Archaeology

More Stories in Archaeology

  1. a bronze buckle shown from the front and back
    Archaeology

    Arctic hunter-gatherers were advanced ironworkers more than 2,000 years ago

    Swedish excavations uncover furnaces and fire pits from a big metal operation run by a small-scale society, a new study finds.

    By Bruce Bower
  2. image of archaeologists excavating at a site in Germany
    Archaeology

    Neandertals were the first hominids to turn forest into grassland 125,000 years ago

    Neandertals’ campfires, hunting and other activities altered the land over 2,000 years, making them the first known hominids to impact their environs.

    By Bruce Bower
  3. a photo showing a fossilized aprtial jaw and braincase
    Anthropology

    2021 research reinforced that mating across groups drove human evolution

    Fossils and DNA point to mixing and mingling among Homo groups across vast areas.

    By Bruce Bower
  4. image of pyramids in Egypt
    Anthropology

    ‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history

    A new book recasts human social evolution as multiple experiments with freedom and domination that started in the Stone Age.

    By Bruce Bower
  5. The head and neck of a naturally mummified woman with long dark hair, wearing a white hat
    Genetics

    DNA from mysterious Asian mummies reveals their surprising ancestry

    Ancient DNA indicates that an enigmatic Bronze Age group consisted of genetic, but not cultural, loners.

    By Bruce Bower
  6. 3-D image created using lidar data recreating a ceremonial Olmec center on Mexico's Gulf Coast, with sunrise aligned with entrance
    Archaeology

    Lidar reveals a possible blueprint for many Olmec and Maya ceremonial sites

    An Olmec site forged a building plan more than 3,000 years ago for widespread Olmec and Maya ritual centers across Mexico’s Gulf Coast.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Temple of the Feathered Serpent against a sunny backdrop
    Anthropology

    Lasers reveal construction inspired by ancient Mexican pyramids in Maya ruins

    Archaeologists have uncovered structures in Guatemala that are remarkably similar to La Ciudadela and its temple at the ancient city of Teotihuacan.

    By Meghie Rodrigues
  8. A reconstructed Viking Age hut with an overgrown roof in Newfoundland
    Archaeology

    Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021

    Wooden objects provide the most precise dating yet of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland.

    By Bruce Bower
  9. an ancient burned tobacco seed shown from three angles
    Archaeology

    The earliest evidence of tobacco use dates to over 12,000 years ago

    Burned seeds at an archaeological site in Utah hint at tobacco’s popularity long before it was domesticated.

    By Bruce Bower