The origins of cannabis smoking: Marijuana use in the first millennium BC
A chemical residue study of incense burners from ancient burials at high elevations in the Pamir Mountains of western China has revealed psychoactive cannabinoids. This
Tag : archaeology blog
Latest archaeology blog postings and archaeology news
Diet at the docks: Living and dying at the port of ancient Rome
Portus Romae was established in the middle of the first century AD and for well over 400 years was Rome's gateway to the Mediterranean.
Must Farm – Living in the Bronze Age
Must Farm, an extraordinarily well-preserved Late Bronze Age settlement in Cambridgeshire, in the East of England, drew attention in national and international media in 2016
Mysterious jars of the dead unearthed in Laos
ANU and Uni of Melbourne Archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used for
Angkor Wat archaeological digs yield new clues to its civilization’s decline
Cambodia’s famous temple of Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest religious monuments, visited by over 2 million tourists each year.
Unique Iron Age shield gives insight into ancient technology
A unique bark shield, thought to have been constructed with wooden laths during the Iron Age, has provided new insight into the construction and design
Archaeologists reveal findings of Prittlewell Anglo-Saxon burial
Previously hidden secrets and insights into the Prittlewell princely burial and the man buried have been painstakingly reconstructed by a team of over 40 archaeological
New technique helps identify which ancient rocks were used for cooking
Fire was probably first used by humans one million years ago. It was a valuable resource for light, warmth, and keeping predators at bay. It also
Megalith tombs were family graves in European Stone Age
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international research team, led from Uppsala University, discovered kin relationships
Prehistoric mummy reveals ancient Egyptian embalming ‘recipe’ was around for millennia
It is the first time that extensive tests have been carried out on an intact prehistoric mummy, consolidating the researchers’ previous findings that embalming was
Archeological plant remains point to southwest Amazonia as crop domestication center
The remains of domesticated crop plants at an archaeological site in southwest Amazonia supports the idea that this was an important region in the early
Archaeologists race against time to save ancient handprints
A group of archaeologists are working against the tide to excavate a Pictish copper smith’s workshop located on an Iron Age settlement on the Island
Neanderthals could make fire – just like our modern ancestors
Neanderthals were able to make fire on a large scale with the aid of pyrite and hand-axes.
Earthquake reveals remains of temple inside Aztec Pyramid
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake has led to the discovery of an ancient shrine dedicated to the rain god Tláloc beneath the pyramid of Teopanzolco in
Two thousand year old wooden bowl discovered in underground chamber beneath broch site.
Archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute were astonished last week when they unearthed a two thousand year old wooden bowl
Megalithic Passage Tomb Cemetery discovered within Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site
The find was made during an excavation carried out by the agri-technology company Devenish in partnership with UCD School of Archaeology
The origins of pottery linked with intensified fishing in the post-glacial period
A study into some of the earliest known pottery remains has suggested that the rise of ceramic production was closely linked with intensified fishing at
Archaeologists discover bread that predates agriculture by 4,000 years
At an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan, researchers have discovered the charred remains of a flatbread baked by hunter-gatherers 14,400 years ago.
Researchers discover gilded mummy mask
Researchers at the University of Tübingen have discovered a gilded mask on the mummy of a priest in Saqqara, Egypt. It is from the Saite-Persian
Swedes have been brewing beer since the Iron Age
Archaeologists at Lund University in Sweden have found carbonised germinated grains showing that malt was produced for beer brewing as early as the Iron Age
Illegal trade in antiquities: a scourge that has gone on for millennia too long
Looting of artefacts has always been a sign of military might or economic power. Over millennia, conquering generals would take away with them trophies to
Oldest bubonic plague genome decoded
An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History has analyzed two 3,800-year-old Y. pestis genomes that suggest a