Excavation of Anglo-Saxon Monastery Offers Clues to Viking Raids Anglo-Saxon monasteries were more resilient to Viking attacks than previously thought, archaeologists have concluded. Lyminge, a monastery in Kent, was on the front line of long-running Viking hostility which ended in the victories of Alfred the Great. The monastery endured repeated attacks, but resisted collapse for …

Underground Roman Aqueduct Explored Near Naples Forty years ago, when children in Naples were playing in caves and tunnels under the hill of Posillipo in Italy, they didn’t know their playground was actually a Roman aqueduct. When they shared their memories with archaeological authorities recently, it kicked off an exploration of one of the longest, …

Did Neanderthals Keep Hunting Trophies? A team of researchers affiliated with a host of insтιтutions across Spain, working with one colleague from Portugal and another from Austria, has discovered a large number of animal skulls placed by Neanderthals in a Spanish cave more than 40,000 years ago. In their paper published in the journal Nature …

An ancient statue of Hercules emerges from Rome sewer repairs An ancient Roman statue of Hercules has been discovered during repairs to the sewerage system underneath a park in Rome. The statue, which apparently dates back to the Roman imperial period (27BC to AD476), emerged from the ground around the second mile mark along the …

Do the Great Apes Share a Common Language? Humans share elements of a common language with other apes, understanding many of the gestures that wild chimps and bonobos use to communicate. That is the conclusion of a video-based study in which volunteers translated ape gestures. It was carried out by researchers at St Andrew’s University. …

High-Tech Scans Reveal 17th-Century Dental Work Scientists have discovered the long-buried secret of a 17th-century French aristocrat 400 years after her death: she was using gold wire to keep her teeth from falling out. The body of Anne d’Alegre, who died in 1619, was discovered during an archaeological excavation at the Chateau de Laval in …

Authentic 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Age sword put on display at Field Museum Once thought to be a replica, this authentic, ancient sword will be on view as a teaser for First Kings of Europe exhibition. Nearly 100 years ago, the Field Museum acquired a bronze sword from Europe, but it was thought to be a well-made …

Roman Road Uncovered in Romania Archaeologists of the National History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca have discovered a Roman road in the city’s central area. Roughly 2,000 years old, the road has been preserved in good condition. “Several fragments of a Roman road were found, covered with slabs and built of river stones, sometimes glued …

Bronze Age eating, social habits in the Balearic Islands documented in study Researchers from a variety of Spanish insтιтutions have managed to reconstruct the diet of some 50 individuals buried more than 3,000 years ago in the Cova des Pas’ necropolis in Menorca. The study, coordinated by the UAB, indicates a diet of plants and …