Ancient news stories

A new investigation of ancient horned animal skulls found in Spain’s Des-Cubierta Cave deepens the mystery of when and why Neanderthals put them there. The findings have been published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

Three Homo erectus skulls previously unearthed in China are almost 1.8 million years old, around 600,000 years older than originally thought, a new study finds. The research was published Wednesday (Feb. 18) in the journal Science Advances.

Far from the common assumption of a strictly binary division of labor, the roles of women and men in Neolithic Europe were both clearly differentiated and flexible, according to a new study conducted by CNRS researchers and an international team. These findings were published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology on February 16, 2026.

The oldest human remains ever found in Northern Britain have been identified as a young female, three years after being discovered in a Cumbrian cave…the 11,000-year-old bones provide clear evidence of Mesolithic burials in the North. A research paper about the discovery and DNA analysis is published in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.

Archaeologists have discovered a 10,000-year-old site with rock art in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Thursday.

A recent study published in Praehistorische Zeitschrift presents new findings: A roe deer antler headdress finds its closest comparison in the Mesolithic “shaman” grave from Bad Dürrenberg. This find highlights the intensity of the contacts between early farmers and hunter–gatherers.

Researchers at the University of Huddersfield have used ancient DNA to reveal that hunter-gatherers in one part of Europe survived for thousands of years longer than anywhere else on the continent—and have uncovered the pivotal role of women in the process. The research was carried out as part of an international network of geneticists and archaeologists led by David Reich at Harvard University, and is published in Nature.

Why did the Lord of Chincha occupy such a high position in Inca society? In our new study published in PLOS One, we find evidence for a surprising potential source of power and influence: bird poop.

Is the ultradense core of a gigantic star lurking in the center of the Milky Way? Scientists think they may have found just that: the signal of a pulsar, a rapidly rotating ancient star core, in the heart of our galaxy. The rare discovery could be used to test the predictions of Einstein’s general relativity. The researchers published their findings Monday (Feb. 9) in The Astrophysical Journal.

In a new study…an international team of scientists led by University of Cagliari bioanthropologist Vitale Stefano Sparacello painstakingly reconstruct what they think likely killed the teenager some 27,500 years ago. The paper is published in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences.

The assemblages in these caves mostly date back to around 12,000 years ago—a time referred to as the Younger Dryas, in which an abrupt cooling event occurred. Prior to this period, temperatures were relatively warmer. The research is now published in Science Advances.

The last common ancestor of all living things did not just suddenly appear on Earth roughly 4.2 billion years ago. Some of its genes came from an even older and more mysterious source…The study was published in Cell Genomics.

A new study reveals that Egyptians were using a mechanically sophisticated drilling tool far earlier than previously suggested. The study is published in Egypt and the Levant.

These early Arctic people, who had fine-tuned advanced watercraft technology and seafaring skills, repeatedly made the treacherous open-water journey to the islands to access vital maritime resources. The study was published Monday (Feb. 9) in the journal Antiquity.

It’s a piece of Mars that fell to Earth, most likely after a huge impact on the Red Planet. It’s made up of material from around 4.48 billion years ago, making it some of the oldest known Martian material in the solar system. The new paper is available in pre-print on arXiv.

Recreating cosmic dust may help answer questions about how meteorites hitting Earth came to contain organic matter