Archaeology

  1. Archaeology

    Indonesian stencils rival age of Europe’s early cave art

    Hand prints outlined in pigment were made in Southeast Asia at least 39,900 years ago, making the paintings about the same age as European cave art.

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  2. Anthropology

    Mysterious foreigner may have ruled ancient Maya kingdom

    Bone chemistry suggests one of the early rulers of the Maya kingdom Copan and his retainers had foreign credentials.

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  3. Archaeology

    Ancient stone-tool making method arose multiple times

    Hominids in both Africa and Eurasia independently invented a flake-tool technique hundreds of thousands of years ago, countering a long-held idea in archaeology.

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  4. Science & Society

    Syria’s World Heritage Sites severely damaged by war

    Satellite images reveal that five of the country’s six World Heritage Sites have suffered damage and some structures have been completely destroyed.

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  5. Archaeology

    Pyramid builders could have used rolling blocks

    Instead of sliding blocks on a ramp, ancient Egyptians could have rolled the massive bricks to the pyramids, a physicist suggests.

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  6. Archaeology

    More signs emerge of New World settlers before 20,000 years ago

    Controversial stone tools of pre-Clovis humans have been excavated in South America.

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  7. Genetics

    Long before Columbus, seals brought tuberculosis to South America

    Evidence from the skeletons of ancient Peruvians shows that seals may have brought tuberculosis across an ocean from Africa.

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  8. Anthropology

    Earlier dates for Neandertal extinction cause a fuss

    Revised dates suggest Neandertals coexisted with modern humans for several thousand years in Europe before disappearing 40,000 years ago.

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  9. Anthropology

    Origins of Egyptian mummy making may predate pyramids

    Preservative mixture for mummy wrapping found on linens that covered the dead as early as 6,300 years ago.

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  10. Anthropology

    Clovis people may have hunted elephant-like prey, not just mammoths

    The ancient American Clovis culture started out hunting elephant-like animals well south of New World entry points, finds in Mexico suggest.

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  11. Anthropology

    Neanderthals reveal their diet with oldest excrement

    50,000-year-old fossil poop hints at Neanderthals’ omnivorous, but meat-heavy, diet.

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  12. Humans

    Skulls reveal Neandertal’s hodge-podge genealogy

    A new analysis of ancient hominid skulls reveals a patchy anatomical start of the Neandertal lineage.

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