400-year-old documents reveal evidence of Japanese opium production and winemaking
Research from the Eisei Bunko Research Center of Kumamoto University reveals that Tadatoshi Hosokawa, a 17th century lord of Kyusyu, Japan, ordered his people to produce not only wine but also opium for medical purposes.
13,000-year-old human footprints found off Canada’s Pacific coast
Human footprints found off Canada's Pacific coast may be 13,000 years old, according to a study published by Duncan McLaren and colleagues from the Hakai Institute and University of Victoria, Canada.
Linguistic analysis finds Dravidian language family is approximately 4,500 years old
The origin of the Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 varieties spoken by 220 million people across southern and central India and surrounding countries, can be dated to about 4,500 years ago.
First evidence of live-traded dogs for Maya ceremonies
Ashley Sharpe, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and colleagues combined clues from carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope analysis discovering the earliest evidence that the Maya raised and traded dogs and other animals, probably for ceremonial use.
Researchers add 700 years to Malta’s history
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have discovered that the first people to inhabit Malta arrived 700 years earlier than history books indicate.
Fall of Troy: the legend and the facts
The legendary ancient city of Troy is very much in the limelight this year: a big budget co-production between the BBC and Netflix: Troy, Fall of a City, recently launched, while Turkey designated 2018 the “Year of Troy” and plans a year of celebration, including the opening of a new museum on the presumed site.
