Archaeology News

Iberian Megalithic Tombs: 6,000-Year-Old Lensless Telescopes?

The view towards the east from the Carregal do Sal megalithic cluster, at dawn at the end of April around 4,000 BC, as reconstructed using a Digital Elevation Model and Stellarium. Aldebaran, the last star to rise before the Sun, is rising directly above Serra da Estrela, the ‘mountain range of the star.’ Image credit: Fabio Silva.
Jun 30, 2016 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the UK is exploring what might be described as the first astronomical observing tool, potentially used by humans around 4,000 BC. The view towards the east from the Carregal do Sal megalithic cluster, at dawn at the end of April around 4,000 BC, as reconstructed using a Digital Elevation Model and Stellarium. Aldebaran, the last star to rise before the Sun, is rising directly above Serra da Estrela, the ‘mountain range...

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Left: phytoliths from Poaceae bulliform cells and bi-peaked tubercles from rice husks recovered from Huxi: 1, 2, 3 - rice; 4 - reed; 5 - bamboo; 6, 7, 8 - silvergrass; 9, 10 - bi-peaked tubercles of rice. Right: charred plant remains from Huxi: 1 - self-heal; 2 - cupgrass; 3, 17 - sedge family; 4-6 - carbonized rice; 7-13 - rice rachillae; 14-15 - rice husks fragments; 16 - knotweed/smartweed; 18 - bristlegrass; 19 – crabgrass; 20 - tall fringe-rush; 21, 22 – foxnut. Image credit: Y. Zheng et al.

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Domesticated Rice in China 9,000 Years Ago

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest evidence of domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), one of the world’s most important cereal grains, has been found in China, and it’s 9,000...

Four of the projectile point fragments recovered from Kuumbi Cave: (A, C and G) impact fractures; (B and D) possible retrieval cut marks; (E) rounded tip; (F) post-depositional fracture revealing bone surface; (H) change in surface appearance. Magnification: A, C, G, and H at 65x; B at 85x; D at 100x; E at 200x. Image credit: Michelle C. Langley et al.

Eastern Africans Hunted with Poison-Tipped Arrows at least 13,000 Years Ago

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of archaeologists studying bone artifacts discovered in a cave on the island of Unguja in the Zanzibar archipelago of Tanzania has found evidence...

Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea) uses a stone. Image credit: University of Oxford.

Wild Macaques in Thailand Have Entered Stone Age

Jun 13, 2016 by News Staff

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea) on Piak Nam Yai, one of Thailand’s coastal islands, have been using stone tools for several decades...

Location of Cape Espenberg. Image credit: Rand McNally.

Asian Metals were Traded in Alaska Centuries before Sustained Contact with Europeans

Jun 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two artifacts found at Cape Espenberg on the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska are the first evidence that Asian metal alloys reached North...

Bloomberg tablet 30: ‘I ask you in your own interest not to appear shabby,’ dated to CE 43-53. Image credit: Museum of London Archaeology.

Bloomberg Tablets: Hundreds of Roman ‘Notepads’ Unearthed in London

Jun 6, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeologists have discovered a large collection of Roman waxed writing tablets — including the oldest handwritten document ever found in Britain...

Prof. Stamatakis and Prof. Andrews near sedimentary concretion. Image credit: University of East Anglia.

Sunken ‘Ancient Greek City’ near Zakynthos Island is Geological Formation, Researchers Say

Jun 2, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Greece, the underwater ‘archaeological remains’ of a long-lost Greek city were in fact...

An Austronesian village showing several traditional houses, 1893. Image credit: Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ancient Crops Help Solve Puzzle of Madagascar’s Southeast Asian Settlement

Jun 1, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the first archaeological evidence for an early Southeast Asian presence...

Mythical animal. Image credit: Yamagata University.

New Geoglyph Found near Nazca Lines

May 27, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists from Japan has discovered a completely new geoglyph in the Nazca Desert, southern Peru. The 98-foot (30 m) long mythical animal in...

General view of the main Bruniquel Cave structure (structure A below) with superposed layers of aligned Stalagmites. Image credit: E. Fabre, SSAC.

Early Neanderthals Built Stalagmite Ring-Like Structures 176,500 Years Ago

May 26, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of archaeologists working in Bruniquel Cave in France has identified mysterious ring-like constructions that were built by early...

Ariche, the Carthaginian man. Image credit: M. Rais.

Phoenician ‘Young Man of Byrsa’ Had European Ancestry, DNA Study Finds

May 25, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists from Lebanon, Tunisia, France and New Zealand has sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of the ‘Young Man of...

Roman coins recovered from the shipwreck. Image credit: Clara Amit / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Rare Artifacts, Coins Recovered from Roman Shipwreck at Ancient Port of Caesarea

May 18, 2016 by News Staff

Underwater archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and amateur divers have discovered the cargo of a Roman trading ship that sank 1,600...

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

Evidence of Pre-Clovis Occupation in Southeastern US Discovered

May 16, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Stone tools and butchered (or scavenged) mastodon bones found at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, show ancient humans lived in the southeastern United States...

Australian Archaeologists Find Fragment of World’s Oldest-Known Axe

May 11, 2016 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the University of Sydney, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia has unearthed a small...

Cheesmaking, Tacuinum Sanitatis (XIV century).

Analysis of Pottery Reveals First Cheesemaking in Swiss Alps in the First Millennium BC

Apr 21, 2016 by News Staff

The first evidence that humans in the Swiss Alps made cheese in the 1st millennium BC is described in research by an international team of archeologists,...

Depiction of an Evenki shaman wearing antler headdress (Witsen, 1785). Image credit: Aimée Little et al.

Reconstruction of 11,000-Year-Old Shamanic Headdresses Sheds Light on Hunter-Gatherer Rituals

Apr 13, 2016 by News Staff

New research published online in the journal PLoS ONE is the first scientific analysis of the oldest known evidence of a shamanic costume in Europe. Depiction...

Small fragments of raw glass as they were found at the site. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover Roman Period Glass Factory

Apr 13, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the remains of 1,600-year-old glass kilns (Late Roman period) in the Jezreel...

Ink inscriptions on clay (ostraca) from Arad. These documents are dated to the latest phase of the First Temple Period in Judah, around 600 BC. Image credit: Michael Cordonsky / Tel Aviv University / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Analysis of 2,600-Year-Old Ink Inscriptions Provides Clues for Dating of Old Testament Texts

Apr 12, 2016 by News Staff

Historians have long debated whether the first major phase of compilation of Biblical texts took place before or after the destruction of Jerusalem and...

‘Hannibal Crossing the Alps on an Elephant,’ a painting by Nicolas Poussin.

Scientists Find Hannibal’s Route through Alps

Apr 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists claims to have solved one of the enduring mysteries of ancient history: where did Hannibal — a Carthaginian general...

Kaizer Hilltop quarry: step-like morphology of the quarrying front on the rocks. Image credit: Gabi Laron.

Israeli Archaeologists Discover 11,000-Year-Old Quarry

Mar 31, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists in Israel say they have uncovered the earliest known Neolithic quarry in the southern Levant. Kaizer Hilltop quarry: step-like morphology...

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