Archaeology

Anthropology

How environmental changes may have helped make ancient humans more adaptable

An East African sediment core unveils ecological changes underlying a key Stone Age transition.

Archaeology

Bones from an Iron Age massacre paint a violent picture of prehistoric Europe

Bones left unburied, and in one case still wearing jewelry, after a massacre add to evidence that prehistoric Europe was a violent place.

Humans

Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture

An earthwork buried under a cattle ranch may be part of one of the largest Native American settlements ever established north of Mexico.

Archaeology

Stonehenge enhanced sounds like voices or music for people inside the monument

Scientists created a scale model one-twelfth the size of the ancient stone circle to study its acoustics.

Archaeology

X-rays reveal what ancient animal mummies keep under wraps

A new method of 3-D scanning mummified animals reveals life and death details for a snake, a bird and a cat.

Archaeology

The oldest known grass beds from 200,000 years ago included insect repellents

Found in South Africa, 200,000-year-old bedding remnants included fossilized grass, bug-repelling ash and once aromatic camphor leaves.

Archaeology

A submerged Inca offering hints at Lake Titicaca’s sacred role

Divers found a stone box holding a figurine and a gold item, highlighting Lake Titicaca’s sacred status to the Inca.

Archaeology

Ancient DNA suggests Vikings may have been plagued by smallpox

Viral genetic material from human remains provides direct evidence that smallpox infected people dating back to the year 603.

Archaeology

Stone artifacts hint that humans reached the Americas surprisingly early

Finds uncovered in a Mexican cave suggest North America may have had human inhabitants more than 30,000 years ago — way before archaeologists thought.

Archaeology

This 1.4-million-year-old hand ax adds to Homo erectus’ known toolkit

A newly described East African find, among the oldest bone tools found, shows the ancient hominids crafted a range of simple and more complex tools.

Humans

Underwater caves once hosted the Americas’ oldest known ochre mines

Now-submerged chambers in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula contain ancient evidence of extensive red ochre removal as early as 12,000 years ago.

Genetics

DNA from a 5,200-year-old Irish tomb hints at ancient royal incest

Ruling families in Ireland may have organized a big tomb project, and inbred, more than 5,000 years ago, a new study suggests.