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Archaeology

Outside the Colosseum's southern wall, newly constructed marble slabs indicate where tall columns once supported two arcades.

At the Colosseum, New Marble Slabs Mark Where Towering Columns Stood Thousands of Years Ago

Crowds once mingled below two tall arcades supported by 164-foot-tall columns. But due to earthquakes and unstable foundations, these architectural elements collapsed long ago

The entrance to the cellar was found beneath the golf course.

Cool Finds

A Groundskeeper Noticed a Sinkhole on a Golf Course. It Turned Out to Be a Wine Cellar Full of Empty Bottles, Untouched for More Than 100 Years

The cellar is located near the 13th hole of a course at the Davyhulme Park Golf Club in England. Staffers think it was previously part of a manor that was torn down in 1888

The three-foot-long iron sword is covered in sediment and shells.

Cool Finds

This Diver Stumbled Upon a Centuries-Old Sword Beneath the Mediterranean Sea. Years Later, He Found Another One Nearby

Shlomi Katzin, who unearthed a 900-year-old sword in 2021, recently discovered a similar artifact jutting out of the seabed off the coast of Israel

Fifteen amphorae were found inside the Blue Room.

New Research

The Brilliant Blue Paint Covering This Lavish Room in Ancient Pompeii May Have Cost More Than Half the Annual Salary of a Roman Foot Soldier

Researchers have estimated how much the home’s owners may have paid to paint the small sacrarium, calculating the price of the Egyptian blue pigment and the hours of labor required to prepare it

Font-de-Gaume's artworks were discovered by a teacher in a nearby village in September 1901.

New Research

These Mesmerizing Cave Paintings Were Discovered in 1901. Now, Archaeologists Finally Know When Some of Them Were Created

Researchers had long assumed the art inside Font-de-Gaume in France was made with pigments that couldn’t be analyzed using radiocarbon dating. Then they discovered traces of charcoal

One of the plaster casts on display in the new exhibition

Haunting Casts Preserving Pompeii Victims’ Final Moments 2,000 Years Ago Go on Display in a Solemn New Exhibition

Since 1863, archaeologists have made more than 100 plaster casts, which show how victims died after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. A new exhibition displays 22 of the best-preserved examples

A pottery vessel analyzed for the study

New Research

Scientists Discover Microscopic Traces of Leaves, Seeds and Toxic Berries on Pots Used by Stone Age Cooks Thousands of Years Ago

Hunter-gatherers in Europe carefully selected ingredients and cooked complex foods, often pairing fish with specific plants, according to a new study

This Late Bronze Age spearhead mold was found in 2007 in a garden in the Czech Republic.

Cool Finds

A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

The rectangular object dates to around 1350 B.C.E. and was likely created by members of the Central European Urnfield culture

Kat Baxter, curator of archaeology and numismatics for Leeds Museums and Galleries, poses with the 2,000-year-old coin.

Cool Finds

Someone Used This Mysterious Coin as Bus Fare in the 1950s. It Turned Out to Be 2,000-Year-Old Currency Minted by the Phoenicians

A public transit official working for the city of Leeds found the coin while counting bus and tram fares. Now, his grandson has donated it to Leeds Museums and Galleries

When tickets went on sale for the “Pokémon Fossil Museum" exhibition, eager fans overwhelmed the Field Museum’s website.

This Museum Is Using Pokémon to Teach Visitors About Fossils. Fans Are Waiting for Hours to Snag Tickets

“Pokémon Fossil Museum” in Chicago compares “fossil Pokémon” from the popular franchise to the real-world creatures they’re based on

A 2,000-year-old inscription by Cikai Korran

Cool Finds

This Traveler From India Graffitied His Name on Five Ancient Tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings 2,000 Years Ago

Researchers have discovered 30 inscriptions written in Indian languages, which provide new evidence that visitors from India spent time in Egypt between the first and third centuries C.E.

Researchers investigated 112 decorated ostrich eggshell fragments discovered at three sites—two in South Africa and one in Namibia.

New Research

These Intricately Decorated Ostrich Eggshells Suggest Our Ancestors May Have Understood Basic Geometry 60,000 Years Ago

The lines, right angles and other mysterious designs required careful planning and robust cognitive abilities, according to a new study

Researchers dubbed one experiment involving a roughly one-foot-tall crystal "The Monolith" in honor of Stanley Kubrick's iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Chimps Seem to Love Crystals. Their Attraction Might Help Explain Humans’ Obsession With the Shimmering Stones

Hominins have been collecting calcite and quartz for at least 780,000 years. A new study hints at why

The timbers and hull planks emerged on a beach in Studland Bay after Storm Chandra.

Shipwreck Timbers Appeared on a Beach After a Storm. They Had Been Buried Beneath the Sand Since the 17th Century

Experts think the newly unearthed timbers may have come from the “Fame,” an armed Dutch merchant vessel that sank off the Dorset coast in 1631

The Roman stone pictured with pieces that were not found with the artifact.

New Research

This Ancient Roman Game Board Was a Mystery. Researchers Used A.I. to Figure Out How to Play

The limestone oval is carved with a dark, thin rectangle on which ancient people repeatedly moved game pieces

Archaeologists discovered the bottle while excavating Alta's historic Water Street, which was a bustling thoroughfare during the town's silver mining heyday.

Cool Finds

What Does This 150-Year-Old Bottle of Mystery Booze Taste Like? Fruity, With a Hint of Leather

Experts in Utah recently sipped the murky liquid, which was found during excavations at a historic ski area

Researchers think some of the footprints were made by barefoot humans roughly 2,000 years ago.

Cool Finds

A Couple Walking Their Dogs Noticed 2,000-Year-Old Footprints on the Beach. They Were Visible for Just Days Before Waves Erased Them Forever

Archaeologists raced to document the semi-fossilized tracks in eastern Scotland. They were likely made by humans, deer and other animals during the late Iron Age

The team analyzed 260 engraved objects discovered in caves in what is now southwest Germany, including this 40,000-year-old mammoth figurine.

New Research

Humans May Have Used These Mysterious Symbols to Encode Information Tens of Thousands of Years Before the First Writing Systems

The symbols, discovered on 40,000-year-old artifacts in caves in southwest Germany, may have been a precursor to the first written language

A full-scale reconstruction of the 1738 Fort Mose was built in 2025 after decades of planning and archaeological research.

The Little-Known Story of the Enslaved Africans Who Found Freedom in the European Fight Over North America

Long before the famous Underground Railroad, those seeking freedom from slavery traveled on foot, by boat and under cover of darkness to Fort Mose in Spanish-controlled Florida

An artistic representation of the burial event at Gomolava

A Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia Hints at a Violent Iron Age Massacre That Targeted Women and Children

A new analysis of human remains found more than 50 years ago reveals fresh insights about culture clashes in prehistoric Europe

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