Rare 1,000-year-old canoe found in a cenote near Chichén Itzá
Rare 1,000-year-old canoe found in cenote near Chichén Itzá A remarkably well-preserved Maya canoe — built for use some 1,100 years ago — has been found in a freshwater pool, or ‘cenote’, in Yucatán, southern Mexico. The wooden artefact — more than five feet in length — was found near the ruined city of Chichen Itza by Insтιтuto …
The newly named human species may be the direct ancestor of modern humans
Newly named human species may be the direct ancestor of modern humans Live Science reports that paleoanthropologist Mirjana Roksandic of the University of Winnipeg and her colleagues suggest renaming some human ancestors after examining fossils dating from 774,000 to 129,000 years ago. The newly proposed species, Homo bodoensis — which lived more than half a …
Amazingly Preserved Mummies in China Yield New Clues to Bronze Age Life
Amazingly Preserved Mummies in China Yield New Clues to Bronze Age Life According to a Gizmodo report, an international team of researchers has analyzed the genomes of some of the oldest of the naturally preserved mummies from northwest China’s Xiaohe cemetery, which is located in the desert sands of the Tarim Basin. The remains, which …
Evidence of Prehistoric Humans Found on the Falkland Islands
Evidence of Prehistoric Humans Found on the Falkland Islands The enigmatic, now-extinct Falkland Islands wolf had human visitors on the remote archipelago up to 1,070 years ago. The find suggests that Indigenous people could have originally brought the foxlike creatures, also known as the warrah, to the islands. Scientists have debated how the islands’ only …
Industrial-Sized Tannery Detected at Medieval Abbey in England
Industrial-Sized Tannery Detected at Medieval Abbey in England It is Britain’s biggest and most famous monastic ruin and one that conjures up bucolic images of peace, reflection and very little noise apart, perhaps, from the occasional waft of Gregorian chanting. In reality, archaeologists have revealed, Fountains Abbey near Ripon was as busy, noisy and industrialised as anywhere …
A private collector is returning a Mayan artefact to Guatemala
A private collector is returning a Mayan artefact to Guatemala A private collector has returned a Mayan artefact to Guatemala after it was initially slated for auction in 2019. The stone fragment depicts a bird headdress belonging to an ancient ruler of Piedras Negras, the capital of a Mayan kingdom that flourished between the 4th century …
Man finds ancient grave and remains while digging the foundation for the garage
Man finds ancient grave and remains while digging foundation for garage The Slovak Spectator reports that a man digging a foundation for a new garage in western Slovakia alerted the authorities when he discovered human remains. Further investigation revealed a grave containing the bones of two women. A man was digging the foundations for his …
Blackened mummy cake found intact 79 years after WWII air raid
Blackened mummy cake found intact 79 years after WWII air raid A cake baked 79 years ago has been found in the Old Town district of the city of Lübeck, which is located near the coast of northern Germany, according to a Live Science report. Though the charred delicacy hasn’t been edible for a very, …
Archaeologists Map Nearly 500 Mesoamerican Sites and See Distinct Design Patterns
Archaeologists Map Nearly 500 Mesoamerican Sites and See Distinct Design Patterns Gizmodo reports that lidar technology was used to create 3-D maps of some 30,000 square miles of Mexico, revealing more than 475 archaeological sites dating from 1400 B.C. to A.D. 1000. The 478 sites included in the new research were inhabited from around 1400 BCE …
Archaeologists in Iraq find ancient wine press, carvings
Archaeologists in Iraq find ancient wine press, carvings According to an AFP report, researchers working at the site of Khinis in northern Iraq uncovered stone-cut pits dated to the eighth century B.C. and the reign of the ᴀssyrian king Sennacherib. The stone bas-reliefs, showing kings praying to the gods, were cut into the walls of …