Archaeology

  1. Humans

    Oldest traces of a dysentery-causing parasite were found in ancient toilets

    Scientists have found traces of giardia in two toilets used by wealthy residents of Jerusalem in the 7th and 6th century B.C.

    By
  2. Archaeology

    The oldest scaled-down drawings of actual structures go back 9,000 years

    Rock engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia may be maps or blueprints of desert kites, massive structures once used to capture animal herds.

    By
  3. Archaeology

    Ancient human DNA was extracted from a 20,000-year-old deer tooth pendant

    Insights into Stone Age people’s lives may soon come from a new, nondestructive DNA extraction method.

    By
  4. Archaeology

    A prehistoric method for tailoring clothes may be written in bone

    A punctured bone fragment was probably a leatherwork punch board. Perforated leather sewn together may have been seams in clothing.

    By
  5. Archaeology

    Hair analysis reveals Europe’s oldest physical evidence of drug use

    Analyses of human hair found in a Mediterranean cave turned up psychoactive plant substances, revealing use of hallucinogens around 3,000 years ago.

    By
  6. Archaeology

    What did Homo sapiens eat 170,000 years ago? Roasted, supersized land snails

    Charred shell bits at an African site reveal the earliest known evidence of snail-meal prep, suggesting ancient humans cooked and shared the mollusks.

    By
  7. Anthropology

    A surprising food may have been a staple of the real Paleo diet: rotten meat

    The realization that people have long eaten putrid foods has archaeologists rethinking what Neandertals and other ancient hominids ate.

    By
  8. Archaeology

    Some monkeys accidentally make stone flakes that resemble ancient hominid tools

    A study of Thailand macaques raises questions about whether some Stone Age cutting tools were products of planning or chance.

    By
  9. Archaeology

    The Yamnaya may have been the world’s earliest known horseback riders

    5,000-year-old Yamnaya skeletons show physical signs of horseback riding, hinting that they may be the earliest known humans to do so.

    By
  10. Particle Physics

    Muons unveiled new details about a void in Egypt’s Great Pyramid

    The subatomic particles revealed the dimensions of the void, discovered in 2016, and helped researchers know where to stick a camera inside.

    By
  11. Archaeology

    Ancient DNA unveils disparate fates of Ice Age hunter-gatherers in Europe

    Ancient DNA unveils two regional populations that lived in what is now Europe and made similar tools but met different fates.

    By
  12. Archaeology

    Homo sapiens may have brought archery to Europe about 54,000 years ago

    Small stone points found in a French rock-shelter could have felled prey only as tips of arrows shot from bows, scientists say.

    By