Archeaology

In Grotta della Basura, a deep cave near Toirano in northern Italy, a team of archaeologists has made a surprising discovery: a number of human hand- and footprints on the clay-rich floor of the cave — evidence that a small and heterogeneous group of Paleolithic people explored the cave 14,000 …

An international team of anthropologists and bioarchaeologists has found the primary ingredients of ayahuasca — a plant-based drink that is reported to induce hallucinations and altered consciousness — in a 1,000-year-old leather bundle from a rock shelter in the Bolivian Andes. Two of the artifacts from the 1,000-year-old ritual bundle …

A team of archaeologists from the United States and Europe has revealed the first example of Paleolithic figurative cave art found in the Balkan region. Figurative paintings in Romualdova Pećina, Croatia: bison (1), ibex (2) and anthropomorphic figures (3). Image credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo. “The importance of this discovery is remarkable …

An international team of archaeologists has unearthed 5,000-year-old grains of barley and wheat at the sites of the Pitted Ware culture in Sweden and the Aland archipelago (Finland). The researchers suggest that these hunter-gatherers adopted cereal cultivation from farmers of the Funnel Beaker culture and brought it to islands beyond …

The world-famous Terracotta Army of Xi’an is an array of life-sized, realistic ceramic figures representing warriors, stationed in three large pits within the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang (259-210 BCE), the first emperor of a unified China. Over two thousand ceramic warriors have been excavated so far, and it is estimated …

The ancient city of Elusa (Hebrew: Halutza) is located at the northern edge of the Negev desert and was established as a caravan station on the incense route controlled by Petra that runs from Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea. During excavations in the Halutza National Park, an international team of …

A team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has unearthed the remains of a 1,600-year-old agricultural estate at Tzur Natan in Israel’s Sharon Plain. The ancient winepress and inscription uncovered at Tzur Natan, Israel. Image credit: Yitzhak Marmelstein / Israel Antiquities Authority. The team, led by IAA archaeologist …

A group of Roman inscriptions, known as the Written Rock of Gelt, was discovered in the 18th century, but has suffered in recent years as a result of the gradual erosion of the soft sandstone into which they were cut. Now, a team of archaeologists from Newcastle University will record …

A team of archaeologists led by Washington State University scientists has discovered an ancient tattoo tool in southeastern Utah. With a handle of skunkbush and a cactus-spine business end, this unusual artifact was made 1,900 years ago by the Ancestral Pueblo people of the Basketmaker II period (ca. 500 BC – …

What was once thought to be a scattering of ancient stone huts on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, has turned out to be the remnants of a thriving city, lost to history for 200 years. Beneath the dense vegetation, there isn’t much to see with the naked eye. And …