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Stone tool assemblage recovered from the Gault site, Texas: (A to D, F, and L) bifaces; (E) blade core; (G) quartz projectile point; (H and I) projectile points; (K) projectile point tip; (M, V, and W) blade; (N) unifacial tool; (O and T) gravers; (P) discoidal biface; (Q) end scraper; (R to U) modified flake tools; (X and Y) lanceolate projectile points. Image credit: N. Velchoff / Gault School of Archaeological Research.

Archaeologists Find Pre-Clovis Projectile Points in Texas

Jul 17, 2018 by News Staff

At the Gault archaeological site in central Texas, archaeologists have unearthed a projectile point technology never previously seen in North America,...

The clay tablet contains 13 verses from the Odyssey’s 14th rhapsody. Image credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Oldest Known Fragment of Homer’s Odyssey Found on Clay Tablet

Jul 16, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered what they think is the oldest written record of Homer’s poem Odyssey. The clay tablet contains 13 verses from...

P.Basel 1A: because papyrus fragments are very fragile, they are mounted between two glass plates; this way, the papyrus can be easily handled and read without endangering it. Image credit: University of Basel.

Researchers Solve Mystery of 1,800-Year-Old Basel Papyrus

Jul 13, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has discovered that a 1,800-year-old papyrus from the Basel Papyrus Collection is an ancient...

The 2.12-million-year-old stone artifact at the Shangchen site, China. Image credit: Zhaoyu Zhu.

2.1-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in China

Jul 12, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists working in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau have unearthed stone tools crafted at least 2.1 million years ago by early humans. The discovery,...

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

Neanderthals Hunted Fallow Deer Using Close-Range Thrusting Spears: Study

Jul 6, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a study published June 25 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international team of researchers reports lesions observed on two fallow...

Dr. Danny Syon (right) and Dr. Yinon Shivtiel in a cave in northern Israel. Image credit: Omri Gester.

Archaeologists Find 2,150-Year-Old Intact Wine Jars, Cooking Pot in Israeli Cave

Jul 5, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists working in northern Israel recently found well-preserved wine amphorae (jars), a cooking pot and other pottery vessels dating back some...

One of the four images of an Australasian cockatoo gifted to Frederick II of Sicily by the Kurdish al-Malik Muhammad al-Kamil, the ‘Sultan of Babylon.’ Codex Ms. Pal. Lat 1071, folio 20r. Image credit: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Images of Australasian Cockatoo on 13th-Century Sicilian Manuscript Spark Rethink on Medieval Trade Routes

Jun 27, 2018 by News Staff

Four sketches and a written description of a white cockatoo survive in a mid 13th-century manuscript from Sicily, now held in the Vatican Library, according...

Gibbons at play (c. 1427) by the Xuande Emperor, the fifth emperor of the Ming dynasty of China.

Extinct Gibbon Found in 2,250-Year-Old Tomb of Chinese Noblewoman

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

The remains of a previously unknown genus and species of gibbon, Junzi imperialis, have been found in an approximately 2,200-2,300 year-old royal tomb...

The ruins of the upper mainland courtyards of Tintagel Castle, England. Image credit: Kerry Garratt / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Seventh Century Inscribed Stone Discovered at Tintagel Castle in England

Jun 18, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Cornwall Archaeological Unit and English Heritage have found a stone inscribed with Christian symbols as well as Latin and Greek...

Fifteen moais of Ahu Tongariki. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ancient Easter Islanders Used Rope and Ramps to Put Massive Stone Hats on Moai

Jun 11, 2018 by News Staff

The ancient people of Easter Island, Chile, were able to move so-called pukao — massive stone hats of the island’s famed monumental statues (moai)...

The 4,000-year-old storage jar in which traces of olive oil were found. Image credit: Polo Regionale di Siracusa per i siti e musei archeologici Museo Paolo Orsi.

Ancient Pottery Tests Reveal Italy’s Oldest Olive Oil

May 31, 2018 by Sergio Prostak

Amorphous organic residue from a large storage jar found at the Early Bronze Age settlement of Castelluccio in Sicily, Italy, suggests olive oil was being...

Domestic donkeys were being ridden and controlled with bits during the early 3rd millennium BC in the southern Levant, very soon after they were domesticated in the late 4th millennium in northeast Africa. Image credit: Open Clipart Vectors.

Domestic Donkeys May Have Worn Bits As Early As 5,000 Years Ago

May 22, 2018 by News Staff

An analysis of a complete skeleton of an early domestic donkey from the Early Bronze Age (2800-2600 BC) deposits at the site of the Biblical city ‘Gath...

A day in Ancient Rome, being a revision of Lohr’s ‘Aus dem alten Rom,’ with numerous illustrations, by Edgar S. Shumway. Image credit: Internet Archive Book Images.

Lead Pollution Recorded in Deep Greenland Ice Shows Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilizations

May 18, 2018 by News Staff

Annual lead emissions in Europe closely varied with historical events, including imperial expansion, wars, and major plagues, according to new research...

3,250-year-old cuneiform tablets were found inside a clay vessel at the archaeological site of Bassetki in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Image credit: Peter Pfälzner, University of Tübingen.

Assyrian Clay Tablets Found in Iraq Reveal Location of Lost Ancient City of Mardama

May 11, 2018 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists and philologists from the Universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, Germany, has identified the location of the ancient royal...

Selected artifacts from the Panga ya Saidi site: (a) Levallois core; (b) two backed lithic artifacts; (c) backed lithic artifact; (d-e) notched bones; (f) ocher crayon; (g) ostrich eggshell bead; (h) conus shell bead; (i) gastropod shell bead. Image credit: Shipton et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3.

Kenyan Cave Provides New Insights into Later Stone Age

May 10, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered more than 30,000 artifacts at Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya, which is...

An archaic hominin. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Archaic Hominins Arrived in Philippines as Early as 700,000 Years Ago

May 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has unearthed 57 stone tools and butchered animal bones at Kalinga in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon, the largest...

The engraved flint flake from the Kiik-Koba site, Crimea, Ukraine; the arrow indicates the point of impact. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Majkić et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195049.

Engraved Flint Flake Found in Ukraine May Demonstrate Neanderthal Symbolism

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, a 35,000-year-old flint flake found at a Middle Paleolithic site in Crimea, Ukraine, was likely...

An artist’s impression of prehistoric humans in Europe.

Neolithic Humans Used Dried Fungi to Start and Transport Fires

May 2, 2018 by News Staff

Some 7,000 years ago, inhabitants of a small settlement at the Early Neolithic waterlogged site of La Draga (Girona, Spain) dried non-edible fungi for...

Some of the bronze coins found at the Ophel site near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Eilat Mazar / Hebrew University.

Hoard of Bronze Coins from ‘Great Revolt’ Unearthed in Jerusalem

Apr 10, 2018 by News Staff

A cache of rare coins from the period of the Jews’ Great Revolt against the Romans has been discovered at the Ophel archaeological site near the Temple...