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Archaeology

Researchers are still investigating who created the tunnel and why.

Cool Finds

Contractors Discover Forgotten Medieval Tunnel Beneath Welsh Garden

The passageway runs along a brook near Tintern Abbey, a 12th-century monastery on the border between Wales and England

Some of the animals—including this dog—were buried in pieces of pottery.

Cool Finds

Is This 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Burial Site the World’s Oldest Pet Cemetery?

Excavations show how humans treated cats, dogs and monkeys in first- and second-century Egypt

Ancient embalmers dipped a piece of red linen in a plant-based concoction before applying the cloth to the deceased's face.

Cool Finds

Oldest Known Mummification Manual Reveals How Egyptians Embalmed the Face

Prior to the find, researchers had only identified two ancient texts detailing the enigmatic preservation process

Some of the marks seen on the woman's skull predated her death, while others were likely left by natural forces following her burial.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Solve Mystery of 5,600-Year-Old Skull Found in Italian Cave

Natural forces moved a Stone Age woman’s bones through the cavern over time

An early 20th-century photo of the building in its original location on Prince George Street in Williamsburg, Virginia

University Building Identified as One of the U.S.’ First Schools for Black Children

The Williamsburg Bray School educated around 400 free and enslaved students between 1760 and 1774

The team speculates that ancient Romans used the vehicle for festivals, parades, weddings and other ceremonial events.

Cool Finds

‘Miraculously’ Well-Preserved Ceremonial Chariot Found at Villa Outside of Pompeii

The carriage’s intricate decorations include metal medallions depicting satyrs, nymphs and cupids

The newly restored artworks highlight predator-prey conflicts in the natural world.

Newly Restored Pompeiian Frescoes Capture Hunting Scenes in Vivid Detail

Researchers used a laser to clean the ancient artworks before retouching their faded sections

Six of the statues appear to depict Siddhartha Gautama, while five likely portray the Hindu deity and Buddhist bodhisattva Tara.

Cool Finds

Remnants of Tenth-Century Buddhist Monastery Found in India

The excavation uncovered statues of the Buddha and Tara, a prominent bodhisattva

Snow-covered outline of the Roman villa's foundations

Cool Finds

Remnants of Iron Age Settlement, Roman Villa Found in England

Excavations in Oxfordshire revealed traces of at least 15 ancient roundhouses and a dwelling dated to the third or fourth century A.D.

Chinchero is an agrarian town about 45-minutes outside of Cusco known for its striking landscape of snow-capped mountains and lagoons connected by a system of wetlands, as well as its Inca ruins and famous Sunday market.

The Uphill Battle to Stop Peru From Building a New Airport Near Machu Picchu

Opinions are divided in the agrarian town of Chinchero, where the airport is slated to open in 2025

A piece of bone labeled PP-00128 was thought to belong to a bear until DNA analysis revealed it came from a dog.

Ancient DNA Reveals the Oldest Domesticated Dog in the Americas

A 10,000-year-old dog bone was found in an Alaskan cave near a site with human remains

The kangaroo painting, shown alongside an illustration giving a clear view of the lines drawn by the artist, is Australia's oldest known rock art.

Cool Finds

17,000-Year-Old Kangaroo Painting Is Oldest-Known Australian Rock Art

Researchers were able to date the painting using a new technique involving wasps’ nests

The design is similar to marble sarcophagi found in what is now Marmara, Turkey.

Cool Finds

Construction at Israeli Safari Park Unearths 1,800-Year-Old Sarcophagi

First found 25 years ago, the limestone coffins—adorned with Greco-Roman symbols—were subsequently forgotten

An architect concealed and conserved the historic bathhouse while constructing a hotel on the site in the early 20th century.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 12th-Century Bathhouse Hidden in Spanish Tapas Bar

The Seville establishment’s owners uncovered traces of the historic structure while conducting renovations

Researchers are unsure whether the figurine is of Roman or Celtic origin.

Cool Finds

Did Early Britons Sport Mullets and Mustaches?

A first-century figurine found in England may reveal the ancient roots of a much-maligned hairstyle

Bogong moths were traditionally ground into pastes or cakes. Pictured here are a single moth (left) and thousands of moths resting on a rock (right).

Cool Finds

Aboriginal Australians Dined on Moths 2,000 Years Ago

The discovery of an ancient grindstone containing traces of the insect confirms long-held Indigenous oral tradition

Enemy combatants likely captured and bound the ruler before delivering a series of fatal blows.

CT Scans Suggest Egyptian Pharaoh Was Brutally Executed on the Battlefield

During the 16th century B.C., multiple Hyksos soldiers assaulted the captive Seqenenre-Taa-II, inflicting serious facial and head injuries

The bronze Cupid figurine carries a flaming torch.

Cool Finds

2,000-Year-Old Figurine of Roman Love God Cupid Found in England

Archaeologists say the petite statue, discovered ahead of construction of highway, may have been a religious offering

Rome's Basilica dei Santi Apostoli has housed bones said to belong to St. James and St. Philip since the sixth century A.D.

Bones Venerated as St. James the Younger’s Don’t Belong to the Apostle, Study Suggests

Researchers dated the femur fragments to between 214 and 340 A.D.—at least 160 years after the saint’s lifetime

The brewery “may have been built specifically to supply the royal rituals that were taking place inside the funeral facilities of the kings of Egypt,” says lead archaeologist Matthew Adams.

Cool Finds

World’s Oldest ‘Industrial-Scale’ Brewery Found in Egypt

Located in an ancient necropolis, the 5,000-year-old facility was capable of producing up to 5,900 gallons of beer at a time

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