Archaeology News

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

A reconstruction of Homo longi in his habitat. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.
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 reconstruction of Homo longi in his habitat. Image credit: Chuang Zhao. A well-preserved ancient human fossil known as the Harbin cranium was reportedly discovered when a bridge was built over the Songhua River in Harbin City, the Heilongjiang province, China. Because of its unsystematic recovery...

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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...

Photographs of the find location and the 6,000-year-old throwing dart recovered in 2018 in Yukon, Canada: (a) composite photograph of the dart; (b) dart in its discovery location, showing the distal end; (c) dart in its discovery location showing the proximal end; (d) map with location of the ice patch site JcUu-1, near Alligator Lake, southern Yukon, in the overlapping traditional territories of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation; (e) view of the ice patch JcUu-1 from the west with approximate find location marked. Image credit: Yukon Government.

Archaeologists Find Beaver Castoreum on 6,000-Year-Old Throwing Dart

Jun 16, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have identified castoreum — a substance harvested from the castor sacs of beavers — as a component of the design and construction...

The 1,000-year-old chicken egg found at the archaeological site of Yavne in Israel. Image credit: Dafna Gazit, Yoli Schwartz & Gilad Stern, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find 1,000-Year-Old Intact Chicken Egg

Jun 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has found an unbroken chicken egg in an Islamic-period cesspit at the archaeological...

Aerial view of the Roman basilica in the Tel Ashkelon National Park, Israel. Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Unearth Magnificent Roman Basilica

Jun 8, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica complex in the Tel Ashkelon National Park, Israel. Aerial view of the Roman...

Coxcatlan Cave, a rock shelter located within the southern portion of the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico. Image credit: Andrew Somerville.

Humans Arrived in North America More Than 30,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests

Jun 2, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have obtained radiocarbon dates for the faunal bones excavated from Coxcatlan Cave, a dry rock shelter located within the southern portion...

The 4,000- to 5,000-year-old deer carving in Kilmartin Glen, Scotland. Image credit: Historic Environment Scotland.

Archaeologist Discovers Ancient Deer Carvings in Scotland

Jun 2, 2021 by News Staff

Scottish archaeologist Hamish Fenton has discovered prehistoric animal carvings — thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old — inside...

An ancient Toalean tool. Image credit: Perston et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251138.

Indonesian Hunter-Gatherers Were Making Tiny Point Tools Thousands of Years Ago

May 26, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists from Griffith University, the University of New England and the Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan have examined a collection of stone and...

The 1,900-year-old bronze oil lamp found in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Koby Harati & Eliyahu Yanai, City of David / Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find Rare Bronze Oil Lamp

May 10, 2021 by News Staff

The bronze lamp, shaped like a grotesque face that is cut in half, was intentionally deposited in the foundations of a building about 1,900 years ago as...

Shaar et al. unveil the oldest evidence of human activity in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Image credit: Michael Chazan.

South African Cave Sheltered Human Ancestors 1.8 Million Years Ago

Apr 27, 2021 by News Staff

A team of paleoanthropologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, CNRS and the University of Toronto has examined artifacts and sediments found in...

The 1,600-year-old mosaic uncovered at Tel Yavne, Israel. Image credit: Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Impressive Byzantine-Period Floor Mosaic Found in Israel

Apr 27, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered a 1,600-year-old mosaic at the archaeological site of Tel Yavne in the Central...

The 3,450-year-old alphabetic inscription on a sherd from Tel Lachish, Israel. Image credit: J. Dye, Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Archaeologists Find 3,450-Year-Old Alphabetic Inscription in Israel

Apr 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of archaeologists from the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology has discovered...

Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Neanderthal Nuclear DNA Found in Paleolithic Cave Sediments

Apr 16, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has developed new methods for the enrichment and analysis of nuclear DNA from sediments, and applied them to cave deposits...

Modern-day straw beehive in a tree in Nigeria. Image credit: Dunne et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4.

West Africans Hunted for Honey 3,500 Years Ago

Apr 15, 2021 by News Staff

Historical and ethnographic literature from across Africa suggests bee products, honey and larvae, had considerable importance both as a food source and...

4,000-Year-Old Carved Stone Slab is Europe’s Oldest Known Map

Apr 14, 2021 by News Staff

An intricately carved stone slab from the early Bronze Age found in France has been identified as the oldest cartographical representation of a known territory...

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