Ancient Civilizations News

December 23, 2024

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Butchered Bones Suggest Violent 'Othering' of Enemies in Bronze Age Britain

Dec. 16, 2024 — Analysis of the remains of at least 37 individuals from Early Bronze Age England finds they were killed, butchered, and probably consumed before being thrown down a 15m-deep shaft. It is the largest-scale example of interpersonal violence from ...

Getting to the Bottom of Things: Latrine Findings Help Researcher Trace the Movement of People and Disease

Dec. 6, 2024 — A researcher has uncovered evidence of intestinal parasites in a 500-year-old latrine from Bruges, Belgium, and while the finding may induce queasiness in some, it is expected to provide important ...

Iberian Neolithic Societies Had a Deep Knowledge of Archery Techniques and Materials

Dec. 5, 2024 — A research team has made exceptional discoveries on prehistoric archery from the early Neolithic period, 7,000 years ago. The well organic preservation of the remains of the Cave of Los Murcielagos ...

DNA of 1,000 Year-Old Maize Sheds Light on Origins of Globally Important Food Crop

Dec. 5, 2024 — Researchers have tested ancient DNA from corn found at archaeological sites in Arkansas, shedding new light on the dispersal of one of the world's most important food ...

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Unique Insights Into Lives of People Who Lived Over 5,600 Years Ago Near Kosenivka, Ukraine

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study sheds light on the lives of people who lived over 5,600 years ago near Kosenivka, Ukraine. Researchers present the first detailed ...

We Might Feel Love in Our Fingertips But Did the Ancient Mesopotamians?

Dec. 4, 2024 — A multidisciplinary team of researchers studied a large body of texts to find out how people in the ancient Mesopotamian region (within modern day ...

How Did Humans and Dogs Become Friends? Connections in the Americas Began 12,000 Years Ago

Dec. 4, 2024 — A new study sheds light on how long humans in the Americas have had relationships with the ancestors of today's dogs -- and asks an 'existential ...

Herodotus' Theory on Armenian Origins Challenged by First Whole-Genome Study

Nov. 25, 2024 — Armenians, a population in Western Asia historically inhabiting the Armenian highlands, were long believed to be descendants of Phrygian settlers ...

Innovating Archaeology: Scholars Utilize Immersive 3D Tech to Document and Study the Human Past

Nov. 21, 2024 — Archaeology studies the human past through the excavation of things people made and used thousands of years ago -- from architecture to objects like ...

Scientists Use Ancient DNA to Shed Light on Adaptation of Early Europeans

Nov. 19, 2024 — Leveraging a unique statistical analysis and applying it to ancient DNA extracted from human skeletal remains, a team of researchers has revealed new insights into how ancient Europeans adapted to ...

The Chilling Sound of the Aztec Death Whistle

Nov. 19, 2024 — The Aztec skull whistle produces a shrill, screaming sound. A study shows that these whistles have a disturbing effect on the human brain. The Aztecs may have deliberately used this effect in ...

Egyptians Drank Hallucinogenic Cocktails in Ancient Rituals, Study Confirms

Nov. 15, 2024 — Scholars for the first time identified chemical signatures of the components of a liquid concoction contained in a Bes mug. A new technique helped identify a sample flavored with honey, sesame seeds, ...

Genetic Legacy of Jomon Hunter-Gatherers Linked to Increased BMI in Modern Japanese, Study Finds

Nov. 14, 2024 — New research exploring the roots of modern Japanese populations has linked the genetic signature of Jomon hunter-gatherers to a higher body mass ...

12,000-Year-Old Stones May Be Very Early Evidence of Wheel-Like Technology

Nov. 13, 2024 — A collection of perforated pebbles from an archaeological site in Israel may be spindle whorls, representing a key milestone in the development of rotational tools including wheels, according to a ...

DNA Evidence Rewrites Story of People Buried in Pompeii Eruption

Nov. 7, 2024 — Researchers have used ancient DNA to challenge long-held interpretations of the people of Pompeii. Contrary to physical appearances, the DNA evidence revealed unexpected variations in gender and ...

Indigenous Cultural Burning Has Protected Australia's Landscape for Millennia, Study Finds

Nov. 1, 2024 — Ancient cultural burning practices carried out by Indigenous Australians limited fuel availability and prevented high intensity fires in southeastern Australia for thousands of years, according to ...

The 'Urban Revolution' Was Slow in Bronze Age Arabia

Oct. 30, 2024 — Settlements in northern Arabia were in a transitional stage of urbanization during the third to second millennium BCE, according to a new ...

Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

Oct. 29, 2024 — Researchers used laser-guided imaging to uncover vast unexplored Maya settlements in Campeche, Mexico, revealing more than 6,500 pre-Hispanic structures, including a previously unknown large city ...

'Well-Man' Thrown from Castle Identified from 800-Year-Old Norse Saga

Oct. 25, 2024 — A passage in the Norse Sverris Saga, the 800-year-old story of King Sverre Sigurdsson, describes a military raid that occurred in AD 1197, during which a body was thrown into a well at Sverresborg ...

World's Oldest Cheese Reveals Origins of Kefir

Sep. 25, 2024 — Scientists successfully extracted and analyzed DNA from ancient cheese samples found alongside the Tarim Basin mummies in China, dating back approximately 3,600 years. The research suggests a new ...

Insights Into South African Population History from 10,000-Year-Old Human DNA

Sep. 19, 2024 — Ancient DNA has provided spectacular insights into human history, particularly in Europe and Asia, where researchers have reconstructed the genomes of thousands of people. However, fewer than two ...

Early Dingoes Are Related to Dogs from New Guinea and East Asia

Sep. 18, 2024 — New archaeological research has discovered for the first time clear links between fossils of the iconic Australian dingo, and dogs from East Asia and New ...

Study Reveals Isolation, Endogamy and Pathogens in Early Medieval Spanish Community

Aug. 28, 2024 — An archaeogenetic study sheds new light on the isolated medieval community Las Gobas in northern Spain. Besides isolation and endogamy, the researchers have also identified the variola virus which ...

House Call: A New Study Rethinks Early Christian Landmark

Aug. 13, 2024 — Since its discovery by modern researchers a century ago, an ancient structure known as the 'Christian building' has become widely considered the cornerstone of early Christian architecture. ...

Carvings at Ancient Monument May Be World's Oldest Calendars

Aug. 6, 2024 — Markings on a stone pillar at a 12,000 year-old archaeological site in Turkey likely represent the world's oldest solar calendar, created as a memorial to a devastating comet strike, experts ...

Nanoscopic Imaging Aids in Understanding Protein, Tissue Preservation in Ancient Bones

July 23, 2024 — A pilot study shows that nanoscopic 3-D imaging of ancient bone not only provides further insight into the changes soft tissues undergo during fossilization, it also has potential as a fast, ...

First Ever 3D Reconstruction of 52,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth Chromosomes Thanks to Serendipitously Freeze-Dried Skin

July 11, 2024 — An international research team has assembled the genome and 3D chromosomal structures of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth -- the first time such a feat has been achieved for any ancient DNA sample. ...

The Plague May Have Caused the Downfall of the Stone Age Farmers

July 10, 2024 — Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe's populations long before the ...

Archaeologists Report Earliest Evidence for Plant Farming in East Africa

July 10, 2024 — A trove of ancient plant remains excavated in Kenya helps explain the history of plant farming in equatorial eastern Africa, a region long thought to be important for early farming but where scant ...

Ancient Dingo DNA Shows Modern Dingoes Share Little Ancestry With Modern Dog Breeds

July 8, 2024 — A study of ancient dingo DNA revealed that the distribution of modern dingoes across Australia, including those on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), pre-dates European colonization and ...

The World's Oldest Wine Discovered

June 18, 2024 — A white wine over 2,000 years old, of Andalusian origin, is the oldest wine ever ...

Ancient Syrian Diets Resembled the Modern 'Mediterranean Diet'

June 12, 2024 — Thousands of years ago, people in ancient Syria likely ate mostly grains, grapes, olives and a small amount of dairy and meat -- similar to today's 'Mediterranean diet,' according to a ...

Ritual Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá

June 12, 2024 — Rising to power in the wake of the Classic Maya collapse, Chichen Itz was among the largest and most influential cities of the ancient Maya, but much about its political connections and ritual life ...

Tiny New Species of Great Ape Lived in Germany 11 Million Years Ago

June 7, 2024 — Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new ...