Archaeology

The otherworldly terrain dazzled early explorers. In 1827, trapper Daniel Potts noted that geysers erupted with a roar like “that of thunder.”

The Lost History of Yellowstone

Debunking the myth that the great national park was a wilderness untouched by humans

A metal detectorist discovered the coin, which dates back to the Northern Song Dynasty in China.

Medieval Chinese Coin Found in England Suggests a Vast Medieval Trade Route

A recent discovery dating to the 11th century offers hints of a world that was more connected than previously thought

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This Ohio Golf Course, Built Atop a Hopewell Earthwork, Is Now the Subject of a Lawsuit

A legal battle brews over access to some of the world's largest human-made structures of their kind

The vessel was produced around the time when Liu Zhi’s successor, Ling, was building a mausoleum for the deceased emperor.

Inscription Leads Archaeologists to Tomb of One of the Last Han Emperors

A manufacturing date on a vessel confirmed a Chinese mausoleum's ties to second-century A.D. ruler Liu Zhi

An RN administers the Covid-19 vaccine to a nurse at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia.

The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2020

From the rapid development of vaccines for Covid-19 to the stunning collection of an asteroid sample, these were the biggest science moments of the year

The snack bars depicts a Nereid riding a sea-horse.

Ancient Pompeiians Stopped at This 'Snack Bar' to Feast on Snails, Fish and Wine

Archaeologists have uncovered food remnants at one of the city’s fast food joint, called thermopolia, where hungry ancients grabbed quick meals

Researchers found the jar while conducting excavations in the ancient city of Jaffa.

Archaeologists in Israel Unearth 3,800-Year-Old Skeleton of Baby Buried in a Jar

Researchers are unsure of the unusual funerary practice's purpose, but one theory posits that the vessel serves as a symbolic womb

Archaic Age people—like the ones who made these blades—arrived in the Caribbean around 6,000 years ago.

What Ancient DNA Reveals About the First People to Populate the Caribbean

New study suggests a group of migrants almost totally replaced the islands' original population

While fieldwork was postponed, scientists made discoveries studying fossil footprints, ancient apes, monkeys and hominins.

Ten New Things We Learned About Human Origins in 2020

Smithsonian’s archaeologist Ella Beaudoin and paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner reveal some of the year’s best findings in human origins studies

Fascinating finds revealed in 2020 ranged from a portrait of Mary Boleyn to a bust of the Greek god Hermes and one of the world's oldest swords.

Ninety Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2020

This year's most intriguing discoveries include an Aztec skull tower, fossilized footprints and Nazi shipwrecks

Workers building a visitors' tunnel at the modern Church of All Nations discovered the ancient mikveh, or ritual bath.

Researchers Unearth Ritual Bath Dated to Jesus's Time Near Garden of Gethsemane

The 2,000-year-old "mikveh" represents the first Second Temple–era archaeological evidence found at the site

L to R: Leonor Villa, Melania Lasilla and Julia Claveras, three of the ten women executed by a fascist firing squad in August 1936

Remembering the Oft-Overlooked Women Victims of the Spanish Civil War

Archaeologists in northeastern Spain recently unearthed the remains of ten individuals kidnapped and executed in 1936

People may have eventually accepted the mixed alloys as legitimate currency.

Ancient Canaanites Added Arsenic to Copper to Create Counterfeit Currency

The toxic chemical gave the metal a luminous sheen, enabling forgers to pass off cheap alloys as silver

One of the human bone points analyzed in the study, found by Willy van Wingerden in January of 2017.

Ancient European Hunters Carved Human Bones Into Weapons

Scientists suggest 10,000-year-old barbed points washed up on Dutch beaches were made for cultural reasons

Authorities grew suspicious of the man after he claimed to have found 14,000 Roman coins in a Belgian orchard.

Officials Seize 27,400 Artifacts Looted by a Single French Treasure Hunter

The unidentified man accumulated a sizable collection of ancient coins, jewelry, accessories and sculptures

The team's findings reflect the toll of the ivory trade and habitat destruction.

Ivory From 16th-Century Shipwreck Yields Clues to African Elephants' Decline

Researchers extracted DNA from tusks found in the wreckage of the "Bom Jesus," a treasure-laden vessel that sank in 1533

A new, noninvasive technique allows researchers to study mummies without damaging them.

Researchers Reveal Mummy's Surprising Contents Without Unwrapping It

Technique described in a new study combines X-ray and CT scans to examine remains without damaging them

A curatorial assistant found the wood fragments in a misfiled cigar box bearing the image of Egypt's old flag.

Missing Great Pyramid Artifact Found in Cigar Box in Scotland

The wood fragments—among just three items ever taken from the Giza tomb—date to the fourth millennium B.C.

This rare Anglo Saxon cross spent more than 1,000 years buried in a Scottish field. Left: the cross pre-conservation, and right: the cross mid-cleaning

Freed of 1,000 Years of Grime, Anglo-Saxon Cross Emerges in Stunning Detail

Conservation revealed the artifact, discovered with Scotland's Galloway Hoard, as an example of intricate Viking-era metalwork

Sequencing entire genomes from ancient tissues helps researchers reveal the evolutionary and domestication histories of species.

How Ancient DNA Unearths Corn's A-Maize-ing History

New study shows how extracting whole genomes from ancient material opens the door for new research questions and breathes new life into old samples

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