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Archaeology

Members of Ho-Chunk Nation and the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa help clean the 3,000-year-old canoe found in Lake Mendota.

3,000-Year-Old Dugout Canoe Recovered From Wisconsin Lake

Archaeologists believe it’s the oldest canoe ever found in the Great Lakes region

The pink granite sarcophagus of Ptah-M-Wia, an important official during the reign of Ramses II

Cool Finds

Sarcophagus of Ramses II’s Chief Treasurer Discovered at Saqqara

Egyptian archaeologists unearthed the empty, 3,200-year-old coffin of Ptah-M-Wia, a high-ranking New Kingdom official

Female Figure

Who Were the Painters of Pompeii?

A new exhibition explores the ancient Roman “pictores,” who created beautiful frescoes preserved in ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption

Some of the 14th-century B.C.E. vessels found at the Tel Yehud burial site

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Earliest Known Opium Use

At a burial site in Israel, pottery from the 14th century B.C.E. contained traces of the drug

The current drought reveals lost items from earlier, wetter times, like this sunken boat near Iceberg Canyon.

America's Waterways: The Past, Present and Future

The Breathtaking Glen Canyon Reveals Its Secrets

Water woes threaten America’s second largest reservoir—but leave new vistas in their wake

Palestinian farmer Salman al-Nabahin cleans the mosaic he uncovered in Gaza.

Cool Finds

Palestinian Farmer Unearths Byzantine-Era Mosaic While Planting Olive Trees

The stunning, colorful flooring depicts 17 iconographies of birds and animals

Earlier this week, American investigators returned a looted rare quarter shekel silver coin to Israel.

Ancient Coin Made in Defiance of Roman Rule Returns to Israel

U.S. officials found the stolen coin at a Denver auction in 2017

The uncovered skeleton shows where the lower left leg was amputated at the tibia and fibula.

Earliest Known Amputation Was Performed in Borneo 31,000 Years Ago

Prehistoric hunter gatherers carried out the surgery thousands of years before the previous recognized example

An anonymous couple found the trove of coins while renovating their house in 2019.

Cool Finds

U.K. Couple Finds Rare Gold Coins During Home Renovations

The money pieces, which date from 1610 to 1727, are expected to fetch as much as $288,000 at auction next month

The Alfred Merlin, France’s new high-tech underwater archaeological exploration ship

Archaeologists From Eight Countries Team Up to Explore the Skerki Banks

Coordinated by Unesco, the project will examine the underwater site between Sicily and Tunisia

Ignacio Mundo measures one of the ship’s ribs

Can Tree Rings Solve the Mystery of a 19th-Century American Shipwreck?

A wreck off the coast of Argentina is likely a Rhode Island whaling vessel from the 1850s

Tourists visit the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul in 2020.

Archaeologists Call on Unesco to Protect the Hagia Sophia

The sixth-century site has suffered increased vandalism and damage in recent years

The Dolmen of Guadalperal, nicknamed the “Spanish Stonehenge,” is now visible because of Europe’s ongoing drought.

Europe’s Drought Is Revealing Historic Artifacts

World War II-era warships, the ‘Spanish Stonehenge’ and other remnants of the past are emerging from the continent’s waterways

Sahelanthropus likely walked on the ground and used all its limbs to move around in trees.

Seven Million Years Ago, the Oldest Known Early Human Was Already Walking

Analysis of a femur fossil indicates that a key species could already move somewhat like us

At American Fossil Quarry, on privately owned land near Kemmerer, Wyoming, hammer- and chisel-wielding visitors pay $69 to $89 to spend up to four hours hunting for fossils. Finders, keepers.

The 50-Million-Year-Old Treasures of Fossil Lake

In a forbidding Wyoming desert, scientists and fortune hunters search for the surprisingly intact remains of horses and other creatures that lived long ago

Some of the artifacts discovered in Israel

Cool Finds

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover Hundreds of Ancient Dice Used for Divination—and Gaming

Made from animal bones, the artifacts are more than 2,000 years old

Archaeologists pose near the inscription found on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee

Cool Finds

Did Archaeologists Find Saint Peter’s Birthplace?

An inscription uncovered at the site of an ancient church offers new evidence

Archaeologists excavate the remains of friars buried at the former Augustinian friary in central Cambridge.

Why Were Medieval Monks So Susceptible to Intestinal Worms?

Friars in Cambridge, England, suffered from these parasites at nearly double the rate found among average unwashed citizens

James Cook, who began his famous voyage on the Endeavor in 1768

Shipworms Are Eating a Wreck That Could Be Captain Cook’s ‘Endeavour’

Marine biologist Reuben Shipway is sounding the alarm about the so-called termites of the sea

Mastodon skeletons stand on display at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor.

Cool Finds

Construction Crews Stumble Upon Mastodon Skeleton in Michigan

The massive animal was likely between 10 and 20 years old when it died roughly 12,000 years ago

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