Saving ancient heritage is no mean feat in the Middle East. Geopolitical context, traffic, destruction of heritage and climate change pose major challenges to archaeologists. When the opportunity arises to carry out an excavation, it is therefore necessary to know how to seize it. As did a German-Ku
Recent DNA analyzes confirm that this mysterious people who preceded the Romans did not originate from the Near East but from the Italian peninsula. And the latest archaeological discoveries refine the portrait of a brilliant civilization. For several centuries, from the Iron Age to the Roman co
A braid from the scalp of Native American chief Sitting Bull, in a photo provided by the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington Thanks to a new technique that allows genetic information to be obtained from a tiny or even fragmented sample of ancient DNA, a relationshi
This is a new harvest of the most auspicious for the archaeologists of Mesoamerica:no less than 478 new ceremonial sites have been detected thanks to LiDAR technology in the state of Tabasco, in southern Mexico. Their standardized blueprints indicate that this type of architecture was formalized ear
A thousand years before the pyramids, the great necropolises of Hierakonpolis and Abydos welcome the first pharaohs for their journey to the afterlife. We can already detect the beginnings of rites and beliefs that will last more than 4,000 years. Funeral wake of an official treasurer. Limestone
To ensure the eternity of Pharaoh, whose death jeopardizes the balance of the world, the Egyptians invented gigantic staircases intended to lead him to the gods. But if the pyramids, five millennia later, still testify to the power of Egypt, their construction remains a mystery. Necropolis of Giza
Facing Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile, the pharaohs have prepared dazzling tombs for their last journey. Carved into the mountain, hidden from intruders, they are covered with bas-reliefs and splendid frescoes intended to ensure them the best of lives in the afterlife... Funeral scene painted
This period of stability and economic success, also marked by the religious revolution of Akhenaten, gave Egypt, at its height, its most famous sovereigns. Hatshepsout, Tutankhamun, Ramses II… are buried in sumptuous underground tombs. Bust of Nefertiti, wife of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten. Thi
Of the Picts, warlike tribes of northern Scotland who never bent their knees to the Romans, there are only a few remains to this day. But Burghead Fort, the largest Pictish complex known to date, has just been the subject of a 3D reconstruction that sheds new light on the story of these so-called ba
After the extraordinary discovery of the Red Sea papyri and the revelation of the Journal of Merer which for the first time provided unprecedented information on the daily life of the builders of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt, two books have just been published in quick succession by the Fre
Assyrians, Persians then Greeks… The invaders swept over a weakened Egypt whose culture remained vibrant. The successors of Alexander the Great would adopt some local traditions, forging a Hellenistic culture around Alexandria, the new capital. Cat mummy, Egyptian antiquity, Late period. Preserved
Archaeologists have revealed the discovery of a 2000-year-old slave room in a villa destroyed during the eruption of Vesuvius. The recently discovered chamber in Pompeii, in which a family of slaves probably lived. This very rare find, according to archaeologists, was made during excavations of a
Since June 2021, archaeologists in the city of Augsburg, Bavaria have had reason to rejoice:excavations carried out in an old river bed have yielded a quantity of objects and silver coins dating from the time. which are proof of the importance of the ancient capital of Rhaetia. Archaeologists from
3500 years ago, in Central Asia, the civilization of the Oxus died out. Who were these Bronze Age populations? How did their rich cities disappear? The results of archaeological excavations carried out by a Franco-Turkmen team provide the first elements of an answer. With its temples and palaces,
This November 14, Unesco is organizing, in partnership with the European Union, a day on the illicit trafficking of cultural property. A traffic that has reached considerable proportions, especially in areas affected by armed conflicts or natural disasters and that the Covid-19 pandemic has not slow
Archaeologists have discovered an ancient mass grave containing around 25 virtually intact pre-Columbian skeletons in the citadel of Chan Chan in northern Peru. Handout photo released by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture showing human remains discovered in the Chan Chan Archaeological Complex, Peru
The Egyptian Minister of Antiquities received an exclusive Sciences et Avenir to discuss the situation of archaeology, museums and tourism in the country. Khaled El-Enany This article is from the magazine Sciences et Avenir - La Recherche n°897 dated November 2021. Sciences et Avenir:The inaugu
Extracted in 1982 from the bottom of the English Channel, the wreck of the Mary-Rose, jewel of the fleet of the crown of England and Ireland sunk in the 16th century, is dying despite the care that is constantly given to it. But new findings from X-ray tomography - a heritage first - could help deve
Bestseller, geneticist Evelyne Heyers book, The Odyssey of Genes also won the 2021 scientific book prize, organized by the Paris-Saclay urban community in partnership with the S[cube] association. The opportunity, for Sciences et Avenir , to return in videos to his incredible epic retracing 7 millio
Where and when did our species appear? At least 300,000 years ago, and probably in different points on the African continent, suggest the most recent discoveries... which sign the end of a long accepted theory:that of a single and localized focus. A Homo sapiens draws animals on the wall of a cave
One of the best preserved perfumeries in the Roman world has been found at the archaeological site of Pompeii, shedding light on the production chain of perfumes and ointments. Fresco of the Perfumer Cupids in the Villa of the Vettii, on the site of Pompeii (Italy). Perfume and ashes... The compl
Small bulging gold coins were discovered in a field southwest of Berlin. Of Celtic origin, they allow for the first time to presume that commercial relations existed in the 1st century before our era between Celtic tribes established in the west of present-day Germany and the proto-Germanic culture
Nearly 150 burials have been unearthed in the early Christian necropolis of Saint-Pierre-lEstrier in Autun. The excavations reveal a great diversity of burials. Aerial view of the excavation site. One hundred and fifty tombs dating from the middle of the 3rd to the 5th century, one of which may c
500 years ago, Hernan Cortés landed in Mexico. An exploration project to find the ships of the Spanish Conquistador expedition is underway in the Gulf of Mexico. Anomalies reported by magnetometers off Playa Villa Rica, Mexico, which may correspond to the scuttling site of Cortès fleet (1519). WR