Archaeology

Dec 20th, 2024 - Sloths weren't always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge - up to 4 tons - and when startled, they brandished immense claws.   For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas soon killed off these giant ground sloths through hunting, along with many other massive animals like mastodons , saber-toothed cats and dire wolves that once roamed North and South America. But new research from several sites is starting to suggest ... [Read More]

Dec 20th, 2024 - Archaeologists in Berlin have uncovered the remains of 188 figurines that were used as reliquaries — objects that held the bones of people who were considered to be saints or worthy of veneration. The reliquaries were found during excavations of the Molkenmarkt, meaning "whey market," which is the oldest square in Berlin. The figurines date to the mid-14th century, the Berlin State Office for Monument Preservation said in a translated statement . Each of the figures depicts a female and ... [Read More]

Dec 20th, 2024 - The unique armor is thought to have belonged to a man who ruled as emperor for just 27 days. Researchers from the Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute in China have recovered the remains of a complex scale armor recovered from an over 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty tomb. The unusual armor is composed of multiple materials, making it the first of its kind documented from the Han Dynasty, the institute announced on December 7, as reported by Xinhua News Agency . The ... [Read More]

Dec 20th, 2024 - Archaeologists in northern Iraq have discovered the remains of a massive villa, royal gardens and other structures buried deep underground at what was once the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad, a new magnetic survey reveals. The international team of researchers used a magnetometer in unusually taxing conditions to detect the 2,700-year-old city's water gate, possible palace gardens and five large buildings — including a villa with 127 rooms that is twice the size of the White House. ... [Read More]

Dec 20th, 2024 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . A small silver amulet discovered by in Germany could transform our understanding of how Christianity spread under the Roman Empire, experts have said. The tiny artefact, which measures about 1.4 inches (3.6 centimeters) long, was unearthed in a 3rd-century Roman grave just outside Frankfurt back in 2018. Archaeologists discovered it on the skeleton of ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - Archaeologists in Italy have dug down deeper into a hot spring that was used, over two millennia ago, by a people known as the Etruscans as a sacred place to leave their votive offerings. Located at San Casciano dei Bagni, a municipality located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Rome, the spring started being used for votive offerings, or offerings given in hopes of divine protection or intervention, as early as the third century B.C., according to a translated statement from the ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - From detecting lost cities of the Amazon to tracing our history with Neanderthals, these were among 2024's most fascinating discoveries. While most digs continue to make extraordinary finds using the time-tested techniques and tools of archaeology, it's clear that newer technologies are changing what we know about the past. Ancient DNA, ground-sensing technology, and even artificial intelligence played a part in discoveries made in 2024. Here are some of the year's biggest archeological ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - Archaeologists studying China 's famous "Terracotta Army" have uncovered what they believe to be a rare, life-size statue of a high-ranking military officer, local media report. The highly adorned figure, discovered at the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in China's Shaanxi province, is only the 10th of its kind among the thousands of terracotta statues that have been unearthed at the site so far. "These adornments on the high-ranking officers indicate how special they are," Xiuzhen Janice ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . Scientists made a major discovery this year linked to Stonehenge — one of humanity's biggest mysteries — and the revelations keep coming. A team of researchers shared evidence in August suggesting that the Altar Stone, an iconic monolith at the heart of Stonehenge, was transported hundreds of miles to the site in southern England nearly ... [Read More]

Dec 18th, 2024 - Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered 13 ancient mummies with gold tongues and nails in a cemetery at the site of Oxyrhynchus. The team made the finds when they dug down to the bottom of a burial shaft, revealing a hall with three chambers that held dozens of mummies. The human remains date to the Ptolemaic period (circa 304 to 30 B.C.), a time when a dynasty descended from one of Alexander the Great 's generals ruled Egypt, according to two statements released by the Egyptian Ministry of ... [Read More]

Dec 18th, 2024 - In the deepest, darkest reaches of a cave in northern Israel lies a boulder carved to resemble a tortoise shell. Its deep grooves were gouged some 35,000 years ago, and now, researchers say the artifact may be the oldest known evidence of ritual practices in the Levant , a region on the eastern Mediterranean that borders the sea between Greece and Egypt. Construction workers discovered Manot Cave in the mountainous area of Galilee in 2008. Researchers have been excavating the site since 2010; ... [Read More]

Dec 17th, 2024 - Archaeologists in Kuwait have discovered a 7,000-year-old clay figurine that looks eerily similar to a modern-day depiction of an alien . But while this figurine may look more supernatural than human, its style was common in ancient Mesopotamia , although it's the first of its kind ever to be found in Kuwait or the Arabian Gulf. The small, finely crafted head, with slanted eyes, a flat nose and an elongated skull, was found during excavations this year at Bahra 1 , a prehistoric site in ... [Read More]

Dec 15th, 2024 - Archaeologists Dr. Wim van Neer, Dr. Bea De Cupere, and Dr. Renée Friedman have published a study on the earliest evidence of horn modification in livestock in the Journal of Archaeological Science . The researchers found the oldest physical evidence of livestock horn modification and the first evidence of such for sheep . Discovered at the elite burial complex in Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt (ca. 3700 BC), six sheep showed evidence of deformation, adding to the history of horn ... [Read More]

Dec 13th, 2024 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . Scientists say they have recovered the oldest known Homo sapiens DNA from human remains found in Europe, and the information is helping to reveal our species' shared history with Neanderthals. The ancient genomes sequenced from 13 bone fragments unearthed in a cave beneath a medieval castle in Ranis, Germany , belonged to six individuals, including a ... [Read More]

Nov 27th, 2024 - Archaeological excavations have revealed a gateway to an ancient Egyptian temple that is thought to be hidden in a mountainside. Researchers from Germany's University of Tübingen uncovered a "pylon" at the archaeological site of Athribis. This term refers to the monumental gateway of an Egyptian temple. The pylon at Athribis consists of two large towers flanking a central doorway. The main entrance to the suspected temple is thought to lie some distance after the pylon within the mountain, ... [Read More]

Nov 13th, 2024 - Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a "unique" prehistoric ceremonial site in southern Sweden that dates back to the Neolithic period, or New Stone Age. The unusual site, located in the municipality of Hammar in Skåne province, consists of a causewayed enclosure—a type of large, prehistoric earthwork—and a number of artifacts thought to be between 5,500 and 5,000 years old. These remains include intact ceramic vessels and large quantities of flint tools, not to ... [Read More]