Ancient news stories

“Discovering such an early variant (of plague) in Falköping was completely unexpected, as earlier findings have pointed to it originating in Asia. This will now have to be reevaluated.”

While humans aren’t warming the Earth anywhere close to as much as what happened naturally 250 million years ago, “this puts our future into the category of contenders for true catastrophe.”

The genomes of 22 individuals dating to the Late Bronze Age suggest that milk consumption was spread through cultural diffusion, not as a result of the migration of new peoples into the region.

The tiara was most likely made by Denisovans who are known to have had the technology 50,000 or so years ago to make elegant needles out of ivory and a sophisticated and beautiful stone bracelet.

Scientists think ‘mega-settlements’ provided perfect conditions for new disease to evolve.

The findings suggest that the history of notable “contact-era” events in northeastern North America during the 15th to early 17th centuries may need to be revaluated.

A skeleton at least 4,250 years old found in the north of Scotland in 1987 has surprised archaeologists after new analysis has revealed she was a migrant from northern Europe.

“The available data seem to fit reasonably well with the hypothesis that some Upper Palaeolithic people engaged in finger amputation for the purposes of religious sacrifice.”

The burials offer an extraordinary glimpse into life in early industrial London, between the 1830s and 1850s, showing the harshness of life for the industrial poor.

As archaeologists push back the dates for the spread of tobacco use, new questions are emerging about trade networks and agriculture.

Teilhardina brandti is as old or older than its Asian and European relatives, upending the prevailing hypothesis that Teilhardina first appeared in China.

Researchers have discovered that ancient Europeans represented star constellations within depictions of wild animals.

Limestone sarcophagi date back to Late Period (664-332 BC) in found in area of King Amenemhat II’s pyramid.

As far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using relatively sophisticated knowledge of the stars, new research shows.

If modern humans harnessed Denisovan DNA to survive at altitude, perhaps the Denisovans could also survive on the Tibetan Plateau.

There were likely multiple instances of cross-breeding between early humans in both East Asia and Europe with Neanderthals.