Archaeology
- Archaeology
Ancient South Americans tasted chocolate 1,500 years before anyone else
Artifacts with traces of cacao push back the known date for when the plant was first domesticated by 1,500 years.
- Archaeology
Ancient Clovis people may have taken tool cues from earlier Americans
Ancient Americans’ spearpoints may have heralded later Clovis weapons.
- Archaeology
The water system that helped Angkor rise may have also brought its fall
A complex water system magnified flooding’s disruption of the medieval Cambodian city of Angkor.
- Archaeology
An ancient child’s ‘vampire burial’ included steps to prevent resurrection
A 10-year-old skeleton in a Roman cemetery had a stone placed in its mouth to prevent the youngster from rising from the dead, researchers say.
- Plants
50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted
Old seeds can sprout new plants even after centuries of dormancy.
- Archaeology
Laser mapping shows the surprising complexity of the Maya civilization
A large-scale lidar survey of Guatemalan forests reveals evidence of ancient, interconnected Maya cities.
- Archaeology
This South African cave stone may bear the world’s oldest drawing
The Stone Age line design could have held special meaning for its makers, a new study finds.
- Genetics
German skeletons hint that medieval warrior groups recruited from afar
Graveyard finds may come from an ancient European warrior household with political pull.
- Science & Society
Cheese found in an Egyptian tomb is at least 3,200 years old
Solid cheese preserved in an ancient Egyptian tomb may be the world’s oldest.
- Archaeology
The debate over people’s pathway into the Americas heats up
Defenders of an ice-free inland passage for early Americans make their case.
- Anthropology
Cremated remains reveal hints of who is buried at Stonehenge
Ancient stone monument held burials of people from more than 200 kilometers away, a new study suggests.
- Anthropology
Conflict reigns over the history and origins of money
Thousands of years ago, money took different forms as a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say.
