Very close to the French town of Montesquieu-Avantés, in the Midi-Pyrénées region, and to the Tuc dAudoubert cave, whose fantastic prehistoric clay bison we have already reviewed in another article, is the Trois Frères cave (Three Brothers). Both are part of an underground system of three caverns f
The excavations carried out in the Parking Givati area of the so-called City of David in Jerusalem continue to bring surprises. The last one is a piece of pottery in which the face of the Egyptian god Bes is represented. The piece, which appeared along with multiple pottery shards from the Pers
Archaeologists working at the Wadi El-Hudi site in the Egyptian eastern desert, east of Aswan, announced the discovery of 100 new inscriptions, adding to the more than 150 discovered in previous campaigns. The area contains numerous well-preserved fortified settlements, as well as amethyst, gold, c
In the year 507, the pressure of the Franks caused the Visigoths, who until then had occupied and controlled southern Gaul and much of the north of the Iberian Peninsula, to move to Hispania en masse. That year is taken as the founding of the Visigoth Kingdom of Toledo, which would not be consolidat
The island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is famous for its elaborate ritual architecture, especially the many moais and the monumental platforms that support them, called ahu. Precisely one of the main unknowns that remain unsolved is why they chose those places around the island to build them, some c
The Greek Ministry of Culture reported on January 18 the discovery of three ancient marble quarries in the municipality of Caristo, on the island of Euboea. The discovery was made by the companies that carried out installation work for wind farms in the area. The first quarry appeared near the road
The island of Naxos in the largest of the Cyclades in extension, famous and coveted since ancient times for its wealth and its white marble, with quarries exploited until today (only those of crystalline marble). As is the case in Egyptian quarries, where obelisks remained, or in those of Rapa Nui,
Just as the Rosetta Stone was instrumental in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, other writing systems followed a similar process, sometimes more bumpy and convoluted. We have already discussed some of them here before, and in fact, they contributed in part to the decipherment of the one we are deali
When Alexander the Great was already fighting in Asia, strange news came to him from his homeland:his tutor Aristotle had made his teachings public, those same doctrines with which he had imbued the mind and soul of the young Macedonian, allowing everyone to meet them. Alexanders disappointment is r
Although it was written centuries earlier, the first surviving printed edition of the Diamond Sutra It is dated to the year 868 AD, so it would be the oldest known printed book (prior to Gutenbergs printing press). Thus, a contemporary of Alfred the Great , of the Great Heathen Army with which the
Long before humans began hunting large mammals for meat, a diet of fats provided the energy needed to grow larger brains, according to a new study published in Current Anthropology. . The study claims that our ancestors acquired a taste for fat by eating bone marrow from the skeletal remains of ani
The ruins of the ancient pre-Hispanic cities of Mesoamerica today constitute not only a valuable source of information on those civilizations but also an invaluable attraction for tourism, the engine of the economy of several countries. But in this dynamic there are some cultures and places that hav
It is known, from scientific and documentary evidence, that the city of Rome suffered up to five earthquakes between the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. These events happened in the years 443, 484 or 508, 618, 801 and 847. The first of them, from the year 443, is mentioned in
Megalithic monuments, such as Stonehenge, which we find distributed throughout most of the European continent, from Italy to the Baltic coasts passing through the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles, could have a common origin according to a study published by Dr. Bettina Schulz Paulsson , from
The prestigious international journal Quaternary Science Reviews has just published an article in which scientists from the Gibraltar National Museum participated, together with colleagues from Spain, Portugal and Japan. The published results come from an area of the Catalan Bay sand dune. This w
Stonehenge is made up of four concentric circles of stone blocks. The largest are those on the outside, large sandstone stones originally crowned by lintels, of which only seven remain in place today. The inner circumferences are composed of smaller and other stones, the 42 called bluestones or blui
In the year 1812, a spectacular discovery was made in an orchard in the village of Zenjak in Slovenia, near Negau (Negova) and the Austrian border. 26 bronze helmets, of which 23 are preserved today, of Etruscan origin and of the vetulonic type (today also called Negau type). That is, bronze and wit
One of the most important archaeological sites in the world is that of the Austrian town of Hallstatt, located on the shore of the lake of the same name and at the foot of Hoher Dachstein, the highest peak in the Salzkammergut Alps. There, a salt mine was exploited since prehistoric times, which is
The funerary complex of the first Chinese emperor of the Qin dynasty (3rd century BC) is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, mainly due to the discovery of the terracotta army that was to accompany the emperor to the other world. However, the mausoleum itself has never been exc
Hand prints are a common motif in prehistoric rock art, multiple examples have been found in caves around the world. Now a new study reveals something that had already been pointed out by some researchers a few decades ago:in many caves in France and Spain it is observed that a large number of the h
An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the Saqqara region near the pyramid of King Teti, the first ruler of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, has announced important discoveries. A recently discovered sarcophagus at the site of Saqqara, Egypt. New archaeological treasures, including a
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
During its long migration, Sapiens mated with human species that have since disappeared. A clearly visible crossbreeding… in our genetic heritage. Parietal painting:Upper Palaeolithic. A group of Homo sapiens draw a bison on the wall of a cave. Painting by Francisco Fonollosa. This article is tak
prehistoric art it is far from offering certainties and around it everything, or almost everything, is interpretations which vary considerably from author to author. Especially with regard to its meaning and usefulness. It is something that focuses above all on cave paintings, more than anything be