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
A new analysis of the artist’s shoes revealed his small stature. As an artist, the legendary Michelangelo Buonarroti left behind some big shoes to fill. But in real life, the great painter’s shoes weren’t big at all — and neither was Michelangelo. Italian researchers recently examined three shoes that wereContinue Reading
They weren’t hiding it from the Mongols, but an earlier, unknown enemy. Archaeologists in southwest Russia have unearthed a trove of medieval silver at a site where treasure was often hidden from an invading Mongol army in the 13th century — but oddly it seems to have been buried thereContinue Reading
Neolithic and Celtic settlements were found by the cemetery. Skeletons excavated from a 6,000-year-old Transylvanian cemetery were buried in an usual manner; the deceased had urns placed over their skulls or feet, likely as offerings for the afterlife. Archaeologists recently found the unique burials during an excavation ahead of aContinue Reading
The 7,200-year-old burial was found in a cave. A woman buried 7,200 years ago in what is now Indonesia belonged to a previously unknown human lineage that doesn’t exist anymore, a new genetic analysis reveals. The ancient woman’s genome also revealed that she is a distant relative of present-day AboriginalContinue Reading
The 7,200-year-old burial was found in a cave. A woman buried 7,200 years ago in what is now Indonesia belonged to a previously unknown human lineage that doesn’t exist anymore, a new genetic analysis reveals. The ancient woman’s genome also revealed that she is a distant relative of present-day AboriginalContinue Reading