Archaeology News

Coastal and Underwater Sites Contain Clues about Early Migrants to Sicily, Archaeologists Say

Coastal and underwater cave sites in southern Sicily contain important new clues about the path and fate of early human migrants to the island. Image credit: Ilaria Patania.
Oct 9, 2024 by News Staff

The island of Sicily is considered to be among the first occupied by humans in the European Upper Paleolithic. Studies to understand early occupation of the island are mostly concentrated on the northern shores. An international team of archaeologists led by Washington University in St. Louis has now searched for the human occupation traces in 25 caves and rock shelters in southeastern Sicily, Italy. Coastal and underwater cave sites in southern Sicily...

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This image from the geophysical survey highlights the archaeological potential of the site in Wrexham, North East Wales. Image credit: University of Chester.

Roman-Era Settlement and Medieval Longhouse Unearthed in Wales

Sep 30, 2024 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the University of Chester, Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology and the Portable Antiquities Scheme has uncovered the ruins...

These 3,500-year-old kefir cheese samples are among the few dairy remains preserved more than 3,000 years and were produced by the Bronze Age Xiaohe population -- a population that possesses mixed lifestyles and techniques (e.g., farming, dairy production, hunting, etc.). Also, although early Xiaohe individuals show little genetic interaction with other populations, mitochondrial DNA data suggest maternal connections with East and West Eurasians. By recovering DNA information from ancient fermented dairy remains, Liu et al. investigated the lifestyle linked to the usage of fermented dairy by the Xiaohe population and explore the co-evolution between the fermented bacteria and their hosts. Image credit: Liu et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.008.

World’s Oldest Cheese Sheds Light on Origins of Kefir

Sep 25, 2024 by News Staff

Despite the long history of consumption of fermented dairy, little is known about how the fermented microbes were utilized and evolved over human history....

The remains of the 1,400-year-old Byzantine church at Khirbet Tinshemet, Israel. Image credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

1,400-Year-Old Byzantine Church Discovered in Israel

Sep 23, 2024 by News Staff

This ancient Byzantine church was dedicated to the Christian martyr Bacchus the Holy, according to archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority...

Interpretation of the tusked animal of the Horned Serpent panel and its dicynodont-like traits. Image credit: J. Benoit, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309908.

Strange Tusked Animal in South African Rock Art is Permian Dicynodont, Scientist Claims

Sep 19, 2024 by News Staff

The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France in the Free State province of South Africa was painted by the San people at least two hundred years ago. It...

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

Clovis People Used Campsite in Great Lakes Region Annually, Archaeologists Say

Sep 17, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Clovis stone tools at the 13,000-year-old campsite of Belson in southwest Michigan; Clovis people traveled to...

El Sidron Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss. Image credit: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.

Neanderthal Populations Were Genetically and Socially Isolated for Tens of Thousands of Years: Study

Sep 11, 2024 by News Staff

In 2015, archaeologists discovered the fossilized remains of a Neanderthal individual at Grotte Mandrin, a rockshelter located in Mediterranean France...

The 2,070-year-old Roman wall in the Dossone della Melia forest in south-central Calabria, Italy. Image credit: University of Kentucky.

2,070-Year-Old Roman Wall Built to Contain Gladiator Spartacus and His Army Discovered in Italy

Sep 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have identified a 2.7-km- (1.7-mile) long Roman defensive wall and ditch — initially constructed by the Roman general Marcus Licinius...

The 5,600-year-old submerged stone bridge in Genovesa Cave, Mallorca, Spain. Image credit: R. Landreth.

5,600-Year-Old Stone Bridge Indicates Early Human Arrival in Spain’s Mallorca

Aug 30, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient submerged stone bridge in Genovesa Cave on Mallorca, the main island of the Balearic Archipelago and the sixth...

The 2,700-year-old stone seal found in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.

2,700-Year-Old Stone Seal Unearthed in Israel

Aug 29, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered a stone seal from the First Temple period near the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount...

The Battle of Orsha by Hans Krell.

Landscape of Fear: Fear of Violent Conflicts Influenced Development of Non-State Societies in Ancient Europe

Aug 28, 2024 by News Staff

The impact of inter-group conflict on population dynamics has long been debated, especially for prehistoric and non-state societies. In their work, scientists...

Clovis points with distinctive flute or channel flake scars. Image credit: S. Byram.

Study: Clovis People Used Planted Pikes for Hunting of Megaherbivores

Aug 21, 2024 by News Staff

Historical and ethnographic sources depict use of portable braced shaft weapons, or pikes, in megafauna hunting and defense during Late Holocene millennia...

Stonehenge. Image credit: Regina Wolfs.

Stonehenge’s Altar Stone Was Transported from Scotland, Archaeologists Say

Aug 14, 2024 by News Staff

The Altar Stone, a 6-ton sandstone megalith that sits at the center of Stonehenge’s iconic stone circle, was sourced at least 750 km from its current...

El Sidron Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss. Image credit: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.

New Archaeological Site Sheds More Light on Hunting Abilities and Adaptability of Neanderthals

Aug 14, 2024 by News Staff

An archaeological sequence of the Abric Pizarro site in the southeast Pre-Pyrenees is centered on MIS 4 (around 71,000 years ago), a poorly known period...

Pillar 43 in Enclosure D, Göbekli Tepe. Image credit: Alistair Coombs.

Gobekli Tepe’s Carvings Represent World’s Oldest Solar Calendar, New Research Suggests

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in southern Turkey, features several Neolithic temple-like enclosures adorned with many intricately carved symbols. Pillar...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Flores Hominins Most Likely Evolved from Early Asian Homo erectus

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

Recent discoveries of two diminutive hominin species, Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis, raise questions regarding how extreme body size reduction...

Map of the Saqqara plateau showing the water course from the Gisr el-Mudir dam (left) to the water treatment facility near Djoser pyramid. The water is then transferred to the pyramid’s network of pipes to power the hydraulic elevator. Image credit: Landreau et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.

Egypt’s Pyramid of Djoser May Have Been Built with Help of Unique Hydraulic Lift System: Study

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is considered the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids built about 4,500 years ago. Map of the...

Map of Wallacea, delineating Birdsell’s northern and southern migration routes. The map also highlights the oldest Pleistocene sites on each island. Along the northern route, the following sites are indicated: 1) Leang Karampuang, Leang Tedongnge, and Leang Bulu Sipong 4, 2) Goa Topogaro, 3) Leang Sarru, 4) Daeo 2, 5) Golo, and 6) Kelo 6. On the southern route, the following sites are highlighted: 7) Liang Bua, 8) Lua Meko, 9) Makpan, 10) Laili, 11) Asitau Kuru, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru 2, 12) Here Sorot Entapa, and 13) Elivavan. The last two sites represent connections to Sahul: 14) Leang Lemdubu, currently in the Aru Islands but once connected to the mainland during the Pleistocene, and 15) Madjedbebe, the oldest known site in Sahul. Image credit: Kaharudin et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108834.

New Archaeological Evidence from Tanimbar Islands Shows Human Occupation 42,000 Years Ago

Jul 19, 2024 by News Staff

Tanimbar is one of the main island groups in Wallacea (a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian...

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont, a relative of the armadillo that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. By Heinrich Harder, 1920.

Archaeologists Find Stone Tool Marks on 21,000-Year-Old Glyptodont Bones in Argentina

Jul 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists in Argentina have analyzed the 21,000-year-old fossil remains with cut marks belonging to a specimen of the exinct glyptodont Neosclerocalyptus,...

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

Early Hominins First Arrived in Southern Europe around 1.3 Million Years Ago

Jul 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study, published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, helps resolve one of the longest controversies in paleoanthropology: when did early hominins...

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