Artifact could be linked to Spanish explorer Coronado’s expedition across Texas Panhandle This modest chunk of obsidian, no more than 5 centimeters in length, was probably found on a rough patch of ranchland in the Texas panhandle. According to Matthew Boulanger, anthropologist and director of the Archeology Research Collections in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities … Read more
A rare Byzantine gold coin discovered in Norway, probably brought from Constantinople A metal detectorist found a rare gold coin in the mountains in Vestre Slidre municipality depicting two emperors and Jesus Christ. Archaeologists are now trying to determine how this 1,000-year-old Byzantine gold coin ended up in the Norwegian mountains. Could it have been … Read more
Viking Dentistry Was Surprisingly Advanced And Not Unlike Today’s Treatments Viking Age teeth at Varnhem indicate surprisingly advanced dentistry, according to the results of a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg. In 2005, excavations in Varnhem, Sweden uncovered the remains of a Christian church, near which was a cemetery containing thousands of Viking graves dating to … Read more
Artifacts Found Along Ancient Route To Mecca May Have Protected Pilgrims From The ‘Evil Eye’ A collection of unusual objects accidentally discovered decades ago along an ancient pilgrimage route in southern Israel were likely used by magicians-for-hire to perform protection rituals or other magical services for Mecca-bound Muslim travelers around 400 years ago, according to … Read more
‘Thunder floor’ found at ancient Andean site in Peru Archaeologists have discovered an ancient “sounding” dance floor in Peru that was designed to create a drum-like sound when stepped on, perhaps for a thunder god. The floor was constructed into an open-air platform at Viejo Sangayaico, 200 km southeast of Lima, sometime between AD 1000 and AD … Read more
Possible Restraint Of Elite Roman Man Buried With Sword Discovered In an isolated field near a Roman villa in Wales, archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of a man buried facedown. Adorned with a silver pin and a sword, he may have been a Roman soldier — but large nails near his neck, back and feet … Read more
Unearthed Roman Ring with Apollo Carving Suggests Link to Famous Snettisham Hoard A silver ring unearthed in an Essex field may be connected to a famous Roman jeweller’s hoard found in Norfolk in 1985, a historian has said. The ring is inset with a carnelian carving of the god Apollo. It was found by a … Read more
This Is One Of The Oldest Pieces Of Cloth In The World And It’s Made Of Bast Fibers! What did people make clothes from in the Neolithic? Çatalhöyük, the world’s largest known Stone Age settlement, gives us answers after 60 years of debate. Stone Age cities sound like something of an oxymoron. But as many … Read more
6000-Year-Old German Burial Chamber Destroys Egalitarian Ideologies Valuable stone axes found at a 6,000-year old hilltop burial site in Germany have suggest Neolithic societies were not as egalitarian as once thought, experts said. The two weapons were found at the Hofheim-Kapellenberg site 140 years ago, but have only just been connected with the recently-discovered burial mound. Their connection … Read more
Pornographic Pompeii wall paintings reveal the raunchy services offered in ancient Roman brothels 2,000 years ago RAUNCHY services offered in Roman brothels more than 2,000 years ago have been revealed through wall paintings in Pompeii. The ‘Lupanar of Pompeii’ features a number of old wall paintings which show explicit scenes. The famous brothel, which once … Read more