Archaeology
- Archaeology
Fire engineers of the Stone Age
New evidence indicates that people used fires to heat stones in preparation for making cutting instruments at least 72,000 years ago in southern Africa.
- Anthropology
Maize may have fueled ancient Andean civilization
A chemical analysis of skeletons from Peru’s Andes Mountains suggests that cultivation of key crop made building a prehistoric civilization possible.
- Archaeology
Stone Age flutes found in Germany
Excavations in Germany have unearthed what may be the oldest known musical instruments.
- Archaeology
Ancient granaries preceded the Agricultural Revolution
Granaries excavated in Jordan indicate that people stored large quantities of wild cereals by about 11,300 years ago, a practice that led to the cultivation of domesticated plants, a new study suggests.
- Archaeology
Engraved pigments point to ancient symbolic tradition
Analyses of patterns incised on pieces of ancient pigment indicate that people in southern Africa passed along symbolic practices from 100,000 to 75,000 years ago, scientists say.
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- Archaeology
Stone Age figurine has contentious origins
A new study suggests that an ivory female figurine from Germany dates to at least 35,000 years ago, but that conclusion has sparked debate over the Stone Age origins of figurative art.
- Archaeology
Biocides inducing resistance in Lascaux cave’s microbes
Study makes researchers wonder whether they should treat fungus or not.
- Archaeology
Horse domestication traced to ancient central Asian culture
New lines of evidence indicate that horses were domesticated for riding and milking more than 5,000 years ago by members of a hunter-gatherer culture in northern Kazakhstan.
- Health & Medicine
Chocolate may have arrived early to U.S. Southwest
A new study suggests that people in America’s Southwest were making cacao beverages as early as A.D. 1000.
- Archaeology
Armenian cave yields ancient human brain
A team of scientists has excavated 6,000-year-old artifacts and three human skulls, including one containing a preserved brain, from a cave bordering Armenia’s Arpa River.
- Archaeology
Early chemical warfare comes to light
Investigations of a Roman garrison in Syria conquered in a massive assault by Persians nearly 2,000 years ago have uncovered evidence of the earliest known chemical warfare.
