Archaeology
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Archaeology
Like Europe, Borneo hosted Stone Age cave artists
Rock art may have spread from Borneo across Southeast Asia starting 40,000 years ago or more.
By Bruce Bower -
Archaeology
Fossils hint hominids migrated through a ‘green’ Arabia 300,000 years ago
A once-green Arabia may have enabled Stone Age entries by Homo groups.
By Bruce Bower -
Archaeology
People in the Pacific Northwest smoked tobacco long before Europeans showed up
Ancient indigenous groups in the Pacific Northwest used tobacco roughly 600 years before European settlers ventured west with the plant.
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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.
By Bruce Bower -
Archaeology
Ancient Clovis people may have taken tool cues from earlier Americans
Ancient Americans’ spearpoints may have heralded later Clovis weapons.
By Bruce Bower -
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.
By Bruce Bower -
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.
By Bruce Bower -
Plants
50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted
Old seeds can sprout new plants even after centuries of dormancy.
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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.
By Bruce Bower -
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.
By Bruce Bower -
Genetics
German skeletons hint that medieval warrior groups recruited from afar
Graveyard finds may come from an ancient European warrior household with political pull.
By Bruce Bower -
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.