Ancient Civilizations

Research Suggests Machu Picchu Was Purposely Built on Top of Intersecting Fault Lines

It's believed the fissures produced chunks of cracked rock that aided in the construction of the city's tightly fitted stone walls

Modern-day baby feeding from reconstructed infant feeding vessel of the type investigated in the new study.

Bronze Age Baby Bottles Reveal How Some Ancient Infants Were Fed

Drinking vessels found in Bronze and Iron Age children's graves contained proteins from animal milk

This image shows a preliminary portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA.

Scientists Recreate the Face of a Denisovan Using DNA

By mapping gene expressions, researchers can determine some anatomical features of our distant hominin relatives

Unique Salt Coating Helped Preserve 25-Foot-Long Dead Sea Scroll

Analysis shows that the unique processing of the Temple Scroll's parchment kept it intact

A photograph of a red slipped ware globular pot placed near the head of the skeleton that yielded ancient DNA. There are lines as well as indentations on the upper right side, just below the rim. The indentations on the body of the pot could be examples of ancient graffiti and/or "Indus script."

Rare Ancient DNA Provides Window Into a 5,000-Year-Old South Asian Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the early society remains shrouded in mystery

The Mustansiriya was built during the 13th century.

What the Restoration of Iraq’s Oldest University Says About the Nation's Future

The Mustansiriya has withstood centuries of war, floods and architectural butchery, but can it survive its own restoration?

The Ancient Greeks Used Machines to Lift Stones 150 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed

An examination of grooves on blocks of stone from early temples suggest they were lifted and then levered into place using a frame

Burning birch bark to produce sticky tar.

Making Neanderthal Birch Tar Isn't as Complex as Thought

But even if Neanderthals were using a simpler method to produce the sticky resin, their use of it still suggests a level of planning and cognitive ability

Graduate student Karen Fleming recreated Hilda's face using wax

See the Face of Hilda, a Toothless Iron Age Druid Woman

A Scottish university student has recreated Hilda's likeness out of wax

The Pompeiian sorceress' kit contained about 100 different objects.

A Sorceress' Kit Was Discovered in the Ashes of Pompeii

The box of small trinkets was likely used to perform fertility and love rituals and to look for omens about birth and pregnancy

Cleopatra May Have Once Smelled Like This Recreated Perfume

A team sought to replicate ancient Egypt's most famous perfumes based on residue found in old bottles

The result. On Twitter, Samus Blackley describes it as "much sweeter and more rich than the sourdough we are used to."

This Bread Was Made Using 4,500-Year-Old Egyptian Yeast

After extracting the dormant yeast from cooking vessels, an amateur gastroegyptologist used ancient grains to recreate an Old Kingdom loaf

Researchers hypothesize that magnetic figures may have been crafted to memorialize the dead, with the attractive forces of the sculptures representing a lingering life force.

Mesoamerican Sculptures Reveal Early Knowledge of Magnetism

Stone figures with magnetized cheeks and navels suggest the pre-Maya civilization of Monte Alto understood the attractive force

Out of 200 styluses found during excavations, this was the only one with an inscription

This Ancient Roman Souvenir Stylus Is Inscribed With a Corny Joke

Loosely translated, the message reads, ‘I went to Rome and all I got you was this stylus’

Excavation of a Celtic grave at the Kernschulhaus 2017

This Iron Age Celtic Woman Was Buried in a Hollowed-Out Tree Trunk

The woman performed little physical labor during her lifetime and enjoyed a rich diet of starchy and sweetened foods

Polychrome mosaic emblema (panel) showing fish and sea creatures, Pompeii, House of the Geometric Mosaics

From Baked Dormouse to Carbonized Bread, 300 Artifacts Show What Romans Ate

The show features frescoes, preserved fruit, cooking utensils and vessels recovered from Pompeii

It Took Two Years for Global Experts to ID This Little Shard of Roman Glass

The rare blue-green glass was unearthed at the Chedworth Roman Villa in the U.K.

Researchers previously believed that traces of animal fat left in pottery stemmed from feasts held by Stonehenge's builders.

Did Stonehenge’s Builders Use Lard to Move Its Boulders Into Place?

Animal fat residue found on ceramic vessels suggests the ancient Britons who built the monument greased their wooden sledges with lard

View of the rebuilt walls of Babylon, a kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia, now located in the modern-day city of Hillah. The site of Babylon has been selected to be inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Ancient City of Babylon Among New Unesco World Heritage Sites

Other additions include ancient metallurgy sites in Burkina Faso, Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park and eight buildings designed by Frank LLoyd Wright

Drought Reveals Ancient Palace in Iraqi Reservoir

A team of Iraqi and German archaeologists excavated the rare Mittani structure before it was swallowed by water once more

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