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The European kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Image credit: Charles J. Sharp / Jorge Láscar / CC BY-SA 4.0; collage by Sci.News.

Ancient Egyptians Bred Birds of Prey for Religious Purposes

Sep 4, 2015 by News Staff

According to a paper that will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, ancient Egyptians bred raptors as offerings...

Billy Ó Foghlú. Image credit: Stuart Hay / Australian National University.

Experimental Archaeologist Revives Music of Iron-Age Ireland

Sep 3, 2015 by News Staff

Billy Ó Foghlú, a Ph.D. student at the Australian National University’s College of Asia-Pacific, has created a replica of an Iron-Age artifact to revive...

Examples of Wañelek pottery: W52 - paddle and anvil made body sherd with red slip and incised decoration; W50 - body sherd with fingernail incision; W45 - plain body sherd with red burnish or slip; W14 - plain body sherd; W54 - possible broken coil or weathered rim sherd. Image credit: Gaffney D et al.

Archaeological Dig in Papua New Guinea Unearths 3,000-Year-Old Pottery

Sep 3, 2015 by News Staff

A team of Australian and New Zealand archaeologists has unearthed the oldest known pottery from Papua New Guinea at the remote highlands site of Wañelek...

IAA archaeologist Dr Joe Uziel sitting atop the stepped structure. Image credit: Shai Halevy / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Second Temple-Period Monumental Podium Unearthed in Jerusalem

Sep 1, 2015 by News Staff

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a unique 2,000-year-old stepped structure in the City of David, an ancient neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. IAA...

Left: captive Philistine warriors from a wall relief at Medinet Habu, Egypt, 1185-1152 BC. Right: an artist's conception of a Philistine warrior. Image credit: John Shumate.

Philistines Introduced Cumin, Opium Poppy into Levant, Archaeologists Say

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

The Philistines – one of the so-called Sea Peoples, and mentioned in the Bible and other ancient sources – were a seafaring Indo-European people...

Excavations at Agios Vasileios. Image credit: Angelos Delivorias / Stavros Vlizos / Greek Ministry of Culture.

Greek Archaeologists Unearth 3,600-Year-Old Mycenaean Palace near Sparta

Aug 28, 2015 by News Staff

Archaeologists working at the site of Agios Vasileios in the valley of Sparta, southern Peloponnese, have discovered the ruins of an ancient palace of...

Top: map of Natufian sites with narrow and wide conical mortars in the Southern Levant. Bottom, from left to right: (i) almost peeled barley grain subsequent to the third shift of dehusking in the narrow conical mortar; (ii) grinding the dehusked grains to flour by intensive radial motion in a narrow conical mortar with a long wooden pestle; (iii) fine flour and some groats deposited in the adjacent cuphole, subsequent to the first shift of milling. Image credit: Eitam D et al.

Archaeologists Unravel Mystery of Paleolithic Rock-Cut Mortars Found throughout Levant

Aug 27, 2015 by News Staff

Using Paleolithic conical mortars carved into bedrock, a team of experimental archaeologists has reconstructed how the Natufian people – hunter-gatherers...

9,350-Year-Old Stonehenge-Style Monolith Found in Mediterranean Sea

Aug 12, 2015 by News Staff

A submerged, 39-foot-long (12 m) monolith has been discovered in the waters off the coast of Sicily at a depth of about 130 feet (40 m). Underwater composite...

The inscriptions were written in Aramaic. Image credit: Shai Halevy / Israel Antiquities Authority.

2,000-Year-Old Ritual Bath with Mysterious Aramaic Inscriptions Discovered in Israel

Aug 7, 2015 by News Staff

A ritual bath, or a miqwe, dating to the Second Temple period (the first century CE), has been discovered in an underground cave in the Arnona quarter...

The remains of the city wall of Philistine Gath. Image credit: Prof Aren Maeir, Director, Bar-Ilan University.

Archaeologists Unearth Entrance Gate, Fortifications of Gath

Aug 4, 2015 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists directed by Prof Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University has discovered a fortification wall and an entrance gate of the Biblical city...

The common wheat, Triticum aestivum. Image credit: Matt Lavin, Bozeman, Montana / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Scientists Find Evidence of Small-Scale Farming 23,000 Years Ago in Israel

Jul 23, 2015 by News Staff

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed evidence of early small-scale agricultural cultivation at Ohalo II, a 23,000-year-old hunter-gatherers’ sedentary...

One of nine glass bottles observed at the site of a centuries-old shipwreck off the North Carolina coast. Image credit: WHOI.

Scientists Discover American Revolution-Era Shipwreck off North Carolina Coast

Jul 20, 2015 by News Staff

Marine scientists have found the remains of a shipwreck more than a mile deep off the North Carolina coast, dating to the American Revolution. One of nine...

A drainage pipe found at the Legio VI Ferrata’s camp site. Image credit: Jezreel Valley Regional Project.

Roman Legionary Camp Uncovered in Israel

Jul 10, 2015 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Jezreel Valley Regional Project say they have unearthed the remains of a 1,900-year-old camp of Legio VI Ferrata (Sixth Ironclad...

The 2,000-year-old miqwe. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Second Temple Period Miqwe Found in Israel

Jul 7, 2015 by News Staff

The well-preserved, 2,000-year-old miqwe (ritual bath) was found below a living room floor during renovations in a private house in Ein Karem, an old Arab...

A 49,000-year-old stone flake from the Sibudu cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Villa P et al.

Evidence Shows Prehistoric South Africans Used Milk-Based Paint 49,000 Years Ago

Jul 1, 2015 by News Staff

A group of archaeologists headed by Dr Paola Villa from the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, Colorado, has discovered a mixture of ochre and casein...

Aerial view of Pueblo Bonito. Image credit: Bob Adams / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scarlet Macaws Point to Early Emergence of Complex Pueblo Society

Jun 26, 2015 by News Staff

Carbon 14 dating of scarlet macaw remains from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico indicates that interaction between the pre-Hispanic Pueblo people...

Letters written in Canaanite script could be discerned on the jar. Image credit: Tal Rogovsky / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Ceramic Jar with Unique Inscription Found in Israel

Jun 22, 2015 by News Staff

Israeli archaeologists have found a 3,000-year-old (around the time of King David’s reign) ceramic jar at the archaeological site of Khirbet Qeiyafa...

Two stone tool points made using a prismatic blade technique (left and center), and a bone point or needle (right). The finds give anthropologists a new window onto a transitional time, on the cusp of modern human cultural behaviors. Image credit: Emory University.

45,000-Year-Old Lithic Artifacts Point to Dawn of Social Division of Labor

Jun 15, 2015 by News Staff

Thousands of stone tools crafted 40,000 – 45,000 years ago (early Upper Paleolithic) and unearthed from the recently discovered cave site of Mughr...

Aerial view of the site. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority / Skyview Company.

Byzantine-Era Church Unearthed in Israel

Jun 10, 2015 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announce they have found the 1,500-year-old ruins of a Christian church near Abu Gosh, a small...