Archaeology

Mummified remains of baboons in Egypt found over a century ago have long puzzled researchers. The primates were not native to Egypt and had their canine teeth removed before being preserved. New findings show the baboons may have spurred the creation of historic trade routes that shaped the world. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for…

Enlarge / Spy satellite images taken by the CIA during the Cold War have revealed hundreds of Roman forts across the Fertile Crescent. J. Casana et al./US Geological Survey Back in the early days of aerial archaeology, a French Jesuit priest named Antoine Poidebard flew a biplane over the northern Fertile Crescent to conduct one…

A drought in an Amazon river has revealed prehistoric carvings reminiscent of modern emojis.The carvings represent faces smiling or scowling. It's not clear who made the carvings, but they are thought to be 2,000 years old. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the…

Enlarge / Detail from left panel of the Melun Diptych (circa 1455) by medieval French painter and miniaturist Jean Fouquet. The strangely shaped rock in the lower right hand corner is most likely a Stone Age handaxe, a recent analysis concluded.Public domain Around 1455, a medieval French painter and miniaturist named Jean Fouquet painted a…

Enlarge / Detail from left panel of the the Melun Diptych (circa 1455) by medieval French painter and miniaturist Jean Fouquet. The strangely shaped rock in the lower right hand corner is most likely a Stone Age hand ax, a recent analysis concluded.Public domain Around 1455, a medieval French painter and miniaturist named Jean Fouquet…

Enlarge / Artist's depiction of Neanderthals after taking down a lion.Julio Lacerda/NLD Neanderthal hunters living 48,000 years ago in what is now Germany killed a large cave lion in what might be the earliest example of lion hunting yet known, according to a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. Gabriele Russo of the…

A mysterious millennia-old slab sat undisturbed in storage for more than a century.  Scientists found it was a gigantic map, likely used by a Bronze Age prince to rule the area. They now want to use this "treasure map" to uncover lost archaeological sites.  Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in…

Enlarge / The first words have been deciphered on a charred ancient scroll: "πορφυρας" which means "purple dye" or "cloths of purple."Vesuvius Challenge/University of Kentucky Hundreds of badly charred ancient Roman scrolls found in a Roman villa have long been believed to be unreadable, but a 21-year-old computer science student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln…

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Enlarge / The Pyramid of Sahura in Abusir, Egypt.Mohamed Ismail Khaled Over a century after a British archaeologist noted a blocked passageway in the ruins of Sahura's Pyramid in Egypt and suggested it might lead to additional rooms, a team of Egyptian and German archaeologists have cleared out that passageway to prove the archaeologist right.…