Archeaology

8,000-year-old pottery fragments from two sites in the Republic of Georgia, South Caucasus, have revealed the earliest biomolecular archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence of grape wine and winemaking. The discovery is described in a paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Early Neolithic jar, circa 6000-5000 …

A team of Near Eastern archaeology students led by Goethe University Professor Dirk Wicke has uncovered the burnt remains of a Sasanian loom, about 1,500 years old, at the archaeological site of Gird-i Qalrakh in the province of Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. Aerial view of the site of Gird-i Qalrakh from …

An international group of archaeologists led by the University of Cincinnati has found a Minoan sealstone in the treasure-laden tomb of a Bronze Age Greek warrior in southwest Greece. The Pylos Combat Agate. Image credit: University of Cincinnati. In 2015, University of Cincinnati (UC) archaeologists Professor Jack Davis and Dr. …

An international team of archaeologists, physicists and engineers has found a 100-foot (30 m) long space deep inside the Great Pyramid, or Khufu’s Pyramid, one of the oldest and largest monuments on Earth. A paper reporting this discovery is published in the journal Nature. Pyramids at Giza in Egypt. Image …

A paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science presents the first results of the dating of indigenous pre-Columbian cave art in the Caribbean, as well as insights into the artistic choices made about location, technique, and paint recipes of the time. Cave art on Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Image …

In a paper published on October 1 in the journal Astronomy Geophysics, independent scholar and astrophysicist Graeme Waddington and University of Cambridge Professor Colin Humphreys report on the oldest recorded solar eclipse. The event — which occurred on October 30, 1207 BC — is mentioned in the Bible, and could …

Excavations led by a University of Tübingen archaeologist at the site of a recently-discovered Bronze Age settlement in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have uncovered almost 100 clay tablets dating back to the period of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1250 BC). 3,250-year-old cuneiform tablets were found inside a clay vessel …

A Yale University-led study suggests that abrupt shifts in climate caused by massive volcanic eruptions helped to trigger poorly understood revolts — such as the great 20-year Theban revolt — and other political upheaval in Ptolemaic Egypt. This piece of papyrus from the mid-third century BC describes a period of …

Archaeologists digging in the City of David, the Old City of Jerusalem, have found dozens of ancient clay seals, also known as bullae. A bulla of ‘Achiav ben Menachem.’ Image credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority. “In the numerous excavations at the City of David, dozens of seals were unearthed, …

A team of researchers from Switzerland and the Netherlands has rediscovered and deciphered a 95-foot (29 m) long Luwian inscription found in the late 19th century on a limestone frieze in western Turkey. Luwian hieroglyphic inscription by Kupanta-Kurunta, the Great King of Mira, composed at about 1180 BC. Image credit: …