ASLAN Hub | Exploring our ancient world

Sunken realms – the lost lands of Wales

There are legends of flooded lands around the coast of Britain and Ireland, and no more so than in Wales. These lands were inundated by the sea, through gradual sea level rise or during catastrophic […]

Recent survival of dinosaurs?

Given the discovery of soft tissue in dinosaur bones, and a very well-preserved fossilised dinosaur, one question being asked is: could dinosaurs have survived into much more recent times? The longstanding consensus is that (non-avian) […]

Featured book: ‘The Old Stones’ edited by Andy Burnham

5 December 2018

Andy Burnham has edited a book called The Old Stones: A Field Guide to the Megalithic Sites of Britain and Ireland… The Old Stones is published by Watkins Publishing as of September 2018. It is […]

“Controversial but promising” – the Electrical Universe theory

2 November 2018

The Electric Universe theory has been described as “a controversial but promising theory where plasma and electric charge are responsible for most things that we take for granted”(1). If true, what implications does it have […]

Sand tiger sharks return to shipwrecks off N.C. coast
on 22 April 2019 at 2:49 pm
A study reveals shipwrecks off North Carolina's coast are important habitats for sand tiger sharks, whose population plummeted in the 1980 and 1990s. Photos taken months and even years apart by scuba […]
Better labor practices could improve archaeological output
on 22 April 2019 at 12:22 pm
Archaeological excavation has, historically, operated in a very hierarchical structure, according to archaeologist. The history of the enterprise is deeply entangled with Western colonial and […]
Data mining digs up hidden clues to major California earthquake triggers
on 18 April 2019 at 6:52 pm
A powerful computational study of southern California seismic records has revealed detailed information about a plethora of previously undetected small earthquakes, giving a more precise picture […]
A history of the Crusades, as told by crusaders' DNA
on 18 April 2019 at 5:14 pm
History can tell us a lot about the Crusades, the series of religious wars fought between 1095 and 1291, in which Christian invaders tried to claim the Near East. But the DNA of nine 13th century […]
The secret to a stable society? A steady supply of beer doesn't hurt
on 18 April 2019 at 12:08 pm
Scientists analyzed bits of beer vessels from an ancient Peruvian brewery to learn what the beer was made of and where the materials to make the vessels came from. They learned that production was […]
Fossils found in museum drawer in Kenya belong to gigantic carnivore
on 18 April 2019 at 12:07 pm
Paleontologists have discovered a new species of meat-eating mammal larger than any big cat stalking the world today. Larger than a polar bear, with a skull as large as that of a rhinoceros and […]
Pediatric endocrinologist gives iconic 'Mona Lisa' a second medical opinion
on 17 April 2019 at 9:10 pm
A doctor refutes the most recent hypothesis that 'Lisa' had hypothyroidism and psychomotor retardation. […]
The Cerrado once connected the Andes with the Atlantic Rainforest
on 17 April 2019 at 7:38 pm
A genetic and computational analysis of birds suggests that the Andean and Atlantic tropical forests, which are now almost a thousand kilometers apart, were connected via the Cerrado in the distant […]
These beetles have successfully freeloaded for 100 million years
on 17 April 2019 at 7:38 pm
An ancient and rare beetle fossil is the oldest example of a social relationship between two animal species. […]

Better labor practices could improve archaeological output
on 22 April 2019 at 2:52 pm
Archaeological excavation has, historically, operated in a very hierarchical structure, according to archaeologist Allison Mickel. The history of the […]
The stone faces and human problems on Easter Island
on 22 April 2019 at 2:40 pm
In 1981, UCLA archaeology graduate student Jo Anne Van Tilburg first set foot on the island of Rapa Nui, which is commonly called Easter Island, […]
How 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' inspired the cathedral's 19th-century revival
on 22 April 2019 at 1:50 pm
On April 15, people around the world watched in horror as a voracious fire consumed the medieval wooden roof of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral and […]
Mesopotamian King Sargon II envisioned ancient city Karkemish as western Assyrian capital
on 19 April 2019 at 3:00 pm
In "A New Historical Inscription of Sargon II from Karkemish," published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Gianni Marchesi translates a […]
Daily grind: The biography of a stone axe
on 19 April 2019 at 12:58 pm
Tom Breukel analysed some 250 stone axes from the Caribbean and reconstructed their biographies, thus increasing our knowledge of production and […]
Notre Dame: the public and private lives of France's spiritual home
on 19 April 2019 at 10:20 am
While flames engulfed Notre Dame on the evening of April 15 and the world watched in despair, French president Emmanuel Macron told news cameras that […]
A history of the Crusades, as told by crusaders' DNA
on 18 April 2019 at 3:00 pm
History can tell us a lot about the Crusades, the series of religious wars fought between 1095 and 1291, in which Christian invaders tried to claim […]
Researchers hunt for 17th century 'witch bottles'
on 18 April 2019 at 1:07 pm
A team of archaeologists and historians from MOLA and the University of Hertfordshire are calling on people who may have discovered 17th century […]
New study shows people used natural dyes to color their clothing thousands of years ago
on 18 April 2019 at 12:05 pm
Even thousands of years ago, people wore clothing with colourful patterns made from plant and animal-based dyes. Chemists from Martin Luther […]

Venomous Snake Parts Found in Prehistoric Human Coprolite 22 April 2019
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS—Cosmos reports that researchers led by Elanor Sonderman of Texas A&M University discovered uncooked bones, scales, and the fang of a viper in a single human coprolite recovered from a rock shelter in southwest Texas. The sample of fossilized feces has been dated to between 1,460 and 1,528 years old. The researchers also […]
Byzantine Gold Coin Discovered in Northern Israel 22 April 2019
GALILEE, ISRAEL—According to a report in The Times of Israel, several high school students discovered a Byzantine-era solidus depicting the emperor Theodosius II while orienteering near a stream in northern Israel. The goddess Victory holding the Staff of the Cross is shown on the gold coin's other side. Israel Antiquities Authority numismatic expert Gabriela Bijovsky said […]
Possible Seventeenth-Century Massacre Site Found in Alaska 22 April 2019
ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND—Live Science reports that researchers led by Rick Knecht and Charlotta Hillerdal of the University of Aberdeen have uncovered evidence of a massacre at a well-preserved Yup’ik village site in southwestern Alaska, where more than 60,000 artifacts, including dolls, figurines, wooden dance masks, and grass baskets have also been recovered from the permafrost. Some […]

Carnivorous Mammal Larger than Polar Bear Once Roamed Kenya 19 April 2019
A gigantic meat-eating mammal has been discovered — after its jaw, portions of its skull, and parts of its skeleton spent several decades sitting in a museum. Dubbed Simbakubwa kutokaafrika (means ‘Big lion from Africa’ in Swahili), the gigantic carnivore lived about 22 million years ago (Early Miocene epoch) in what is now Kenya. The […]
New Dinosaur Species Uncovered in Mongolia 18 April 2019
Paleontologists in Mongolia have discovered a new species of hadrosauroid dinosaur that roamed what is now the Gobi Desert approximately 90 million years ago. Members of the dinosaur family Hadrosauridae, also known as duck-billed dinosaurs, were widespread and ecologically important large herbivores during the Late Cretaceous epoch, but little is known about their early evolution. […]
Volcanic Eruptions Caused End-Permian Extinction, New Evidence Confirms 17 April 2019
An international team of paleontologists from China and the United States has found high levels of mercury in the end-Permian marine sediments at nearly a dozen sites around the world, which provides persuasive evidence that volcanic eruptions were to blame for the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, about 252 million years […]

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