Archaeology

Sep 30th, 2023 - Archaeologists have discovered a paved surface under a double stone row that dates back thousands of years. The 590ft (180m) long path of mainly quartz rocks was possibly laid to enhance the setting of Piles Hill, one of the longest stone rows on Dartmoor. Piles Hill consists of two parallel lines of large stones that curve for 2,788 (850m) across a wide ridge. The paved surface was discovered by chance during a survey of the stone row by archaeologists. Teams from Dartmoor National Park, ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - Archaeologists have rediscovered a lost tomb that contains the mummy of an ancient Egyptian official. The tomb belonged to Ptahshepses, who lived around 4,400 years ago during the 25th and 24th centuries B.C. Archaeologists with the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Prague's Charles University said this week they located the tomb near the archaeological sites of Abusir and Saqqara in 2022 by using satellite imagery and studying old maps. Further excavations were conducted at the site this year. ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - A family in Norway were searching for a lost gold earring in their garden when they decided to get their metal detector out. They did not find the earring but did stumble upon something else: artefacts dating back more than 1,000 years. The Aasvik family dug up a bowl-shaped buckle and another item that appear to be part of a Viking-era burial. Experts believe the artefacts were used in the ninth-century burial of a woman on the small island of Jomfruland. The discovery was made under a large ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - Archaeologists have documented a cluster of carvings depicting camels on a rock outcropping near the southern edge of Saudi Arabia's Nafud desert. The monumental artwork portrays a dozen life-size wild camels , a now-extinct species that once roamed this swath of the Arabian Peninsula desert thousands of years ago but has never received a scientific name, according to a study published in the December issue of the journal Archaeological Research in Asia . While the site, named Sahout, had been ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - An "exceptional" marble statue from the Roman era has been discovered in Italy, researchers have announced. The statue dates to around 2,000 years ago—somewhere between the middle of the 1st century B.C. and the mid-1st century A.D. Researchers from the Spanish School of History and Archaeology of Rome (EEHAR)—part the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)—located the statue, which depicts a female figure, during excavations at the archaeological site of Tusculum. The ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - A team of Egyptian and German specialists, led by Egyptologist Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled from the Department of Egyptology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU) , has made an important finding inside Sahura's Pyramid. The team uncovered several previously undocumented storage rooms during their exploration. This new discovery provides new insights into the design of Sahura's pyramid. Sahura, the second king of the Fifth Dynasty around 2400 BC, was the first king laid to ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2023 - Over 20 pairs of sandals were discovered at an ancient burial site in a cave in Spain, along with a range of wooden tools and some of the earliest cases of preserved basketry in Europe. Plant-based material has been used by humans to make tools, clothes and other objects for millennia, but its perishable nature has caused most of these ancient artifacts to decompose over time. However, a few select sites around the world offer the unique conditions required to preserve these organic artifacts, ... [Read More]

Sep 28th, 2023 - Glacial archaeologists in Norway have found an arrow with its quartzite tip still attached after spending up to 3,500 years in the snow and ice. Archaeologists in Norway's mountains have discovered a "very rare" ancient arrow that still has its quartzite arrowhead and feather fletching in place. It's likely that reindeer hunters used the weapon up to 3,500 years ago, according to archaeologist Lars Pilø , who heads the Secrets of the Ice project in the Jotunheimen Mountains of central ... [Read More]

Sep 27th, 2023 - The 1,400-year-old tomb of a Chinese emperor confirms a political power struggle between royal brothers and a warlord that, until now, was known only from historical records. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported last week that archaeologists had unearthed the tomb near the city of Xianyang in Shaanxi province, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. The report said the tomb holds the remains of Emperor Xiaomin — also known by his personal name, Yuwen Jue — ... [Read More]

Sep 27th, 2023 - Words from a "lost" language spoken more than 3,000 years ago have been discovered on an ancient clay tablet unearthed in Turkey. Archaeologists discovered the tablet earlier this year during excavations at Boğazköy-Hattuşa in north-central Turkey, the site of Hattusha, the Hittite capital from about 1600 B.C. until about 1200 B.C. and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Annual expeditions to the site led by Andreas Schachner , an archaeologist at the German Archaeological ... [Read More]

Sep 26th, 2023 - Stone Age builders may have been using other materials as well, according to a new study. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest evidence of artificial structures made of wood, dating back almost half a million years – predating the appearance of our own species and suggesting our relatives settled down much earlier than we thought. The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Kalambo Falls in Zambia, where archaeologists found two logs joined together in an almost cross-like ... [Read More]

Sep 26th, 2023 - Fragments of wine glasses, bowls and animal bones offer evidence for their last meal Roman soldiers occupying what is now northern Bulgaria along the Danube River had to deal with all manner of uprisings against the empire, but at least they could keep their wine reasonably cool. Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old built-in ceramic structure they believe was used to store wine and perishable foods. It's a rare find and the second such "refrigerator" to be discovered at a former ... [Read More]

Sep 22nd, 2023 - From carved figurines to coins, skeletons, and even entire settlements, the railway has opened up a new golden age of archaeology. When the HS2 railway was first announced, a lot of people were understandably thrilled. The railway is supposed to link Britain's two largest cities, London and Birmingham, via a new, high-speed railway, and then extend even further. But a lot of people were excited for a completely different reason: archaeology. Before engineers can build the tracks, stations, ... [Read More]

Sep 20th, 2023 - A team of underwater archaeologists has made new discoveries at a sunken temple in the ancient port city Thonis-Heracleion , which is now located off Egypt's coast, the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) announced on Tuesday. The city, which was initially found underwater by the IEASM in 2000, was once Egypt's largest port along the Mediterranean Sea. That port was active for centuries before the founding of Alexandria in 331 BCE. Its remains are now under the ... [Read More]

Sep 6th, 2023 - Archaeologists have discovered a lost, pre-Hispanic city in southern Mexico that contains, among other finds, a rock engraving of a monkey seemingly identical to one discovered thousands of miles away in Peru. A team of researchers made the discovery of the ancient settlement in the city of Acapulco, which is located on the country's Pacific Coast, Spanish news agency EFE reported. The archaeological zone is located around 8 miles from the center of the city, which is one of the country's most ... [Read More]

Sep 6th, 2023 - A leading team of researchers have discovered what is believed to be a complete Neolithic cursus set within a rich prehistoric landscape on the Isle of Arran, Scotland. This monument type is among the first that was built by farmers in Neolithic Britain and is huge—measuring 1.1km long and 50 meters wide. A cursus is a vast Neolithic monument comprised of one or more rectangular enclosures. The cursus on Arran is defined by a large stone, earth and turf bank running around the entire ... [Read More]