Category: Archaeology

Early Homo sapiens burial examples including a double burial from Qafzeh Cave (#9-10) [A], an adult with a boar jaw (green) at Skhul 5 [B], and an adolescent with deer antler (red) at Qafzeh 11 [C]. Credit: Been and Barzilai 2024. Prof. Bernard Vandermeersch.

How Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals Honored Their Dead 100,000 Years Ago

Durotrigian burial of a young woman from Langton Herring sampled for DNA (c) Bournemouth University. She was buried with a mirror (right panels) and jewelry, including a Roman coin amulet showing a female charioteer representing Victory.jpg. Credit: Bournemouth University.

New Genetic Study Reveals Women’s Central Role in Iron Age British Society

Artist's illustration of Individual 8A2, a mature adult woman, engaged in high-mobility activities such as herding while carrying an infant in a basket using a tumpline, a few years before being interred in the Abu Fatima necropolis. Credit: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101652

3,500-Year-Old Skeletons Expose Gendered Labor Practices in Bronze Age Nubia

Punic Necropolis of Puig des Molins on the island of Ibiza. The new ancient DNA study sequenced human remains from this and other important Phoenician-Punic archaeological sites. Credit: Raymar, MAEF

Ancient DNA Reveals the True Origins of the Punic People

Pottery from FV 139 B - bottom of layer 1 (0–10 cm). Credit: P. Muntowski and M. Jórdeczka in Radiocarbon (2025) DOI:10.1017/RDC.2025.4

Hunter Gatherers in Ancient Mongolia Were Making Pottery Earlier Than Believed

Remains of a large Neolithic settlement on alluvial soil in the Motza Valley. Credit: Amos Frumkin

Fire and Soil Changes May Have Sparked the Birth of Farming

Multi-gem jewelry from Ephesus, left (Pülz 2020, color pl. 26, cat. no. S184, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en), and Hoxne, right (credit to The Trustees of the British Museum [used online under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license]). Credit: Journal of Roman Archaeology (2025). DOI: 10.1017/S1047759424000278

New Research Suggests Pagan Cults Endured in Thetford Until Fifth Century

Climatological and historical background for the Barbarian Conspiracy. a) Vaticanus Latinus 1873, one of two surviving independent manuscripts of Ammianus’ Res Gestae. b) Hadrian’s Wall. c) The broad movements of tribes outlined by Ammianus in the winter of 367 CE. d) Early Common Era hydroclimatic records covering 350–500 CE over varying spatial scales. Credit: Climatic Change (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10584-025-03925-4

Ancient Drought Uncovered as Trigger Behind Roman Britain’s Collapse

Hexaplex trunculus shell collected near Tel Shiqmona. 400 such shells were identified by two free-style divers within 90 mins at a depth of one to two meters on October 20, 2020. Photo by Ayelet Gilboa. Credit: PLOS ONE (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321082

Ancient Purple Dye Factory Unearthed in Israel

Left human humerus fashioned into a rasp. a) playing surface, b) geometric design. Credit: Taylor 2025

Ancient Bones Reveal Rituals of Prehistoric South Texas Peoples

washumanevol

Environmental Turbulence Shaped the Evolution of Human Cooperation

Three excavated Classic period (ca. 550–750 CE) houses at El Palmillo (Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico). Bottom: the largest and most elaborate residential structure (Platform 11). Top right: a less elaborate residence (Structure 35). Top Left: a smaller residence (Terrace 925). Credit: Linda Nicholas and Gary Feinman.

Rethinking Inequality: What 10,000 Years of House Sizes Reveal About Human History

Coin found at Ibo, site C–400 site. Credit: Montero-Ruiz et al. 2025

New Evidence Reveals Ibo Island’s Pivotal Role in Early Indian Ocean Trade

ancient-pueblo

Archaeological Study Uncovers Long History of Housing as a Marker of Economic Inequality

Cave site of Latnija in the northern Mellieħa region of Malta. Credit: Huw Groucott

Hunter-Gatherers Colonized Malta 8,500 Years Ago, Study Finds

Photographs and drawings of mammoth ivory fragments shaped as a "point" (1, 1a), a "core" (2, 2a), and an unmodified ivory fragment (3,3a). Credit: Stepanchuk and Naumenko, 2025

400,000-Year-Old Ivory Tools Discovered in Ukraine

Copper cymbals in situ after removing part of the fill layer. They are on top of each other, perfectly aligned. Credit: Y. Al Rahbi

5,000-Year-Old Cymbals Illuminate Bronze Age Music and Trade

Structure 6D-XV-Sub3 altar with murals rendered from the north-west. Drawing by H. Hurst. Credit: Antiquity (2025). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2025.3

Whispers in Stone: The Buried Altar of Tikal and the Shadow of Teotihuacan

Archaeologists admire a prehistoric ski discovered at Digervarden. Credit: Andreas Christoffer Nilsson

Ancient Skis Unearth Prehistoric Survival Secrets in Norway

Outside view of the wooden covers of the Codex, arrow shows where the wooden plug is. Credit: Ervin Sestverk in Läänelaid et al. 2025

The Codex of Türi: Unraveling the Secrets of Estonia’s Oldest Dated Manuscript

Well-man skeleton. Credit: Åge Hojem NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet

Ancient DNA Reveals Identity of “Well-man” from Sverris Saga

Early Homo sapiens burial examples including a double burial from Qafzeh Cave (#9-10) [A], an adult with a boar jaw (green) at Skhul 5 [B], and an adolescent with deer antler (red) at Qafzeh 11 [C]. Credit: Been and Barzilai 2024. Prof. Bernard Vandermeersch.

Neanderthal and Homo sapiens Burial Practices: Commonalities and Divergences in the Levant

The Ottoman Empire's seeming tolerance of non-Muslim religions was part of a way to manage communities that drew the empire's suspicions, according to an Osaka Metropolitan University historian. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

Was the Ottoman Empire Truly Tolerant? Surveillance in a Multicultural Realm

first-farmers-Scandinavia

Human Interactions, Not Just Climate, Drove the Agricultural Revolution

Finger paintings made by children in Rouffignac Cave, 14,000 to 20,000 years ago. Credit: Dr. Van Gelder

The Child Mediators: Unraveling the Mystery of Prehistoric Cave Art

View from the Takarkori rock shelter in Southern Libya. Credit: Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome

7,000-Year-Old DNA Unveils Secrets of North Africa’s Past

Sea trials in a reconstruction of the c. 350 BC Hjortspring boat, akin to a Scandinavian Bronze Age type boat, with a side view drawing of the boat under full crew inserted above. Photo by Knut Valbjørn. Credit: Boel Bengtsson, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

New Study Suggests Bronze Age Open-Sea Voyages

Quina technology was found in Europe decades ago but has never before been found in East Asia. Credit: Ben Marwick

50,000-Year-Old Quina Tools Found in China, a First for East Asia

(a) In situ burial of Individual SP5; (b) pathological signs associated with possible scurvy; (c) pathological signs associated with possible scurvy and rickets; (d) pathological signs associated with rickets. Credit: Zinn et al. 2025

The Dark Side of 19th-Century Medicine: A Tragic Story of a Child’s Mercury Treatment for Rickets and Scurvy

The location of Başur Höyük on the Upper Tigris. Credit: Cambridge Archaeological Journal (2025). DOI: 10.1017/S0959774324000398

Radical Inequality in Early Bronze Age Anatolia