archaeology

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Earliest Human Writing Allegedly Found in Ice Age Cave Art
'Person Off the Street'
Discovers Earliest
Human Writing
in case you missed it
Jan 8, 2023 11:20 AM CST

'Person Off the Street' Discovers Earliest Human Writing

Furniture conservator Ben Bacon helps identify what's touted as ice age proto-writing

(Newser) - Recording the reproductive cycles of animals in cave art likely helped hunter-gatherers in Europe survive during the last ice age some 20,000 years ago, according to researchers—a discovery made in part by "effectively a person off the street." Londoner Ben Bacon was intrigued by small dots,...

They Used to Come to 'Salome Cave' to Pray. Now, a Big Dig

Inside the 2,000-year-old burial cave said to be for Jesus' midwife: lots of beautiful oil lamps

(Newser) - An ancient tomb traditionally associated with Jesus' midwife is being excavated anew by archaeologists in the hills southwest of Jerusalem, Israel's antiquities authority said Tuesday. The intricately decorated Jewish burial cave complex dates to around the first century AD, but it was later associated by local Christians with Salome,...

Number of Known Nazca Lines Has Nearly Doubled

What a difference a drone can make

(Newser) - Researchers from Japan’s Yamagata University have devoted themselves to locating and mapping as many of Peru’s enigmatic geoglyphs as they possibly can, according to Science Alert , and they made some big progress recently. Known as the Nazca Lines after the desert where they’re found, the geoglyphs—some...

Dig Unearths Find That 'Has Nudged the Course of History'

Medieval grave held gold, jewels, and perhaps one of the first female early Christian leaders in Britain

(Newser) - On one of the last days of an otherwise unexciting 10-week dig in Britain's Northamptonshire in April, Levente-Bence Balazs spotted teeth. Then the dig leader saw gold. What Balazs, of the Museum of London Archaeology, suspected to be a rubbish pit was, in fact, a grave dating back 1,...

'Miracle' Tunnel Might Lead to Cleopatra's Tomb

Tunnel sits below Taposiris Magna temple in Egypt, possible site of royal tomb

(Newser) - Archaeologists hoping to find Cleopatra's lost tomb have instead discovered an incredible feat of engineering: a 6.5-foot-tall underground tunnel stretching for nearly a mile. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism calls it a "geometric miracle," per Smithsonian . Kathleen Martinez of the University of San Domingo, whose team...

Oldest Sentence in Oldest Alphabet Names a Modern Scourge

The wealthiest ancients had a problem with head lice, too

(Newser) - The purpose of the ancient double-edged ivory comb unearthed in Israel is made clear by its inscription: "May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard." In the eyes of researchers, that seemingly ordinary sentence hinting at the scourge of head lice is anything...

Professor Tracks Down Jewelry Stolen From King Tut&#39;s Tomb
After 100 Years, Stolen
King Tut Items Located
new study
Nov 5, 2022 7:00 AM CDT

After 100 Years, Stolen King Tut Items Located

Archaeologist who uncovered pharoah's tomb had a 'rather free and easy attitude'

(Newser) - Biographers say the British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun a century ago this month dismissed talk of the "curse of King Tut's tomb" as superstitious "poppy-rot." That belief may have been backed up by the fact that he stole items from the pharaoh'...

Under a Turkish Church, an 'Extremely Important Discovery'

Tomb of St. Nicholas has reportedly been found in Demre

(Newser) - Santa Claus' last stop was southwest Turkey in the age of the Roman Empire. According to archaeologists in the region, the burial spot of St. Nicholas, the Christian saint whose generosity spawned the Father Christmas legend, has been found in the remains of a church in the town of Demre,...

Syria's 'Most Complete' Mosaic Ever Found Is Also the 'Rarest'

Huge Roman mosaic uncovered in Rastan is 'rare on a global scale'

(Newser) - A huge, intact Roman mosaic is being touted as the most significant archaeological find in a decade in Syria, already considered "an archaeologist's paradise," per AFP . The 1,600-year-old mosaic was found beneath a building in Rastan, a former rebel stronghold that saw intense fighting until its...

Hundreds of Skeletons Emerge Beneath Century-Old Store

They date to medieval period when Wales' Haverfordwest hosted a priory

(Newser) - Archaeologists have disturbed a medieval graveyard holding the remains of hundreds of people beneath a former department store in Wales. Old records and street names point to a medieval priory in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, but no one knew for sure where it was when builders began digging new foundations beneath the...

1.8K-Year-Old Hercules Statue Unearthed From 'Small Rome'

Statue of the demigod unearthed in ancient Greek metropolis of Philippi

(Newser) - A larger-than-life statue of the mythical hero Hercules has been discovered hiding in the ancient Greek metropolis of Philippi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Researchers with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki uncovered the classical statue, dating back 1,800 years to the Roman period, during excavations on a main street...

In This Tiny Excavated Tooth Lie 'Enormous' Implications

1.8M-year-old tooth found in Caucasus region may be sign of oldest human settlement outside of Africa

(Newser) - Two decades ago, two fossilized, almost complete 1.8-million-year-old skulls belonging to prehistoric humans Zezva and Mzia were discovered in Dmanisi, a couple of hours from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Now, a new find that "cements the region as the home of one of the earliest prehistoric human...

Biologist's Curiosity About Elephants Leads to Big Find

Israeli archaeologists dig up 'largest complete fossil tusk found at prehistoric site in Israel'

(Newser) - Israeli archaeologists recently unearthed the titanic tusk of a prehistoric elephant near a kibbutz in southern Israel, a remnant of a behemoth once hunted by early people around half a million years ago. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday that the 8-foot-long fossil belonging to the long-extinct straight-tusked elephant was...

Tree Ring Data May Have Solved Mystery of Missing Ship
Shipwreck's Story
'Is There in the Tree Rings'
new study
Aug 31, 2022 12:55 PM CDT

Shipwreck's Story 'Is There in the Tree Rings'

Tree ring data suggests it's the Dolphin, which was lost in 1859

(Newser) - "For me, the story is there in the tree rings." That's the takeaway of a dendrochronologist—an expert in dating events and artifacts from tree rings—who was part of a team that used tree ring data from a shipwreck found in Argentina in 2004 to determine...

Theory: Maya Rulers' Ashes Used to Make Pelota Balls

Archaeologist believes it happened in at least 3 cases

(Newser) - Pelota is one of the oldest known team sports, played centuries ago by the Maya—in some cases, with a ball that may have been partly made from the ashes of their dead rulers. The BBC reports on archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo's theory, which was born from a pair...

Scientists Uncover Remains of Hessian Troops From 1777

Forensic teams will try to identify German soldiers who fought in Revolutionary War

(Newser) - Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday. The remains, found at the site of Fort Mercer and the 1777 Battle of Red Bank, rested for 245 years...

King Bluetooth Lies at Center of an Archaeological Dispute

Archaeologist and researcher say he was buried in Poland, but they don't agree on where

(Newser) - More than 1,000 years after his death in what's now Poland, a European king whose nickname lives on through wireless technology is at the center of an archaeological dispute. Chronicles from the Middle Ages say King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson of Denmark acquired his nickname courtesy of a...

At Famous Battle Site, an 'Incredibly Rare' Find

Complete skeleton of likely soldier found alongside horse bones near site of Waterloo

(Newser) - Finding human remains at the site of a famous battle isn't usually very surprising. But it is in the case of the Battle of Waterloo, which ended Napoleon's rule as emperor of France. Though up to 20,000 men died in the battle in modern-day Belgium on June...

First Dig at Legendary Arthur's Stone Begins

Archaeologists start excavating tomb linked by legend to King Arthur

(Newser) - Archaeologists in England have begun excavating a tomb thought to be more than 5,000 years old. While that in itself isn't too unusual in archaeological circles, this particular dig is attracting attention because it's taking place at what's known as Arthur's Stone, reports the Hereford ...

Divers Find Long-Lost Head of Hercules
Divers Make
Herculean Find
at Antikythera
Wreck
in case you missed it
Jun 26, 2022 7:35 AM CDT

Divers Make Herculean Find at Antikythera Wreck

Once giant boulders were removed, head of Hercules statue found in 1900 emerged

(Newser) - Marine archaeologists have better access to the world's richest ancient shipwreck after boulders were lifted from the Roman-era Antikythera wreck that yielded the famous Antikythera Mechanism calculator, revealing new treasures within. In addition to human teeth, the lead weight for an anchor, iron nails, and the base of a...

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