Collaborate Disseminate
New research, led by anthropologists from Washington State University (WSU), has deployed a novel analytical technique to reveal undiscovered compounds in an ancient Maya drug container previously thought to only be used for tobacco. As well as demonst… Continue reading Contents of ancient Maya drug vessels revealed by new analytic method
Archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of an enormous 240 million year old reptile, which has the contents of its last meal – an almost equally massive sea creature – still visible in its stomach. The finding suggests that megapredation, which is … Continue reading Ancient fossil reveals final meal of massive marine carnivore
Our view of the ancient past is set to become a bit clearer after an international team of scientists completed a major recalibration of radiocarbon dating. The seven-year global effort used almost 15,000 samples from a variety of sources to draw new, … Continue reading Radiocarbon dating curves recalibrated to boost archaeological accuracy
An investigation by scientists from the University of Tübingen has found that foxes may have been feeding off human scraps for over 40,000 years. Based on a study of several sites in southern Germany, isotopic analysis shows ancient foxes fed on the re… Continue reading Study suggests foxes lived off human leftovers 40,000 years ago
Scientists at UC Davis have tested a new method for determining the sex of human remains based on proteins extracted from tooth enamel. Based on a study of 55 Native American remains dating between 300 and 2,300 years old, the technique has proven more… Continue reading Tooth enamel protein used to identify sex of ancient human remains
An archaeological conundrum may have been solved by DNA analyses carried out by a team of Stanford Medicine scientists led by Alexander Ioannidis that indicates Native Americans and Polynesians came into contact centuries before the arrival of the firs… Continue reading DNA suggests Polynesian and Native American contact pre-European arrival
Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have, through an examination of pipes from 1400 year-old archaeological sites, discovered that Native Americans in what is now Washington State weren’t just smoking tobacco. The plant, a native to North … Continue reading New technique finds first non-tobacco residue in ancient pipes
Looming large over the British countryside, Stonehenge cuts an imposing figure – but it’s just a fraction of the structures that once stood in the area. Now, archaeologists have discovered a huge, previously unknown ring of structures surrounding the r… Continue reading Huge prehistoric circle of structures discovered near Stonehenge
The fall of the Roman Republic may have been helped along by an unlikely factor – a colossal volcanic eruption that took place on the opposite side of the Earth. The eruption was the largest in the northern hemisphere for the last 2,500 years, and the … Continue reading Massive volcanic eruption may have contributed to rise of Roman Empire
An international team of researchers has mapped the entirety of an ancient, buried Roman city known as Falerii Novi using radar scanning technology. The researchers unraveled the secrets of the city, which once sprawled over 30.5 hectares of Italian co… Continue reading Complete ancient Roman city mapped using ground-penetrating radar