https://phys.org/science-news/archaeology-fossils en-us The latest news on archaeology, archaeological research and archaeological advancements. A team of geneticists and archaeologists affiliated with multiple institutions in France has uncovered skeletons in an ancient gravesite not far from Paris that show evidence of steppe migrant integration with Late Neolithic Europeans. The study is published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-gravesite-france-evidence-steppe-migrant.html Archaeology Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:31:18 EDT news638094668 A company drilling for natural gas off the coast of northern Israel discovered a 3,300-year-old ship and its cargo, one of the oldest known examples of a ship sailing far from land, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ship-israel-coast-skills-ancient.html Archaeology Thu, 20 Jun 2024 08:05:18 EDT news638089513 The Acropolis of Athens, the rocky hill in the Greek capital that is home to the iconic Parthenon temple, is one of the world's most visited and well-known archaeological sites—but new insights about it are still emerging. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-shepherd-graffiti-acropolis-lost-temple.html Archaeology Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:29:39 EDT news638018977 A white wine over 2,000 years old, of Andalusian origin, is the oldest wine ever discovered. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-world-oldest-wine-rome.html Archaeology Tue, 18 Jun 2024 10:54:04 EDT news637926842 An important chapter of the history of human occupation on the coast of Brazil is being rewritten by Brazilian researchers affiliated with the University of São Paulo's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (MAE-USP). https://phys.org/news/2024-06-hypothesis-occupation-brazil-southern-coast.html Archaeology Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:12:04 EDT news637920721 A joint study conducted by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of Zaragoza and the University of Strasbourg on the remains of the Chaves and Puyascada caves, both located in the province of Huesca, Spain, yields the first direct proof of the consumption and processing of dairy products in the Pyrenees already at the start of the Neolithic period, approximately 7,500 years ago, as well as the consumption of pig. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-evidence-dairy-consumption-pyrenees-earliest.html Archaeology Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:44:03 EDT news637857841 Each of us individually is the accumulated product of thousands of generations that have come before us in an unbroken line. Our culture and technology today are also the result of thousands of years of accumulated and remixed cultural knowledge. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-cumulative-culture-human-evolution-contributions.html Archaeology Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:00:01 EDT news637845481 Archaeologists have been investigating human bones found near the ruins of a bridge in the Three Lakes region of Switzerland. They seek not only to discover what took place, but also to better understand the Celtic heritage of the region. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-victims-tsunami-human-sacrifice-celts.html Archaeology Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:54:04 EDT news637836842 After analyzing the remains of 64 ancient sacrificed individuals, most of whom were children, researchers have revealed new details about human sacrifice at the ancient Maya site of Chichén Itzá. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-secrets-maya-child-sacrifice-chichn.html Archaeology Sun, 16 Jun 2024 12:20:01 EDT news637499474 Using isotope geochemistry, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has uncovered new information about the Barmaz necropolis in Valais (Switzerland): 14% of the people buried 6,000 years ago at this site were not locals. What's more, the study suggests that this Middle Neolithic agropastoral society—one of the oldest known in the western part of Switzerland—was relatively egalitarian. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-isotope-men-women-equal-access.html Archaeology Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:10:37 EDT news637499434 Thousands of years ago, people in ancient Syria likely ate mostly grains, grapes, olives and a small amount of dairy and meat—similar to today's "Mediterranean diet," according to a study published June 12 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Benjamin T. Fuller from the University of Leuven, Belgium, Simone Riehl from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-analyses-ancient-syrian-diets-resembled.html Archaeology Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news637406703 The Greek island of Aegina was home to a Late Bronze Age purple dye workshop, according to a study published June 12, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lydia Berger of Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-analysis-greek-island-home-bronze.html Archaeology Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news637399561 Rising to power in the wake of the Classic Maya collapse, Chichén Itzá was among the largest and most influential cities of the ancient Maya, but much about its political connections and ritual life remain poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ancient-maya-genomes-reveal-male.html Archaeology Wed, 12 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news637406673 Archaeologists have analyzed the chemical makeup of glass beads from across the Great Lakes region of North America, revealing the extent of Indigenous influence on transatlantic exchange networks during the 17th century AD. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-glass-beads-indigenous-americans-early.html Archaeology Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:37:03 EDT news637400221 A big, round, 4,000-year-old stone building discovered on a Cretan hilltop is puzzling archaeologists and threatening to disrupt a major airport project on the Greek tourist island. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-year-cretan-hilltop-mystifies-greek.html Archaeology Tue, 11 Jun 2024 12:22:05 EDT news637327321 A team of archaeologists affiliated with multiple institutions in Spain has used a new dating technique to more accurately estimate time differences between Paleolithic Age hearth fires. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how their new dating technique works, its accuracy range and what their findings reveal about Neanderthals living in a river valley in what is now Spain, approximately 50,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-dating-technique-accurately-differences-paleolithic.html Archaeology Thu, 06 Jun 2024 11:30:02 EDT news636890063 All domestic horses living on the planet today, whether racetrack champions, pony-club companions, or heavy draft giants, find their origins in the western Russian steppes of the third millennium BCE. However, the exact chronology of horse domestication and the widespread integration of horse power into human societies remains highly debated. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-horse-power-years.html Archaeology Thu, 06 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news636874502 Bronze cauldrons were used by the inhabitants of the Mongolian steppe around 2,700 years ago to process animal blood and milk. This is shown by a protein analysis of archaeological finds from this period. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-blood-sausages-yak-bronze-age.html Archaeology Wed, 05 Jun 2024 05:00:01 EDT news636735189 Archaeologists have discovered evidence for the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe, at the site of Swifterbant in the Netherlands. Using a combination of zoological, botanical, and biochemical methods, they investigated the emergence of farming in northern Europe and found that, not only are these the earliest known domestic cattle, they were also managed in very specific ways. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-earliest-cattle-herds-northern-europe.html Archaeology Tue, 04 Jun 2024 13:13:02 EDT news636725558 Archaeologists have mapped 14 sites featuring the world's largest monumental engravings, proposing that they were created to signal the territorial boundaries of the prehistoric inhabitants. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-enormous-engravings-prehistoric-territorial-markers.html Archaeology Tue, 04 Jun 2024 11:27:03 EDT news636719221 A research project led by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Max Planck Institute has studied the remains of 25 individuals buried between the 12th and 15th centuries in the castle at Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara. After exhuming the remains from the castle's cemetery, the research team was able to determine the diet, lifestyle and causes of death of the warrior monks, who were members of the Order of Calatrava. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-body-woman-warrior-monks-calatrava.html Archaeology Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:28:57 EDT news636636532 A new study from Tel Aviv University identified the earliest appearance worldwide of special stone tools, used 400,000 years ago to process fallow deer. The tools, called Quina scrapers (after the site in France where they were first discovered), were unearthed at the prehistoric sites of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave. They are characterized by a sharp working edge shaped as scales, enabling users to butcher their prey and also process its hides. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-year-stone-tools-specifically-butchering.html Archaeology Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:39:04 EDT news636633541 Researchers have explored how the River Nile evolved over the past 11,500 years and how changes in its geography could have helped shape the fortunes of ancient Egyptian civilization. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-crucial-shift-river-nile-evolution.html Archaeology Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:02:40 EDT news636631356 The Celtic culture of the pre-Roman Iron Age in Western and Central Europe has left numerous traces to this day, not least in the form of enormous burial mounds and spectacular archaeological artifacts. Despite this rich legacy, much about this civilization remains hidden from us. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-genetic-analyses-bce-reveal-kinship.html Archaeology Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news636622741 Using a new multidisciplinary approach, a team from UNIGE and CNRS has retraced the food practices of a Senegalese village. This method will be useful for other archaeological research. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-chemists-biologists-archaeologists-unearth-recipes.html Archaeology Thu, 30 May 2024 11:17:04 EDT news636286621 Researchers have gleaned new insights into the great human migration, revealing how environmental conditions in northern Eurasia and the Americas shaped the journey of ancestors who left Africa tens of thousands of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-environmental-conditions-early-humans-migrated.html Archaeology Wed, 29 May 2024 12:21:04 EDT news636204061 A study by the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence has revealed, for the first time, differences in wealth within the upper classes of prehistoric societies. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-largest-burial-mound-differences-upper.html Archaeology Social Sciences Wed, 29 May 2024 11:55:04 EDT news636202501 From ancient texts we know that—for their times—the ancient Egyptians were exceptionally skilled at medicine. For example, they could identify, describe, and treat diseases and traumatic injuries, build protheses, and put in dental fillings. Other conditions, like cancer, they couldn't treat—but they might have tried. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-extraordinary-year-egyptian-skull-cancer.html Archaeology Wed, 29 May 2024 00:00:01 EDT news636103741 A pioneering, national-level study has been conducted by the research group of Paleogenomics and Evolutionary Genetics of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas (FORTH). The 18 civilians from the village of Adele (Rethymnon) that were executed on June 2, 1941, were identified, utilizing ancient DNA and genomic analysis techniques. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-world-war-ii-civilians-adele.html Archaeology Other Mon, 27 May 2024 10:28:01 EDT news636024460 Extensive social networks between different hunter–gatherer groups in the Congo Basin existed long before agriculture arrived in the region. This continent-wide exchange preserved a cultural diversity that evolved thousands of years ago, as researchers from the University of Zurich have shown based on musical instruments, specialized vocabulary and genetic information. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-cultural-linguistic-networks-central-african.html Archaeology Social Sciences Mon, 27 May 2024 10:03:04 EDT news636022982