Particle accelerator unearths surprises hidden with 2000-year-old mummy
Thanks to a bit of help from a particle accelerator, scientists have discovered an unusual amulet interred with a 2000-year-old mummy. Image: Stuart R Stock
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Tag: archaeology
3000-year-old leather balls found in graves may be for ancient sport
The first ball games in Eurasia may have been played 3000 years ago, according to a new analysis of three leather balls unearthed in an ancient cemetery in northern China. One of the men buried with a leather ball also sported the world’s earliest known pair of trousers, which he may have worn while playing. Image: Patrick Wertmann
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500-year-old remains may be first African woman to reach the Americas
A 15th-century skeleton buried at the first European settlement in the Americas probably belonged to an unknown African woman, an analysis of her teeth suggests. The woman died in her mid-20s, within about five years of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas. Image: smashz
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Ancient teenager buried with head poking out of strange Spanish grave
At the Humanejos site, 20 kilometres south of Madrid, there are about 100 ancient tombs. None is quite as strange as grave 31. Inside the 1.2-metre-deep grave, the body of a 15-year-old youth was placed, sitting upright. He was then partially buried, leaving his head and shoulders exposed to the elements. Image: A.M. Herrero-Corral, et al.
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Controversial cave discoveries suggest humans reached Americas much earlier than thought
Archaeologists excavating a cave in the mountains of central Mexico have unearthed evidence that people occupied the area more than 30,000 years ago — suggesting that humans arrived in North America at least 15,000 years earlier than thought. Image: Devlin A. Gandy
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Ancient nomadic warrior women may have inspired the Mulan legend
Ancient remains found in the Mongolian steppe suggest that the story of the female warrior Mulan may have been inspired by real Xianbei women who rode horseback and probably also used bows and arrows. Image: Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.
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We may have started keeping lapdogs as pets 2000 years ago
An archaeological excavation in southern Spain has uncovered the 2000-year-old remains of a lapdog that may have been born thousands of kilometres to the east, a discovery that hints at a long-distance trade in lapdogs across the Roman world. Image: Martin Sánchez et al
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Ancient well may be the world’s oldest wooden architectural structure
A handful of oak-lined water wells built by Europe’s first farmers have earned the title of the world’s oldest surviving wooden architecture. Now, one of the earliest of the oak structures has been precision dated using the tree rings in the wood, and it provides evidence that Europe’s first farmers may also have been keen on recycling. Image: Michal Rybní?ek/Mendel University
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Playing with tools—and weapons—was a ‘normal’ part of prehistoric childhood
Prehistoric children may have been cherished by their parents—but until recently, they’ve been neglected by many archaeologists, who assumed that childhood is simply about toys and games. Now, a new study adds to the growing literature that prehistoric children were hard workers. Image: Robert Losey
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North America’s first English settlers were unlucky scientists
The first English people to settle permanently in the Americas included early scientists, known as “chymists”, who battled hunger and disease in an ill-fated bid to find and mine gold. Image: Marcos Martinón-Torres
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The first Americans: The untold story of the pioneers of the New World
Some 15,000 years ago, a small band of pioneers stood on the threshold of a new world. To the south were the Americas, 40 million square kilometres of virgin territory including wide-open prairies, dense rainforests and high mountain chains. An epic journey was about to begin – but only because a remarkable adventure had just ended. Image: TFM
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New species of human discovered in a cave in the Philippines
Archaeologists say Luzon in the Philippines was once home to a mysterious human species that it has named Homo luzonensis. The discovery raises a question: did further human species evolve on other islands in the region? Image: Callao Cave Archaeology Project
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