https://phys.org/science-news/archaeology-fossils/ en-us The latest news on archaeology, archaeological research and archaeological advancements. A multidisciplinary archaeological team has examined plague burials from a 17th-century monastery turned hospital in Basel, Switzerland, shedding light on how social status impacted plague mortality in Early Modern Europe. Their study, "All equal in the face of death? Life histories of confirmed victims of the last plague epidemic in Basel," is published in the journal Antiquity. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-great-equalizer-young-laborers-hardest.html Archaeology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:00:05 EDT news694964942 You probably have a member of your family that you're not related to by blood—a step-parent, an adopted cousin, your mom's best friend who you grew up calling your aunt. They're indisputably part of your family, but a DNA test wouldn't hint at your relationship. Archaeologists are finding that this holds true for families from thousands of years ago, too. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-graves-dna-uncover-family.html Archaeology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:00:07 EDT news695313264 Archaeologists have investigated genetic relationships between individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland, suggesting monumental tombs may have been physical embodiments of prehistoric kinship, tracing lineages over centuries. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scottish-neolithic-tombs-kinship-descent.html Archaeology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 19:00:04 EDT news695293081 Perched on a steep chalk hillside, are the remains of Wharram Percy—a ruined stone church and grassy mounds are all that is left of a once-thriving community. Now, a new study has revealed that the "rubbish" its residents left behind, such as broken cooking pots, shows an economy that grew, adapted and ultimately declined, offering fresh insight into how human societies can prosper without exhausting their resources. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lost-village-yorkshire-hill-secret.html Archaeology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:00:05 EDT news695304722 An 11th-century Anglo-Saxon seal belonging to Edward the Confessor has been rediscovered more than 40 years after being declared lost. The wax impression of the "Saint-Denis seal" disappeared without official explanation in the 1980s from the Archives Nationales in Paris, where it had resided for almost 200 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lost-edward-confessor-resurfaces-years.html Archaeology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:40:06 EDT news695301961 A recent archaeological project has physically reconstructed the ceremonial dress of medieval Nubian royalty and clergy, offering a rare glimpse into how clothing shaped and communicated authority in Christian Nubia. The research is published in the journal Antiquity. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-revived-nubian-royal-robes-prestige.html Archaeology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:20:04 EDT news695295124 Going by the headlines, the matter seems to be settled. El País announces that Neanderthal men "chose" sapiens women. Science journal speaks of a "partner preference." National Geographic is already imagining the "Romeos" of prehistory. The Telegraph suggests that Neanderthals "had designs on" sapiens women. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-neanderthals-sapiens-women.html Archaeology Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:30:03 EDT news694685358 DNA studies of 1,500-year-old skeletons have revealed that ancient Koreans lived in tightly knit family networks where marrying close relatives was common in some cases, from powerful elites to individuals chosen for human sacrifice. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-korean-dna-reveals-marriages.html Archaeology Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news695044039 For decades, the strongest evidence for the earliest human settlement in the Americas came from a site in Chile called Monte Verde. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-site-key-humans-americas.html Archaeology Sat, 11 Apr 2026 11:00:05 EDT news693154333 A study published in Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa sheds new light on the westward spread of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) agriculture in prehistoric West Africa. A recent survey documented its earliest known occurrence in the Lac de Guiers basin of Northern Senegal, around AD 200, coinciding with increasing aridification, which may have driven the expansion of dryland farming communities westward. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-archaeological-survey-gnith-reveals-pearl.html Archaeology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:20:03 EDT news695041245 Roman painters commissioned at the end of the 1st century to decorate the walls of the Domus of Salvius in present-day Cartagena could hardly have imagined that their technical expertise would still attract attention twenty centuries later. Analysis of wall paintings from one of the house's rooms—among the best preserved in ancient Carthago Nova—shows that these craftsmen possessed a sophisticated understanding of the materials used to produce pigments, as well as the effects achieved through combining them. In particular, researchers identified an advanced "recipe" that enabled them to reduce costs while ensuring the durability of the paint. This method relied on a mixture of pigments, including one of the most valued minerals of the time: costly cinnabar, often referred to as "red gold." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-rare-roman-recipe-uncovered-cartagena.html Archaeology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:20:05 EDT news695048063 For more than 1 million years, early humans in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean used a range of heavy tools, such as massive handaxes and stone balls, for important tasks, including processing animal carcasses. But then, approximately 200,000 years ago, heavy tools disappeared almost entirely from the fossil record, while the number of lighter tools increased. These included blades, flakes, and specialized scrapers. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-giants-heavy-handaxes-early-humans.html Archaeology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:40:15 EDT news694957087 New research led by the University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, in close partnership with mana whenua, is shedding new light on Māori diet and burial practices in Aotearoa New Zealand prior to European colonization. The study, conducted with the approval and guidance of Waikato hapū and iwi—Ngāti Maahanga, Ngāti Wairere, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and Ngāti Hauā—provides the first direct scientific evidence that some Māori ate predominantly plant-based diets before Pākehā (European) arrival. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-mori-largely-based-diets.html Archaeology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:40:04 EDT news694948808 Excavation of a council house at the major Lowland Maya center of Ucanal, Guatemala, reveals how the public gained some influence over Maya politics more than 1,000 years ago. These colonnaded, open halls were likely council houses, where political leaders met to deliberate on governmental decisions. The open structures contrast with previous Classic period palaces, where "divine" rulers made political decisions in more private spaces. This shows the increasing importance of consensus-based politics from c. 810–950 AD onward. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-architecture-opinion-maya-divine.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:00:03 EDT news694344901 By analyzing DNA of ancient skeletons at a Neolithic burial site near Paris, an international team of researchers has uncovered evidence of a dramatic population replacement 5,000 years ago. The findings indicate that the population collapse known as the "Neolithic decline" was a far-reaching phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dna-evidence-reveals-stone-age.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:40:05 EDT news694873322 In a new article published in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, researchers Dr. Michael Eisenberg and Dr. Arleta Kowalewska describe a recently excavated Byzantine-period cathedral at Hippos. Archaeologists revealed a second photisterion (baptismal hall), making this the only known early cathedral with two photisteria as well as a unique marble block with three cavities, unprecedented in archaeology, possibly used to hold oils for ritual anointment. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-unique-baptistery-mysterious-marble-block.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:20:02 EDT news694867170 The identity of a mysterious artifact found in Devon almost 160 years ago has finally been revealed. New research has identified it as a pendant made from the tooth of a gray seal, which would have been worn by an ancient human more than 15,000 years ago. The "exceptionally rare" seal tooth pendant has been unearthed among the finds of a famed Victorian dig. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tooth-pendant-reveals-ancient-human.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:20:05 EDT news694860423 Neanderthals hunted European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) in Central Europe, though probably not for food. The careful cleaning of carapace elements at Neumark-Nord indicates that shells were reused, perhaps as small containers or scoop-like implements, according to an international research team. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-neanderthals-central-europe-pond-turtles.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:20:03 EDT news694860183 Helping to preserve artifacts, some potentially 2,000 years old, was an irresistible privilege. Since 2016, an Australian-Lao team led by Louise Shewan, Dougald O'Reilly and Thonglith Luangkhoth has conducted archaeological research in the mysterious "Plain of Jars," located in Xieng Khouang Province, north-central Laos. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-giant-jars-ancient-bells-bones.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:20:01 EDT news694858142 Roman leader Julius Caesar is said to have kept a stock of it in the treasury. Ancient writer Pliny the Elder says Rome's Emperor Nero owned the last stalk of it. And some have suggested rampant extramarital sex in elite Roman circles led to demand outstripping supply, and it dying out altogether. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-romans-obsessed-contraception-aphrodisiac.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 07:20:01 EDT news694847342 Access to nutritious food is a fundamental pillar of human success, but such access has been unequal throughout history. In pre-industrial European societies, meat was a highly sought-after food, and access to it was often related to a higher social status. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-meat-years-european-bones-diet.html Archaeology Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:40:03 EDT news694788018 As long as 220,000 years ago—far earlier than previously thought—people quarried rocks for their tools in places they specifically sought out. An international research team led by the University of Tübingen has demonstrated this behavior at the Jojosi site in South Africa, challenging the prevailing view that Paleolithic hunter–gatherers collected their raw materials incidentally during other activities. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-early-humans-south-africa-quarrying.html Archaeology Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:20:05 EDT news694774178 A medieval ophthalmologist who translated Greek works by Galen, Hippocrates, and Plato into Arabic played a pivotal role in shaping Western medical scholarship, according to a study published in the journal Cogent Arts and Humanities. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-eye-physician-classical-greek-medicine.html Archaeology Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:30:01 EDT news694684067 Imagine a creature nearly twice the size of a modern African elephant, which can weigh up to 6,000 kg. This was Elephas (Paleoxodon) recki, a prehistoric titan that roamed the landscape of what is now Tanzania nearly two million years ago. Now, imagine a group of our ancestors standing over its carcass, then butchering it and eating it. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-elephant-fossil-tanzania-oldest-butchering.html Archaeology Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:00:02 EDT news694695961 Located off the coast of Culasawani, in the Fiji archipelago, is an island that is made up of materials that might be part of someone's dinner. A recent study took a closer look at the 3,000-square-meter island and discovered that it is almost entirely made of edible shellfish remains with fragments of pottery mixed in the deposit. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-year-fijian-island-built.html Archaeology Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:00:02 EDT news694428030 Sexually transmitted infections in Otago's gold rush era were less common than popular culture books portray, University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research has found. The first-of-its-kind study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, explored hospital records and newspaper articles from 1864 to 1869 in Otago to reveal the prevalence of syphilis and gonorrhea infections and societal attitudes about those with them. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-archival-reveal-prevalence-sexually-transmitted.html Archaeology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:30:01 EDT news694337461 Khirigsuurs are Late Bronze Age monuments found across Mongolia and parts of southern Siberia. They are typically thought to be burial monuments or ritual spaces, consisting of a burial mound surrounded by satellite features beneath which horse and caprine (goat/sheep) remains were deposited. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-evidence-assumptions-mass-feasting-ancient.html Archaeology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:10:01 EDT news694258066 A new study in American Antiquity presents evidence that the earliest known dice in human history were made and used by Native American hunter-gatherers on the western Great Plains more than 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, long before the earliest known dice from Bronze Age societies in the Old World. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-native-americans-dice-gambling-exploring.html Archaeology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:10:02 EDT news694190281 A 2,000-year-old papyrus fragment, discovered in the archives of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, reveals 30 previously unpublished verses by Empedocles, a pre-Socratic philosopher of the fifth century BCE. This discovery offers researchers direct access to a body of thought previously known only through quotations from later authors. The very first edition, translation, and commentary on these verses are published in the book "L'Empédocle du Caire," edited by Nathan Carlig, Alain Martin, and Olivier Primavesi. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-previously-unpublished-verses-empedocles-papyrus.html Archaeology Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:30:03 EDT news694279321 The discovery of a 2,400-year-old metalworking workshop in Senegal provides new insights into the history of iron production in Africa. Despite decades of archaeological research, the origins of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa remain largely unclear. Yet this technological revolution—crucial for producing efficient agricultural tools—emerged there at least 3,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tracking-footsteps-west-africa-prehistoric.html Archaeology Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:00:01 EDT news694179841