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Featured book: The Old Stones

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 […]

Our electric universe

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 […]

The Cave Bear vs our Forebears

The cave bear went extinct some 24,000 years ago. It was a largely vegetarian species, whose remains were mostly found in caves, hence the name. There is some contested evidence that ancient humans venerated the […]

Orkney – Britain’s Neolithic heartland (part 1)

13 September 2018

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a World Heritage Site, which has also been dubbed Britain’s Ancient Capital in a recent BBC TV series. It is described as a major prehistoric cultural landscape in the […]

11,500-year-old animal bones in Jordan suggest early dogs helped humans hunt
on 15 January 2019 at 6:29 pm
11,500 years ago in what is now northeast Jordan, people began to live alongside dogs and may also have used them for hunting, a new study shows. The archaeologists suggest that the introduction of […]
3,000-year-old eastern North American quinoa discovered in Ontario
on 15 January 2019 at 4:19 pm
A mass of charred seeds found while clearing a home construction site in Brantford, Ontario, has been identified as ancient, domesticated goosefoot (C. berlandieri spp. jonesianum), a form of quinoa […]
Fossil deposit is much richer than expected
on 14 January 2019 at 3:32 pm
Near the Dutch town of Winterswijk is an Eldorado for fossil lovers. A student has now analyzed pieces from museums and private collections for his master's thesis. He found an amazing amount of […]
The secret to Rembrandt's impasto unveiled
on 14 January 2019 at 3:01 pm
Rembrandt van Rijn revolutionized painting with a 3D effect using his impasto technique, where thick paint makes a masterpiece protrude from the surface. Scientists have now found out how he did it. […]
DNA tool allows you to trace your ancient ancestry
on 14 January 2019 at 1:28 pm
Scientists at the University of Sheffield studying ancient DNA have created a tool allowing them to more accurately identify ancient Eurasian populations, which can be used to test an individual's […]
Plant phytolith and water content influence rate of tooth enamel abrasion in vertebrates
on 11 January 2019 at 4:28 pm
Plant phytolith and water content cause differing degrees of tooth enamel abrasion in vertebrates. This study has implications for how tooth wear in extinct animals is interpreted and how this […]
Skull scans tell tale of how world's first dogs caught their prey
on 11 January 2019 at 2:51 pm
Analysis of the skulls of lions, wolves and hyenas has helped scientists uncover how prehistoric dogs hunted 40 million years ago. […]
15-meter-long ancient whale Basilosaurus isis was top marine predator
on 9 January 2019 at 7:26 pm
The stomach contents of ancient whale Basilosaurus isis suggest it was an apex predator, according to a new study. […]
Illuminating women's role in the creation of medieval manuscripts
on 9 January 2019 at 7:26 pm
Researchers have revealed direct evidence of medieval women's involvement in the production of illuminated manuscripts. Lapis lazuli in the dental calculus of a woman buried at a 12th-century German […]

3,000-year-old eastern North American quinoa discovered in Ontario
on 15 January 2019 at 5:20 pm
A mass of charred seeds found while clearing a home construction site in Brantford, Ontario, has been identified as ancient, domesticated goosefoot […]
Bringing medieval literature into the digital age
on 15 January 2019 at 3:00 pm
William Langland likely wouldn't know what to make of the latest way people are reading his poetry. In part, that's because Langland died in 1386. […]
Fossil deposit is much richer than expected
on 15 January 2019 at 2:30 pm
It has long been known that a quarry near the Dutch town of Winterswijk is an Eldorado for fossil lovers. But even connoisseurs will be surprised […]
Archaeologists find Rome-era tombs in Egypt's Western Desert
on 15 January 2019 at 2:12 pm
Egypt says archaeologists have uncovered two ancient tombs dating back to the Roman period in the country's Western Desert. […]
Plant phytolith and water content influence rate of tooth enamel abrasion in vertebrates
on 14 January 2019 at 1:38 pm
Plant phytolith and water content cause differing degrees of tooth enamel abrasion in vertebrates. This is the conclusion reached by an international […]
Algeria's ancient pyramid tombs still shrouded in mystery
on 14 January 2019 at 7:39 am
Dating back centuries, Algeria's pyramid tombs are unique relics of an ancient era but a dearth of research has left the Jeddars shrouded in mystery. […]
Skull scans tell tale of how world's first dogs caught their prey
on 11 January 2019 at 3:25 pm
Analysis of the skulls of lions, wolves and hyenas has helped scientists uncover how prehistoric dogs hunted 40 million years ago. […]
Stadiums aren't fated to disrepair and disuse – history shows they can change with the city
on 11 January 2019 at 3:20 pm
Stadiums are among the oldest forms of urban architecture: from Olympia to Rome, stadiums were at the centre of the Western city, well before the […]
We found lapis lazuli hidden in ancient teeth – revealing the forgotten role of women in medieval arts
on 11 January 2019 at 2:25 pm
We recently and unexpectedly revealed direct archaeological evidence of involvement of medieval women in manuscript production, challenging […]

Bronze Age Pit Possibly Linked to Medieval Assembly Site 15 January 2019
FIFE, SCOTLAND—According to a report in The Courier, a Bronze Age cremation pit has been discovered at a site in southeast Scotland where open-air councils are thought to have been held during the medieval period. Cremated bone recovered from the pit was dated to nearly 4,000 years ago. Alastair Rees of ARCHAS Archaeology said such […]
World War I–Era Submarine Revealed in France 15 January 2019
WISSANT, FRANCE—BBC News reports that a World War I–era German submarine is emerging from the sands on a beach in northern France. “Pieces reappear from time to time, but this is the first time we discover so much,” said local tour guide Vincent Schmitt. The submarine’s crew is known to have flooded and abandoned the […]
Luxurious Buildings Uncovered in Bulgaria’s Philipopolis 15 January 2019
PLOVDIV, BULGARIA—Archaeology in Bulgaria reports that luxurious residential and public buildings dating to the Roman era have been discovered on the southern slope of three hills in the heart of the ancient city of Philipopolis, which was also known as Trimontium. The six structures include a temple dedicated to multiple deities, an inn with a […]

Huge Archaic Whale Was Top Predator in Eocene Oceans 10 January 2019
The stomach contents preserved in an adult specimen of the archaic whale Basilosaurus isis from the site of the Wadi Al Hitan in Egypt suggest it was an apex (top) predator that fed on smaller whales (juvenile Dorudon atrox) and large fishes (Pycnodus mokattamensis), according to new research, published in the journal PLoS ONE. Apex […]
New Jurassic-Era Pterosaur Discovered in England 28 December 2018
Paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth have discovered the fossilized remains of a new species of ancient flying reptile. The newfound species, named Klobiodon rochei, belongs to an ancient order of flying creatures known as pterosaurs. The winged reptile lived approximately 167 million years ago (Middle Jurassic epoch) and had a wingspan of 6.5 feet […]
Plant Fossil from Early Jurassic Pushes Back Origin of Flowers 25 December 2018
An international team of paleontologists has identified and described a new genus and species of extinct flowering plant (angiosperm), based on over 200 specimens from the South Xiangshan Formation, China. Named Nanjinganthus dendrostyla, the newly-identified plant species dates back to more than 174 million years ago (Early Jurassic epoch), making it the oldest known record […]

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