archaeology

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Ancient Viking Carving Yields ... a Love Note

PhD student deciphers mysterious codes from 12th and 13th centuries

(Newser) - A PhD student thinks he's deciphered a 900-year-old carving that has long puzzled experts—and it's basically a valentine. The carving appears to be based on a code that subs in numbers for runes and, when deciphered, reads "kiss me," Jonas Nordby from the University of...

Historic Find in Europe: Human Footprints 800K Years Old

Tracks in Britain are the oldest found outside Africa

(Newser) - Walking along a beach in Norfolk, England, last May, scientists spotted indents at low tide that had been washed clear of sand by a recent storm. They thought the marks might be animal prints, but on closer inspection discovered something much cooler: nearly million-year-old human footprints—the oldest ones ever...

Camel Bones Challenge the Bible's Timeline

Study: It was written much later than the events it describes

(Newser) - A set of bones—and not human ones, at that—is "challenging the Bible's historicity," say two Tel-Aviv University researchers. Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen have carbon-dated the oldest known domesticated camel bones found in the southern Levant, where Israel sits, and what they discovered...

Scientists Have Likely Found Charlemagne's Skeleton

Researchers have been studying bones for 26 years

(Newser) - After 26 years of research, scientists finally announced last week that the bones interred at Charlemagne's supposed resting place at Aachen Cathedral probably do belong to the emperor, The Local reports. The German researchers say the 94 bones and bone fragments are from a tall, thin, older man, and...

4,600-Year-Old 'Mystery' Pyramid Excavated

Fallen structure may reveal ancient power shift in Egypt

(Newser) - Archaeologists have excavated a 4,600-year-old pyramid in southern Egypt that was hidden under a pile of sand, waste, and its own remains, and come to a simple conclusion: They don't know what it's for. They do know the Edfu pyramid once stood 43 feet high and was...

Oldest Roman Temple Unearthed ... for 3 Days

Likely dedicated to goddess Fortuna

(Newser) - Archaeologists digging in the heart of Rome unearthed what may be the oldest temple to be built in the Eternal City, but don't get your hopes up about visiting the ancient structure. Its foundation sits well below the water line and was only visible for three days. Archaeologists from...

Pottery Shard May Vindicate Bible: Scholar

Ancient 'Ophel inscription' could prove the story of King Solomon

(Newser) - An ancient pottery shard seems to support the Biblical story of King Solomon and shows he was running a pretty complex operation 3,000 years ago—at least according to one Israeli scholar. "We are dealing here with real kings, and the kingdom of David and Solomon was a...

Archaeologists Unearth Unknown Pharaoh in Egypt

Previously unknown Senebkay ruled about 1650BC

(Newser) - Scholars of ancient Egypt have a new pharaoh to study, thanks to archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Museum . Meet Woseribre Senebkay, who ruled from about 1650BC to 1600BC, reports LiveScience . The Penn researchers had to piece together his skeleton after eons of tomb robbers had their way...

Alfred the Great Bone Found ... in a Box?

Bone that could be his or his son's found in 1999 dig

(Newser) - Archaeologists may have uncovered a bone fragment belonging to Alfred the Great—in 1999. The English king, who ruled from 871 until his death in 899, made news last year when experts thought they had found his unmarked grave . Except the remains they found there turned out to be from...

Unknown Pharaoh's Tomb Unearthed

But ancient Egyptian grave robbers got there first

(Newser) - Amid fresh upheaval in Egypt, archaeologists are still making finds that shed light on the country's past. In the latest discovery, an American and Egyptian team has unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh who ruled during troubled times 3,600 years ago, reports the AP . King Seneb...

Ancient Obelisk's True Purpose Revealed

We've had 'Altar of Peace' wrong for decades, according to 3D modeling

(Newser) - Researchers using 3D modeling and data from NASA think they've discovered the true purpose of the Obelisk of Montecitorio—upending a theory that has stood for decades. The 71-foot-tall ancient Egyptian obelisk was brought to Rome by Emperor Augustus, and would have stood across a plaza from the Ara...

China's 'Great Wall' Wasn't Its First Great Wall

Archaeologist Gary Feinman is studying an even earlier one

(Newser) - As NPR tells it, archaeologist Gary Feinman was "simply walking around eastern China's Shandong province" on a hunt for pottery shards when he found something much, well, greater: a rammed earth wall that reached as high as 15 feet in places. That there had been a wall built...

Cats Were Farmers&#39; Friends 5K Years Ago
 Cats Were Farmers' 
 Friends 5K Years Ago 
STUDY SAYS
Dec 18, 2013 2:15 AM CST

Cats Were Farmers' Friends 5K Years Ago

Ancient bones shed light on domestication timeline

(Newser) - Ancient bones unearthed in China have shed new light on how humans came to tame cats—though some cat owners would describe the relationship as being the other way around. Analysis of the cat bones found in a millet-farming village suggest that cats were living alongside humans 5,300 years...

Archaeologists Make Grisly Find in China
 Archaeologists 
 Make Grisly 
 Find in China 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 7, 2013 9:20 AM CST

Archaeologists Make Grisly Find in China

Skulls of 80 sacrificed young women unearthed

(Newser) - A mass grave holding the skulls of 80 young women has been found in China, state media today reported, and the details only get grislier from there. Archaeologists believe the women may have been sacrificed as many as 4,000 years ago, perhaps as part of "foundation ceremonies" that...

Buddha's Birthday Wrong by 200 Years: Experts

Archaeologists date timber shrine to the 6th century BC

(Newser) - Buddha may have achieved enlightenment two centuries earlier than experts believe—if an ancient timber shrine can be taken at face value, AFP reports. A team of archaeologists, digging under the temple considered to be Buddha's birthplace, discovered a wooden shrine that dates to the 6th century BC. Problem...

Behold: World's Oldest Wine Cellar

Archeologists find jars that predate the Bible in what is now Israel

(Newser) - Archeologists have found what they think is the oldest wine cellar on record—a 3,700-year-old collection of jars in the ruins of ancient Canaanite place in modern Israel, reports Bloomberg . They found about 40 ceramic jars, broken and empty but with the unmistakable residue of wine. Chemical analysis revealed...

Ancient City Found Under Biblical-Era Ruins

Archaeologists in Israel unearth evidence of older Canaanite city

(Newser) - Archaeologists excavating an ancient city in Israel have found evidence of an even older city at the site, one that dates back to the 14th century BC, LiveScience reports. Archaeologists have been digging at the Canaanite city of Gezer for about 100 years, with most experts dating their findings to...

Archaeologists Plunder Blackbeard's Ship

Haul 5 cannons from wreckage, bringing total to 22

(Newser) - Avast, ye mateys! More bounty from famed pirate Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, has been plundered, with archaeologists hauling another five cannons from the wreckage off North Carolina's coast on Monday, reports Popular Science . "This is a red letter day. Five cannons is the most...

Big Find in Peru's Capital: Mummies

And one may have been wrapped alive, archaeologists say

(Newser) - A site in Lima, Peru, that archaeologists have been excavating since 1981 has given up quite the find: an undisturbed tomb that's at least 1,000 years old—with two mummies inside. Dated to the Wari civilization of 600 to 1,000 AD, the bodies of one adult and...

Rare Viking 'Thing' Found Under Parking Lot

Just the 2nd such site in the UK, dated to 11th century

(Newser) - Archaeologists have uncovered another parking lot find , only this time it's in Scotland, and what they discovered is best described as a "Thing." Yep, that's the technical term for a Viking parliamentary gathering site, one of which has been unearthed in the town of Dingwall. That...

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