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Chumash cupped beads from purple dwarf olive sea snails (Olivella biplicata). Image credit: Lynn Gamble / SBMNH Collection.

Chumash Indians Were Using Shell Bead Money 2,000 Years Ago

Jan 29, 2021 by News Staff

The Chumash Indians, hunter-gatherers centered on the south-central coast of Santa Barbara, were using highly worked shells as currency as early as 2,000...

3,000-year-old wool fibers dyed pink-purple hue. Image credit: Dafna Gazit / Israel Antiquities Authority.

3,000-Year-Old Fragments of Royal Purple Dyed Textile Found in Israel

Jan 29, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

While evidence for the important role of purple dyes in the ancient Mediterranean goes back to the early 2nd millennium BCE, finds of dyed textiles are...

The 1,500-year-old ‘Christ, born of Mary’ inscription. Image credit: Tzachi Lang, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find 1,500-Year-Old Christian Inscription

Jan 25, 2021 by News Staff

A 1,500-year-old inscription that reads ‘Christ, born of Mary’ has been discovered by a team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority...

Ancient May paneled flask with narrow aperture (top), sculpted flask with narrow aperture (bottom left) and sculpted flask with wide aperture (bottom right). Image credit: Zimmermann et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81158-y.

Archaeologists Find Traces of Tobacco, Mexican Marigold in Ancient Maya Flasks

Jan 18, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of archaeologists from the United States and Mexico have detected mixtures of tobacco and a non-tobacco plant called the Mexican marigold (Tagetes...

The 45,500-year-old Sulawesi warty pig figure in the rock art panel at Leang Tedongnge cave, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image credit: Brumm et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4648.

45,500-Year-Old Sulawesi Warty Pig Painting Found in Indonesian Cave

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from Australia and Indonesia has discovered two figurative paintings of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) — a species...

2-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in Tanzania

Jan 11, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists has discovered a large collection of 2-million-year-old stone tools, fossilized bones...

The ruins of the Byzantine-period church and a Second Temple-period mikveh were found near Gethsemane, Israel. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Byzantine-Period Church Uncovered in Israel

Jan 5, 2021 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum has discovered the ruins of a 1,500-year-old...

The Beit Nattif lamps. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists Unearth 1,700-Year-Old Oil-Lamp Workshop in Israel

Jan 4, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered an ancient ceramic oil-lamp workshop near Beit Nattif, a village about 20 km (12.4...

Aerial view of Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. Image credit: Avram Graicer / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Turmeric and Other Exotic Foods Reveal Contacts between Near East and South Asia 3,000 Years Ago

Dec 28, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

In new research, an international team of scientists examined the dental calculus of individuals who lived during the 2nd millennium BCE in the Southern...

2,000-Year-Old Fast Food Shop Uncovered in Pompeii

Dec 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have unearthed a frescoed thermopolium (a hot-food-drink shop) in Pompeii, an ancient Roman city frozen in time after the catastrophic eruption...

The archaeological site of Tel Dor, Israel. Image credit: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Neolithic Mega-Tsunami in Israel

Dec 24, 2020 by News Staff

A catastrophic tsunami occurred sometimes between 7,910 and 7,290 BCE with an extreme 16 m (52.5 feet) wave height and 1.5-3.5 km (0.93-2.2 mile) run-up...

The Roman military camp of Tortolondro in Spain. Image credit: Blanco et al., doi: 10.3390/geosciences10120485.

Archaeologists Discover Sixty-Six Roman Military Camps in Spain

Dec 22, 2020 by News Staff

Using different remote sensing techniques and open access datasets (mainly aerial photography, satellite imagery, and airborne LiDAR), an international...

Toonen et al. challenge the long-held view that the fall of Central Asia’s river civilizations was determined by warfare and the destruction of irrigation infrastructure during the Mongol invasion. Image credit: National Library, Berlin.

Climate Change, Not Mongol Invasion, Destroyed Central Asia’s River Civilizations

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

The Aral Sea basin in Central Asia and its major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were the center of advanced river civilizations, and a principal...

Three roughly 2,000-year-old corn cobs from the El Gigante rock shelter site in Honduras. Image credit: Thomas Harper.

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Corn Domestication

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

The domestication of corn (Zea mays ssp. mays), a global food staple with great economic and cultural importance, began in southwestern Mexico 9,000 years...

Detail of a circular mound village called Dona Maria with ‘twin’ village. Image credit: Iriarte et al., doi: 10.5334/jcaa.45.

Archaeologists Find Ancient Villages Laid Out Like Clock Face in Amazonia

Dec 11, 2020 by News Staff

Using a helicopter-based lidar mapping tool, an international team of scientists led by University of Exeter archaeologists has discovered a network of...

An artist’s reconstruction of the gateway and drain at the ancient city of Harappa. Image credit: Chris Sloan.

Indus Civilization People Ate Mainly Meat and Dairy Products

Dec 9, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of ceramic lipid residues from rural and urban sites of the Indus Civilization in northwest India provides chemical evidence for milk, meat...

Giant sloth drawing. Image credit: Morcote-Ríos et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2020.04.026.

12,000-Year-Old Rock Drawings of Ice Age Megafauna Discovered in Colombian Amazon

Dec 3, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists on the ERC project LASTJOURNEY have discovered spectacular rock pictographs in three separate rock shelters in the Guaviare Department of...

The Venus of Willendorf, an 11.1-cm- (4.4-inch) tall Venus figurine estimated to have been made 30,000 BCE, in Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Upper Paleolithic Figurines Showing Women with Obesity May Be Linked to Climate Change

Dec 2, 2020 by News Staff

Obesity is rare in hunter-gatherer cultures. Nevertheless, dozens of handheld ‘Venus’ figurines — the oldest art sculptures of humans known and...

The 3,000-year-old gold bead found in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Temple Mount Sifting Project.

3,000-Year-Old Gold Bead Unearthed in Israel

Dec 1, 2020 by News Staff

A team of professional and amateur archaeologists from the Temple Mount Sifting Project has found a tiny gold bead from the First Temple period in Jerusalem,...