Archaeologists say figure found in National Trust dig could represent 1st-century man or Celtic deity A tiny figurine found by archaeologists on the proposed site of a car park may provide a unique insight into the popular hairstyles among the native men of Roman-era Britain, with moustaches and mullets – with a neat back and […]
The United States currently uses 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to project global power, so it might be hard to imagine it having 151 carriers during World War II. If the U.S. had that many modern carriers, it could probably take on the entire world. But naval warfare was very different back then. Fighting WWII meant […]
Archaeologists are unearthing the secrets of a long-lost medieval empire. A major new discovery in South West China is, for the first time, revealing the extraordinary grandeur of a vanished kingdom, whose armies conquered huge swathes of southeast Asia. Chinese archaeologists, excavating in the ruins of the empire’s capital, have discovered one of the largest medieval Buddhist monasteries […]
The ancient city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq is fighting for its survival, under siege from time, water and the perils of modern civilisation. Jane Arraf hears from the archaeologists trying to preserve it Ammar al-Taee, an Iraqi archaeologist, picks up a clay panel fallen from one of the ancient walls of Babylon. Paw prints of a […]
Bone fragments long thought to have come from St. James the Younger, one of the 12 apostles who may have been Jesus’ brother, couldn’t have come from him, a new study finds. The Santi Apostoli church in Rome has housed fragments of a femur, or thigh bone, for more than 1,500 years, believing they were […]
A large settlement, a Roman villa and many household objects are among the discoveries at an ancient site in Oxfordshire When archaeologists began excavating land near the iron age hillfort at Wittenham Clumps, a famous Oxfordshire landmark, they were hopeful of unearthing something of interest because the area has been occupied for more than 3,000 […]
Researchers in China have identified a mysterious liquid contained in an ancient bronze pot from thousands of years ago, and it turns out to be a famous potion fabled in Chinese legend. According to the archaeologists, the strange yellowish liquid uncovered during excavations in central China’s Henan Province late last year is an ancient ‘elixir of immortality’, […]
Archaeological work ahead of the construction of a controversial road tunnel beside Stonehenge has led to the discovery of ancient graves, including one with the remains of a baby dating back more than 4,500 years; a strange earth enclosure; and prehistoric pottery, among other buried treasures. Some of the finds may have been used by people who […]
Conch, unearthed in cave in Pyrenees in 1931, had been carefully drilled and shaped to make music A 17,000-year-old conch shell that lay forgotten for more than 80 years in a museum collection has been discovered to be the oldest known wind instrument of its type, after researchers found it had been modified by its […]
Linear A is a logo-syllabic script used for administrative purposes on Bronze Age Crete. Together with Cretan Hieroglyphic, it is one of two writing systems created by the Minoan civilization. Upon its template, the Mycenaeans later created the Linear B script to register their dialect of ancient Greek. Linear B was cracked in the 1950s, […]
