archaeology

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With Signs of Afghan Looting, 'I Feel As If My Soul Is Dying'

Taliban denies looting at ancient sites despite evidence in satellite images

(Newser) - The Taliban's vow to protect the cultural treasures of Afghanistan may have been little more than lip service, according to researchers, who've uncovered evidence of the widespread bulldozing and looting of ancient sites. The Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation at the University of Chicago used satellite images and...

It Could Be Europe's 'Oldest Man-Made Megastructure'
Beneath the Sea, an Ancient
'Man-Made Megastructure'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Beneath the Sea, an Ancient 'Man-Made Megastructure'

Stone Age wall found in sea off Germany thought to have been used to hunt reindeer

(Newser) - More than 10,000 years ago, humans constructed a long, low wall, using rocks weighing a combined 150 tons. Discovered by accident in 2021, the Blinkerwall—submerged 70 feet deep in the Baltic Sea, 6 miles off the coast of Rerik, Germany—is now a candidate for the oldest known...

Scientists Find an Ancient Syphilis Relative in Brazil

Research suggests the bacterium has been around for millennia

(Newser) - People who lived with painful mouth and skin sores on the south coast of Brazil some 2,000 years ago carried the oldest known evidence of a syphilis relative. Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, is "one of the least well understood common bacterial infections," one expert...

Archaeological Dig May 'Change the History' of Brazil

Scientists find relics that push back the time of first inhabitants by about 1.4K years

(Newser) - Archaeologists weren't too surprised when they began unearthing relics from a dig in northeastern Brazil. They were stunned, however, to keep finding relics the deeper they dug in the coastal city of Sao Luis, reports AFP . In all, they've unearthed four layers representing different eras of human habitation,...

'Lost Valley of Cities' Found in Amazon

'Imagine that you discovered another civilization like the Maya'

(Newser) - After many years of research, French archaeologist Stéphen Rostain can deliver a very satisfying "I told you so" to people who told him there was no point in searching for ancient civilizations in the Amazon rainforest. Rostain and fellow researchers say they have discovered a "lost valley...

One of the Hottest Landmarks Offers Private, Pricey Tours

Come April, pay up to $5.5K at Athens' Acropolis and have it all to yourself (along with a few others)

(Newser) - Fancy seeing the ancient Acropolis uncluttered by thousands of selfie-snappers? A solution is in the works, but it will set you back up to $5,500. Starting April 1, Greece plans to offer exclusive guided tours of its most powerful tourist magnet to handfuls of well-heeled visitors outside normal opening...

Medieval Cemetery Points to Mysterious, Wealthy Group

Excavation in Wales uncovers imported goods, evidence of feasting, dozens of burials

(Newser) - A medieval cemetery unearthed a stone's throw from airport runways in Cardiff, Wales, points to a mysterious, high-status community that may have obtained items from another continent an estimated 1,500 years ago. Artifacts including a tiny vessel of fine glass thought to have been imported from France's...

New Find in Pompeii: a Bakery-Prison for Slaves
New Find in Pompeii:
a Bakery-Prison for Slaves
NEW STUDY

New Find in Pompeii: a Bakery-Prison for Slaves

Enslaved people ground grain in cramped room with barred windows, say experts

(Newser) - The discovery of a cramped room with barred windows in Pompeii has revealed what one expert describes as a "most shocking side of ancient slavery." Archaeologists, who found the room in the working quarters of a large house whose living quarters were lavishly decorated with frescoes and marble...

'Bunch of Amateurs' Uncover Lost Tudor Palace

Royal manor house at Collyweston was visited by kings and queens

(Newser) - They had "no money, no expertise, no plans." Yet a group of amateur archaeologists have managed to find a lost English palace visited by kings and queens, which had become the stuff of legend. The village of Collyweston in Northamptonshire lies on the medieval route that connected London...

Investigators Find Remains of US Airman Lost for 80 Years

Remains of Gilbert Myers recovered at 1943 crash site in Italy

(Newser) - It wouldn't have taken long for the family of Gilbert Haldeen Myers to conclude the US Army Air Forces pilot was dead. Though he was declared missing in action, there were no reports of survivors after his crew's B-25 Mitchell bomber, tasked with attacking the Sciacca Aerodrome in...

Florida Road Workers Make 'Incredible' Find Under Highway
Florida Road Workers Make
'Incredible' Find Under Highway
in case you missed it

Florida Road Workers Make 'Incredible' Find Under Highway

Shipwreck believed to be from 1800s discovered in St. Augustine, 'encapsulated in soil and mud'

(Newser) - A construction crew doing routine roadwork in a Florida city have made a decidedly unroutine find. FOX 35 and 10 Tampa Bay report that workers with the state's Department of Transportation were recently working on a stretch of road near the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, the continuation...

'Incredibly Rare' Tomb Holds Hugging Skeletons

Archaeologists unearthed the 5K-year-old tomb in a field in Scotland

(Newser) - On the surface, "it's just a gently rolling field of grass" in Scotland. But below the ground, archaeologists have discovered an "incredibly rare" 5,000-year-old tomb holding the remains of 14 people, two of whom appear to be hugging and one who appears to be reaching out...

Rock Slab Found in 1900 Now Hailed as 'Treasure Map'

Researchers believe the Saint-Bélec slab points to Bronze Age burial sites in France

(Newser) - There's no bright red "X" marking the spot where treasure can be found. Still, archaeologists believe they've found a "treasure map" in the form of a 4,000-year-old rock slab whose engraved markings match natural features in France's westernmost Brittany region. The large stone, known...

Research Into Early Human Violence Offers 'Stark Warning'

Study, finding peak violence in Copper Age, suggests climate change plays a role

(Newser) - There are two prevailing theories about the early history of interpersonal violence: One claims violence erupted as humans transitioned from hunter-gathering to settled communities; the other claims violence was rampant in early communities before the transition to farming led to cooperation and greater peace, per Scientific American . Yet "a...

Gold Coins May Have Been Hidden Before 1692 Massacre
Coins May Have Been
Hidden Before 1692 Massacre
new study

Coins May Have Been Hidden Before 1692 Massacre

Archaeologists find small pot filled with them in Scotland

(Newser) - It appears that Alasdair "Maclain" MacDonald saw trouble coming and stashed away some coins under a fireplace. More than 330 years later, Scottish archaeologists suggest they've found them, reports Live Science . A member of a University of Glasgow team found a small pot filled with the coins inside...

These Footprints Challenge Theory of First Americans

Further dating suggests human footprints in New Mexico are at least 20K years old

(Newser) - Skeptics will have a harder time doubting the existence of humans in North America more than 20,000 years ago following an expanded look at footprints left by a group along the shores of an Ice Age lake in what is now New Mexico. A 2021 study dating seeds embedded...

Melting Ice Coughs Up 3K-Year-Old Arrow, Good as New

Scientists race to recover artifacts uncovered by climate change before they're spoiled

(Newser) - If anyone else had come upon the wooden arrow with feather fletching and a quartzite tip, they might have thought it was new. But as the New York Times reports, glacial archaeologist Espen Finstad immediately suspected the arrow he found this month in the Jotunheimen mountains of eastern Norway was...

Oldest Wood Structure Is a Surprise to Researchers
'When I First Saw It,
I Thought This Can't Be Real'
in case you missed it

'When I First Saw It, I Thought This Can't Be Real'

Oldest known wood structure found to predate modern humans by almost 200K years

(Newser) - Archaeologists have uncovered what is thought to be the world's oldest known wood structure, whose estimated age suggests woodworking is at least 175,000 years older than our species. A research team discovered five very old pieces of wood in waterlogged sediment near Zambia's Kalambo Falls in an...

It's an 'Archaeological Sensation' in Switzerland

2K-year-old Roman walls found alongside gold fragments, other evidence of wealth

(Newser) - Some 2,000-year-old walls, thought to have once protected a Roman building complex with an epic view, have emerged in the foothills of the Swiss Alps. "The discovery is an archaeological sensation for the canton (state) of Zug and will provide important insights into the Romans in the pre-Alpine...

MSU Wanted to Put Up Hammocks, Got Something Better
MSU Makes Archaeological
Find on Its Own Campus
in case you missed it

MSU Makes Archaeological Find on Its Own Campus

Foundation of 142-year-old observatory is discovered

(Newser) - Michigan State University was trying to install hammock poles near a dorm this summer. But instead of lounging there, one group of students will end up enjoying a very different perk. The Washington Post reports the construction crew alerted the university that they struck a hard surface while trying to...

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