Genomes Offer Clues to Korea’s Three Kingdoms Period An international team led by The University of Vienna and the Ulsan National Insтιтute of Science and Technology in collaboration with the National Museum of Korea has successfully sequenced and studied the whole genome of eight 1,700-year-old individuals dated to the Three Kingdoms period of Korea (approx. …

Olive Trees Were First Domesticated 7,000 Years Ago A joint study by researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University unravelled the earliest evidence for the domestication of a fruit tree. The researchers analyzed remnants of charcoal from the Chalcolithic site of Tel Zaf in the Jordan Valley and determined that they came from …

Preserved by Nature: Studying the Spectacular Salt Mummies of Iran In 1993, miners at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Zanjan province of Iran discovered a body. Clearly a man, the body had flowing white hair and a beard and was sporting a single gold earring. Though he didn’t initially appear that old, carbon dating …

44,000-Year-Old Cave Painting Could Be the Earliest Known Depiction of Hunting A 44,000-year-old cave painting of a hunting scene that involves humans and animals might be the oldest recorded story. It was discovered, by a group of archaeologists from Griffith University, Australia, in a cave on the Indonesian island Sulawesi. Researchers think this mural might …

Fossils May Represent China’s Earliest Hominins Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) form part of a team of Chinese, Spanish, and French scientists that has just published a study of what may prove to be China’s most ancient human fossil, in the Journal of Human Evolution. The researchers employed …

Ancient Humans Tamed Fire as Early as 1 Million Years Ago, Study Suggests An artificial intelligence tool has revealed hidden evidence of ancient fire at a 1-million-year-old archaeological site in Israel. Applying the technology at other sites could revolutionise our understanding of when and where humans first began controlling fire, which is widely considered to …

A trove of 13,000 Artifacts Sheds Light on Enigmatic Chinese Civilization For hundreds of years, the Sanxingdui culture flourished in what is now southwest China, producing ornate bronze masks and precious wares before vanishing abruptly around 1100 or 1200 B.C.E. Believed to be part of the broader Shu state, the civilization continues to fascinate more …

Remains of Possible Early Muslims Identified in Syria A new study combining archaeological, historical and bioarchaeological data provides new insights into the early Islamic period in modern-day Syria. The research team was planning to focus on a much older time period but came across what they believe to be the remains of early Muslims in …

China’s mysterious 8,000-year-old structure ‘guarded by the military could hold key secrets More than 100km outside the ancient city of Xi’an, among the overgrown forests, rise scores of pyramid-shaped mounds that have been shrouded in mystery for thousands of years. The West learnt about them when Fred Meyer Schroder, an American trader, first reported the …