from the Khalchayan site, Uzbekistan: (1-2) Oryza sativa; (3) Hordeum vulgare; (4) Triticum aestvum; (5) Pisum sativum; (6) Lens culinaris; (7-8) Linum usitatissimum; (9) Lithospermum arvense; (10-12) Setaria italica; (13-15) Chenopodium sp.; (16-18) Polygonum sp.; (19-20) Galium aparine; (21-22) Alhagi sparsifolia. Image credit: Chen et al, doi: 10.1007/s11430-019-9585-2.

Archaeologists Find 1,750-Year-Old Cultivated Rice Grains in Uzbekistan

May 25, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

A team of archeologists from China, Uzbekistan, and Germany has found evidence that japonica-like rice was an important food in Central Asia as early as...

The 300,000-year-old wooden throwing stick at Schöningen 13 II-4, Germany. Image credit: Alexander Gonschior.

300,000-Year-Old Wooden Throwing Stick Found in Germany

May 22, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

A team of archaeologists from the University of Tübingen and the University of Liège has unearthed a well-preserved wooden throwing stick at the Middle...

Reconstruction of the Schöningen lakeshore as the humans discovered the carcass of the straight-tusked elephant. Image credit: Benoit Clarys.

Archaeologists Find 300,000-Year-Old Elephant Skeleton in Germany

May 20, 2020 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, the Lower Saxony State Office...

Reed Collection Ryl4Q22 as it looks using multispectral imaging. Image credit: University of Manchester.

Multispectral Imaging Uncovers Hidden Text in Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls

May 20, 2020 by News Staff

Four Dead Sea scroll fragments from the Reed Collection in the University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library, which were previously thought to be blank,...

The 1,890-year-old bronze coin, obverse. Image credit: Koby Harati, City of David Archive.

Israeli Archaeologists Find Rare Bar Kokhba Revolt Coin

May 15, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered a rare bronze coin from the period of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The obverse of this...

Göbekli Tepe, Enclosure C: note the discontinuity of the bench between the southern pillars and the additional construction built against the southern part of the inner peripheral wall. Image credit: Haklay & Gopher, doi: 10.1017/S0959774319000660.

Gobekli Tepe: Geometry Guided Construction of 11,500-Year-Old Megalithic Complex

May 13, 2020 by News Staff

New research from Tel Aviv University sheds light on the building history of monumental structures in the main area of Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic site...

Stone artifacts from the Initial Upper Paleolithic at Bacho Kiro Cave: (1-3, 5-7) pointed blades and fragments from Layer I; (4) sandstone bead with morphology similar to bone beads; (8) the longest complete blade. Image credit: Tsenka Tsanova / CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Humans Created Earliest Modern Artifacts in Europe, Research Shows

May 12, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered and dated the remains of Homo sapiens and associated artifacts — including pendants manufactured...

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

Neanderthals Made Leather-Working Tools from Bison and Aurochs Ribs

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals selected rib bones from specific animals to make the lissoirs (French for ‘smoothers’), which are bone tools that have been intentionally...

An artist’s impression of prehistoric humans in Europe.

Researchers Track Spread of Dairy Production across Neolithic Atlantic Europe

Apr 27, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, archaeologists analyzed the molecular remains of food preserved in 6,000-7,000-year-old pottery...

Neolithic rock art in Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, Sahara, Algeria. Image credit: Patrick Gruban, Munich, Germany / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Neolithic East African Pastoralist Societies Consumed Milk

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the first evidence for diet and subsistence practices of Neolithic...