News without the noise
Archaeology, fossils and human origins: what the ground keeps turning up about where we came from.
12 articles
Archaeologists working at a 13,800-year-old site in interior Alaska have unearthed what may be the oldest dwelling ever found in the Western Hemisphere, along with thousands of artifacts that include the possible earliest domesticated dog bones and earliest needles in the Americas, as well as stone tools linking the site to cultures across the Bering Land Bridge.
A Neanderthal who died 75,000 years ago from a spear wound through the chest was carefully laid to rest by their kin in Shanidar Cave, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The remains, unearthed in 2020, preserve a puncture in the shoulder blade consistent with a wooden spear that likely pierced the heart, making it possibly the earliest known lethal spear attack on a human relative.
A Neanderthal who died around 75,000 years ago may have been killed by a sharpened wooden spear that pierced the chest and exited through the left shoulder blade, according to researchers. The discovery, in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, could be the earliest known case of lethal interpersonal violence with such a weapon.
An oddly circular hole in a Neanderthal's shoulder blade could be the oldest known evidence of a human-like ancestor being killed by a wooden spear, according to research published today in Scientific Reports. The study of the 75,000-year-old remains, known as Shanidar A, also reveals signs of dental injury and care, offering a complex picture of Neanderthal life.
Turkey's Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has officially announced the discovery of what is believed to be the world's oldest shipwreck, a Bronze Age vessel dating back 4,700 years, found off the coast of Kekova Island in southern Antalya. The announcement confirms that underwater excavations have uncovered ceramic storage jars providing concrete evidence of early maritime trade across the eastern Mediterranean.
A University of Sydney team using LiDAR-equipped drones has discovered three previously unknown Aboriginal rock shelters hidden beneath dense bush in the Blue Mountains, a fraction of the vast world heritage area, raising hopes that hundreds or even thousands of ancient Indigenous sites could be identified across the region.
Archaeologists have identified a fourth-century Roman fort in Pembrokeshire, Wales, that appears to support a medieval legend that the emperor Magnus Maximus pitched camp in the Preseli Hills. Coins from the period found at the newly discovered site suggest the tale, told in the Mabinogion, was rooted in reality.
A remarkable collection of Neanderthal wooden tools has been discovered preserved as hollow molds in limestone at the Abric Romaní rock shelter in Spain, offering an unprecedented window into the everyday lives of our ancient cousins. The find, described in Science Advances, includes 597 wooden remains spanning from 62,000 to 40,000 years ago, featuring not only spears and digging sticks but also bark trays, parts of shelters, and a club of a type previously unknown, challenging long-held views of Neanderthal sophistication.
A drone-mounted LiDAR survey has uncovered three previously unrecorded ancient Indigenous shelters in Australia, the first results from a non-invasive digital archaeology project led by Dr Jacob Bongers of the University of Sydney.
The Australian Museum will display a cast of Patagotitan mayorum, considered the largest dinosaur to have walked the Earth, in Sydney this summer as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations. At almost 38 metres long and an estimated 70 tonnes in life, the Cretaceous giant from Argentina's Patagonia will take up virtually the entire touring exhibition hall.
A fresh analysis of skulls excavated from early Egyptian tombs in the 1920s has found that over one-third bear signs of blunt force trauma, offering new support for the long‑debated practice of retainer sacrifice during the First Dynasty. The findings, published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, could shift the centuries‑old argument over whether servants and officials were killed to accompany their pharaohs into the afterlife.
Court officials and craftspeople serving Egypt's earliest pharaohs may have been ritually sacrificed when their ruler died, according to new research that identified fractures in skulls from the royal cemetery of Umm el-Qa'ab near Abydos. The study, published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, re-examined remains excavated in the 1920s and provides physical evidence long sought by Egyptologists.