Archaeology

Rare 10 million-year-old fossil unearths new view of human evolution

Human ancestors might not have been built like modern African apes, a new study suggests. Near an old mining town in Central Europe, known for...

Scientists discover the sixth major mass extinction

Scientists have concluded that earth experienced a previously underestimated severe mass-extinction event, which occurred about 260 million years ago. This raises the total of major...

3.8-million-year-old fossil cranium unveils more about human ancestry

In 2016, researchers in the Afar region of Ethiopia discovered a nearly complete cranium of an early human ancestor, Australopithecus anamensis, that dates to...

New study pinpoints when humans began to dominate the Earth

Archaeologists have identified with unprecedented precision the turning point when humans began to transform the Earth beyond recognition, tracing it to around 3,000 years...

People arrived in North America thousand years earlier than thought

Stone tools and other artifacts unearthed from an archeological dig at the Cooper's Ferry site in western Idaho suggest that people lived in the...

Maya more warlike than previously thought, says new study

The Maya of Central America are thought to have been a kinder, gentler civilization, especially compared to the Aztecs of Mexico. At the peak of...
Elim mosaic detail, Huqoq Excavation Project.

Newly-discovered 1,600-year-old mosaic sheds light on ancient Judaism

Scientists find the first ancient Jewish depiction of the Elim episode from the biblical book of Exodus. For nine years running, Carolina professor Jodi Magness...
Scientists discover Neanderthals used resin 'glue' to craft their stone tools

Scientists discover Neanderthals used resin ‘glue’ to craft their stone tools

Archaeologists working in two Italian caves have discovered some of the earliest known examples of ancient humans using an adhesive on their stone tools—an...
Amber lump offers rare glimpse of ancient sea life

Amber ammonite offers rare glimpse of ancient sea life

The discovery of a 100-million-year-old ammonite—a distant relative of modern squid and octopuses—in amber is significant and surprising, researchers say. Scientists say the lump of...
This prehistoric burial mound used for 2,000 years

This prehistoric burial mound re-used for 2,000 years

Researchers have found evidence that an unremarkable prehistoric burial mound near Bordeaux, in southwest France, was re-used by locals for around 2,000 years. The researchers...