Archaeology

Jan 17th, 2025 - A female-centric order has been found for the first time in European prehistory by scientists who analyzed DNA from burial grounds in southwest England. Archaeologists from Bournemouth University, together with geneticists from Ireland's Trinity College Dublin, made the discovery by analyzing 50 genomes from remains found in burial grounds in the county of Dorset. The site dates to the Roman conquest of BCE 43. The results, which were published in the science journal Nature , suggest the ... [Read More]

Jan 17th, 2025 - Our early human ancestors might have been more adaptable than previously thought: New research suggests Homo erectus was able to survive—and even thrive—after its home in East Africa shriveled up and became a dry, barren landscape. H. erectus is a now-extinct species of early human that experts say arose some two million years ago in Africa. Walking upright, they had longer legs and shorter arms than previous hominins, which gave them a distinctly modern human-like appearance. They ... [Read More]

Jan 16th, 2025 - Ancient Egypt was primarily ruled by men, with only a handful of women successfully coming to power. One of them was Hatshepsut , the sixth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who reigned during the 15th century B.C.E. Hatshepsut was "by far the most successful" woman to rule Egypt as pharaoh, as Smithsonian magazine 's Elizabeth B. Wilson wrote in 2006. She insisted on being portrayed with male features, including "the broad, bare chest of a man and the pharaonic false beard," though scholars don't ... [Read More]

Jan 16th, 2025 - Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed a series of stone rooms and objects that were likely used for worship and ritual practices in the Kingdom of Judah 2,800 years ago, they say. The discovery is the only known ritual structure from this period in Jerusalem and one of just a handful unearthed so far in Israel, according to a statement . Among the ruins of eight rock-cut chambers, archaeologists found an oil press, a winepress, an altar and a large standing stone, or sacred pillar, known as a ... [Read More]

Jan 16th, 2025 - Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient complex of ruined  Byzantine -era buildings in Israel. The structures include a winepress, a large warehouse and what may be a monastery boasting a colorful mosaic floor. The floor features a Greek inscription from Deuteronomy : "Blessed are you when you come in and blessed are you when you go out." The ruins were discovered during excavations ahead of construction for a new neighborhood near the city of Kiryat Gat. According to a  statement ... [Read More]

Jan 15th, 2025 - Celtic society in England was female-focused 2,000 years ago, a genetic study of Iron Age skeletons reveals. DNA analysis of dozens of ancient burials uncovered a community whose lineage could be traced back to one woman, and showed that men joined the group upon marriage. "This is the first time this type of system has been documented in European prehistory," study lead author Lara Cassidy , a human geneticist at Trinity College Dublin, said in a statement , "and it predicts female social and ... [Read More]

Jan 15th, 2025 - A "unique" and mysterious collection of engraved stone plaques were seemingly sacrificed by prehistoric people in Scandinavia following a devastating volcanic eruption around 4,900 years ago, a study reports. In the study, published in the journal Antiquity , a team of researchers link the deposition of the enigmatic artifacts—known as "sun stones"—to the eruption, providing fascinating insights into the ritual practices of Europeans in the Neolithic (or New Stone Age) and a ... [Read More]

Jan 14th, 2025 - Archaeologists working on a busy route in Cambridgeshire have come across a stone coffin dating back more than a thousand years. This massive artifact was featured on BBC's "Digging for Britain."  The show aired January 7th on BBC2, and many people were eager to learn more about this unusual discovery in the middle of a routine road-widening project. Unearthing history in plain sight An excavation team found the coffin, which weighs about 1,650 lbs (750 kg), during road improvements on the ... [Read More]

Jan 13th, 2025 - Archaeologists have unearthed coins, jewelry and stones from graves in Norway that likely belonged to high-status Viking women, reports  Science Norway 's Ida Irene Bergstrøm. Initially discovered by a group of amateur metal detectorists in the fall of 2023, the graves date to between 800 and 850 C.E. That lines up with the beginning of the Viking Age, which ran from around 800 to 1050 C.E. During excavations, which concluded in late 2024, archaeologists found a rich variety of ... [Read More]

Jan 13th, 2025 - A medieval skeleton buried with archery equipment in a 10th-century cemetery in Hungary belongs to a woman, a new DNA analysis finds. But because her grave is so unique, researchers have stopped short of calling her a warrior. "Evaluating the possible 'occupation' of the individual is a complex problem," Balázs Tihanyi , a bioarchaeologist at the University of Szeged in Hungary and colleagues wrote in their study published Nov. 26 in the journal PLOS One , but the woman "may have had a ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2025 - CAIRO (AP) — Egypt unveiled several discoveries near the famed city of Luxor on Wednesday, including ancient rock-cut tombs and burial shafts dating back 3,600 years. They were unearthed at the causeway of Queen Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir al-Bahri on the Nile's West Bank, according to a statement released by Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities & Heritage. It said it worked in tandem with the Supreme Council of Antiquities on the site since September 2022. Artifacts found at ... [Read More]

Jan 4th, 2025 - Many rare discoveries have been made across the globe over the course of the year 2024. The public was able to view some relics that highlighted historical moments, giving people a better understanding of the time period in which they derived from. See some of the significant pieces below. A team of archaeologists may have unearthed a sarcophagus containing the remains of Saint Nicholas, whose spirit of generosity is still celebrated in the modern world more than 1,600 years later. "We ... [Read More]

Jan 3rd, 2025 - On this day, 101 years ago, archeologists unveiled the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamun after his sarcophagus was discovered in a well-hidden tomb that had been preserved for over 3,000 years, sparking a century of media attention and public fascination. It was Jan. 3, 1924, over a year after Tutankhamun's tomb was found, that British archaeologist Howard Carter and his team of excavators at last found the sarcophagus of the ruler itself . The sarcophagus was among thousands of artifacts ... [Read More]

Dec 28th, 2024 - As humans we are endlessly curious about our past – especially the ancient past. What were our ancient ancestors doing thousands of years ago? Probably not getting hooked on social media platforms like Tik Rock and Twigger (later renamed to Eggs). Jokes aside, the reality of humanity's ancient past continues to throw up surprises as archaeologists continue to uncover more about how our ancestors lived and died. Here are some unexpected findings from this year. Apparent incest prevention A ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . Scientists made a major discovery this year linked to Stonehenge — one of humanity's biggest mysteries — and the revelations keep coming. A team of researchers shared evidence in August suggesting that the Altar Stone, an iconic monolith at the heart of Stonehenge, was transported hundreds of miles to the site in southern England nearly ... [Read More]

Dec 18th, 2024 - In the deepest, darkest reaches of a cave in northern Israel lies a boulder carved to resemble a tortoise shell. Its deep grooves were gouged some 35,000 years ago, and now, researchers say the artifact may be the oldest known evidence of ritual practices in the Levant , a region on the eastern Mediterranean that borders the sea between Greece and Egypt. Construction workers discovered Manot Cave in the mountainous area of Galilee in 2008. Researchers have been excavating the site since 2010; ... [Read More]