Gaza farmer finds a 4,500-year-old statue of the Canaanite goddess
Gaza farmer finds a 4,500-year-old statue of the Canaanite goddess A farmer in the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, found a rare 4,500-year-old stone sculpture while working on his land. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Monday that the 22-centimetre-tall limestone head is believed to represent the Canaanite goddess Anat …
Flammable Residues Detected in Medieval Vessels from Jerusalem
Flammable Residues Detected in Medieval Vessels from Jerusalem A new analysis of residue in ancient ceramic vessels from 11th and 12th century Jerusalem has found that the jars may have had a more sinister purpose than storage. Previous research into the iconic vessels, which are held in museums around the world, identified them as vessels …
Neanderthals Produced Symbolic Objects More than 115,000 Years Ago
Neanderthals Produced Symbolic Objects More than 115,000 Years Ago At least 70,000 years ago Homo sapiens used perforated marine shells and colour pigments. From around 40,000 years ago he created decorative items, jewellery and cave art in Europe. Using Uranium-Thorium dating an international team of researchers co-directed by Dirk Hoffmann of the Max Planck Insтιтute …
Ancient Human DNA Can Be Recovered from Archaeological Sediments, Finds Study
Ancient Human DNA Can Be Recovered from Archaeological Sediments, Finds Study Ancient human and animal DNA can remain stably localized in sediments, preserved in microscopic fragments of bone and faeces. Sediments in which archaeological finds are embedded have long been regarded by most archaeologists as unimportant by-products of excavations. However, in recent years it has …
350-year-old remains in a Stone Age site in Portugal
350-year-old remains in a Stone Age site in Portugal A team of researchers have found an African man buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. The man lived just 350 years ago. A team of researchers have found an African man buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. The …
Largest Human Family Tree Identifies Nearly 27 Million Ancestors
Largest Human Family Tree Identifies Nearly 27 Million Ancestors A team of scientists has combined modern and ancient genomes to build a new “genealogy of everyone,” in an achievement that sets the groundwork for future studies into our evolution and global spread. Thousands upon thousands of modern and ancient human genomes have been integrated into a coherent …
Ruins of an ancient temple for Zeus unearthed in Egypt’s Sinai
Ruins of an ancient temple for Zeus unearthed in Egypt’s Sinai Egyptian archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a temple for the ancient Greek god Zeus in the Sinai Peninsula, antiquities authorities said Monday. The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement the temple ruins were found in the Tell el-Farma archaeological site in northwestern …
Ancient skeletons reveal the history of worm parasites in Britain
Ancient skeletons reveal the history of worm parasites in Britain Britons have suffered from worms since the Bronze Age, new research shows, with parasite infections peaking during the Roman and Late Medieval periods. Things began to get better during the Industrial period, in part thanks to improvements in hygiene in parts of the UK, before …
Clues to Pacific Migration Paths Discovered in Papua New Guinea
Clues to Pacific Migration Paths Discovered in Papua New Guinea Scientists think they may have found the smoking gun that explains why humans colonised the thousands of scattered islands of the South Pacific – and it lies in a sherd of pottery found hidden on a small island in Papua New Guinea. The peopling of …
Study Investigates Anglo-Saxon Diets
Study Investigates Anglo-Saxon Diets Very few people in England ate large amounts of meat before the Vikings settled, and there is no evidence that elites ate more meat than other people, a major new bioarchaeological study suggests. Its sister study also argues that peasants occasionally hosted lavish meat feasts for their rulers. The findings overturn …