ancient history

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5 Ancient Skeletons Found in Shackles

Child's remains among those discovered at Roman site

(Newser) - Investigating an ancient Roman burial site in southwest France, researchers came upon a creepy find: Five skeletons—one of them a child's—were stuck in shackles, the Independent reports. Iron chains were locked around the ankles of three of the skeletons, while another had shackles on its neck. The...

Home of Ancient Cult Found in Israel

Giant complex contains animal bones, face masks

(Newser) - Archeologists in Israel have discovered a 3,300-year-old complex where an ancient cult likely gathered, UPI reports. The complex, at a site known as Tel Burna, is made up of rooms surrounding a giant courtyard measuring 52 feet by 52 feet. It's not certain who the cult worshiped, but...

Female Skeleton Casts Light on Ancient Earthquake

Archaeologists say temblor flattened Hippos in 363AD

(Newser) - Archaeologists investigating the remains of an ancient city overlooking the Sea of Galilee say they've found the best evidence yet of a devastating earthquake—one of two that leveled the Greco-Roman municipality, the Jerusalem Post reports. The University of Haifa researchers, who have been excavating Hippos for 15 years,...

This Tiny Copper Awl Is Rewriting History
This Tiny Copper Awl
Is Rewriting History
in case you missed it
Aug 30, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

This Tiny Copper Awl Is Rewriting History

Awl is oldest metal object ever found in Middle East

(Newser) - A small copper awl found in a woman's ancient grave in Israel is rewriting history. It's the oldest metal object ever found in the Middle East, and was probably owned by the apparently important 40-year-old woman buried with it in an extravagant Tel Tsaf grave, LiveScience reports. The...

Kinder, Gentler Humans Built Modern Culture
Kinder, Gentler Humans
Built Modern Culture
study says
Aug 4, 2014 2:32 PM CDT

Kinder, Gentler Humans Built Modern Culture

Study finds link between lower testosterone, evolutionary jump

(Newser) - Maybe all mankind needed to become more civilized was a kinder, gentler touch, suggests a study out of the University of Utah and Duke University. The new research now links a drop in testosterone to our ancestors' sudden jump into civilized behavior about 50,000 years ago. This is when...

Mammoths and Mastodons Stuck Close to Home

Study of ancient teeth reveal surprising clues about how and where they lived

(Newser) - Mr. Snuffleupagus and friends didn’t much like to leave home—at least not the ones that lived in what is now Ohio and Kentucky, a University of Cincinnati study reveals. Researchers had long believed mammoths and mastodons were nomadic, but their teeth tell a different story. Mammoths ate grasses...

Who Needs Dentists? Early Humans Ate This Weed

Ancients who snacked on purple nut sedge had few cavities

(Newser) - The purple nut sedge, or nut grass, is generally considered a nasty, fast-spreading, and hard-to-kill nuisance weed today. But for our ancestors, it not only served as a nutritious meal, it cleaned their teeth, according to a new study on PLoS ONE . An analysis of hardened bits of plaque from...

Some People Ignored Writing for Thousands of Years

Ancient Assyrians still used clay markers, 2K years later

(Newser) - What if people still used typewriters in the year 4,000? Or wrote with a stone and chisel today? That's roughly the equivalent of what archaeologists discovered in Turkey, where a dig dating to 600 to 900 BC turned up clay tokens alongside cuneiform tablets, the Smithsonian reports. The...

Why Skulls of Kids Encircled Ancient Villages

Bronze Age villages placed skulls to ward off flooding, researchers say

(Newser) - Visitors to some ancient villages in Switzerland and Germany weren't greeted by a nice garden or an archway. They encountered skulls—children's skulls, researchers say. According to a new study , certain lakeshore villages placed children's skulls and bones outside of town in an effort to ward off...

Mysterious Coin Stash Unearthed&mdash; After 2K Years
 Mysterious Coin Stash 
 Unearthed—After 2K Years 
in case you missed it
Jul 12, 2014 11:14 AM CDT

Mysterious Coin Stash Unearthed—After 2K Years

26 Roman and Late Iron Age coins found in Derbyshire

(Newser) - A cave in Britain may have been the perfect hiding place for a stash of coins … because 2,000 years passed before anyone found them. A climber sheltering from the rain happened upon four coins in Dovedale, Derbyshire, reports the Ashbourne News Telegraph , which led to a National Trust...

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
new study
Jul 8, 2014 5:31 PM CDT

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew

Study: Before it was jungle, it was savannah

(Newser) - Some 3,000 years ago, the Bolivian Amazon didn’t look like a jungle at all—it was more like an African savannah. A new study reveals how the ancient landscape took shape, and sheds new light on the mysterious ditches the early Amazonians built there for purposes unknown. The...

In Iraq, Clues to Long-Lost Temple Emerge

Doctoral student works amid threat of ISIS attack in Kurdistan

(Newser) - An archaeologist is closing in on the location of an ancient temple so venerated that when it was sacked in 714 BC, its king tore off his crown, "pulled out his hair, pounded his chest with both hands"—then killed himself, according to an early account. The long-lost...

Stonehenge Find 'Blows Lid Off' Old Thinking

Area was 'the London of the Mesolithic,' says archaeologist

(Newser) - The ancient monument of Stonehenge dates back to between 2500 BC and 3000 BC—but when it was built, people had already been living in the area for millennia, researchers found after a dig. Artifacts from what is now Amesbury, the nearest settlement to Stonehenge, dated to 8820 BC. It'...

Inside the Tough Life of an Ancient Roman Gladiator

Researchers map out Roman 'prison'

(Newser) - After discovering a well-preserved ludus gladiatorius (read: gladiator school) near Vienna in 2011, researchers mapped it out using radar and overhead surveys, the BBC reports. Now, they're revealing details of the terrible life of an ancient Roman gladiator—enslaved as part of what was a "big business,"...

Ancient Romans Ate Giraffe: Study

Also sea urchins

(Newser) - Researchers digging around the drains of ancient Pompeii have learned about some unusual Roman eating habits. The scientists found the remains of a giraffe and sea urchin in the drain of a onetime restaurant, LiveScience reports. "This is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an...

Ancient City Found Under Biblical-Era Ruins

Archaeologists in Israel unearth evidence of older Canaanite city

(Newser) - Archaeologists excavating an ancient city in Israel have found evidence of an even older city at the site, one that dates back to the 14th century BC, LiveScience reports. Archaeologists have been digging at the Canaanite city of Gezer for about 100 years, with most experts dating their findings to...

Our Ancestors May Have Sounded Like This
 Our Ancestors May 
 Have Sounded Like This 
in case you missed it
Oct 5, 2013 12:30 PM CDT

Our Ancestors May Have Sounded Like This

Prof records story in millenia-old language

(Newser) - Recording studios were hard to find 6,500 years ago, but thanks to centuries of scholarship, we may now be able to get a sense of how our ancient ancestors sounded. A linguist at the University of Kentucky has recorded a short story in Proto-Indo-European, or PIE, a language probably...

'Missing Piece' Emerges in Stonehenge Mystery

Landmark's location tied to solstices, not sun-worship

(Newser) - New digging at Stonehenge sheds some light on the ancient site's mysterious ties with the summer and winter solstices. Contrary to what some have speculated, the landmark wasn't built for some sort of sun-worshipping ritual, says a researcher, nor was it "some kind of calendar or astronomical...

Ancient Pyramid Torn Down by Developers: Peru

Firms face criminal charges

(Newser) - Peruvian authorities say a pair of real-estate developers have ruined a 4,000-year-old pyramid, and they're facing criminal charges, the BBC reports. "Irreparable damage" was done to the 20-foot-high pyramid, says an archeologist. The El Paraiso complex, near Lima, had 12 pyramids; the companies tried to tear down...

Another &#39;Lost City&#39; Found, This One in Mexico


 Another 'Lost City' Found, 
 This One in Mexico 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 23, 2013 6:31 AM CDT

Another 'Lost City' Found, This One in Mexico

Chactun ruins include 15 pyramids, ball courts, altars

(Newser) - Just a week after news broke of a "lost city" discovered in Cambodia , archaeologists have uncovered an ancient Mayan city among the dense foliage of the Mexican jungle. The team has dubbed it Chactun (meaning red or large rock), and says it's one of the largest to be...

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