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Archaeology

This lidar scan shows the epicenter of the city, where its largest buildings stood.

Cool Finds

Researchers Thought It Was Just a Fortress. It Turned Out to Be a Lost Zapotec City

Lidar scans have revealed a 600-year-old fortified city in southern Mexico that boasted ball courts, roads, neighborhoods and temples

Some argue that the statue depicts an unnamed philosopher, rather than Marcus Aurelius.

A Looted Bronze Statue That May Depict Marcus Aurelius Is Returning to Turkey

The repatriation comes after years of legal disputes over the true identity and provenance of the 6-foot-4 artwork, which has been housed at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Pottery shards helped researchers identify the tomb as Thutmose II's.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Discovered the First Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh’s Tomb Since Tutankhamun’s in 1922

Researchers initially thought the tomb belonged to a royal wife. Then they unearthed fragments of alabaster jars that identified it as Thutmose II’s

The left wall features a painting of men and women dancing around a flute player.

Cool Finds

Vivid Wall Paintings Unearthed at a 2,500-Year-Old Etruscan Necropolis in Italy

Found beneath an older tomb near Tarquinia, the painted chamber depicts several intricate scenes, including a metallurgical workshop

The bronze gadget helped filter out large grains and pulp.

Cool Finds

This 1,600-Year-Old Filter Helped Ancient Drinkers Sip Beverages Through a Straw

Archaeologists discovered an unusual bronze artifact studded with holes while excavating the ancient city of Hadrianopolis in Türkiye

The ring dates to between 1650 and 1750.

Cool Finds

This 17th-Century ‘Lovers’ Ring’ Unearthed in England Is Marked by a Romantic Inscription

Found near a historic property in Lancashire, the ring represents a history of affectionate gifts

Researchers estimate the women were buried with more than 270,000 disc-shaped beads.

New Research

Why Were These Women Buried With More Than 270,000 Beads?

At a 5,000-year-old tomb in Spain, researchers found what is likely the largest known collection of beads ever discovered at a burial site

Diver Chris de Putron inspects the wreck of the German submarine UC-18, which sank off the Channel Islands in February 1917.

How Britain’s Secret Decoy Ships Outfoxed German U-Boats During World War I

Divers recently discovered the wreck of a German submarine and the Royal Navy Q-ship that sank it in February 1917

A section of the basilica's wall

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth the Ruins of a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Basilica Beneath an Office Building in London

The remarkably well-preserved basilica was part of a public meeting place where citizens and politicians could socialize, shop and hear speeches in the growing city

The scientists recorded dozens of scents, which they broke down into four categories, including embalming ingredients and odors from plant oils used by modern museum conservators.

Discover the Aromas of Ancient Egyptian Mummies, From Orange Peels to Pine to Incense

A new, first-of-its-kind analysis of the scents of nine mummies detected woody, spicy, herbal and rancid notes, among other odors

The 13 adults discovered at the site appear to have be positioned in a similar way: seated, with their backs resting against the eastern wall of a pit.

Why Were All of These Bodies Buried Sitting Upright and Facing West More Than 2,000 Years Ago?

Archaeologists are still unraveling the mysteries of an unusual burial site in Dijon, France, which dates to between 450 and 25 B.C.E.

Photographer Wayne Martin Belger created these striking platinum palladium prints by exposing the negative onto a paper coated with platinum and palladium salts, producing a special sharpness and subtlety. Belger built this vintage-style view camera specifically for this story, crafting the body from local Arizona mesquite and juniper and installing a late-19th-century French landscape lens in front, to give the prints a timeless feel. Belger calls it his “Tséyi” camera.  

How Canyon de Chelly Brought a Photographer Back to Life

Wayne Martin Belger set out to make indelible photos of a mystical site on the Navajo Nation. First he needed to relearn how to walk

A selection of artifacts unearthed at the Hezingen site

Cool Finds

Elite Germanic Pagans Buried ‘Devil’s Money’ as Offerings for Their Gods at This Ancient Cult Site

Researchers excavated the deposits of coins and jewelry in the Netherlands, near the German border

A view of Tse Yaa Kin’s central tower complex, constructed around the end of the 13th century A.D.

For Centuries, Indigenous People Lived in These Desert Canyons. Now, New Technology Reveals Extraordinary Details About This Sacred Site

In the Arizona desert, researchers are learning so much more about the peoples who have inhabited this land since antiquity

Teeth from humans who belonged to the Pavlovian culture show unexpected signs of wear.

New Research

Did These Ice Age Europeans Wear Cheek Piercings?

Wear patterns on the teeth of skeletons found in Central Europe suggest children as young as 6 may have been wearing labrets between 25,000 and 29,000 years ago

A metal detectorist discovered the Galloway Hoard in a ploughed field in Scotland in 2014.

A Proposed Translation Hints at the Origins of the Mysterious Galloway Hoard

Discovered in a field in Scotland in 2014, the Viking Age “community property” is now the focus of a new exhibition in Australia

Maszycka Cave in southern Poland, where archaeologists unearthed 18,000-year-old bones that show evidence of human manipulation

Butchered Human Remains Found in a Polish Cave Suggest These Prehistoric People Cannibalized Their Enemies

The bones and skulls were found strewn among animal remains, a burial that was meant to humiliate a conquered rival even after defeat

The 3,000-year-old clay relic at the heart of the British contest recorded the military victories of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I.

The Mystery of the World’s Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It

In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

X-ray images of the neck and cheek guards from a Roman helmet discovered at Løsning Søndermark

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover a Stash of 1,500-Year-Old Weapons—Including the Only Known Roman Helmet Ever Found in Denmark

The cache included swords, spears, lances and chainmail. Researchers think these items may have been buried as part of a ceremony or sacrifice

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is a major tourist attraction.

Experts Are Alarmed by a Video of Workers Hammering Away at Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza

Some citizens and archaeologists are concerned about what they see as widespread “mismanagement” of Egypt’s rich cultural heritage

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