Soil hasn’t fully recovered from ancient Maya cutting down trees
The Maya civilization’s deforestation decimated carbon reservoirs in the tropical soils of the Yucatán peninsula region long after people abandoned ancient cities and the...
228-million-year-old fossil turtle didn’t have a shell yet, but had the first toothless turtle...
There are a couple of key features that make a turtle a turtle: its shell, for one, but also its toothless beak.
A newly-discovered fossil...
Our everyday fruits and nuts have their roots in the Silk Road
New research reveals that many of the most familiar fruits in our kitchens today were cultivated in Central Asia over a millennium ago.
These arboreal...
Easter Island’s society might not have collapsed
You probably know Easter Island as “the place with the giant stone heads.”
This remote island 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile has long...
Scientists discover a 99-million-year-old beetle trapped in Burmese amber
This discovery offers clue to gymnosperm pollination
Flowering plants are well known for their special relationship to the insects and other animals that serve as...
Prehistoric mummy shows ancient Egyptian embalming ‘recipe’ was around for millennia
It is the first time that extensive tests have been carried out on an intact prehistoric mummy, consolidating the researchers' previous findings that embalming...
Scientists discover world’s oldest cheese in Egyptian tomb
Aging usually improves the flavor of cheese, but that's not why some very old cheese discovered in an Egyptian tomb is drawing attention.
Instead, it's...
Native Americans engaged in trade more extensively than thought
A research team has found a copper band that indicates ancient Native Americans engaged in extensive trade networks spanning far greater distances than what...
Laziness helped lead to extinction of Homo erectus
New archaeological research from The Australian National University (ANU) has found that Homo erectus, an extinct species of primitive humans, went extinct in part because...
Scientists discover new evidence about the origins of people buried at Stonehenge
People buried at Stonehenge 5,000 years ago likely lived in west Wales where Stonehenge’s smaller standing stones – bluestones – originated from, according to...