Archaeology

Archaeology

Maya palace suddenly expands

Archaeologists find a sprawling palace and other surprises at a 1,300-year-old Maya site in Guatemala.

Archaeology

Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues

An 800-year-old Anasazi site in Colorado yields contested evidence of cannibalism.

Archaeology

Blasts from the Past

Dig into the latest archaeological news reports, updated daily, from around the world at Archaeologica. The site also features links to Web pages on a wide range of archaeological topics, including ancient Egypt and North American rock art, and forums for discussing a variety of issues. Go to: http://www.archaeologica.org/

Archaeology

Grave surprise rises in Jamestown fort

Excavations in the 17th-century fort at Jamestown, Va., have yielded a grave containing the skeleton of a high-ranking male colonist.

Archaeology

Farming sprouted in ancient Ecuador

Analyses of microscopic plant remains from two archaeological sites indicate that people began to grow squash in Ecuador's lowlands between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago, when agriculture was also taking root in Mexico.

Archaeology

Old legend dies hard

People who first entered King Tutankhamen's tomb did not suffer from a legendary curse but instead lived long lives.

Archaeology

Neandertals’ diet put meat in their bones

Chemical analyses of Neandertals' bones portray these ancient Europeans as skillful hunters and avid meat eaters, countering a theory that they mainly scavenged scraps of meat from abandoned carcasses.

Archaeology

Digging into Ancient Texts

For both scholars and amateur archaeologists, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Web site offers fascinating glimpses of a distant past. Visitors can view images of thousands of carefully catalogued cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. The texts include early creation myths, legal codes, medical prescriptions, and recipes for beer. Many are more mundane–ledgers, deeds, receipts, and lists […]

Archaeology

Ancient origins of fire use

Human ancestors may have learned to control fire 1.7 million years ago in eastern Africa.

Archaeology

Guard dogs and horse riders

More than 5,000 years ago, the Botai people of central Asia had ritual practices that appeared in many later cultures.

Archaeology

Maya warfare takes 10 steps forward

The discovery of hieroglyphic-covered steps on the side of a Maya pyramid has yielded new information about warfare between two competing city-states around 1,500 years ago.

Archaeology

Early New World Settlers Rise in East

New evidence supports the view that people occupied a site in coastal Virginia at least 15,000 years ago.