Archaeology news, features and articles

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Hominin skull shape animation gif.
When did Homo sapiens first appear? What's the oldest fossil evidence humans have for our species?
A large Egyptian bust of a pharaoh in a museum
The 3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian statue of Ramesses II said to have inspired Percy Shelley's 'Ozymandias' This statue of an Egyptian pharaoh is said to have inspired the English poet Shelley to write his famous poem "Ozymandias."
A colorful embroidered scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the death of King Harold
Bayeux Tapestry: A 1,000-year-old embroidery depicting William the Conqueror's victory and King Harold's grisly death A long roll of cloth embroidered with key scenes from British history is a unique medieval chronicle.

Latest about Archaeology

Four backlit people bend over and pick up items from the beach of the Thames at low tide, with buildings in the background

People have been dumping corpses into the Thames since at least the Bronze Age, study finds

By Kristina Killgrove published

A new study of human remains dredged from the Thames River reveals that people frequently deposited corpses there in the Bronze and Iron ages.

Archaeology
Sketch done by da Vinci of a castle in the lower left-hand corner and a man in the top half of the drawing

Mysterious tunnels sketched by Leonardo da Vinci in 1495 may finally have been discovered — hidden under a castle in Milan

By Kristina Killgrove published

Researchers may have found the hidden tunnels beneath a castle in Milan that Leonardo da Vinci sketched in 1495.

Archaeology
a close-up of a runic inscription on a silver armband

'Fascinating' Viking Age inscription reveals who owned immensely valuable 'Galloway Hoard'

By Tom Metcalfe published

A newly deciphered inscription suggests the immense "Galloway Hoard" found in Scotland over a decade ago was held in common.

Archaeology
A picture of a coin hoard with many gold and silver coins

Early-medieval stash of 'devil's money' found at cult site in the Netherlands

By Tom Metcalfe published

Researchers think the site in the Netherlands may have been used for pagan worship in reaction to the spread of Christianity.

Archaeology
A carved piece of walrus bone in the shape of goggles with narrow slits at the eyes and incised decorations sits on a thin cylindrical stand against a grey background

Thule snow goggles: 1,000-year-old Arctic eyewear carved from walrus tusks

By Kristina Killgrove published

These carved snow goggles were a necessary accessory for Arctic existence centuries ago.

Archaeology
On the left, a human jaw is shown in occlusal (chewing) view; only three molars remain in the back. On the right, a fragment of a left human scapula is shown within a white outline of the bone; there appears to be a label stuck to it.

Ancient Europeans ate the brains of their dead enemies 18,000 years ago, researchers discover

By Kristina Killgrove published

A study of skeletons from a cave in Poland has revealed widespread evidence of cut marks and fractures suggestive of cannibalism.

Archaeology
Skulls of two Australopithecus africanus specimens are highlighted against a black background. The left-hand skull is that of a young child with round eye orbits and smooth skull, while the right-hand skull is that of an adult, with wide orbits, a projecting jaw, and a rough skull.

In a 1st, ancient proteins reveal sex of human relative from 3.5 million years ago

By Kristina Killgrove published

Researchers have extracted ancient proteins from australopithecine fossils and determined whether they were male or female — a first for human evolution studies.

Archaeology
Two people standing in front of a cliff, looking at the different colored lines of soil running horizontally

11,000-year-old settlement in Canada could rewrite history of Indigenous civilizations in North America

By Kristina Killgrove published

The discovery of an 11,000-year-old village in Saskatchewan could rewrite Indigenous history in central Canada.

Archaeology
A photograph of the Herculaneum scroll, PHerc. 172, which was buried by Mount Vesuvius' eruption 2,000 years

'Incredible moment in history:' Particle accelerator and AI offer first peek inside 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scroll

By Patrick Pester published

A 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scroll buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is filled with lost words that scholars can now decipher thanks to AI and a particle accelerator.

Romans
A researcher points to a fissure in the ceiling of a cave in Spain that held a Roman coin.

1,900-year-old Roman sanctuary and coin found in flooded Spanish cave

By Sascha Pare published

Archaeologists discovered ancient Roman inscriptions and a 1,900-year-old coin wedged between rock formations while exploring a cave called the Cova de les Dones in eastern Spain.

Romans
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