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Subcategory: Archaeology
Scientists Discover Heart Disease in Ancient Egyptian Mummies
Nov 18 2009 - Voice of America News
An international team of scientists has discovered heart disease in ancient Egyptian mummies, dispelling the view that cardiovascular disease is an illness of modern humans.
UW Student Discovers Precious Gemstone
Sep 16 2009 - The Seattle Times
A University of Washington student on an archaeological dig in Israel has unearthed the find of a lifetime—a gemstone engraved more than 2,000 years ago with a portrait of Alexander the Great.
Computers Unlock More Secrets of the Mysterious Indus Valley Script
Aug 4 2009 - ScienceDaily
A statistical analysis reveals distinct patterns in ancient Indus symbols and creates a hypothetical model for the unknown language.
Images Reveal "Lost" Roman City
Jul 31 2009 - BBC News
Aerial photographs have revealed the streetplan of a lost Roman city called Altinum, which some scholars regard as a forerunner of Venice. Details of the research have been published in the journal Science.
Archaeologists Find Graveyard of Sunken Roman Ships
Jul 24 2009 - Reuters
A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a "graveyard" of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene.
Cave Record of Britain's Pioneers
Jul 16 2009 - BBC News
The Cheddar Gorge in Somerset was one of the first sites inhabited by humans when they returned to Britain toward the end of the last Ice Age. New radiocarbon dates on bones from Gough's Cave show people were living there some 14,700 years ago.
Untouched Tomb of Aztec King on Verge of Discovery?
Jul 14 2009 - National Geographic News
After nearly 30 years in the field, archaeologist Leonardo López Luján may be on the verge of the discovery of a lifetime: the only known tomb of an Aztec king.
Pope Says Tests "Seem to Conclude" Bones Are the Apostle Paul's
Jun 29 2009 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
The first scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul, the Roman Catholic saint, "seem to conclude" that they belong to him, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday. Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.
Oldest Pottery Found in China
Jun 3 2009 - BBC News
Examples of pottery found in a cave at Yuchanyan in China's Hunan province may be the oldest known to science.
Ancient Elite Island with Pyramid Found in Mexico
May 18 2009 - National Geographic News
An island for ancient elites has been found in central Mexico, archaeologists say. Among the ruins are a treasury and a small pyramid that may have been used for rituals.
Cache of Mummies Unearthed at Egypt's Lahun Pyramid
Apr 27 2009 - Reuters
Archaeologists have unearthed a cache of pharaonic-era mummies in brightly painted wooden coffins near Egypt's little-known Lahun pyramid, the site head said on Sunday.
Archaeologists Hunt for Cleopatra's Tomb
Apr 20 2009 - Reuters
High on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, buried deep under a temple to the goddess Isis, archaeologists believe the body of Queen Cleopatra may lie. The tomb of the Egyptian queen has never been found but archaeologists are discovering more evidence that Cleopatra's priests carried her body to the temple after her suicide.
Archaeologists Find Statues of Ancient Egypt King
Mar 5 2009 - Reuters
A team of Egyptian and European archaeologists have discovered two statues of King Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt roughly 3,400 years ago, the Supreme Council for Antiquities said Thursday.
30 Mummies Found in Newly Discovered Tomb in Egypt
Feb 9 2009 - Yahoo! News
A storehouse of 30 Egyptians mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb, in a new round of excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara outside Cairo, archeologists said Monday.
Pompeii Family's Final Hours Reconstructed
Dec 12 2008 - MSNBC
Italian researchers have reconstructed the last hours in Pompeii of a dozen people who managed to survive Mount Vesuvius' devastating eruption for more than 19 hours.
Shipwreck May Hold Key to Turks and Caicos' Lineage
Nov 26 2008 - Reuters
A pair of glass-eyed idols led marine archaeologists to the wreck of a Spanish ship that once carried an illegal cargo of African slaves believed to be the ancestors of many of today's inhabitants of the British colony of Turks and Caicos.
Discovery Questions Intelligence of Human Ancestor
Nov 19 2008 - National Science Foundation
A recently discovered female pelvis is changing minds about the head size of an ancient human ancestor, Homo erectus, and consequently revising notions about how smart they may have been.
Britain's Oldest Toy Found Buried with Stonehenge Baby?
Oct 23 2008 - National Geographic News
A carved animal figurine found buried alongside a prehistoric baby at Stonehenge may represent Britain's earliest known toy, researchers say. The unique chalk relic of a hedgehog or pig, thought to be at least 2,000 years old, was unearthed in September near the stone monument on southern England's Salisbury Plain.
Out of Africa, Across a Wet Sahara
Oct 16 2008 - ScienceNow Daily News
Modern humans arose in sub-Saharan Africa as early as 200,000 years ago, but our species did not venture beyond Africa until at least 80,000 years later. Just why they took so long to travel north is not clear, but many researchers have suggested that the bone-dry Sahara Desert was a major barrier to migrations from the south. Yet a new study indicates that the Sahara was crossed by wide rivers during a wet period that began about 120,000 years ago, providing a hospitable corridor for humans on the move.
Some Think Stumper Stonehenge May Have Been a Healing Ground
Sep 23 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
Stonehenge has puzzled generations of visitors. Was it a space observatory, a place for worshiping dead ancestors, a druid temple used for human sacrifice? A pair of English archaeologists have a bold new theory—that Britain's mysterious stone circle was a Bronze Age emergency room.
Rare Mass Tombs Discovered Near Machu Picchu
Sep 16 2008 - National Geographic News
Eighty skeletons and stockpiles of textiles found in caves near the ancient Inca site of Machu Picchu may shed light on the role that the so-called lost city of the Inca played as a regional center of trade and power, scientists say.
Ancient Amazon Cities Found; Were Vast Urban Network
Sep 4 2008 - National Geographic
Dozens of ancient, densely packed, towns, villages, and hamlets arranged in an organized pattern have been mapped in the Brazilian Amazon, anthropologists announced recently.
Ancient Pagan Temple Found in Israel
Aug 19 2008 - National Geographic News
Ruins of a pagan temple from the second century A.D. have been unearthed in the heart of a Jewish capital that existed during Israel's Roman period.
First Greek Mummy Once Led Privileged Life
Aug 11 2008 - Discovery.com
The first evidence of artificial mummification in ancient Greece lies in a lead coffin at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, according to a Swiss-Greek research team. Dating to 300 A.D., when the Romans ruled Greece, the partially mummified remains belong to a middle-aged woman.
Texas Archaeological Dig Challenges Assumptions about First Americans
Jul 7 2008 - Scientific American
Ancient stone artifacts reveal the day-to-day lives of Clovis people while offering tantalizing clues of an even earlier culture.
Did Humans Colonize the World by Boat?
May 20 2008 - Discover Magazine
Research suggests our ancestors traveled the oceans 70,000 years ago. New evidence raises the possibility that our modern human ancestors may have journeyed by raft or simple boat out of Africa 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, crossing the mouth of the Red Sea.
Breakthrough at Stonehenge Dig
Apr 9 2008 - BBC News
Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.
Giant Statue of Egypt Queen Found
Apr 2 2008 - National Geographic
An intact statue of Queen Tiye, a powerful queen from ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty, was recently discovered at the site of the mortuary temple of powerful pharaoh Amenhotep III. Experts said the statue is one of the best preserved at the site, ancient Egypt's largest temple complex that most believe was decimated in antiquity by massive earthquakes.
Stone Age Hand Axes Found at Bottom of North Sea
Mar 18 2008 - National Geographic
An amateur archaeologist has found an unprecedented collection of Stone Age hand axes among material collected at the bottom of the North Sea.
The Grim Story of Maya Blue
Feb 29 2008 - New York Times (requires free registration)
The vibrant sky color can be seen on pottery, murals, and other artifacts produced by the Maya people of Central America centuries ago and the unusual, durable pigment remains vibrant today long after other colors have faded away. It was also the color of Chaak, the rain god, and of human sacrifice.
Oldest Urban Site in the Americas Found, Experts Claim
Feb 28 2008 - National Geographic
A circular plaza found under an existing archaeological site in Peru could be the oldest known human-made complex in the New World, experts report. Initial analysis dates the ceremonial structure to around 3500 B.C., 500 years older than the current record holder, an ancient city named Caral, also in Peru.
5200 B.C. Is New Date for Farms in Egypt
Feb 12 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Archaeologists reported the discovery at a desert oasis of what they say is the earliest known farming settlement in ancient Egypt. They said the animal bones, carbonized grains, hearths, and pottery were roughly dated at 5200 B.C. Now, for the first time, the archaeologists said, early agriculture in Egypt can be studied in a village context, promising insights about the farmers and some answers to the questions of how, why, and when Egyptians adopted farming.
Rare Middle-Class Tomb Found From Ancient Egypt
Jan 25 2008 - National Geographic News
Archaeologists have unsealed the intact burial chamber of an ancient Egyptian official, providing a rare glimpse into the burial customs of the Old Kingdom's middle class. The relatively modest tomb, belonging to a fifth dynasty priest and politician named Neferinpu, was discovered in 2006 at Abusir, the ancient necropolis of the fifth and 26th dynasties, located near modern-day Cairo.
Where and Why Humans Made Skates Out of Animal Bones
Dec 27 2007 - Science Daily
Scientists have discovered that skates made of animal bones are the oldest human form of transportation. In a paper published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, researchers explained they are convinced that ice skates were first made as a way to limit the energy required for daily journeys. The scientists conducted their research on an ice rink in the Alps measuring the energy consumption of people skating on bones. Through mathematical models and computer simulations of 240 10-kilometer journeys, the research revealed that the use of bone skates in winter would have limited the energy requirements of Finnish people by 10%. However, a one percent difference was found in European countries.
Archaeologists Discover Ancient Beehives
Sep 5 2007 - ABC News
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry. The find includes remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax, and 30 intact beehives in the ruins of the city of Rehov. Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world who was not involved in the excavation, noted the find provided “a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping.”
Programs to Focus on Lunar Science
Jun 22 2007 - Moon Daily
NASA has selected proposals that will focus on future lunar science activities. The space agency has also established two new programs that will enhance research made possible by the Vision for Space Exploration. Some of the funded efforts will enable scientists to better understand the lunar dust that creates problems for astronauts on the moon. Other studies will provide an enhanced understanding of the moon’s interior, examine natural resources on the lunar surface, and use lasers to provide precise information about the position of the moon and its features.
Scientists Search for Clues into Lake Disappearance
Jun 22 2007 - Aljazeera.net
Scientists are searching for clues into the disappearance of a glacial lake in Chile. “They were very surprised to see that the lake had disappeared, Juan Jose Romero, regional director of the National Forest Corporation of Chile (Conaf) told Chile’s Radio Cooperativa. “We are not talking about a small lake. It was quite large.” Conaf has asked geologists to investigate what may have caused the lake to dry up. Romero said that it would take experts about two or three weeks to reach the remote area, which is south of the capital Santiago.
On the Horizon: News From the Frontiers of Science
Jun 8 2007 - Christian Science Monitor
Science teachers who may have missed some of this week’s important science stories can catch-up with this article. Stories provided discuss how researchers have unearthed the first concrete evidence of a Polynesian presence in South America before the European arrival, a drought that revealed native American pottery and bones, and a voyage to a deep lake.
Scientific Treasure Found in Junk Pit
Feb 15 2007 - Nature News
When the owners of a restaurant in the historic British city of Canterbury dug the foundations for an extension to their period property, they may have hoped to find an old coin or two. Instead, they unearthed a rare scientific find: a complex astronomical calculator for telling time and calculating latitude.
Roman Shipwreck Dazzles Scientists
Nov 14 2006 - CBS News
A shipwrecked first-century vessel carrying delicacies to the richest palates of the Roman Empire has proved a dazzling find, with nearly 2,000-year-old fish bones still nestling inside clay jars, archaeologists said Monday.
Ancient Shell Beads Could Be First Sign of Modern Culture
Jun 23 2006 - Scientific American
Three bead-like shells from ancient Israel and Algeria suggest that human behavior involving self-expression occurred 25,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study. The findings challenge the idea that modern humans developed cultural symbols only after they arrived in Europe. “Our paper supports the scenario that modern humans in Africa developed behaviors that are considered modern quite early in time, so that in fact these people were probably not just biologically modern, but also culturally and cognitively modern, at least to some degree,” said Francesco d’Errico, a member of the research team.
Ancient Fig Find May Push Back Birth of Agriculture
Jun 1 2006 - National Geographic News
Scientists say an assortment of 11,400-year-old figs found in Israel may be the fruit of the world’s earliest form of agriculture. Archaeologists from Israel and the United States say the find suggests Stone Age humans may have been cultivating fruit trees a thousand years before the domestication of cereal grains and legumes, such as peas and beans. Scientists had previously thought the oldest cultivated fruits were olives and grapes that were found in the eastern Mediterranean.
Copernicus Unearthed?
Nov 7 2005 - Nature News
Polish archaeologists think the skull and bones they excavated last year in a Polish church are probably the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy. Archaeologists have mounted a search for the grave of Copernicus’ maternal uncle, Lukas Watzenrode. Scientists hope a genetic comparison of Watzenrode and Copernicus’ bones will help confirm their effort. But only a DNA test will ultimately settle the case, asserts Jerzy Gassowski, an archaeologist at the Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology, who led the excavation.
Scientists Unearth Ancient Noodle Dish
Oct 12 2005 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
And you thought your leftovers were old. Scientists have unearthed a 4,000 year-old bowl of noodles at an archaeological site in western China. The find is possible proof for the argument that the Chinese invented pasta before Italians. "Chinese people say Marco Polo brought noodles from China back to Italy and Italians say they had noodles before that,” noted Lu Houyuan, a researcher with the Institute of Geology in Beijing who studied the ingredients of the preserved pasta. "All this has been based on documentary material, on personal accounts and menus. But we've been unable to find any actual material until now."
Scientists to Begin Studying Kennewick Man
Jun 29 2005 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
After nearly a decade of court battles, scientists plan to begin studying a 9,300-year-old skeleton called “Kennewick Man.” Four Northwest Indian tribes had opposed the study, claiming the skeleton could be an ancestor who should be buried. The Interior Department and Army Corps of Engineers had sided with the tribes. A federal judge backed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, however, that researchers could study the bones to determine how the man died and to find clues to prehistoric life in North America. The bones were discovered in 1996 on a Columbia River bank near Kennewick, Washington.
Darwin's Beagle Ship 'Found'
Feb 27 2004 - BBC News
A group of scientists have located what they believe are the remains of a ship that ferried Charles Darwin across the globe. Researchers will have a challenging time finding the remains of the HMS Beagle since they are embedded in five meters of mud near Potton Island and funding for the recovery has yet to be secured. Archaeologists note, however, the site could be explored with a camera or in other ways.
Scientists Getting to Bottom of Black Sea Mystery
Jul 21 2003 - MSNBC
Archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert and other scientists plan to go on the first-ever expedition to excavate ancient ships and a possible human settlement left mummified in the Black Sea. Academics and experts worldwide will watch the expedition live and might be called on to comment on any discoveries made by those taking part in the historic trip. The $5 million two-week expedition will begin July 27, 2003.
Dairy Farming Old and New
Jan 28 2003 - Scientific American
Britons harvested milk as early as 6,000 years ago, according to a new report published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists at the University of Bristol examined more than 950 pieces of dirty dishes located from various archaeological sites in Britain to make their discovery. This finding provides the “first direct evidence…that the exploitation of animals for milk was already an established practice at the time farming arrived in Britain in the late fifth millennium B.C,” scientists said.
New Study Fuels Debate Over Human Origins
Mar 7 2002 - National Geographic
A new genetic study is challenging prevailing views on the evolutionary history of our species. According to the study, the modern human lineage evolved in Africa, spreading to other continents in at least three major waves: the first about 1.7 million years ago, another around 600,000 years ago, and again at roughly 95,000 years ago. Significantly, the study contends that the anatomically modern people (Homo sapiens) who left Africa in the third wave interbred with archaic humans who had migrated earlier from Africa. This view challenges the so-called Out of Africa replacement model, which holds that emigrants from Africa completely replaced the archaic Eurasians they encountered. "We are all genetically intertwined into a single long-term evolutionary lineage," the lead author said. Read more...
DNA Tests Yield Old West "Bonanza"
Feb 26 2002 - MSNBC -- AP
Archaeologists in Virginia City, Nevada, are extracting DNA residue from historical artifacts (such as syringes) to help historians gain a better glimpse into daily life on the Western frontier. Significantly, experts believe the dig marks the first time human DNA has been extracted from artifacts other than human remains. And so far, what researchers have uncovered tells a far different story of frontier life than what is usually portrayed in Hollywood Westerns...
Sulphuric Acid Could Wreck Wreck
Feb 21 2002 - Nature
Sometimes, you just need to let sunken ships lie. That's the lesson being learned by a Swedish museum, where a restored wreck known as the Vasa is being ravaged by a chemical reaction between the air and the sulphur the wooden vessel soaked up while buried undersea. The case underscores the difficulties of preventing rapid decay in wooden artifacts whey they are removed from their preserving sediments. There is a silver lining to this story, however: Archaeologists have decided the problem is so interesting that they have chosen to make Vasa's decay part of an exhibition that opens in Stockholm this week.
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