Archaeology
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Let the Eurasian games begin
Ball sports were played much earlier than thought.
This area of northwest China may have been the venue for Eurasia’s oldest ball games. A team of Swiss, German and ...
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A tale of two cesspits
Why ancient intestinal health is important now.
Scientists have reported what they say is the first attempt to use the methods of ancient bacterial detection, pionee...
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A missing part of the rock art gallery
Newly described images show human-animal relationships.
Arnhem Land rock art is continuing to provide a window into Australia’s past, with scientists describing 572 previous...
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More surprises about Palaeolithic humans
Our ancestors traversed Europe earlier than thought.
New clues continue to unravel the compelling Palaeolithic mystery of modern human movements and the Neanderthal trans...
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Chromium steel first made in ancient Persia
Old manuscripts help new technology find the evidence.
Chromium steel, long considered a 20th century innovation, was in fact first made in Persia nearly a millennium earli...
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Important steps on the Arabian Peninsula
Ancient footprints may show how humans moved from Africa.
Around 120,000 years ago, someone trudged across the Arabian Peninsula, with horses, camels and even elephants. We do...
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Vikings weren’t who we thought
New DNA analysis could rewrite the history books.
The popular modern image of blond-haired Scandinavian Vikings has been upended by extensive ancient DNA analysis, pub...
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Literacy may have been widespread in Judea
Algorithms and observations reveal secrets of texts.
Literacy may have been much more widespread than thought in the ancient Kingdom of Judea, according to Israeli and US...
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Bones were keepers in Bronze Age Britain
Study discovers tradition of curating human remains.
British researchers have uncovered a Bronze Age tradition of retaining and curating human remains as relics over seve...
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Evidence for early arrival of humans in America
Two teams analyse artefacts from Mexican cave.
Humans may have reached the Americas 30,000 years ago – some 15,000 years earlier than previously thought – according...
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An ancient story of change and adaptation
Study fills gaps in history of Aboriginal Australians.
Archaeologists are continuing to unravel the complex history of Australia’s Aboriginal people, the world’s oldest civ...
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Understanding the allure of red ochre
Researchers dive into early Mexican history.
Red ochre was so valuable to the Paleoindians of the early Americas that they were willing to risk their lives to col...