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Archaeology

Archaeological artifacts as well as bone fragments up to 5,000 years old were discovered at two Spanish homes.

Police Discover Hundreds of Stolen Artifacts at Two Spanish Residences

The collection includes bones, Paleolithic tools, an ancient Roman loom and more

A cave painting of an extinct cattle species from Lascaux, France, with markings on its back.

Could These Cave Markings Be the Earliest Form of Writing?

New research proposes that symbols in 20,000-year-old cave drawings are a proto-writing system, but not all scientists are convinced

An image created using lidar data shows the structures at Aguada Fénix, in Mexico.

Mesoamericans Have Been Using a 260-Day Ceremonial Calendar for Millennia

New research has the earliest evidence yet of when the timekeeping guide was used to mark the seasons

Archaeologists have only unearthed half of the Viking hall so far and plan to continue their dig later in 2023.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Viking Hall in Denmark

The structure may have been used for political meetings or other community gatherings

Archaeologists used a remotely operated vehicle called Deep Trekker to explore the H.M.S. Erebus site.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Recover 275 Artifacts From Mysterious Arctic Shipwreck

Explorer John Franklin and his 128 crew members disappeared while searching for the Northwest Passage in the 1840s

A copy of a Greek inscription, made by laying wet paper or plaster over carved stone to create a mirror-image impression.

How an Unorthodox Scholar Uses Technology to Expose Biblical Forgeries

Deciphering ancient texts with modern tools, Michael Langlois challenges what we know about the Dead Sea Scrolls

Our ten-most read stories of the year featured the all-woman army of the African kingdom of Dahomey, mischievous felines, J.R.R. Tolkien and more.

Our Top Ten Stories of 2022

From a teen inventor to invasive fish to lost cities of the Amazon, these were our most-read articles of the year

Fascinating finds unveiled in 2022 ranged from a 2,000-year-old statue of a dog to colorful sarcophagi at Saqqara to a Qing dynasty vase.

Cool Finds

Ninety-Six Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2022

The year’s most exciting discoveries included hidden portraits by Cézanne and van Gogh, sarcophagi buried beneath Notre-Dame, and a medieval wedding ring

A team led by Laurits Skov and Benjamin Peter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology sequenced nuclear, mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA of 13 Neanderthal individuals. From these sequences, they determined that two of the Neanderthals represent a father-daughter pair and that another two are cousins.

Fourteen Discoveries Made About Human Evolution in 2022

Smithsonian paleoanthropologists reveal the year’s most riveting findings about our close relatives and ancestors

The cave once belonged to a wealthy Jewish family before becoming a Christian pilgrimage site

What’s Within the Burial Cave Dedicated to Jesus’ Midwife?

Archaeologists in Israel are excavating the site that was popular among pilgrims more than a millennium ago

Microwear traces on a Bronze Age tool used for smoothing or polishing

New Research

Unearthed Near Stonehenge, This Toolkit Was Used for Goldwork 4,000 Years Ago

The toolkit was discovered in 1801—but until recently, researchers didn’t understand its purpose

After 30 years of research, a Greek archaeologist can tell today’s fishery biologists how bountiful the Mediterranean Sea once was.

Unearthing the Original Mediterranean Diet

An archaeologist works to find out how much fish ancient Greeks ate

Archaeologists discovered the sarcophagi beneath the floor of the Notre-Dame cathedral's transept.

Unraveling the Secrets of the Sarcophagi Found Beneath Notre-Dame Cathedral

Archaeologists are learning more about the two men buried under the iconic Paris landmark

The five-button work pants recovered from the S.S. Central America

Cool Finds

These Pants Were Pulled From an 1857 Shipwreck. Are They the World’s Oldest Jeans?

After more than a century at the bottom of the ocean, the garment fetched $114,000 at auction

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass is leading a push to repatriate the Rosetta Stone, the Dendera Zodiac and the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt.

History of Now

Who Gets to Tell the Story of Ancient Egypt?

On the eve of the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, some of the country’s artifacts, from the Rosetta Stone to the bust of Nefertiti, remain overseas

Volunteers and archaeologists dug a trench to reveal more about the mysterious wooden structure emerging from the sand.

Cool Finds

Hurricanes Reveal 19th-Century Shipwreck Hidden Beneath Florida Beach

After two recent storms, a mysterious structure began to emerge

Israel isn’t the first country where fingerprints found during archaeological research have elicited curiosity and spurred questions about who left them behind.

What Fingerprints Tell Us About Jerusalem’s Ancient Artisans

In an unusual collaboration, archaeologists in Israel are working with police to analyze prints left on fifth- or sixth-century pottery shards

A photo of the necklace discovered in England, alongside a depiction of what it may have once looked like

Cool Finds

Necklace Unearthed in Medieval Woman’s Grave Is a ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime Discovery’

Researchers say the woman may have been an early Christian leader with a large fortune

Archaeologists found fruit, nuts and other snacks in the sewers beneath the Colosseum.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find 1,900-Year-Old Snacks in Sewers Beneath the Colosseum

Spectators at Rome’s ancient amphitheater enjoyed olives, figs, nuts and more

Inside the wedding ring's band is an inscription in French that translates to "I hold your faith, hold mine.”

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorist Finds Medieval Wedding Ring in Near-Perfect Condition

Discovered five inches underground, the rare 14th-century artifact could sell for $47,000

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