S African ancestors got earlier
Australopithecus fossils from South Africa’s Sterkfontein Cave may be over one million years older than previously thought. Sterkfontein...
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Mystery of Waterloo's dead
Probing the fate of those who died at Waterloo in June 1815. Did those who died at the Battle of Waterloo become fertiliser? This macabre...
Lasers and Caribbean potters
Pottery analysis provides new perspective on Caribbean prehistory. Until recently, the archaeology of the Caribbean was very much a byway...
Homo erectus in China
Evidence from Gongwangling, Northern China, sheds light on early hominin population in China. Discoveries of archaic humans are...
Chicken domestication roasting
New research reveals relatively recent origins of chicken domestication. Until recently, it was believed that chickens were domesticated...
Perished pioneers in Perth
Hair testing reveals hardships in gold rush-era Perth, Australia. A gold rush near Perth, eastern Australia, 140 years ago, attracted...
Human DNA from Pompeii
Victim’s genome is first to be fully sequenced. The victims of the Pompeii eruption have long been familiar to visitors, but it is only...
Thunderbirds are go!
First people in Australia ate eggs of the giant Genyornis newtoni ‘Thunder Bird’. Genyornis newtoni (pictured) was a huge Australian...
Off with her foot!
Ancient Chinese woman had foot removed, probably as brutal punishment. A rare discovery has come from a tomb at the Zhouyuan site in...
Earliest red ochre mine in Americas
Archaeologists discover the Americas' oldest-known red ochre mine in Wyoming. Red ochre, AKA hematite, was widely used in early Plains...
Ancient slash-and-burn in Europe
New study reveals hunter-gatherers in Europe used slash-and-burn cultivation methods. Slash-and-burn agriculture is commonplace in...
A Tenochtitlán dwelling
Remains of imposing Aztec building unearthed in Mexico City. Sensational archaeological discoveries in the heart of Mexico City have...
Buried in bed, loyal to Apollo
Skeleton of woman found lying on bronze bed, Greece. A middle-aged woman buried on her bed during the 1st century BC was recently...
On Cleopatra's scent
Eau de Cleo: Mendesian perfume recreated. Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt loved perfumes, or so are we told. But what were they like?...
Pilou, China: the myth of the 'Movius line'
Game-changing handaxe discovery. Handaxes were a vital component of the Acheulian tool-kit (c.1.76-0.13 Ma). But many years ago, the...
Japan's first Jomon potters
Cord blimey: new light on the earliest vessels made by hunter-gatherers. Conventional scholarly wisdom long held that ceramic technology...
Mega 1,800 BC Pacific Tsunami
Scientists discover evidence for ancient super-earthquake in Northern Chile. In about 1800 BC, a massive tectonic plate rupture lifted...
Dating the first Americans
New study challenges theories of earlier human arrival in Americas. For years, there have been claims that humans settled in the Americas...
Starfish at Tenochtitlán
Archaeologists find largest-ever starfish offering at Templo Mayor in Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán, today's Mexico City. The Templo...
Plant strong west Africans
Chemical traces on west African pots of the Nok people reveal plant-based diet. The Nok culture appeared in today’s Nigeria at around...
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