Archaeology
Stone Engravings of Mysterious Ancient Megastructures May Be World's Oldest 'Blueprints'
Stone engravings of ancient megastructures called desert kites may be the earliest “blueprints” ever discovered
Archaeology1358 articles archived since 1845
Anthropology
What Stone-Wielding Macaques Can Tell Us about Early Human Tool Use
Macaques using stones to open oil palm nuts can accidentally create stone flakes that look like early human tools
Anthropology
Humans Started Riding Horses 5,000 Years Ago, New Evidence Suggests
Archaeologists have found a handful of human skeletons with characteristics that have been linked to horseback riding and are a millennium older than early depictions of humans riding horses...
Archaeology
Surprising Chemicals Were Used to Embalm Egyptian Mummies
Resins used by ancient Egyptians to prepare bodies for the afterlife are found in vessels in a 2,500-year-old workshop
Archaeology
Did Plants Domesticate Humans? Watch The First Entanglement
Archaeologists studying one of the birthplaces of agriculture find a complex interplay between human actions and the workings of nature and genetics.
Materials Science
Ancient Roman Concrete Has ‘Self-Healing’ Capabilities
Mineral deposits called “lime clasts” found in ancient Roman concrete give the material self-healing capabilities that could help engineers develop more resilient modern concrete and reduce its associated emissions...
Archaeology
Lasers Reveal Massive, 650-Square-Mile Maya Site Hidden beneath Guatemalan Rain Forest
A sprawling Maya site has been discovered beneath a Guatemalan rain forest
Archaeology
An Archeological Dig in Michigan Turns Up Some Surprising Artifacts
Archeologists have found a small mountain of artifacts buried in a farm field that show the presence of some of the first peoples to inhabit the Americas.
Archaeology
King Tut Mysteries Endure 100 Years after Discovery
A century after archaeologist Howard Carter’s momentous discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, questions and controversy still swirl around Egypt’s most famous king
Climate Change
Climate Change Is Adding Urgency to Archaeology
Scientists say drought and other climate change impacts are undermining their ability to protect and document important sites before they degrade or disappear
Archaeology
Rare Baby Mummy Identified as Austrian Noble
Researchers have identified a rare baby mummy as the firstborn son of a count of Austria, and rickets may have led to the child’s death
Anthropology
Desecrated Human Skulls Are Being Sold on Social Media in U.K.’s Unregulated Bone Trade
The human remains trade is thriving on Facebook and Instagram
Archaeology
Viking Textiles Show Women Had Tremendous Power
Cloth from Viking and medieval archaeological sites shows that women literally made the money in the North Atlantic
Archaeology
Prehistoric Child’s Amputation Is Oldest Surgery of Its Kind
A skeleton missing its lower left leg and dated to 31,000 years ago provides the earliest known evidence for surgical limb removal
Archaeology
How Humans’ Ability to Digest Milk Evolved from Famine and Disease
A landmark study is the first major effort to quantify how lactose tolerance developed
Archaeology
Ancient Women’s Teeth Reveal Origins of 14th-Century Black Death
A medieval cemetery yields DNA evidence of the deadly pandemic bacterium’s Central Asian ancestor
Archaeology
Jerusalem Archaeology Modernizes but Runs into Ancient Problems
A new generation of scholars working in the Holy Land remain haunted by scripture and riven by modern politics
Archaeology
Space Archaeology Takes Off
An International Space Station project is “one small step” for off-world fieldwork
Anthropology
Anthropology Association Apologizes to Native Americans for the Field’s Legacy of Harm
For decades anthropologists exploited Indigenous peoples in the name of science. Now they are reckoning with that history
Archaeology
Legendary Shipwreck of Shackleton’s Endurance Discovered in Antarctic Waters
The discovery of the wreck is “a milestone in polar history,” says the director of the search for it
