Articles tagged as Ancient Civilizations

A guard patrolling the ruins of Nimrud in 1995

Digitally saving 3D models is the only way to offset some lost cultural artifacts

May 22, 2015

Cool Finds

Ancient Pit Home Unearthed in a Salt Lake City Suburb

Spear points and other artifacts found in the 1,500-year-old home

May 7, 2015

Illustration of a Greek vase shows Dionysus leading three revelers toward likely hangovers

Cool Finds

Recently Translated Papyrus Details 1,900-Year-Old Hangover Cure

Those disappointed by the effectiveness of this 1,900-year old remedy can instead peruse the eye surgery techniques in other ancient texts

April 23, 2015

This pyramid in Lima, Peru was built by the Wari civilization, who pre-dated the Incas. Now Lima is proposing using another Wari innovation, a series of waterways called 'amunas,' to stem the city's ongoing water crisis.

Cool Finds

Ancient Tech Could Help Solve Lima’s Water Crisis

Turns out Peru’s Wari people were excellent urban planners…and their 1,500-year-old ‘amunas’ could soon bring water to Lima

April 10, 2015

New Research

Northern Europeans Were Not So Sold on Farming

A new study of ancient beads shows “an enduring cultural boundary” between northern and southern Europe during the Neolithic Age

April 9, 2015

In an eerie green hue, this upside-down Medusa head threatens to turn onlookers to stone. The color seems to come partly from a slick covering of algae.

Europe

Two Eerie Medusa Heads Watch Over Turkey’s Waterways

Why the Greek monster stares out from an ancient cistern in Istanbul

April 8, 2015

Cool Finds

Here’s What the Apostles Ate at the Last Supper

Beans, charoset, and unleavened bread

April 2, 2015

New Research

Why These Stone-Age Farmers Took the Flesh Off Their Dead

New research shows evidence of an early burial rite

March 30, 2015

Methuselah the Judean Date Palm is still going strong even after sprouting from a 2,000-year-old seed.

Cool Finds

Tree Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed Has Reproduced

Age doesn’t have much on this rare piece of greenery sprouted from a seed discovered in an ancient Israeli site

March 26, 2015

New Research

You Can Thank the Ancient Maya for Your Grocery Store’s Papaya

New research suggests the Mesoamerican civilization was responsible for first cultivating the hermaphrodite version of the plant favored by growers

March 19, 2015

The mysteries surrounding Stonehenge persist.

Trending Today

Did Stonehenge Hold Up a Giant Stage?

A new theory poses that the prehistoric structure could have been something like an “ancient Mecca on stilts”

March 17, 2015

Controversy surrounds the recent announcement of a re-discovered ancient settlement in the jungles of Central America

March 13, 2015

At the Batadomba-lena rock shelter in Sri Lanka, scientists found evidence that humans were living off rainforest resources as early as 20,000 years ago.

Anthropocene

Humans Relied on Rainforest Riches 12,000 Years Earlier Than Thought

Fossil remains suggest that prehistoric people in Sri Lanka may have eaten monkeys and other forest species

March 12, 2015

A mummified corpse of a Chinchoro girl between 4,000 and 8,000 years old gets a cleaning.

New Research

Saving the World’s Oldest Mummies From Rot in a Warmer, Wetter World

Why are the ancient bodies of the Chinchorro people stored in a Chilean museum rapidly degrading into black ooze?

March 10, 2015

Global outcry after ISIS razes 3,000-year-old archaeological site with bulldozers

March 6, 2015

A view of the dense Honduran rain forest.

Cool Finds

Amazing Ruins of a Long Lost City Discovered in Honduras

A scientific expedition into the depths of the Honduran rain forest discovered a lost city

March 3, 2015

Mexico City's growth is similar in some ways to that of the 15th century Aztec capital that once stood there.

New Research

Modern Cities Grow the Same Way As Ancient Ones

Scientists find that despite time and location, the productivity of settlements grows faster than their populations

February 23, 2015

Cool Finds

Get Ready for a Taste of the Byzantine Empire’s Favorite Wine

Scientists hope the discovery of 1,500-year-old grape seeds may help resurrect the historically famous “Wine of the Negev”

February 16, 2015

An example of a pot used by the ancient Maya

Chocolate Week

What We Know About the Earliest History of Chocolate

We’ve learned things that could help today’s artisan chocolatiers improve their trade

February 12, 2015

The naturally mummified body of Ötzi is seen in a cooling chamber at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano.

New Research

The 61 Tattoos of Ötzi, the 5,300-Year-Old “Iceman”

Scientists have mapped the body art of one of archeology’s biggest super stars in hopes to better understand the role tattoos played in early civilization

January 27, 2015