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Cool Finds

Six humanoid figures with animal features surround an anoa, a small type of buffalo, in a 44,000-year-old Indonesian cave mural.

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Indonesian Cave Art May Represent World’s Oldest Known Hunting Scene

The finding bolsters the idea that even 44,000 years ago, artistic ingenuity was shaping cultures across the Eurasian continent

In 2010, researchers excavating this young woman's grave discovered a waxy cone atop her head.

Cool Finds

Ancient Egyptian Head Cones Were Real, Grave Excavations Suggest

Once relegated to wall paintings, the curious headpieces have finally been found in physical form, but archaeologists remain unsure of their purpose

This turtle was rescued from Cape Cod's frigid waters in November.

Why Do ‘Cold-Shocked’ Sea Turtles Keep Washing Up Onto Cape Cod?

A new study pinpoints some of the factors that may lead to regular strandings of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle

The shield was buried alongside a 2,000-year-old chariot drawn by two horses.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Celtic Warrior Grave Complete With Chariot, Elaborate Shield

One expert hailed the shield as “the most important British Celtic art object of the millennium”

The two cracked eggs emitted a "sulfurous aroma" during excavation.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Crack the Case of 1,700-Year-Old Roman Eggs

Two of the eggs broke open during excavation, but one remains intact

A sonar image of the S.M.S. Scharnhorst, which sank in the south Atlantic on December 8, 1914

Cool Finds

German Ship Sunk During WWI Found Off Falkland Islands

Archaeologists started searching for the “Scharnhorst” on the centenary of the 1914 battle

Trending Today

This Electric Eel Is Shocking Around the Christmas Tree

The Tennessee Aquarium’s internet-famous eel, Miguel Wattson, is powering Christmas lights in the exhibit

The capsule dissolves into a star-shaped device that slowly releases the hormone levonorgestrel over the course of a month.

Once-a-Month Birth Control Pill Seems to Have Worked in Pigs. Are People Next?

Scientists used a device that sits in the stomach and slowly releases hormones into the body

More than 30 tattoos are scattered across this female mummy's skin.

Cool Finds

Infrared Reveals Egyptian Mummies’ Hidden Tattoos

The mummies of seven women found at Egypt’s Deir el-Medina site bear tattoos including crosses, baboons and hieroglyphics

Some soldiers (although not necessarily the ones pictured here) dyed their lighter locks to avoid appearing washed out in photographs.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Hair Dye Bottles Used by Self-Conscious Civil War Soldiers Posing for Portraits

Hair-do it for the gram

The Cosmic Crisp apple

Meet ‘Cosmic Crisp,’ a New Hybrid Apple That Stays Fresh for a Year

Proponents have called it “the Beyoncé of apples”

Scenes from the dig under the Jaques Cartier Bridge

Archaeologists Unearth 19th-Century Kiln That Fired Up Pipes for Montreal’s Smokers

The city was once a prominent center of Canada’s pipe-making industry

Cool Finds

Was This 18,000-Year-Old Puppy Frozen in Siberian Permafrost the Ancestor of Wolves, Dogs or Both?

DNA tests on the well-preserved remains can’t determine whether the little canine was wild or domestic

The rook in question certainly wasn't the first chess piece ever created, but it may be the oldest found to date.

Cool Finds

Is This Chess Piece Unearthed in Jordan the World’s Oldest?

The two-pronged rook, found in a seventh-century trading post, shows how quickly the game spread across the Islamic world

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing rising in direct correlation with the crown's increasing demands.

Cool Finds

Elizabeth I’s ‘Idiosyncratic’ Handwriting Identifies Her as the Scribe Behind a Long Overlooked Translation

The Tudor queen wrote in an “extremely distinctive, disjointed hand,” says scholar John-Mark Philo

The newly discovered Viking ship

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Use Georadar Tech to Find Buried Viking Ship in Norway

Researchers say the vessel is probably more than 1,000 years old

Via Getty: "A group of young women in traditional costumes play Galician music with bagpipes, tambourines and drum in the historic center during the San Froilan festivities on October 6, 2019 in Lugo, Galicia, Spain."

Scientists Show Humans May Share a ‘Musical Grammar’

Across 60 cultures, songs sung in similar social contexts have shared musical features

A cat statue is displayed after the announcement of a new discovery carried out by an Egyptian archaeological team in Giza's Saqqara necropolis.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Reveal Rare Mummified Lion Cubs Unearthed in Egypt

CT scans identified two of five mummified big cats as young lions, but the remaining animals’ identities remain unclear

Artist's illustration of the 8th-century Viking man's burial

Cool Finds

Unusual Viking Grave Includes Nested Boats Buried 100 Years Apart

Archaeologists don’t know why the two vessels were buried on top of one another, but the practice may be linked with property rights

Cool Finds

Researchers Discover Secret Breeding Ground of World’s Most Endangered Crocodile

Over 100 recently-hatched gharials were found deep in Nepal’s Bardia National Park

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