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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: archaeology

archaeology stories: 62 news summaries

41 - 60 of 62 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

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Peru Dig Yields 4000-Year Old Gold Necklace

Oldest bling in the Americas shows primitives liked prestige

Mar 31, 08 8:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - Researchers have dug up the oldest piece of crafted gold in the Americas, a 4,000-year old gold necklace, LiveScience reports. Found at a pre-Inca burial site in Peru, the bling proves that primitive societies sought displays of wealth. It signals "the social process towards some kind of inequality,... More »

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archaeology • Peru • anthropology • gold • jewelry • discovery

 New Fossil Rocks Human History

Indicates man settled in Europe far earlier than thought

Mar 27, 08 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - An incredibly old jawbone discovered in a Spanish cave could rewrite human history, scientists say. The bone with teeth is 1.2 million years old and belongs to a long-extinct human ancestor called Homo antecessor. It's at least 300,000 years older than any other human fossil found in... More »

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archaeology • Europe • origins of humanity • Homo antecessor • fossil • jawbone • anthropology • Neanderthals

Archaeologists Unearth Pre-Inca Temple

'Sacred ceremonial nature' of site surprises researchers

Mar 16, 08 6:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Archaeologists have dug up a pre-Incan temple that sheds light on a lost Peruvian culture, the AP reports. Nestled in a mountain region, the sprawling site housed the Killke people as they fended off an encroaching Spanish empire around 1200 AD. Evidence of mummies and idols shows that the Killke... More »

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archaeology • Peru • Inca • ancient cities • ruins • Killke • Peruvian mountains • discovery

Ancient Plaza Found in Peru

Site may be oldest urban structure in the Americas

Feb 26, 08 1:50 PM CST
(Newser) - Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed one of the oldest structures in the Americas, Reuters reports. Carbon dating indicates the ceremonial plaza in Casma is 5,500 years old, scientists at the dig say. That's 500 years older than the nearby ancient citadel of Caral, previously thought be Peru’s oldest... More »

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archaeology • Peru • Lima • ancient cities • Casma, Peru • Caral, Peru • discovery

Climate Swing Jump-Started Civilization

El Nino shift 5K years ago led Peruvians to take up farming

Feb 12, 08 2:10 PM CST
(Newser) - An ancient Peruvian civilization may have been kick-started by a climate swing. Five thousand years ago, hunter-gatherers moved inland from the seashore, settling in arid, desolate river valleys where they learned to farm. Archaeologist Jonathan Haas thinks the new settlers were spurred to move by more frequent El Ninos, which... More »

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archaeology • Peru • El Nino

Newfound Altar Predates Zeus Worship

Archaeologists uncover evidence of ancient pre-Greek diety

Feb 5, 08 11:15 AM CST
(Newser) - Archaeologists in Greece have unearthed the remains of an altar that predates Zeus worship, the New York Times reports. The evidence of animal sacrifices to an unknown deity thousands of years ago turned up during excavation of a temple to Zeus in Greece's Arcadia region. “We went from BC... More »

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archaeology • Greece • Zeus • Arcadia • discovery

Mayans Sacrificed Boys—Not Virgin Girls

Mexican archaeologist brings up surprising new evidence

Jan 23, 08 11:16 AM CST
(Newser) - The human sacrifices offered up to the Mayan gods in Pre-Columbian Mexico were likely boys and young men, not virgin girls, Reuters reports. A Mexican archaeologist has ventured into the sacred sinkholes of Chichen Itza to recover bones from 127 bodies, and discovered that more than 80% of them came... More »

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archaeology • Mexico • Chichen Itza • Guillermo de Anda • University of Yucatan • Mayans • Chaac • human sacrifices

Pyramid
Unearthed
in Mexico City

Newfound Aztec ruins predate known sites
by at least a century

Dec 28, 07 10:58 AM CST
(Newser) - Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of modern Mexico City. The ruins, which are approximately 36 feet high, stand on the former site of Tlatelolco, a center of political and religious power and the twin city of Tenochtitlan. The discovery indicates that the... More »

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archaeology • Mexico City • Mexico • Aztecs • Tlatelolco • Tenochtitlan • discovery

eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure

Smuggled 4,000-year-old tablet was taken down minutes before auction closed

Dec 18, 07 4:24 PM CST
(Newser) - eBay called off the auction of a 4,000-year-old clay tablet last week just minutes before it closed because an expert suspected the artifact had been smuggled out of Iraq, the Guardian reports. A German archaeologist alerted authorities after spotting the tablet, a business-card-size object covered in distinctive cuneiform script,... More »

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Iraq • archaeology • eBay • Switzerland • antiquities

Wait a Second! Sub Watch Raises More Questions

Confederate ticker no clear clue to sinking

Dec 15, 07 8:59 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists had hoped that the watch belonging to the commander of the HL Hunley would give them some clues as to why the Confederate submarine sank in 1864. But they've been left only with more questions, AP reports. The watch stopped quickly rather than winding down—possibly because of an... More »

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archaeology • submarine • Civil War • Confederacy

Pirate Ahoy! Capt. Kidd's Ship Found in Caribbean

Found in just 10 feet
of water off coast of Dominican island

Dec 14, 07 4:20 AM CST
(Newser) - An American underwater archaeology team has found what's believed to be the remains of a ship piloted by notorious buccaneer Captain William Kidd. Indiana University researchers discovered cannons and anchors off a tiny Caribbean island in just ten feet of water, which they believe belong to the Quedagh Merchant, a... More »

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archaeology • shipwreck • Caribbean • Dominican Republic • William Kidd • discovery

Queen's Digs Found in Holy Land

Queen lived among the poor of ancient Jerusalem

Dec 7, 07 7:05 AM CST
(Newser) - Queen Helene of Adiabene, ruler of parts of Iraq, apparently had a pied-a-terre in the seedy part of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, according to an archaeological team that has unearthed the mansion. Now it’s prime real estate in the Arab quarter, forming the foundation of a parking lot... More »

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Israel • archaeology • Palestine • Jerusalem • mansion

Archaeologists Unearth Part of Roman Throne

First finding of its kind
is decorated with
ivory bas-reliefs of gods

Dec 5, 07 2:47 AM CST
(Newser) - Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Roman throne in the volcanic ash that buried the city of Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79. Scientists unearthed two legs and the back of a throne, the first ever found. The piece was decorated with ivory bas-reliefs of ancient... More »

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archaeology • Romans • relics • Pompeii • Herculaneum • discovery

Diggers Unearth Key Bible Wall

Ancient wall thought to be one mentioned in Bible

Nov 30, 07 7:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem's City of David have found what they believe is an ancient wall mentioned in the Bible, AP reports. While working to save a tower from collapse, they found pottery shards and arrowheads from the 5th century BC, leading them to believe that a wall nearby is... More »

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Israel • archaeology • Jerusalem • Bible • discovery

'Hobbits' Were, Indeed, a Different Kind
of Human

Wrist-bone analysis shows link to apes

Sep 21, 07 1:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new study of three wrist bones from an 18,000-year-old fossil shows that the so-called hobbits of Indonesia were, indeed, a separate human species. When the bones were discovered in 2003, scientists trumpeted the find as evidence of a smaller species, Homo floresiensis. But skeptics argued that the... More »

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Indonesia • archaeology • fossil • homo sapien • human evolution • anthropology • Homo erectus • skeleton • primitive • hobbits

Remains of Russian Royals Found

Archaeologists to assist in probe of royal family's deaths

Aug 24, 07 3:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Russian archaeologists say they’ve unearthed remains belonging to two children of Nicholas II, the Russian czar executed along with the rest of his family almost 90 years ago. The discovery of Alexei and Maria Romanov may help prove the authenticity of remains found in 1991 that are believed to... More »

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Russia • communism • archaeology • DNA • St. Petersburg • Nicholas II • Alexandra Fyodorovna • Bolshevik Revolution • Romanov • czar • Alexei Romanov • Maria Romanov • discovery

Angkor What?: Cambodian Dig Unearths Megacity

Ancient city was once world's largest

Aug 14, 07 12:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cambodia's famed Angkor—usually penciled into guidebooks thanks to its eponymous 12th-century temple—was once the world's biggest city, new research by University of Sydney archaeologists shows. From the 10th century on, Angkor grew to nearly one million inhabitants and sprawled out to the size of modern-day Los Angeles. More »

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archaeology • water • Asia • Cambodia • Angkor • canals • University of Sydney • metropolis • Angkor Wat

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human
Family Tree

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

Aug 9, 07 8:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens, as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner... More »

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Africa • Kenya • evolution • archaeology • origins of humanity • fossil • human evolution • homo sapiens • hominids • anthropology • Homo habilis • Homo erectus

First Tomb of Aztec Ruler Found

Aug 4, 07 6:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mexican archaeologists believe their ground-penetrating radar has detected the first tomb of an Aztec ruler ever found, the AP reports. Workers in Mexico City, hanging from slings and digging delicately in a muddy underground passage, hope to uncover the remains of Emperor Ahuizotl, who ruled the Aztec empire at its... More »

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archaeology • Mexico City • Mexico • tomb • Aztec • Emperor Ahuizotl

It's a Wrap: Tooth ID's Mummy Queen

Powerful Hatshepsut linked to dental root and DNA tests

Jun 27, 07 4:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - An ancient tooth and DNA evidence appear to prove that an obese mummy found in 1903 is one of Egypt's most powerful female rulers, Hatshepsut, the New York Times reports. The tooth, located in a box labeled with the queen's name, "fits exactly" with a broken root in the... More »

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archaeology • science • DNA • Egypt • mummy • Hatshepsut • DNA evidence

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