Ancient news stories

‘Our ancestors are in the rocks’: Australian gas project threatens ancient carvings – and emissions blowout
12th May 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Custodians of petroglyphs in remote north-west say Woodside’s $12bn ‘carbon bomb’ spells disaster for culture and climate.

Astronomers discover asteroid treasure trove in old Hubble Space Telescope data
12th May 2022 | space.com | Ancient, Space, Tech

Astronomers have revealed the trails of nearly 1,500 new asteroids hidden in data gathered by NASA’s most venerable space telescope.

Did ancient Greek philosophers believe in aliens?
11th May 2022 bigthink.com | Ancient, Humans, Space

The concept of aliens is quite old. Long before human civilization developed a scientifically accurate understanding of the cosmos, people across the world looked up at the sky and wondered what was out there.

Why human brains were bigger 3,000 years ago
11th May 2022 | bbc.com | Ancient, Humans
Our modern civilisation may be the most advanced to ever exist on Earth, but around 100 generations ago, our ancestors had brains that were larger than our own.
Scientists Follow a ‘Yellow Brick Road’ in a Never-Before-Seen Spot of The Pacific Ocean
7th May 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth

An expedition to a deep-sea ridge, just north of the Hawaiian Islands, has revealed an ancient dried-out lake bed paved with what looks like a yellow brick road.

Indigenous people farmed oysters sustainably for 5000 years
4th May 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

A new archaeological study has unearthed evidence Indigenous people in Australia and North America sustainably managed and consumed oysters for thousands of years.

Largest known cave art images in US by Indigenous Americans discovered in Alabama
4th May 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Archaeologists in Alabama have discovered the longest known painting created by early Indigenous Americans, a new study finds.

Skeletal remains in Bronze Age Orkney cemetery suggest large influx of women from continental Europe
4th May 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

A team of researchers affiliated with the University of Huddersfield in England reports evidence suggesting that large numbers of women from the European continent migrated to the Orkney Islands during the Bronze Age.

Prehistoric women were hunters and artists as well as mothers, book reveals
2nd May 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Humans

From academic works giving women a supporting role to hunter-gather men, to Raquel Welch’s portrayal of a bikini-clad cavewoman in the 1966 film One Million Years BC, the gender division of the stone age is firmly entrenched in public consciousness.

The surprising reason Inca children were drugged before human sacrifice
2nd May 2022 bigthink.com | Ancient, Humans
A toxicological study shows that the victims of human sacrifice consumed coca leaves and ayahuasca before they were killed, but not for reasons we originally thought.
Farmer unearths ancient statue of serpent-crowned goddess in Gaza
29th April 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

A local farmer has unearthed a 4,500-year-old limestone statue in Gaza, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities run by the Islamist group Hamas announced on Tuesday (April 26).

Giant ichthyosaur’s huge tooth points to sea creatures with robust bite
29th April 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life

Ichthyosaurs were large marine reptiles with an elongated, snakey shape. They first emerged after the end of the Permian extinction, an event also known as the “great dying”, which occurred about 250m years ago and which wiped out more than two-thirds of species on land and 96% of marine species.

Before Stonehenge monuments, hunter-gatherers made use of open habitats
28th April 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

Hunter-gatherers made use of open woodland conditions in the millennia before Stonehenge monuments were built, according to a study published April 27, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. 

Neanderthals of the North reveal tolerance of humans to changing environmental conditions
27th April 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

A multidisciplinary research team investigated whether Neanderthals were well adapted to life in the cold or preferred more temperate environmental conditions

Workers discover ‘unprecedented’ Phoenician necropolis in southern Spain
27th April 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Humans

Workers upgrading water supplies in southern Spain have come across an “unprecedented” and well-preserved necropolis of subterranean limestone vaults where the Phoenicians who lived on the Iberian peninsula 2,500 years ago laid their dead.

We Have Even More Evidence Life’s Building Blocks Came to Earth From Space
27th April 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans, Space

We still don’t know just how the first life emerged on Earth. One suggestion is that the building blocks arrived here from space; now, a new study of several carbon-rich meteorites has added weight to this idea

News stories covering history, archaeology, ancient Egypt, and mysteries of the past.