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Ancient Civilizations

Experts believe the Neolithic dog is the first canine to undergo forensic facial reconstruction

Thanks to Facial Reconstruction, You Can Now Look Into the Eyes of a Neolithic Dog

The collie-sized canine was buried in a cavernous tomb on Scotland’s Orkney Islands around 2,500 B.C.

New Research

Computer Analysis Says ‘Beowulf’ Is the Work of a Single Author

Academics have argued about the origins of the Old English epic for two centuries

A recently uncovered thermopolia in the ruins of Pompeii.

Trending Today

Recently Uncovered Thermopolium Reminds Us That Romans Loved Fast Food as Much as We Do

Similar snack counters dug up throughout Pompeii were once destinations for on-the-go Romans looking for a quick bite

A new study looks at the role “pro-social” religions play in fostering large-scale societies

New Research

Which Came First, Vengeful Gods or Complex Civilizations?

A new study pushes back against the hypothesis that moralizing gods were necessary to keep large societies civil

A 2,325-year-old bog butter weighing almost 30 pounds, alongside the keg it was found in.

Bronze Age Irish ‘Bog Butter’ Is Actually Made From Dairy, Study Finds

It previously was not clear whether the strange swampy snack originated from milk or animal fats

The bluestone quarry at Carn Goedog.

New Research

Secrets of Stonehenge Found in Quarries 180 Miles Away

Archaeologists believe the builders popped out “ready-made” bluestones at a quarry in Wales and dragged them overland to Salisbury

Researchers examine porcelain from the Java Sea Ship wreck using their "ray gun."

New Research

How an ‘X-Ray Gun’ Is Telling Us More About the Java Sea Shipwreck

Researchers used X-ray fluorescence to find the origins of porcelain recovered from the vessel to help pinpoint which port the ship first departed from

New Research

Was Alexander the Great Pronounced Dead Prematurely?

A new theory suggests he was only paralyzed when he was declared dead, but it’s impossible to prove he had Guillain-Barré Syndrome with the existing facts

Mansa Musa as seen in the Catalan Atlas.

Cool Finds

New Exhibition Highlights Story of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived

Read about Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, who once disrupted Egypt’s economy just by passing through

Trending Today

Oops: 4,500-Year-Old Stone Circle Turns Out to Be 1990s Replica

Discovered in Scotland last November, the recumbent circle was made by a local farmer interested in the ancient monuments

Cool Finds

Easter Island Statues May Have Marked Sources of Fresh Water

A spatial analysis of the island’s moai and ahu seem to line up with ancient wells and coastal freshwater seeps

Cool Finds

Egyptian Schoolboy’s 1,800-Year-Old Lesson to Go on Display

The British Library took the exercise out of storage as part of an upcoming exhibition on the history of writing

What Llama-Poop-Eating Mites Tell Us About the Rise and Fall of the Inca Empire

Lake-dwelling mite populations boomed at the height of the Andean civilization but dropped following the arrival of Spanish conquistadors

In this 2018 photo provided by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH, a skull-like stone carving and a stone trunk depicting the Flayed Lord, a pre-Hispanic fertility god depicted as a skinned human corpse, are stored after being excavated from the Ndachjian–Tehuacan archaeological site in Tehuacan, Puebla state, where archaeologists have discovered the first temple dedicated to the deity.

Archaeologists Find First-Known Temple of ‘Flayed Lord’ in Mexico

While the rituals associated with the site may not be entirely clear, identifying the ruins of a temple to the deity Xipe Tóte is an important discovery

Cool Finds

Recently Deciphered 4,500-Year-Old Pillar Shows First Known Record of a Border Dispute

The marble stele, held in the British Museum’s collections for 150 years, also includes the first known use of the term “no man’s land”

New Research

No, Wait, This Is the Real Ava, a Bronze Age Woman From the Scottish Highlands

New DNA evidence drastically changes the image of the young woman buried in Caithness 4,250 years ago

Several of the newly identified stone tools – unearthed from a museum collection.

A Fresh Look at These Stone Tools Reveals a New Chapter of Ancient Chinese History

Archaeologists thought these ancient tools, 80,000 years old at least, were brought to China by migrants—but now it appears they were invented locally

Cool Finds

Mini Terracotta Army Unearthed in China

A Han Dynasty-era pit includes 300 soldiers, guard towers, farm animals and everything else a noble might need in the afterlife

Trending Today

No, Archaeologists Probably Did Not Find a New Piece of the Antikythera Mechanism

A bronze disc found near the shipwreck last year is likely not a cog wheel from the ancient Greek astronomical proto-computer

Cool Finds

It’s True: Ancient Gauls Embalmed the Severed Heads of Their Enemies

Chemical analysis shows that ancient accounts of the warriors preserving heads using pine resin are accurate

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