Archaeology News

400,000-Year-Old Elephant Bone Tools Unearthed in Italy

Tusks of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and small objects at the site of Castel di Guido, Italy. Image credit: Villa et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256090.
Aug 31, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Around 400,000 years ago, pre-modern hominids — likely Neanderthals — at a Middle Pleistocene site in Italy appropriated elephant carcasses to produce an unprecedented array of bone tools — some crafted with sophisticated methods that wouldn’t become common for another 100,000 years, according to new research led by University of Colorado Boulder archaeologists. Tusks of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and small...

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Machu Picchu is Several Decades Older Than Previously Thought

Aug 12, 2021 by News Staff

New research shows that Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, was occupied from about 1420 to 1532 CE, with activity...

Spatial distribution of the minting remains in the Guanzhuang foundry’s excavation area: red dots: deposit with clay moulds; green dots: deposits with fragments of finished spade coins. Image credit: Z. Qu / H. Zhao.

World’s Earliest-Known Coin Mint and Spade Coin Discovered in China

Aug 6, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have uncovered 2,640- to 2,550-year-old clay moulds for casting spade coins as well as fragments of finished spade coins at Guanzhuang in...

Si.427, obverse. Image credit: İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri / D.F. Mansfield, doi: 10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0.

3,700-Year-Old Babylonian Clay Tablet is Earliest Known Example of Applied Geometry

Aug 5, 2021 by News Staff

Known as Si.427, the ancient clay tablet was discovered and cataloged along with many other tablets by the 1894 French archaeological expedition at Sippar...

The 65,000-year-old leaf point from Hohle Fels Cave, Germany. Image credit: University of Tübingen.

Neanderthals Hunted with Leaf-Shaped Spears, Archaeologists Say

Jul 28, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists say they have found a 65,000-year-old leaf point in a cave in the Swabian Jura, Germany. The 65,000-year-old leaf point from Hohle Fels...

Preserved alignment of flat stones in the Treporti Channel in the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Image credit: Madricardo et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92939-w.

Archaeologists Find Submerged Roman Road in Venice Lagoon

Jul 23, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have documented the presence of an about 1,200-m-long segment of an ancient Roman road on a beach ridge now submerged in the Venice Lagoon,...

This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski.

New Research Sheds Light on Foodways and Plant Processing at Neolithic Çatalhöyük

Jul 19, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have analyzed a rich microbotanical assemblage from Çatalhöyük, a renowned archaeological site in central Anatolia, Turkey, best known...

The section of the First Temple-period Jerusalem’s eastern wall. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists Find Section of First Temple-Period Jerusalem’s City Wall

Jul 15, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered a section of the ancient eastern wall dating to the First Temple period in the City of David National Park, Jerusalem, Israel. The...

The 3,100-year-old inscription on a pottery vessel found at the site of Khirbet ar-Ra’i in Israel. Image credit: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find 3,100-Year-Old Alphabetic Inscription

Jul 14, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered inscription, which was written in ink on a jug, bears the name ‘Jerubbaal’ in alphabetic script and dates back to 1,100 BCE, the...

Gelabert et al. retrieved human and mammalian nuclear and mitochondrial environmental shotgun genomes from a 25,000-year-old sediment sample from Satsurblia Cave in Georgia. Image credit: Anna Belfer-Cohen.

25,000-Year-Old Human and Animal DNA Found in Georgian Cave

Jul 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has retrieved and analyzed nuclear and mitochondrial environmental DNA of humans, wolfs (Canis lupus), and bisons (Bison...

51,000-Year-Old Engraved Bone is Neanderthal Artwork, Reseachers Say

Jul 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have uncovered a 51,000-year-old engraved giant deer phalanx in a cave in the Harz Mountains, Germany. The find, which came from an apparent...

The 80.3-million-year-old fossil shark teeth from the Iron Age cultural layers of the City of David in Jerusalem, Israel, from the Rock Cut Pool dating to the 8-9th century BCE: (a) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (b, e-i) sharks, no taxonomic identification; (c) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (d) Squalicorax. Image credit: Tütken et al., doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.570032.

Teeth of Cretaceous-Period Sharks Found at Iron Age Site in Israel

Jul 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has found multiple fossil shark teeth within Iron Age cultural layers dating to 8-9th century BCE in the City of...

The ancient sandstone relief found at Vindolanda, England. Image credit: Vindolanda Trust.

Beautifully Carved Sandstone Relief Uncovered at Vindolanda

Jul 5, 2021 by News Staff

A sandstone relief which depicts a horseman has been uncovered during at the site of Vindolanda, an ancient Roman military fort and settlement on Hadrian’s...

A reconstruction of Homo longi in his habitat. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

146,000-Year-Old Archaic Human Cranium Represents New Species: Homo longi

Jun 28, 2021 by News Staff

Homo longi is phylogenetically closer to Homo sapiens than to Neanderthals or other archaic humans, according to new research described in The Innovation. A...

The 2,100-year-old Roman military camp of Lomba do Mouro in Melgaço, Portugal. Image credit: University of Exeter.

Ancient Roman Military Camp Uncovered in Portugal

Jun 28, 2021 by News Staff

The 2,100-year-old camp of Lomba do Mouro in Melgaço, Portugal, was used by around 10,000 Roman soldiers sent to conquer Northwest Iberia. The 2,100-year-old...

The fossilized remains of the Nesher Ramla hominin. Image credit: Tel Aviv University.

Nesher Ramla Hominin: Previously Unknown Type of Homo Discovered

Jun 25, 2021 by News Staff

The Nesher Ramla hominins lived between 420,000 and 120,000 years ago in the Middle East and had a distinctive combination of Neanderthal (especially the...

Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Image credit: Alex Demin / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ancient DNA Analysis Sheds New Light on Occupational History of Denisova Cave

Jun 24, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study published this week in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers analyzed DNA from more than 700 sediment samples that were...

The ancient Maya city of Tikal in northern Guatemala. Image credit: Gerd Eichmann / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ancient Maya Maintained Native Tropical Forest Plants around Their Water Reservoirs

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

The banks of the artificial water reservoirs in Tikal, a major city of the ancient Maya world in what is now northern Guatemala, were primarily fringed...

Photograph of the experiment with stone lamps: (A) the experiment before being lit; (B) the experiment after functioning for 1 min; (C) the experiment after functioning for 43 min. Image credit: Medina-Alcaide et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250497.

Researchers Test Ancient Lighting Systems to See How Paleolithic Humans Illuminated Their Caves

Jun 17, 2021 by News Staff

Artificial lighting was a crucial physical resource for expanding complex social and economic behavior in groups of Paleolithic humans. Furthermore, the...

9,000-Year-Old Obsidian Tools Found at Bottom of Lake Huron

Jun 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The two ancient obsidian flakes recovered from a now submerged archaeological site beneath Lake Huron represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed...

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