Archaeology

Archaeology

Stone Age figurine has contentious origins

A new study suggests that an ivory female figurine from Germany dates to at least 35,000 years ago, but that conclusion has sparked debate over the Stone Age origins of figurative art.

Archaeology

Biocides inducing resistance in Lascaux cave’s microbes

Study makes researchers wonder whether they should treat fungus or not.

Archaeology

Horse domestication traced to ancient central Asian culture

New lines of evidence indicate that horses were domesticated for riding and milking more than 5,000 years ago by members of a hunter-gatherer culture in northern Kazakhstan.

Health & Medicine

Chocolate may have arrived early to U.S. Southwest

A new study suggests that people in America’s Southwest were making cacao beverages as early as A.D. 1000.

Archaeology

Armenian cave yields ancient human brain

A team of scientists has excavated 6,000-year-old artifacts and three human skulls, including one containing a preserved brain, from a cave bordering Armenia’s Arpa River.

Archaeology

Early chemical warfare comes to light

Investigations of a Roman garrison in Syria conquered in a massive assault by Persians nearly 2,000 years ago have uncovered evidence of the earliest known chemical warfare.

Archaeology

Shipwrecks harbor evidence of ancient sophistication

Research on shipwrecks from two ancient, submerged harbors shows that frame-based shipbuilding emerged surprisingly early and then became more sophisticated within a few hundred years.

Archaeology

Tools with handles even more ancient

An analysis of stone tools excavated at a Syrian site indicates that, around 70,000 years ago, Neandertals used a tarlike adhesive to affix sharpened items to handles.

Archaeology

An ancient healer reborn

A research team in Israel has uncovered one of the oldest known graves of a shaman. The 12,000-year-old grave hosts a woman’s skeleton surrounded by the remains of unusual animals.

Archaeology

Return of the kings

Excavations in southern Jordan have incited controversy about whether a copper-producing society existed there 3,000 years ago, and whether it was controlled by Israeli kings described in the Old Testament.

Archaeology

Really Cool History

Tales of the black band: Clues to a 4,200-year-old mystery lie frozen in icy records stored atop Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Archaeology

Saharan surprise

A chance discovery in the Sahara leads to the excavation of a Stone Age cemetery containing remains from two lakeside cultures.