All articles tagged with #archaeology
A new analysis of Qafzeh 25, a 92,000–145,000-year-old fossil from Israel, reveals a healed cut across the lower left jaw. Researchers say the injury most likely resulted from interpersonal violence, making it one of the oldest known cases of violence among early humans and shedding light on social care and funerary practices in ancient communities.
A Norwegian metal detectorist mistook a 900-year-old silver coin for a button, only for researchers to confirm it as a rare Magnus Barefoot-era artifact (1093–1103). Found near Utstein Monastery, the coin’s copper-backed side was turned into jewelry, and X-rays revealed a griffin paired with a cross-over-cross motif—one of only four known examples of this design. The find, one of about 100 coins from Barefoot’s reign, sheds new light on late Viking-Age minting and Barefoot’s high-silver standard before his death in 1103.
In Colchester, UK, a 2nd‑century CE fossil pit yielded an ichthyosaur spinal bone that a Romans-era collector tucked among pottery and spoons; paleontologists say this is the oldest known example of deliberate ichthyosaur fossil collecting, suggesting Romans may have curated fossils perhaps influenced by Greek myths about sea monsters, with a roughly 1,800‑year gap before similar discoveries.
A Turkish cave dig at Üçağızlı II shows Neanderthals (from ~77,000 years ago) and early modern humans (from ~59,000 years ago) occupied the site and maintained similar stone tools, hunting practices, and ornamental shells like Columbella rustica for as long as 20,000 years, suggesting regular cultural exchange in the Levant, even though remains weren’t found in the same sediment layer; dating was done via optically stimulated luminescence and the findings were published in PNAS.
A study of Üçağızlı II Cave in southern Türkiye finds Neanderthals and modern humans cohabiting and sharing cultural practices—tools, hunting strategies, and a symbolic mollusk shell—over more than 20,000 years, suggesting a deep exchange of knowledge during their coexistence in Eurasia.
A new analysis cautions that the uneven distribution of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans cannot prove romantic attraction or social life between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The proposed 'partner preference' is a possible, not definitive, explanation, with biology, migration, and sex-biased demography also at play. Archaeology from El Sidrón suggests female mobility (patrilocality), while Goyet hints at violence or cannibalism, showing that social structures can shape genetic signals. Overall, genetics alone can’t reconstruct Neanderthal society and must be interpreted alongside archaeological and anthropological context.
Archaeologists analyzing Üçağızlı II Cave on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast found Neanderthals (roughly 77,000–59,000 years ago) and later Homo sapiens (roughly 59,000–47,000 years ago) left strikingly similar hunting strategies, stone-tool technologies, and even shell ornaments, suggesting long-term cultural continuity and likely information exchange between the two groups in the Levant corridor. The findings, published in PNAS, imply that Neanderthals and early modern humans shared cultural practices in the region, rather than undergoing a clear cultural turnover despite biological turnover.
Scientists retrieved ancient human DNA from calcite crusts on cave walls and pigment on rock art across 11 caves in Spain and Portugal, a first that could someday help identify the artists behind prehistoric paintings. DNA was found in 24 painted panels, though only a few samples yielded usable ancient DNA, and ages are uncertain—likely at least a couple of thousand years old. The DNA may have been deposited via saliva or fluids during art creation, and some samples from unpainted cave areas also contained human DNA. While it raises exciting possibilities, researchers caution that it isn’t yet sure the DNA belongs to the artists, and future work will refine methods and expand sampling to more sites.
Archaeologists have uncovered a well-preserved 1,600-year-old Byzantine-era city near Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis, featuring a basilica, a city grid and two watchtowers, along with 18 tombs at Marina el-Alamein and bronze coins, inscriptions and other artifacts, highlighting life in the Byzantine period and bolstering Egypt’s tourism and UNESCO listing efforts.
Archaeologists revealed a well-preserved Byzantine-era residential city at the Dakhla Oasis and at Marina el-Alamein near Alexandria, including a mid-fourth-century basilica, watchtowers, house-church remains, ovens, tools, and hundreds of artifacts such as bronze and gold coins and octraca inscriptions, offering new insights into daily life and commerce in Byzantine Egypt as the country eyes a tourism revival.
Archaeologists near Aarhus, Denmark, uncovered 82 pit houses forming a large, specialized Viking textile workshop complex dating to the 7th–10th centuries, with a complete production chain and finds (loom weights, spindle whorls, beads, internationally circulated coins) indicating extensive trade networks and a highly developed economy beyond warfare.
The Nebra sky disc, a 32 cm Bronze Age bronze-and-gold disk with a sun, crescent, and 32 gold dots (including a seven-star cluster likely the Pleiades), is regarded by researchers as the world’s oldest concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena. Found by looters in Germany in 1999 and recovered in a 2002 Basel/Rhine sting, it now rests in Halle and was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World. Dating relies on indirect evidence due to looting (no soil layers were recorded), with a central debate: whether it dates to about 1600 BC (Bronze Age) or possibly the first millennium BC (Iron Age). Its meaning is also debated—whether it’s a precise star map or a symbolic sky-almanac used to track solar and lunar cycles.
Archaeologists uncover a well-preserved fourth-century Byzantine city in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis, featuring a basilica, residential streets and daily-life artifacts; separately, 18 tombs at Marina el-Alamein near Alexandria — bringing the site total to 48 — and a granite sarcophagus with associated finds, illuminate urban planning, trade and funerary practices in Byzantine and Greco-Roman Egypt.
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed a well-preserved Byzantine-era residential city at the Dakhla Oasis, including a mid–fourth-century basilica, streets and dwellings, with watchtowers and everyday life artefacts. Nearby Marina el-Alamein yielded 18 tombs (bringing the site’s total to 48) and a cache of coins, Latin inscriptions, and Christian symbols, along with writing fragments that illuminate ancient commerce. Officials say the discoveries could boost Egypt’s tourism as the sector recovers, and the Dakhla Oasis site is on UNESCO’s Tentative List.
Space headlines dominate this week: the James Webb Space Telescope detects a mysterious, unknown molecule in Pluto and Titan’s atmospheres, and Hubble spots unusual light from a distant galaxy. On Earth, China’s Great Green Wall has 66 billion trees growing faster than natural forests, for reasons researchers are still exploring. Archaeology sees a breakthrough as ancient-DNA analysis reveals malaria killed two Medici brothers, solving a 500-year-old murder mystery. The roundup also touches on related science news, from solar-storm protection ideas and CERN’s Large Hadron Collider upgrades to other advances in science and health.