1+ day, 10+ hour ago  (493+ words) More than a century after Ernest Shackleton last walked its deck, his final ship has emerged from the darkness at the bottom of the Labrador Sea....

1+ day, 10+ hour ago  (87+ words) Cylinder seals were far more than ancient signatures. They fused art, power, and belief into objects that revealed exactly who their owners were....

1+ day, 10+ hour ago  (162+ words) Tutankhamun’s 1925 examination left behind evidence that official accounts largely omitted. A closer look at the records reveals a troubling gap between scientific history and what actually happened....

4+ day, 10+ hour ago  (1071+ words) Homo erectus may have left a detectable genetic trace in living humans through ancient interbreeding with Denisovans. For much of the 20th century, human evolution was often pictured as a branching tree. One trunk split into separate limbs, and each ancient…...

5+ day, 9+ hour ago  (325+ words) Ancient DNA from Shimao reveals local origins, broad prehistoric connections, a patrilineal social structure, and gender-specific patterns of human sacrifice. At Shimao, a vast stone-walled settlement in northern China, ancient DNA is filling in details that archaeology alone could not…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (318+ words) Human body size evolution was shaped by both gradual change and a major later growth spurt within Homo. The findings from the University of Reading and the University of Oxford challenge the familiar idea that human ancestors steadily became bigger…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (570+ words) A new study from the Senckenberg Nature Research Society and the University of Tübingen reveals major shifts in Neanderthal genetic history. Near the end of their time in Europe, Neanderthals were not spread across the continent as a deeply varied…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago  (907+ words) Mediterranean soil chemistry may have caused archaeologists to overidentify olive oil in ancient pottery. For archaeologists, a trace of olive oil inside an ancient pot can do more than identify a meal. It can point to trade networks, farming choices,…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago  (391+ words) A cache of centuries-old gold coins has helped uncover the story of a lost Dutch trading ship. The identification is detailed in the new book From Morocco to the Coast of England: The Story of the Dom van Keulen and…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago  (430+ words) Exceptionally preserved fossils from China reveal that bryozoans were already thriving during the Cambrian explosion. Now, exceptionally preserved fossils from southern China have filled that gap. Dating to about 520 million years ago, the fossils show that bryozoans were already thriving…...