https://phys.org/science-news/archaeology-fossils/ en-us The latest news on archaeology, archaeological research and archaeological advancements. Analysis of a "rusty treasure" excavated during industrial gravel extraction at Deinham, Austria, reveals it is the largest mass find of prehistoric iron bars in Europe, pointing to iron production and trade during the Iron Age on an unprecedented scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rusty-treasure-revealed-europe-largest.html Archaeology Sun, 20 Sep 2026 19:00:02 EDT news708600444 For decades, an idea has grown in paleontology that, long before scientists began digging up and reconstructing dinosaur bones, the Indigenous San and Basotho in southern Africa noticed them too, incorporating them into songs, myths and immortalizing them on cave walls. But under closer scrutiny, these claims begin to crumble. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-monsters-werent-dinosaur-tusked-beast.html Archaeology Sat, 19 Sep 2026 10:00:02 EDT news708605303 Ancient Chinese authorities used many creative ways to punish people, often with methods designed to mark them for life. One brutal example mentioned repeatedly in historical texts is cutting off a person's nose. However, archaeologists in China have never found skeletal evidence to prove that it occurred. But that may have changed following the discovery of a skeleton of a woman who lived in China about 700 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-medieval-chinese-skeleton-reveal-evidence.html Archaeology Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:20:05 EDT news708943210 Douglas Seiler painstakingly sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt and traditional lampblack ink from Japan, then paid some high school students to inscribe the papyrus with lines from Star Wars and the Bible and a quote from the '60s sci-fi TV show The Outer Limits. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-year-scrolls-scientists.html Archaeology Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:00:04 EDT news708957783 One of Dublin's "lost" medieval castles has been found hiding in plain sight inside University College Dublin's Roebuck Castle. New research reveals that substantial remains of the Norman castle of Roebuck, an important fortress on one of the approach roads into the medieval city of Dublin, are preserved within the modern-day building. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lost-medieval-castle-university-dublin.html Archaeology Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:00:04 EDT news708940657 A new study sheds light on how Syrian archaeologists risked their lives to rescue approximately 30,000 priceless artifacts from the Deir ez-Zor Museum during the summers of 2014 and 2015 as the city faced the imminent threat of capture by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-archaeological-treasures-imminent-destruction-syria.html Archaeology Fri, 18 Sep 2026 10:40:04 EDT news708943201 About 40 years ago, researchers found ancient ship carvings on a temple wall in Cyprus, possibly all carved at once at the tail end of the Bronze Age, around the time of the infamous Bronze Age collapse. Then, decades later, a new study revealed they had missed nearly two dozen ancient carvings. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-laser-scans-reveal-hidden-ship.html Archaeology Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:20:06 EDT news708702559 Sir John Gage, a key figure in Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, saved a dangerous Catholic book from likely destruction, a new study suggests. The identification of six lost pages of a medieval bestseller—illicitly prized by Catholics in the Reformation—as belonging to Gage, exposes the split loyalties of one of Tudor England's great survivors. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-henry-viii-dissolution-stashed-catholic.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:10:01 EDT news708694681 Archaeologists have analyzed insect remains preserved in the 7th to 9th centuries AD funerary cave of Cruz de la Esquina, Gran Canaria, and found that it was used by the island's Indigenous people for food storage before being adapted into a burial site. The findings have been published in the journal Antiquity. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-insect-reveal-indigenous-burial-canary.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:00:08 EDT news708249456 The Black Death is often remembered as a single catastrophic event that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Yet the disease did not disappear after that first devastating outbreak. For more than four centuries, plague continued to return in recurring waves, reshaping communities, economies and societies across Europe and beyond. A new study led by researchers at the University of Tartu sheds fresh light on this long and complex history by analyzing the DNA of the plague bacterium preserved in archaeological human remains. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sharper-picture-pandemic-uncovering-complex.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:00:06 EDT news708786505 Spain and Portugal are two of the world's most popular wine-growing countries, with regions such as Rioja and the Douro Valley producing millions of bottles every year. This winemaking tradition dates back thousands of years, but its exact origins remain a mystery. To understand how it all started, scientists led by Carolina Royo of the Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino in Spain took a step back into the past and studied ancient grape seeds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-iron-age-seeds-reveal-iberian.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:50:02 EDT news708784803 Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have gleaned new insights into ancient water management in the French region around Nîmes by analyzing carbonate deposits within the Roman aqueduct that features the famous Pont du Gard bridge. Among other findings, the aqueduct—built around 50 A.D.—was expanded to include an additional water source after 11 years of operation; this event coincided with a historically documented dry spell. A century after the aqueduct's construction, the water supply to the city was deliberately throttled; it is likely that some of the water was diverted to agricultural land in the surrounding area instead. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-aqueduct-deposits-plague-cyprian-nmes.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:20:09 EDT news708779341 X-ray technology and artificial intelligence—along with the discovery of lead in the ink of fragments from a collection of ancient Roman scrolls—could soon help scientists read long-lost texts buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, according to a study published Sept. 16, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Douglas Seiler, an affiliate of the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.; Jacob Michael LaManna of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S.; David Kreimer of the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.; and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lost-ancient-scrolls-eruption-mount.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:00:01 EDT news708611701 Intricate designs engraved across the surface of 18,000-year-old female figurines carved from mammoth ivory were inspired by the distinctive growth patterns visible in the tusks, a new study published in the journal npj Heritage Science has revealed. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ice-age-carvers-mammoth-tusk.html Archaeology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:40:02 EDT news708770524 One of Athens' crowning jewels is the Parthenon, a classical temple on the Acropolis that overlooks the Greek capital. According to legend, many historians, textbooks and tour guides say the ancient Greek architects who designed it added subtle curves and other variations to correct optical illusions that would have disturbed the building's clean lines. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mathematician-year-legend-parthenon-optical.html Mathematics Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:30:01 EDT news708772079 In the hills of northwestern Morocco, overlooking the river that gives the site its name, research at Oued Beht is bringing to light a previously unknown chapter of the region's past. The discovery of a substantial built structure suggests that, during the second millennium BC, communities in northwestern Africa were actively shaping their environment. They were also engaging in broader networks of interaction across the Mediterranean world. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-history-rewritten-archaeological-site-morocco.html Archaeology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 18:00:01 EDT news708702974 A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark, Queen Mary University of London and other European institutions analyzed a data set representing almost 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) of Roman roads across the former empire, creating the most detailed quantitative picture yet of how the Roman road network was structured. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-roads-rome-roman.html Archaeology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:00:04 EDT news708692941 A new study led by the University of Turku provides new insights into the population history of Finland during the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages. The researchers analyzed the genomes of people who lived in southwestern Finland and Häme between the 11th and 13th centuries to investigate how the population changed over the course of the Middle Ages and how people were connected to other regions around the Baltic Sea. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-dna-medieval-migration-sweden.html Archaeology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:20:03 EDT news708688684 More than 5,000 years ago, a royal woman named Meretneith (also written as Merneith) lived in ancient Egypt. She was possibly the daughter of Djer, the third king of the First Dynasty, a period when the first kings ruled over a unified Egypt. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-year-royal-mystery-digital-clues.html Archaeology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:40:04 EDT news708685202 Australia had a much larger Indigenous population before the arrival of Europeans than previously thought, according to new research. The research also demonstrates much larger population losses resulting from colonization than previously believed, with an estimated 93% of the pre-European population lost in less than 80 years following the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-indigenous-australian-population-larger-previously.html Archaeology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:00:02 EDT news708611522 An international research team led by Dr. Gabriele Russo of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen has re-examined historical fossil collections from Lebanon using modern methodology. The results, published today in two complementary studies in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, show that the Levant served as an important corridor for animals and various human lineages during the Pleistocene and that environmental conditions in the central part of the region differed significantly from those in the south. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lebanon-years-climate-landscape-history.html Archaeology Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:20:15 EDT news708600882 Tasmanian devils are among Australia's most distinctive mammals. Stocky, powerful and famously noisy, wild populations are now restricted to Tasmania. But this was not always the case. In fact, thousands of years ago, devils could be found across mainland Australia. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tasmanian-devils-people-outback-western.html Archaeology Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:20:01 EDT news708338241 An ancient cave in southwestern China has revealed new evidence about how Denisovans—an ancient human relative—lived, survived and adapted over more than 100,000 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chinese-cave-denisovan-years.html Archaeology Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:10:01 EDT news708249016 A new study published in Science Advances reveals how Bronze Age communities in Central Europe adapted to changing environmental and social conditions by adopting broomcorn millet, a fast-growing, climate-resilient crop. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-crop-reshaped-bronze-age-europe.html Archaeology Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:50:01 EDT news708191642 A team of Griffith University archaeologists has uncovered evidence that humans were using mind-altering substances much earlier than previously supposed. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ice-age-humanity-oldest-drug.html Archaeology Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:01 EDT news708089994 Cannibalism was sometimes on the Neolithic menu, as numerous archaeological discoveries have revealed. But while ancient human bones show the practice took place, far less evidence exists about the forms it may have taken or why people occasionally consumed one another. Was it to stave off hunger during times of desperation? Did different tribes eat their defeated enemies? Or was cannibalism part of complex rituals? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-bones-reveal-cannibalism-neolithic.html Archaeology Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:50:01 EDT news708165672 New research has revealed that ancient builders deliberately transported enormous 25-tonne stones across at least 18 kilometers (11 miles) to build Britain's tallest surviving prehistoric stone row—the iconic Devil's Arrows. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-prehistoric-builders-hauled-tonne-stones.html Archaeology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 19:10:01 EDT news708104941 A new study suggests that a period of intense fires and landscape upheaval in the ancient southern Levant may have helped create the conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how fire could transform clay. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-wildfires-pottery.html Archaeology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:40:01 EDT news708103202 Melons produce many seeds, making the melon shape a traditional symbol of fertility and prosperity in Chinese culture. But the historical debate about how melons made their way to modern tables is as long and twisted as the vines they grow on. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-waterlogged-seeds-reveal-melons-ancient.html Archaeology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:30:01 EDT news708106681 Bear baiting in England became more popular after the Norman Conquest in 1066, new research shows. The study by Cardiff University and the University of Nottingham brings together archaeological analysis of bear bones and archival records to show the prevalence of the animals in England and northern France during medieval times. The study is published in the journal Society & Animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-baiting-england-common-norman-invasion.html Archaeology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:40:01 EDT news708086761