Archaeology
- Archaeology
In the Buff: Stone Age tools may have derived luster from diamond
Ancient Chinese people may have used diamonds to polish their stone axes to mirrorlike finishes.
- Archaeology
Chaco’s Past
Explore the intersection of modern science and ancient cultures at a Web site about New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, launched by the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The site includes a look at connections between celestial alignments of prehistoric buildings in the canyon and recent solar research. It also contains a teacher’s guide to classroom activities for […]
- Archaeology
China’s Fermented Past: Pottery yields signs of oldest known wine
Analyses of ancient pottery have yielded evidence the people living in northern China 9,000 years ago concocted a fermented, winelike drink from rice, honey, and fruit.
- Archaeology
Pompeii’s burial not its first disaster
Recent excavations reveal that the city of Pompeii, famed for its burial by an eruption of Italy's Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, experienced several devastating landslides in the centuries preceding its demise.
- Archaeology
Original Microbrews
Pots, vats, and other artifacts unearthed on three continents are giving archaeologists new clues about ancient cultures' beer-brewing practices.
- Archaeology
Seeds of agriculture move back in time
Excavations in Israel indicate that people began to eat large quantities of wild grass seeds and wild cereal grains by around 23,000 years ago, which pushes back by 10,000 years the estimated shift to a plant-rich diet.
- Archaeology
Mexican murals store magnetic data
Tiny magnetic particles in the pigments of some Mexican murals recorded the direction of Earth's magnetic field when the paint dried.
- Archaeology
Rat DNA points to Pacific migrations
An analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Pacific rats supports a theory that ancestors of today's Polynesians migrated from Southeast Asia to a string of South Pacific islands in at least two separate dispersals.
- Archaeology
Massive Fishery Resurfaces in Amazon
Native groups in an Amazonian region of Bolivia built a large-scale fishery and other earthworks at least 300 years ago, before the Spanish conquest.
- Archaeology
Guatemalan sites yield Maya insights
Excavations at three archaeological sites in Guatemala have provided new insights into both the early and late stages of ancient Maya civilization.
- Archaeology
Stone Age Combustion: Fire use proposed at ancient Israeli site
A Stone Age site in Israel contains the oldest evidence of controlled fire use in Asia or Europe, from around 750,000 years ago, a research team reports.
- Archaeology
Agriculture’s roots go tropical
Tropical-forest dwellers in Central America may have cultivated manioc and other root crops as many as 7,000 years ago.
