Archaeology

Using DNA to identify the remains those long dead is about more than just the historical record; it can also be seen as an ‘act of care’, writes Jackie Leach Scully of Newcastle University.

A ground-breaking new study on DNA recovered from a fossil of one of the earliest known Europeans - a man who lived 36,000 years ago in Kostenki, western Russia - has shown that the earliest European humans' genetic ancestry survived the Last Glacial Maximum: the peak point of the last ice age.

In Roman Egypt, 14-year-old boys were enrolled in a youth organisation to learn to be good citizens.

Researchers see parallels between decline of Assyrian civilisation and today’s turmoil in Syria and Iraq.

When the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool on what would be her final voyage on 1st May 1915, during the Great War, it would alter the course of history forever.

If you found yourself up against Henry VIII at a jousting tournament, it might have been advisable to let the king win. It proved to be a good career move for Charles Brandon. He was a fantastic jouster, able to beat all his opponents…except Henry. However, he did end up as a Duke and married the king’s sister.

University of Calgary archaeologist investigates human capacity for survival in extreme environments.

The Roman-British population from c.200-400 AD seems to have had much less gum disease the what we experience today, according to a new study of skulls at the Natural History Museum led by a King’s College London periodontist. The startling findings provide further evidence that modern habits such as smoking can be detrimental to oral health.

It is possible people may have been making the trip from Easter Island to the Americas a long time before the Dutch commander Jakob Roggeveen arrived with his ships in 1722, according to new genomic evidence demonstrating that the Rapanui people living on that most isolated of islands had significant contact with Native American populations hundreds of years earlier. The findings reported that the Cell Press journal Current Biology yesterday provide the first genetic evidence for such an early trans-Pacific route between Polynesia and the Americas, an impressive trek of over 4,000 kilometers (nearly 2,500 miles).

Through the analysis of DNA extracted from the petrous bones of skulls of ancient Europeans, scientists have identified that these peoples remained intolerant to lactose (natural sugar in the milk of mammals) for 5,000 years after they implemented agricultural practices and 4,000 years after the onset of cheese-making among Central European Neolithic farmers.

Egyptian mummies show no signs of disabling arthritis.

Archaeological finds of glass material from Old Lödöse, a Swedish trade centre in the High Middle Ages, call for a revision of the country’s glass history. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis in archaeology from the University of Gothenburg, which describes how vitrified finds can be interpreted.

A team has unveiled a matching set of decorated bronze parts from a 2nd or 3rd century BC Celtic chariot at Burrough Hill Iron Age hillfort.

The recent discoveries at Stonehenge, including ritual monuments, burial mounds and a long barrow, are wonderful examples of how archaeological geophysics can be used in areas where excavation is hard to justify.

As world-wide interest in the discovery of an ancient toilet seat in Northumberland continues a bespoke toilet seat manufacturer Tosca & Willoughby based in Oxfordshire have stepped forward and pledged a cash sum towards its preservation.