Anthropology

Bite marks confirm gladiators fought lions at York

A recent study published in PLOS One has identified bite marks on human remains excavated from Driffield Terrace, a Roman cemetery on the outskirts of York, England.

Face to face with royalty: Skull may belong to King Matthias Corvinus

A skull unearthed in the ruins of Hungary’s former royal coronation site may belong to King Matthias Corvinus.

Melting permafrost is exposing whaling-ear graves on Svalbard

Whaling-era graves from the 17th and 18th centuries are being exposed as Svalbard's permafrost melts due to climate change.

Viking Age skulls reveal widespread disease

A new study by the University of Gothenburg suggests that Sweden’s Viking Age population suffered from widespread disease.

Bog body found in Bellaghy was likely a sacrifice

A multi-institutional team of scientists, led by National Museums NI, has revealed new findings into a bog body discovered in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland.

Isotopic analyses link the lives of Late Neolithic individuals to burial location in Spain

An isotopic analysis of megalithic graves and caves in Spain may suggest the existence of a degree of differentiation in the lifeways of people buried in these different funerary sites

Dawn of agriculture linked with poor start to life in ancient Atacama, Chile

Learning to cultivate crops and other agricultural food – rather than relying on hunter-gathering – is often thought of as a key milestone in the history of humanity.

New clue may reveal the fate of famous French explorer

An anthropologist at The Australian National University (ANU) may have stumbled across a clue to resolving one of the most enduring mysteries of Pacific history - the fate of famous French navigator, Jean François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse who disappeared in 1788.

Mobile women were key to cultural exchange in Stone Age and Bronze Age Europe

At the end of the Stone Age and in the early Bronze Age, families were established in a surprising manner in the Lechtal, south of Augsburg, Germany.

Stalagmite reveals age of Yucatán cave skeleton

A prehistoric human skeleton found on the Yucatán Peninsula is at least 13,000 years old and most likely dates from a glacial period at the end of the most recent ice age, the late Pleistocene.

Ancient pottery reveals insights on Iroquoian population’s power in 16th century

An innovative study published today in the journal Science Advances demonstrates how decorations on ancient pottery can be used to discover new evidence for how groups interacted across large regions.

Maize from El Gigante Rock Shelter shows early transition to staple crop

Mid-summer corn on the cob is everywhere, but where did it all come from and how did it get to be the big, sweet, yellow ears we eat today?

The Ii Hamina cemetery reveals adaptation to the “Little Ice Age”

The medieval cemetery in Ii Hamina in northern Finland on the Iijoki river was originally discovered by accident. A recent study examined the isotope compositions of the teeth of the dead. It turned out that the population in the small village survived throughout the 15th and 16th centuries despite the Little Ice Age.

Carved skulls provide the first evidence of a neolithic ‘skull cult’ at Göbekli Tepe

In Turkey, Carved Skulls Provide the First Evidence of a Neolithic "Skull Cult": Three carved skull fragments uncovered at a Neolithic dig site in Turkey feature modifications not seen before among human remains of the time, researchers say.

Ancient skulls shed light on migration in the Roman empire

Skeletal evidence shows that, hundreds of years after the Roman Republic conquered most of the Mediterranean world, coastal communities in what is now south and central Italy still bore distinct physical differences to one another - though the same could not be said of the area around Rome itself.

Forensic technique uses forehead X-rays to assess age of juvenile remains

Forensic anthropology researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique that can provide an approximate age for juveniles and young people based on an X-ray of the frontal sinus region of the skull.

Why was a teenager with bone cancer buried on Witch Hill in Panama?

A new report by Smithsonian archaeologists identifies a bone tumor in the upper right arm of an adolescent who was buried in about 1300 AD in a trash heap at a site in western Panama called Cerro Brujo or Witch Hill.

Genomics tracks migration from lost empires to modern cities

New genomic tools are enabling researchers to overturn long-held beliefs about the origins of populations, a researcher will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Monday). Dr Eran Elhaik, Assistant Professor of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, will say that new technologies are enabling scientists to track the origins and migrations of populations with increasing accuracy.

Resurrecting identities in the Andes

Who are you? A parent? An artist? A veteran? There are lots of different aspects of identity, and it takes more than just one to make you you. Ancient people were just as complex, but until recently, archaeologists didn't have a clear way to capture all the nuances of human identities from the past outside of broader labels like gender and social status.

Movement of early humans into the Indian subcontinent

Prehistoric human migration was mainly driven by human wanderlust and population pressures but relied critically on the habitability of available land.

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