Archaeology

A team from the University of Leicester is to investigate the potential use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) technology to advance understanding of our heritage.

The planet’s largest and most powerful driver of climate changes from one year to the next, the El Niño Southern Oscillation in the tropical Pacific Ocean, was believed to have been weaker in ancient times due to the different configuration of the Earth’s orbit. However, scientists analyzing 25-foot high piles of ancient shells have uncovered new information that has led the to believe that the El Niños 10,000 years ago were just as strong and frequent as the ones that we still experience today.

During a four-year-long excavation of an Etruscan well at the ancient Italian settlement of Cetamura del Chianti, a team led by a Florida State University archaeologist and art historian unveiled a wealth of artifacts spanning over 15 centuries of Etruscan, Roman and medieval civilization in Tuscany.

It’s a given, in terms of numbers, the 20th Century was the most violent in history, with the American Civil War, purges and the two World Wars killing as many as 200 million people.

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen have discovered an ancient fragment of ivory, which belonged to a 40,000-year-old animal figurine. Both pieces were discovered in the Vogelherd cave located in the south west of Germany, which has produced a large number of astonishing works of art dating to the Ice Age. The mammoth ivory figurine depicting a lion was unveiled during excavations in 1931. The new fragment makes up one side of the figurine’s head. The sculpture may be viewed at the Tübingen University Museum from 30th July.

Finland’s love for milk has been traced as far back as 2500 BC thanks to high-tech techniques to analyse residues preserved in fragments of ancient pots.

A research team from the University of Basel uncovered some interesting findings in a Neolithic settlement at the boarders of Lake Biel in Switzerland: The DNA of a cattle bone displays genetic traces of the European aurochs and thus adds further facet to the history of cattle domestication. The journal Scientific Reports has published their findings.

Excavations at an archaeological site at Kathu in the Northern Cape province of South America have provided tens of thousands of Earlier Stone Age artefacts, including items such as hand axes. These artefacts were unearthed by archaeologists from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa and the University of Toronto, in collaboration with the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa.

3-D imaging provides researchers with brand new insights into Palaeolithic child’s skull trauma.

Research conducted by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has determined, on the basis of the Ametzagaina site, the mobility patterns and management of lithic resources.

European researchers have recovered a genome of the bacterium Brucella melitensis from a 700-year-old-skeleton discovered in the ruins of a Medieval Italian village.

An archaeological dig in the southeast of Turkey has unveiled a considerable number of clay tokens that were used as records of trade until the advent of writing, or so it was believed.

As Christie's sell the statue of Sekhemka for £15.7 million, world famous graphic novelist Alan Moore torpedoes a key Government culture policy, the International Council of Museums condemns Northampton's sale of the statue and Egypt protests.

The mystery of a bath house buried underneath an ancient Roman fort has finally been discovered after years of speculation in a recent dig.

World’s Earliest Erotic Graffiti found in unlikely setting on Aegean Island