Archaeology
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ArchaeologyA clay figurine unveils a storytelling shift from 12,000 years ago
A carefully crafted figure of a goose and a woman suggests that art reflecting spiritual beliefs entered a new phase among early villagers in the Middle East.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyPeru’s Serpent Mountain sheds its mysterious past
No, aliens had nothing to do with a winding 1.5-kilometer-long path of holes. First used as a market, the Inca then repurposed it for tax collection.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyFossil hand bones point to tool use outside the Homo lineage
The fossil wrist and thumb bones suggest Paranthropus boisei could grasp tools around 1.5 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower -
Archaeology12,000-year-old rock art hints at the Arabian Desert’s lush past
Newly found engravings of animals on rock outcrops in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud desert show nomads lived there thousands of years ago.
By Tom Metcalfe -
ArchaeologyVenice’s iconic winged lion statue originated in ancient China
European artisans turned a Tang Dynasty tomb guardian sculpture into a symbol of medieval Venetian statehood, researchers say.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyAncient hominids made long road trips to collect stone for tools
A Kenyan site shows early hominids transported stone 13 kilometers for toolmaking as early as 2.6 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyThis ancient Siberian ice mummy had a talented tattooist
Researchers reconstructed a roughly 2,000-year-old woman’s tattoos, from prowling tigers to a fantastical griffinlike creature.
By Celina Zhao -
Archaeology7 stone tools might rewrite the timeline of hominid migration in Indonesia
Excavated implements suggest a Homo species arrived on Sulawesi over 1 million years ago, before a nearby island hosted hobbit ancestors.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyMaggots may have been on the Neandertal menu
Maggots on rotting meat may have given Neandertals’ a fatty, nitrogen-rich boost, a study of their bones suggests.
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ArchaeologyAI reveals new details about a famous Latin inscription
An analysis of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti using AI reveals its legal tone and imperial messaging, offering new insights missed by historians.
By Tom Metcalfe -
ArchaeologyA 43,000-year-old Neandertal fingerprint has been found in Spain
An ochre dot in Spain may hold one of the oldest, most complete Neandertal fingerprints, hinting at symbolic behavior in our ancient relatives.
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ArchaeologyPrecolonial farmers thrived in one of North America’s coldest places
Ancestral Menominee people in what’s now Michigan’s Upper Peninsula grew maize and other crops on large tracts of land despite harsh conditions.
By Bruce Bower