2,000-year-old ‘celestial calendar’ discovered in ancient Chinese tomb Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country. Each of the 23 wooden slips is about an inch (2.5 centimeters) wide …

Scientists discover hundreds of thousands of animal, and human bones in Saudi Arabia cave Although hyenas look and hunt like canines, they’re members of the mongoose family and therefore more closely related to a cat. However, just like dogs, hyenas have an affinity for hiding bones — it’s just that they can tend to go …

Well-Preserved Cave Lion Cub Found to be a 28,000-Year-Old Female A nearly 28,000-year-old cave lion cub discovered frozen in the Siberian permafrost is so well preserved, you can still make out each and every one of her whiskers. Researchers in Sweden claim the cub, nicknamed Sparta, is probably the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever uncovered …

Tajik Buddha in Nirvana – the Largest in the World: 42 feet long and 9 feet high In the past, while Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan destroyed two immense statues of Buddha, art historians in neighboring Tajikistan meticulously restored a huge reclining Buddha from the same period. The world’s largest “Buddha in Nirvana.” Tajikistan carefully preserves the …

Wounds on Colonial-Era Skull Examined in Indonesia A possibly enslaved woman may have been executed with a sharp weapon in what is now the Papua province of Indonesia, a new study finds. Only the skull of the victim is available for analysis, but it revealed that the woman was between 26 and 42 years old …

Earliest Multiplication Formulas Discovered in a 2,300-Year-Old Chinese Tomb Archaeologists excavating a tomb in the Qinjiazui archaeological site of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, China, have found the earliest multiplication formulas on record. The earliest multiplication formulas on record have been discovered on bamboo slips from the Warring States period (475BC-221BC), pushing the history of these formulas …

Organic Material Blend Said to Strengthen China’s Great Wall Large swaths of the Great Wall of China are held together thanks to “biocrusts,” thin layers of organic materials that have helped protect the architectural marvel from erosion. Scientists made the discovery while analyzing segments of the Great Wall of China, which spans more than 13,000 …

World’s Oldest Known ‘True’ Saddle Discovered In East Asia Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to analyze the oldest true wooden frame saddle in East Asia, revealing how advances likely aided the rise of Mongolian steppe cultures in equestrian technology. A saddle built from a wooden frame is sturdy on horseback, facilitating the addition of stirrups. …

Archaeologists unearthed a pot of copper coins in first major discovery at Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan, in 93 years A pot full of copper coins was discovered from a stupa (a dome-shaped building erected as a Buddhist shrine) at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mohenjo Daro during conservation work in Pakistan’s Sindh province. Mohenjo Daro, or …