The largest-ever study of Arab genomes has revealed the most ancient of all modern Middle Eastern populations and is shedding light on how modern humans may have first expanded across the globe. The Arabian Peninsula — which today includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab EmiratesContinue Reading
Charred seeds found in the Utah desert represent the earliest-known human use of tobacco, evidence that some of the first people to arrive in the Americas used the plant, according to new research. The discovery reveals that humans used tobacco nearly 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, the researchers said.Continue Reading
It is a rare find, as thousands of years ago pooping in toilets was a luxury only for the elite. Archaeologists recently discovered a 2,700-year-old private toilet inside the remains of an ancient royal estate in Jerusalem. It is a rare find, as thousands of years ago pooping in toiletsContinue Reading
The discovery could have just settled a 2,400-year-old debate A new genetic analysis may have finally revealed the origin of the Etruscans — a mysterious people whose civilization thrived in Italy centuries before the founding of Rome. It turns out the enigmatic Etruscans were local to the area, with nearlyContinue Reading
The artifacts were used to worship Hathor, the goddess of the sky, and other deities. Archaeologists excavating the “Temple of the Pharaohs” (as it is now called) at the ancient city of Buto, about 59 miles (95 kilometers) east of Alexandria, in Egypt, have found 2,700-year-old tools and sculptures thatContinue Reading
The Bactrian treasure holds 20,000 golden artifacts. With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the country’s archaeological remains face a grim future even if the extremist Islamic group decides not to loot or intentionally destroy them. Some news reports suggest the Taliban are already hunting for one of the country’s mostContinue Reading
The stash might have links to the Norse god Odin. An amateur treasure hunter wielding a metal detector has discovered a stunning gold hoard buried by an Iron Age chieftain in the sixth century in what is now Denmark. The stash includes lavish jewelry, Roman coins and an ornament thatContinue Reading
About 200,000 years ago, ice age children squished their hands and feet into sticky mud thousands of feet above sea level on the Tibetan Plateau. These impressions, now preserved in limestone, provide some of the earliest evidence of human ancestors inhabiting the area and may represent the oldest art ofContinue Reading
The Neanderthal lived up to 70,000 years ago. You can now gaze into the crinkly eyes of “Krijn,” a young Neanderthal man who had a tumor growing on his skull when he died up to 70,000 years ago. In 2001, an amateur paleontologist found a piece of Krijn’s skull whileContinue Reading
Is it even fair to call it a collapse? The Maya have lived in Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula since at least 1800 B.C. and flourished in the region for thousands of years. According to countless studies, the Maya civilization collapsed between A.D. 800 and 1000. But though theContinue Reading