Archaeology & Human Origins

1+ hour, 1+ min ago   (869+ words) For more than 2,000 years, it has been claimed that the Parthenon's famous curves were designed to correct an optical illusion, making the temple appear straight. Now, a new study debunks this enduring myth. An Oxford mathematician has combined geometry, engineering…...

2+ hour, 35+ min ago   (483+ words) Metal detectors have had a banner year in Scandinavia, where records for the largest recovered Viking silver hoards have been made in Norway, Denmark, and now Finland. A man found two large hoards of silver in southern Finland, containing thousands…...

1+ hour, 44+ min ago   (722+ words) Augustus, ancient Rome's first emperor, placed a gilded monument ​called the Milliarium Aureum, or Golden Milestone, in the Roman Forum in 20 B.C. to mark the symbolic starting point for all roads in the sprawling empire. These roads indeed were the…...

3+ hour, 49+ min ago   (443+ words) Its scenes combine a mysterious harbor, theatrical figures, and shimmering stonework, but archaeologists still cannot say where the extraordinary composition ends. In Rome, the largest known wall mosaic from the Roman era has been unveiled for the first time. The…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago   (308+ words) Using LiDAR, the team discovered 1.5 miles of pre-Columbian roads, but to protect the find, officials are keeping the specific location a secret. Within the larger Machu Picchu National Park, over 60 archaeological monuments connect via a network of roads. “These sites…...

3+ hour, 36+ min ago   (591+ words) ATHENS – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday inaugurated the upgraded Kerameikos archaeological site and museum, where he was welcomed by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni. “A museum which has now been incorporated into the historic network linking Athens’ archaeological sites, continuing…...

4+ hour, 45+ min ago   (738+ words) The flint-built remains were found several hundred metres from the beaches of Cromer, Norfolk. They are thought to form part of Shipden, a medieval settlement gradually consumed by the advancing North Sea during the 14th century. Following early-morning starts at Sea…...

3+ hour, 50+ min ago   (580+ words) Twelve entrances opened onto the horizon at Chleby. The excavators link their directions to the Sun and Moon, raising questions about how people gathered there. The post A 6,000-Year-Old Czech Enclosure Had Twelve Entrances Aligned With the Sky appeared first…...

8+ hour, 16+ min ago   (393+ words) Archaeologists conducting joint land and underwater excavations at Liman Tepe, an archaeological site in the western province of İzmir’s Urla district, have uncovered a nearly 5,000-year-old drainage system of stone channels believed to divert rainwater. According to a statement by…...

4+ hour, 13+ min ago   (421+ words) Ancient DNA from Finland shows how coastal and inland communities followed different population paths during the Middle Ages. Researchers from the University of Turku studied the genomes of 34 people who lived in southwestern Finland and Häme. The team compared their…...