Bones

The bones likely belong to people sacrificed during the reign of Ahuízotl, eighth king of the Aztecs.

The Aztecs Constructed This Tower Out of Hundreds of Human Skulls

Researchers in Mexico City recently discovered a new section of a macabre late 15th-century structure

Compared to other P. robustus males recovered from a nearby cave system called Swartkrans, DNH 155 (pictured here) was much smaller and had more female-like characteristics.

Newly Unearthed Skull Reveals How Ancient Hominids Evolved to Survive a Changing Climate

"Paranthropus robustus" evolved sturdier skulls to be able to eat new, tough vegetation

The burial site is located inside of Makpan cave on the Indonesian island of Alor.

8,000 Years Ago, a Child in Indonesia Was Buried Without Their Arms and Legs

Ancient humans often modified the bones of their dead as part of funerary rituals

Prehistoric hunter-gather societies may have depended on women, as well as men and children, to conduct a successful hunt.

This Prehistoric Peruvian Woman Was a Big-Game Hunter

Some 9,000 years ago, a 17- to 19-year-old female was buried alongside a hunter's tookit

A satellite image of the Noordoostpolder, a Dutch municipality where the four settlements were found

Dutch Archaeologist Discovers Traces of Four Submerged Medieval Settlements

A five-year research project yielded the locations of several long-forgotten villages

Archaeologists inspect the Anglo-Saxon warlord's grave.

Newly Unearthed Warrior's Grave Poised to Redraw Map of Anglo-Saxon England

Nicknamed the "Marlow Warlord," the six-foot-tall man was buried on a hill overlooking the Thames sometime in the sixth century A.D.

A musical instrument made out a human thigh bone

Bronze Age Britons Crafted Instruments, Decorations Out of Relatives' Bones

Ancient humans "treated and interacted with the dead in ways which are inconceivably macabre to us today," says researcher Tom Booth

The charred shoulder blade of a young adult who was cremated in northern Israel some 9,000 years ago. The bone contains the embedded point of a flint projectile.

Humans in the Near East Cremated Their Dead 9,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists found the charred bones of a young adult in the ancient Israeli village of Beisamoun

Potential human ancestor Homo heidelbergensis used this 480,000-year-old bone hammer to create flint tools.

Europe's Oldest Bone Tools Hint at Early Hominin Sophistication

480,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergensis used hammers to fashion flint tools in what is now southern England

The Penn Museum in Philadelphia, part of the University of Pennsylvania, as pictured in 2012

The Penn Museum Moves Collection of Enslaved People's Skulls Into Storage

Per a statement, the Philadelphia institution is actively working to ensure the bones' "repatriation or reburial"

Bogs are perhaps best known for preserving prehistoric human remains. One of the most famous examples of these so-called "bog bodies" is Tollund Man.

Study Suggests Bones Preserved in Peat Bogs May Be at Risk

Per the paper, archaeologists need to act quickly to recover organic material trapped in the wetlands before specimens degrade

On the shores of Pechevalavato Lake in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets region, people dig for more pieces of a mammoth skeleton first found by reindeer herders.

Woolly Mammoth Skeleton With Intact Ligaments Found in Siberian Lake

Part of the extinct animal's foot was recovered from the water with well-preserved, millennia-old soft tissue

Researchers unearthed this bison-bone hoe in Manitoba, Canada.

Centuries-Old Gardening Hoes Made of Bison Bone Found in Canada

The tools provide evidence that the region's Indigenous population practiced agriculture pre-European contact

Roughly 1.4 million years ago, Homo erectus made this hand ax out of a hippopotamus' thigh bone.

1.4-Million-Year-Old Ax Made of Hippo Bone Found in Ethiopia

Thought to have been made by Homo erectus, the implement adds range and sophistication to the bipedal hominin's toolkit

Facial reconstruction of a Scandinavian hunter-gatherer who was buried with a wooden stake at the base of his skull

See the Face of a Man Whose Skull Was Mounted on a Stake 8,000 Years Ago

A forensic artist used 3-D scans of the hunter-gatherer's cranium to envision what he may have looked like in life

A new study from scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center analyzed about 35,000 bone and shell fragments from the Maya city of Ceibal.

Bones Tell the Tale of a Maya Settlement

A new study tracks how the ancient civilization used animals for food, ritual purposes and even as curiosities

Volunteers have placed sandbags along the beach in hopes of preventing further flooding.

U.K. Storms Unearth Bones From Historic Scottish Cemetery—and Archaeologists Are Worried

The burial site, which contains remains from both the Picts and the Norse, is at risk of disappearing due to coastal erosion

Workers discovered the bones in a lead container hidden in the walls of the Church of St. Mary and St. Eanswythe.

Bones Unearthed in English Church Likely Belong to Seventh-Century Saint

Eanswythe was the granddaughter of Ethelbert, the first English king to convert to Christianity

Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon is now on display in a glass case in University College London's Student Centre.

English Philosopher's Dressed-Up Skeleton Goes on View in New Glass Display

When utilitarian thinker Jeremy Bentham died in 1832, he requested his preserved remains be displayed in "an appropriate box or case"

Archaeologists uncovered nine walls made of human bones beneath Saint Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

Walls Made of Ancient Human Leg Bones Found Beneath Belgian Church

The macabre creations are likely the product of an overcrowded cemetery cleared out hundreds of years ago

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