Archaeology
- Archaeology
Hair analysis reveals Europe’s oldest physical evidence of drug use
Analyses of human hair found in a Mediterranean cave turned up psychoactive plant substances, revealing use of hallucinogens around 3,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
What did Homo sapiens eat 170,000 years ago? Roasted, supersized land snails
Charred shell bits at an African site reveal the earliest known evidence of snail-meal prep, suggesting ancient humans cooked and shared the mollusks.
- Anthropology
A surprising food may have been a staple of the real Paleo diet: rotten meat
The realization that people have long eaten putrid foods has archaeologists rethinking what Neandertals and other ancient hominids ate.
- Archaeology
Some monkeys accidentally make stone flakes that resemble ancient hominid tools
A study of Thailand macaques raises questions about whether some Stone Age cutting tools were products of planning or chance.
- Archaeology
The Yamnaya may have been the world’s earliest known horseback riders
5,000-year-old Yamnaya skeletons show physical signs of horseback riding, hinting that they may be the earliest known humans to do so.
- Particle Physics
Muons unveiled new details about a void in Egypt’s Great Pyramid
The subatomic particles revealed the dimensions of the void, discovered in 2016, and helped researchers know where to stick a camera inside.
- Archaeology
Ancient DNA unveils disparate fates of Ice Age hunter-gatherers in Europe
Ancient DNA unveils two regional populations that lived in what is now Europe and made similar tools but met different fates.
- Archaeology
Homo sapiens may have brought archery to Europe about 54,000 years ago
Small stone points found in a French rock-shelter could have felled prey only as tips of arrows shot from bows, scientists say.
- Anthropology
Hominids used stone tool kits to butcher animals earlier than once thought
Finds in Kenya push Oldowan tool use back to around 2.9 million years ago, roughly 300,000 years earlier than previous evidence.
- Humans
50 years ago, scientists debated when humans first set foot in North America
In 1973, archaeologists debated when people first arrived in the Americas. Mounting evidence suggests its much earlier than they thought.
- Archaeology
Vikings brought animals to England as early as the year 873
A chemical analysis of cremated remains offers physical evidence of the arrival of Norse animals to England in the ninth century.
- Archaeology
Chemical residue reveals ancient Egyptians’ mummy-making mixtures
Chemical clues in embalming vessels reveal previously unknown ingredients used to prepare bodies for mummification and their far-flung origins.
