Archaeological discoveries

• One of the oldest Buddhist temples in the world found in ancient Gandhara

  One of the oldest Buddhist temples in the world has been discovered during the latest archaeological excavation campaign by the Italian mission in the city of Barikot, in the Pakistani region of Swat. The finds date back to approximately the second half of the 2nd century BC, although they may be e

• A human vertebra discovered in the Jordan Valley tells the story of prehistoric migration from Africa

  A new study, led by researchers from Bar-Ilan University, Ono Academic College, the University of Tulsa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, features a 1.5-million-year-old human vertebra discovered in the Valley. of the Jordan. According to research published in the journal Scientific Reports , th

• Greek and Etruscan helmets found in the ruins of the Elea-Velia acropolis

  The archaeological excavations in the acropolis of Elea-Velia (Campania, Italy) that have been carried out since last July have just been completed. The results of the research shed light on the oldest and most incomplete phases of the life of the city, which was founded around 540 BC. by Phocaean G

• Thousands of ostraci found at Athribis documenting life in ancient Egypt include lines and drawings by school children

  Egyptologists have recovered in ancient Athribis more than 18,000 fragments with inscriptions, remains of vessels and ceramics that served as writing material about 2,000 years ago. The fragments, known as ostraci, document lists of names, purchases of food and everyday objects, and even school writ

• The twin columns of Brindisi, unique in the architecture of Antiquity

  Since the 14th century, the city of Brindisi, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea in the extreme southeast of Italy, has adopted as its emblem two twin columns that stand in the citys port. We have already seen in previous articles examples of commemorative columns such as Pompeys column in A

• The petroglyphs of the Kivik Royal Tumulus in Sweden, the tomb of a Norse chieftain who traveled to Greece in the Bronze Age

  Near the town of Kivik and about 320 meters from the coast in Scania, the southern tip of Sweden, there is a circular burial mound that the inhabitants of the place used as a quarry for centuries. In 1748 the quarry had reached the interior of the tumulus, and two farmers who had gone for stone were

• The Swimmer's Tomb containing the only figurative frescoes of classical Greek Antiquity

  On June 3, 1968, while excavating a small necropolis from the 6th-5th century B.C. In the area known as Tempa del Prete, 1.5 kilometers from the site of the ancient Greek city of Posidonia (called Paestum by the Romans), in southern Italy, archaeologist Mario Napoli made an exceptional discovery. H

• The cargo of a shipwreck reveals the connection between Cyprus and Sardinia in the Late Bronze Age

  The Late Bronze Age of the Mediterranean basin was a time characterized by complex supra-regional relations and diplomacy, with trade and gift-exchange being common practices. Lead ingots and stone anchors found among shipwreck cargoes off the coast of Caesarea, Israel, reveal hitherto unknown trad

• The Krater of Vix, the largest ancient bronze vessel, was found in the tomb of a Celtic princess

  On January 6, 1953, a farmer and amateur archaeologist named Maurice Moisson was helping René Joffroy in the excavations he was carrying out at the Mont Lassois fort, near the small town of Vix in northern French Burgundy. The fortified hill fort overlooked the course of the Seine River and had bee

• Exceptionally Preserved Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Dinosaur Egg

  An embryo between 72 and 66 million years ago found inside a fossilized dinosaur egg sheds new light on the relationship between modern birds and dinosaurs, according to a new study. The embryo, nicknamed Baby Yingliang , was discovered in the Late Cretaceous rocks of Ganzhou, southern China, and b

• Digitally unwraps the mummy of Pharaoh Amenophis I for the first time in 3,000 years

  All royal mummies found in the 19th and 20th centuries have long been opened for study. With one exception:Egyptologists have never dared to open the mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I (also known as Amenhotep I or Dyeserkara Amenhotep). Not because of any mythical curse, but because she is perfectly dr

• How DNA is preserved in archaeological sediments for thousands of years

  Most archaeologists have long considered the sediments in which archaeological finds are embedded to be minor by-products of excavations. However, in recent years it has been shown that sediments may contain ancient biomolecules, including DNA. Obtaining human and ancient faunal DNA from sediments

• A solar flare allows dating the start of trade between the Islamic Middle East and Viking Age Scandinavia

  An interdisciplinary team of Danish researchers has used new astronomical insights to establish an exact time frame for the arrival of trade flows from the Middle East to Viking Age Scandinavia. The results are published in the prestigious international journal Nature . Mobility profoundly shaped t

• 12 archaeological discoveries of 2021

  After the break in archaeological excavations caused by the outbreak of the pandemic the previous year, this 2021 saw the return of researchers to the field, with more enthusiasm than ever and resulting in one of the most prolific seasons in finds and discoveries. We talk about many of them in thes

• The fortresses of the Orastia mountains, the Dacian system of protection against the Roman conquest

  Around the year 60 B.C. King Burebista unified for the first time the Dacian tribes, who inhabited a territory roughly corresponding to present-day Romania. However, upon his death the kingdom disintegrated into different states that made the mistake to support Antony against Augustus (just as Bur

• 4,000-year-old Bronze Age board game found in Oman

  At the end of December, another season of archaeological work concluded in the Qumayrah Valley, in the north of Oman. Archaeologists there identified another tower in a Bronze Age settlement, unearthed evidence of copper smelting, and discovered a 4,000-year-old game board. The excavations are join

• Ancient tombs reveal a 4,500-year-old network of funerary avenues in northwestern Arabia

  Archaeologists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have determined that peoples living in ancient north-western Arabia built burial avenues long-distance paths -large roads flanked by thousands of funerary monuments linking oases and pastures-, suggesting a high degree of social and econo

• Discovery of millet at a 3,500-year-old site in ancient Mesopotamia transforms knowledge of early agriculture

  Researchers at Rutgers University (New Jersey) have discovered the first definitive evidence of the presence of common millet (Panicum miliaceum ) in ancient Iraq, challenging our understanding of early human agricultural practices. Their findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports . Overall,

• A volcanic eruption allows dating the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in more than 230,000 years

  The age of the oldest fossils from East Africa widely recognized as representing our species, Homo sapiens , has been uncertain for a long time. Now the dating of a huge volcanic eruption in Ethiopia reveals that they are much older than previously thought. The remains - known as Omo I - were found

• The three-tiered underground city of Nushabad, built by the Sassanian Persians 1,500 years ago

  In the province of Isfahan, in the center of Iran, is the city of Nushabad (or Nooshabad), which some identify with one of the capitals of Chosroes I, one of the main kings of the Persian Sassanian dynasty who reigned between 531 and 579 AD, a contemporary of the Byzantine Justinian I (whom he fough