Archaeology

The artifacts, such as this bronze jug, are decorated with Roman religious symbols that ancient Jews would have considered idolatrous.

Looted Artifacts Recovered From Car Trunk May Be Spoils of War Seized by Jewish Rebels Against Rome

Authorities in Jerusalem confiscated the stolen items, which included incense burners and coins and probably date to the Bar Kokhba revolt

Archaeologists have identified a rare ninth-century Viking sword discovered at a burial site on one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

Rare Viking Sword Discovered in Grave on Scottish Island

The weapon is covered in rust and dirt, but a new X-ray analysis suggests it once boasted rich decorations

A fifth century B.C.E. diadem, or headband, from Colchis, in the southern Caucasus.

Why This Ancient Civilization Fell Out of Love With Gold for 700 Years

Analysis of 4,500 artifacts suggests an early society between the Black and Caspian Seas turned against bling

Researchers analyzed evidence such as pollen, fossils, tools and charcoal deposits from Neumark-Nord.

Scientists Find the Oldest Evidence of Neanderthals Altering the Natural Landscape

Despite living in a heavily forested region, the areas that ancient humans inhabited had more grasses and fewer trees

Archaeologists unearthed the body of a female infant at a 10,000-year-old burial site in the Arma Veirana cave in Italy.

Baby Buried With Care 10,000 Years Ago Found in Italian Cave

The rare interment suggests that some hunter-gatherer societies imbued female infants with full personhood

A medieval composite pen made out of animal bone and a copper alloy was found in an 11th-century settlement in Ireland. The tool's secular setting is a rare find, as literacy in Ireland was generally associated with the church.

Medieval Ink Pen Testifies to the Rise of Secular Literacy in Ireland

The 11th-century tool may have been used to record family lineages and trade agreements

Parts of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off British Columbia’s north coast, remained ice free throughout the last ice age. Archaeological investigations of just a few of the islands’ many caves have revealed a trove of surprising finds.

Archaeologists Discover Oldest Domesticated Dog Remains in Americas

Exciting secrets unearthed on Haida Gwaii include a canine tooth, roughly 11,000-year-old stone tools and the tantalizing signs of far more to come

The newly discovered synagogue is the second found in the ancient community.

Researchers Unearth 2,000-Year-Old Synagogue in Mary Magdalene's Supposed Hometown

The religious center is the second of its kind found in Migdal, an ancient community on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee

Found among Steinhardt's stolen artifacts was the Larnax, a small chest that was used to store human remains. Dated to between 1200 and 1400 B.C.E., the chest originated on the island of Crete.

New York Antiquities Collector Returns 180 Stolen Artifacts Worth $70 Million

A deal made with the Manhattan district attorney bars billionaire Michael Steinhardt from purchasing ancient objects for the rest of his life

Archaeological evidence of crucifixion is rare, as victims were rarely properly buried. Most crucifixions used rope rather than nails to bind the condemned to a cross.

Rare Physical Evidence of Roman Crucifixion Found in Britain

Researchers discovered the skeleton of a man with a nail hammered through his heel bone

The sealed tomb held about 400 funerary figurines.

Mummies With Gold Tongues Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old Tombs in Egypt

The rare discovery of a sealed tomb yielded well-preserved grave goods including 400 funerary figures

A robot powered by artificial intelligence will attempt to restore fragmented frescoes at the Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

How Robots Could Help Restore Fragmented Frescoes in Pompeii

Using artificial intelligence, scientists have put together a computerized system that could rebuild the magnificent murals destroyed by Mount Vesuvius

An aerial shot shows of the site where the Viking longhouse was discovered.

Archaeologists Uncover One of the Largest Viking Longhouses in Scandinavia

Using ground-penetrating radar, scientists were able to find the Iron Age settlement and learn more about its place in Viking culture

Excavators discovered the underground ritual site beneath Garibaldi Plaza, formerly part of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.

Aztec Altar Secretly Built After the Spanish Conquest Discovered in Mexico City

Researchers found incense burners, a vessel containing cremated remains and other artifacts in the former capital of Tenochtitlán

Researchers found the remains of a man in his mid-40s at Herculaneum, a Roman town near Pompeii.

Vesuvius Victim Died Just Steps From the Safety of the Sea, Skeleton Shows

The middle-aged man's remains are the first of their kind found at Herculaneum in 25 years

Some of the jewelry found in the tombs resembles designs worn by Queen Nefertiti.

Egyptian Jewelry, Mesopotamian Seal Found in Cyprus Offer Clues to Bronze Age Trade Networks

Artifacts found in a pair of tombs on the Mediterranean island speak to the interconnected nature of the ancient world

Climate change led Ancestral Puebloans to relocate, forming denser communities and building grand structures like the great kivas in Chaco Canyon.

How Volcanic Eruptions Helped the Ancestral Puebloan Culture Flourish

Drastic changes in climate in the sixth century C.E. led the ancient Native American civilization to adopt new technologies

Chemical analysis of stalagmites in nearby underwater caves indicated that extensive flooding caused the collapse of the Liangzhu culture.

Why Did This Chinese City of Canals Collapse in the Third Millennium B.C.E.?

New research suggests Liangzhu, "China's Venice of the Stone Age," was abandoned due to extreme flooding

Art dealer Helen Fioratti and her husband, Nereo, purchased the mosaic from an aristocratic Italian family in the 1960s and used it as a coffee table in their Manhattan apartment for some 45 years.

A Mosaic From Caligula's 'Pleasure Boat' Spent 45 Years as a Coffee Table in NYC

Authorities returned the ancient artwork, now on view at a museum near Rome, to Italy following a multi-year investigation

The simple coin design was quickly replaced, leaving only 40 or so surviving specimens today.

Found in a Candy Tin: One of the First Coins Struck in Colonial North America

Illegally minted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the 1652 silver shilling recently sold at auction for $351,912

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