Evidence that a cosmic impact destroyed the ancient city in the Jordan Valley The destruction of Tall el-Hammam, a Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley, by an exploding comet or meteor may have inspired the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, a new study suggests. (“[N]otoriously sinful cities,” Sodom and Gomorrah’s devastation by sulfur …

DNA Analysis Identifies Japanese Ancestors Researchers have rewritten Japanese history after uncovering a third, and a previously unknown, group of ancestors that migrated to Japan around 2,000 years ago, of modern-day Japanese populations. Ancient Japan can be split into three key time periods: the Jomon period (13,000 B.C. to 300 B.C.), a time when a …

Gold mask among 3,000-year-old relics unearthed in southwest China Earlier this year, archaeologists were awed when they discovered the partial remains of a 3,000-year-old gold mask at the Sanxingdui dig in China’s Sichuan province. Weighing in at half a pound, the mask was considered unprecedented. But, this month, experts’ expectations were bested once again when …

Mᴀss grave of 25 Christian soldiers who were ”decapitated” during a 13th century Crusade is unearthed in Lebanon A pair of mᴀss graves containing 25 Crusaders who were slaughtered during a 13th-century war in the Holy Land have been unearthed in Lebanon. A team of international archaeologists uncovered the gruesome scene at Sidon Castle on …

12th Century stone idol of Lord Ganesh discovered A 12th-century idol representing the Hindu god Ganesh has been discovered accidentally in southeastern India. A farmer in the village of Motupalli in Prakasam District stumbled across the stone statue while tilling his land. In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is presented as a portly elephant-headed figure with four …

Ancient 520 million-year-old sea monster with 18 TENTACLES around its mouth discovered The discovery of a fossil showing an ancient sea creature with 18 tentacles surrounding its mouth has helped to solve a modern-day mystery about the origins of a gelatinous carnivore called a comb jelly, a new study finds. The previously unknown “sea monster,” …

DNA of a female hunter-gatherer, buried 7,000 years ago in Indonesia, reveals population history of SE Asia A team of archaeological geneticists has reconstructed the genome of a female hunter-gatherer from the Indonesian archipelago, which sheds significant light on the population history of southeast Asia. This study reports the first known human genome from Leang …

Life-sized camel carvings in Northern Arabia date to the Neolithic period A parade of life-size stone camel carvings in northern Arabia dates back to the Stone Age, new research finds. The 21 camels and horse-like figures were found in 2018 in the province of Al-Jouf in the northwestern Saudi desert. Researchers first believed that the …

A Knights Templar’s secret tunnel has been hidden for 700 years Crusaders from the Latin West left an unmistakable imprint on the cities of the Near East throughout the Middle Ages, building castles and fortresses that could resist waves of conquest. Many of these castles still stand today, and in some cases, remain in use. …