The discovery of carved wood fragments suggests that the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, was in search of the elixir of immortality more than 2200 years ago. The terracotta soldiers of Qin Shi Huangdi (221 BC-207 BC) ensured his posterity, but it was immortality that the first emperor of
Genome sequencing of an 11,500-year-old girl reveals the existence of a previously unknown ancient population in America. It confirms the long-debated hypothesis that the continent was populated via the Bering Strait, between Siberia and Alaska. The discovery of a prehistoric fetus and infant at t
After three centuries spent under the sea, fragile fragments of paper from the most famous of Blackbeards boats have been saved. To (re)discover on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of the famous pirate, on November 22, 1718. The capture of the pirate Blackbeard by Lieutenant Mayn
In the United States, researchers are going to try a new experiment:train dogs to sniff out looted antiquities. Training of a German shepherd in the identification of odors, at the Central Service for Forensic Identification in Ecully (France). After the search for narcotics, explosives or burie
Located from satellite images, an imposing, seemingly intact Scythian tomb has been unearthed in southern Siberia. Aerial view of the tumulus of Tunnug 1, in the republic of Tuva, in southern Siberia. Archaeologists are feverish. A kurgan inviolate dated 3000 years old and discovered in southern
The Franco-English Entente cordiale is reinforced by the unexpected loan within five years of the medieval treasure of the Bayeux Tapestry (Calvados). Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry:The Norman fleet of William the Conqueror (1027-1087) approaching the English coast at Pevensey. FIRST. The famou
Two researchers would have succeeded in unraveling the mystery of one of the last two unpublished manuscripts of Qumran. This would be a unique calendar used by the Essenes. One of the fragments of the manuscript from the caves of Qumran recently decoded at the University of Haifa (Israel). These
After 24 years of litigation, a historic agreement has been signed between the discoverers of the Chauvet cave, the Ardèche department and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The large panel of Horses, in the Chauvet - Pont dArc cave (Ardèche) listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 2014. The end
This small piece of carved ocher would have been used as a pencil more than 10,000 years ago. This carved ocher pebble could be one of the very first pencils used by a human. It was near the town of Scarborough, in the north-west of England that archaeologists from the University of York discove
Between sky and water, on the site of Angkor, the former capital of the Khmer Empire (9th -XVe century), a Franco-Cambodian team brings life back to Mebon, an 11th century temple century. The Mebon temple in the heart of the artificial West Baray basin in Angkor, Cambodia. The sacred shrine seems
Researchers from the Polytechnic of Turin have been authorized to carry out new radar analyzes in the tomb of Tutankhamun, in the Valley of the Kings, in Luxor, Egypt. Interior of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (KV62), in the Valley of the Kings, near Thebes, Egypt. Here we go again to search fo
Thousands of Mayan ruins have been detected in the Guatemalan jungle using Lidar technology, revealing the unsuspected scale of interconnections between cities. 3D rendering of the site of Tikal, where an unknown pyramid was revealed. Did we really find a Mayan city of 2,000 km² and 10 million in
Well-preserved Gallic childrens graves were recently unearthed in Jort, in Calvados. Burial of a Gallic child discovered in Jort, (Calvados) in an Iron Age necropolis. These are small bones of children over 2000 years old that recently appeared under the trowel of archaeologist Vincent Carpentier
For the first time, bas-reliefs of dromedaries in real size have been found in Saudi Arabia. A standing dromedary, sculpted in high relief, on the facade of a rocky outcrop in the province of Jawf (Saudi Arabia). Camelids are definitely in the spotlight! After the discovery of the oldest represen
The screaming mummy, protagonist of a plot that led to the death of Pharaoh Ramses III during Antiquity, is exhibited for the first time at the Cairo Museum, in Egypt. The Screaming Mummy, or the Unknown E, presumed mummy of Prince Pentaour, Egypt (XXth dynasty). One of the victims of the famous
8,000-year-old skulls bearing signs of abuse have been unearthed in central Sweden, revealing an unknown prehistoric ritual This Mesolithic skull was found at the end of a stake at the site of Kanaljorden, Sweden. Sinister discovery south of the 60° parallel! Impaled skulls have been unearthed in
Toxic fumes of carbon dioxide were measured in the Roman temple of Pluto, god of the Underworld, in Hierapolis (Turkey). In ancient times, they had been used to sacrifice animals during mysterious rites. Ruins of ancient Hierapolis, in present-day Turkey. Hell and radiation! In Hierapolis, near
More than 2000 years old, an ancient cemetery in Upper Egypt has yielded a number of mummies and around forty imposing sarcophagi carved in limestone. Anthropomorphic limestone sarcophagus engraved with the name of its owner. Its occupants will have known only two thousand years of eternity! A va
Researchers have reconstructed in 3D the terrifying weapons of war of the Romans of the 4th century. An excerpt from the article to read in the March 2018 issue of Sciences et Avenir (number 853). The ox liburnum (copy from the 15th century after the antique drawing) is one of the innovative devic
Satellite images, Lidar… High-performance technical means are deployed to bring to light traces of ancient forgotten cities. Ray Winstone and Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). This article by Bernadette Arnaud is an extract from the file The Great Adventu
Human beings are social creatures, but little is known about when, how and why different populations related in the past. Answering these questions is crucial to interpreting the biological and cultural diversity we see in todays human populations. DNA is a powerful tool for studying genetic interac
On the left the combustion structure found in Spain, on the right the snail shells It had been assumed so far that snails had entered human nutrition no earlier than 10,000 years ago, but a recent discovery archaeological in Spain it would seem to force scholars to backdate the event a lot.
Long seen as the invaders of Egypt, the name of the Hyksos has only been rehabilitated for twenty years. Recent data sheds a little more light on their potential origin, although it still remains imprecise despite the studies devoted to it. The Hyksos ruled Lower Egypt during the 14th and 15th Dyn
Here we have seen those of Tutankhamun, Tamerlane and Jacques de Molay, which together with Moctezumas (although this is of a different nature), are the most famous legendary curses in History. But it is that in other times it became quite common to resort to those imprecations and evil desires; in