A Mysterious CREATURE

There’s something intriguing, even frightening, about the image of an ancient horned serpent roaming across the land. Thanks to some suggestive fossils and legends of old, talk of such a creature isn’t a new concept. But the recent discovery of 200-year-old rock paintings found in South Africa now has scientists hypothesizing that this ancient creature may have been far more than just a legend.

The first formal scientific descriptions of this horned serpent—a supposed member of the dicynodont group—appeared in 1845. Considering the abundance of dicynodont fossils found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa, some have pondered whether this long-thought mythical horned serpent is rooted in reality. 

The discovery of rock art dated to between 1821 and 1835 adds even more credence to the legend, as the painting is older than the first formal reference to the dicynodont. If we’re lucky, it could provide further clues as to just how intertwined this horned serpent was with South Africa’s indigenous San culture.          READ MORE...

Coffin in Spain Changes History

Researchers excavating Roman ruins at Los Villaricos in southern Spain have discovered a well-preserved coffin adorned with geometric patterns and interlocking ivy leaves. 

As local news outlet Murcia Today reports, the sarcophagus likely dates to the sixth century C.E., when the Visigoths, among other Germanic tribes, invaded territories formerly held by the fallen Roman Empire.

Archaeologists from the University of Murcia found the 6.5-foot-long coffin during a summer dig at Los Villaricos, a large-scale agricultural settlement established by the Romans around the first century C.E. 

Per Heritage Daily, the sarcophagus was buried at a Roman villa repurposed by the Visigoths following its abandonment around the fifth century C.E. The Germanic conquerors used the structure’s central patio area as a necropolis.  READ MORE...

Ancient City of Palmyra

ARCHAEOLOGISTS CONDUCTING A STUDY TO ESTIMATE THE MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY OF THE LAND AROUND PALMYRA ARE REVEALING NEW INSIGHTS THAT QUESTIONS THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.

Palmya is located in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date an early settlement to the Neolithic period, with the first documented mention of the city dating to the early 2nd millennium BC.

Palmyra’s wealth was generated through a system of trade networks, funding the construction of monumental projects such as the Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs.  READ MORE...

Two Biblical Heroines Uncovered

The Israelite commander Barak depicted in the Huqoq synagogue mosaic. Several BYU students 

were part of the team to help excavate at the ancient Jewish village site. Credit: Jim Haberman

As they brushed the last layer of dirt from a small section of mosaic on the synagogue floor, the archaeologists were momentarily baffled by the odd image beginning to emerge.

"Then we realized we were looking at the story of Jael pounding the stake through the head of Sisera the Canaanite," said BYU ancient scripture professor Matthew Grey. "We brought out a phone and pulled up Judges 4 to read the story while we uncovered the scene."

Almost every summer since 2011, BYU faculty and students have joined a consortium of universities led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to excavate the synagogue in the ancient Jewish village of Huqoq, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This year's work on the building's beautiful mosaic floor, which dates from the late fourth—early fifth century C.E., yielded a unique discovery: fragments showing Jael and the prophetess Deborah.

"This is the first time we've seen a depiction of the biblical heroines Deborah and Jael in ancient Jewish art," said project director and UNC professor Jodi Magness.

Situated in the southwest corner of the building just to the left of the synagogue's entrance, the panels highlight how the women helped save Israel through their gifts and intrepidity. One patch shows Deborah sitting under her palm tree, giving instructions to the Israelite general Barak to guide her people in battle (Judges 4:4–10). 

Below that, another patch shows Jael driving a tent stake through Sisera's temple, taking out the Canaanite general to help Israel defeat their enemy (Judges 4:17–22).  READ MORE...

Arrow Found in Melting Ice

Image Credit : Glacier Archaeology Program

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE GLACIER ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM HAVE FOUND AN ARROW IN THE MELTING ICE DURING A RESEARCH PROJECT IN THE NORWEGIAN MOUNTAINS.

The project is focusing on a melted ice patch in the Jotunheimen mountain range, where the team has found a preserved arrow with an intact iron arrowhead, shortly after arriving at their base camp 1750 metres above sea level.

The arrow dates from around 1,500 years ago during the Norwegian Iron Age, discovered in a collection of broken rock fragments between larger stones on the lower edge of the icefield.

The team believes that the arrow was lost and deposited downslope by meltwater, and has since been exposed several times over the centuries with the melting ice.

This is indicated by the lack of fletching, the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilisation normally made from feathers or bark. Evidence of sinew and tar has also been identified, but this survives in a poor state of preservation.

The arrow is tapered towards the end and the nock has been thickened for engaging with a bowstring. The remains of the tar would have glued the fletching to the shaft, while imprints of the thread securing the fletching is still visible.  READ MORE...

Early Church by Sea of Galilee

The mosaic more than 1,500 years old cites the church’s donor and a plea for intercession that shores up the case of el-Araj as Bethsaida and the basilica as the Church of the Apostles

An inscription with a plea to St. Peter found at the archaeological site of el-Araj strongly supports the case that this is the lost city of Bethsaida and that the basilica there is the Church of the Apostles, a discovery likely to further buoy Christian tourism at the Sea of Galilee.

The mosaic was filthy, as is the case with inscriptions buried in silt for more than 1,500 years. Cleaning it off in the blistering heat of this summer’s excavation season at el-Araj – right by the Ottoman mansion Beit HaBek – was the season’s highlight, say archaeologists Prof. Mordechai Aviam and Prof. R. Steven Notley.

El-Araj is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and isn’t the only candidate for the biblical village of Bethsaida on which the Roman polis of Julias arose. 

The New Testament is inconsistent about the abode of Peter and his brother Andrew, but the evidence points to Bethsaida as their home, not the fishing village of Capernaum, many researchers say.  READ MORE...

Chocolate Vessel Found in Cave

Archaeologists have recovered a Maya chocolate-type vessel from the Cueva de la Cruz, near the coastal resort of Playa del Carmen, in Mexico’s Yucatán.

Researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) recovered the 13cm tall vessel after being notified by the Cenotes Urbanos project.

The vessel was partially submerged and buried in soft sediment, deposited by the rainy season that tends to flood the entire cave.

“It has a reddish colour on the outside and a black slip on the inside, partially covered by calcium carbonates. The decoration seems to provide a phytomorphic image, similar to a pumpkin”, said archaeologist Antonio Reyes abounds.

The vessel dates from the Late Preclassic period (300 BC to AD 250), and although lacking a spout, archaeologists suggest that the vessel was used for drinking chocolate.

Maya chocolate was consumed as a hot liquid beverage, seasoned by mixing the roasted cacao seed paste into a drink with water, chilli peppers and cornmeal, and then transferring the mixture repeatedly between pots until the top was covered with a thick foam.

The drink was used in official ceremonies and religious rituals, as funerary offerings, as a tribute, and for medicinal purposes.  READ MORE...

The Founding Population of Mexico

Archaeologists have recovered DNA from 10 colonial-era inhabitants of Campeche, Mexico, revealing the diversity of the founding populations of European settlements in the Americas.

Campeche was an early colonial settlement in Yucatán. It was founded in 1540, less than 20 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, once conquistadors secured their rule.

The important port was initially served by a parish church until it was replaced by a cathedral in 1680. The church was rediscovered in 2000 during rescue excavations when archaeologists found 129 early colonial burials at the site.

Early attempts to extract DNA from these burials failed. Now advances in aDNA research have allowed Professor Vera Tiesler and a team of researchers from Harvard University to gather genetic data from this important site. Their work is published in the journal Antiquity.

“Ancient DNA methods have improved to the point where we can generate robust data from warm, humid environments,” said Dr Jakob Sedig, from the Reich Laboratory at Harvard University and co-lead author of the research, “Using the petrous bone, we were able to generate excellent data from all 10 individuals we tested, which is encouraging for future ancient DNA analysis in this region.”

The aDNA revealed the 10 individuals interred in the colonial cemetery were made up of six females and four males, and none were close relatives. Most were local Indigenous Americans, but people of European and sub-Saharan African ancestry were also identified. READ MORE...

Sunken City in Tigris River

A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists have excavated a 3400-year-old Mittani Empire-era city that has emerged in the Tigris River.

The settlement was previously submerged with the construction of the Mosul reservoir, but has since re-emerged due to lower water levels caused by extreme drought.

The city, located in present-day Kemune in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has a palace and several large buildings that could be the ancient city of Zakhiku – an important centre in the Mittani Empire (1550-1350 BC).

Bronze Age city resurfaced due to drought

Iraq can be affected by climate change, often resulting in extreme drought for months. This has caused major difficulties for the agricultural sector and the draining of large amounts of water drawn from the Mosul reservoir to support farmers crops. The lower water levels has allowed the reappearance of the Bronze Age city, which up until now has never been investigated by archaeologists.

Within a short time, archaeologists have mapped large areas of the city and documented the palace, several large buildings, a fortified wall, towers, multi-storey storage buildings and an industrial complex.  READ MORE...

Largest Cave Art in Alabama

American photojournalist and founder of the Ancient Art Archive Stephen Alvarez in the 19th newly identified but unnamed cave in Alabama. (Image credit: A Cressler; Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Archaeologists in Alabama have discovered the longest known painting created by early Indigenous Americans, a new study finds.

Indigenous Americans crafted this 1,000-year-old record-breaking image — of a 10-foot-long (3 meters) rattlesnake — as well as other paintings, out of mud on the walls and ceiling of a cave, likely to depict spirits of the underworld, the researchers said.


The cave has hundreds of cave paintings and is considered the richest place for Native American cave art in the American Southeast, the researchers said. 

To investigate its historic art, the team turned to photogrammetry, a technique that involves taking hundreds of digital images in order to build a virtual 3D model. Using this method, the researchers spotted five previously unknown giant cave paintings, known as glyphs.


"This methodology allows us to create a virtual model of the space that we can manipulate," study first author Jan Simek, a distinguished professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, told Live Science. 

"In this particular case, the ceiling of the cave is very close to the floor. So your field of vision is limited by your proximity to the ceiling. We never saw these very large images because we couldn't get back far enough to see them."

Certain About our Past

Archaeologists around the world have declared a universal consensus, stating that all archaeological records can give us a consistent understanding of the past.

In a shock move, every single archaeologist has co-signed the same agreement.

No longer will there be disputes about how much meat ancient humans ate, whether they migrated across ice, or what the oldest Homo sapiens remains are – the leading researchers in the field, and also every other researcher in the field, have finally come to the same conclusion.

“There’s enough discord and disagreement in the world as it is. We don’t need to add more rigorous academic debate,” says Professor Helen Hoakes, deputy head of archaeology at the University of Eastern Australia.

“Archaeologists are famous for putting forward different and conflicting theories about what their evidence suggests,” explains Dennis Ovan, director of the Johannesburg Old Knowledge Institute for Excellence in Skulls (JOKIES).

“But when we finally sat down and talked, we realised that almost all of these arguments stemmed from petty disputes on field trips.

“Limited and competitive funding, massive ideological differences, the publish-or-perish world of academia – all of that can be smoothed over by apologising for waking up a whole tent one time, even though you said you weren’t a snorer.”

The centrepiece of the agreement is a comprehensive and universal primer on archaeological ethics, detailing the most ethical way to do archaeological research.

“It turns out that the ethics of archaeology was the easiest to solve of all,” says Dr Anna-Indie Jones, an ethicist at the Centre of Innovation for Dusty Stuff we Thought Looked Important.

“Everyone in the world places exactly the same cultural and spiritual significance in the past, and they all have the same codes for dealing with historic artefacts and ancient human remains.”

Jones would not provide any examples of these codes, saying “it’s all in the agreement” while gently edging out the door of the lab.  READ MORE...

Giant Stone in Costa Rica

Archaeologists have excavated giant stone spheres in the Diquís Delta of Costa Rica.

Stone spheres are found on the small island of Isla del Caño and the Diquís Delta, where over 300 stone Petrospheres have been previously identified from the Diquís culture.

The Diquís culture emerged in the Valley of the Rio Grande de Térraba, where they established complex social, economic, and political systems to govern their society.

During the Chiriquí Period between AD 800 – 1500, many settlements grew into large communities around the alluvial lands of the Térraba River and its main tributaries, constructing large structures using round-edged boulders, paved areas, burial sites, and circular or rectangular mounds with stone walls.

The Diquís reached an apex of cultural development during this period, with Diquís artisans creating elaborate ceramic, bone, and gold objects, and sculpturing stone spheres in important zones within the settlements. Stone spheres were also placed in alignments in public plazas, or along the approach to the dwellings of the ruling elite or chieftains.

Archaeologists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and the National Museum of Costa Rica (MNCR) have excavated 6 stone spheres as part of a wider project to preserve the monuments.

The team focused on the Finca 6 archaeological site located in the canton of Osa in the Puntarenas Province, in which stone spheres have deteriorated due to alterations derived from the constitution of the rock, damage caused by humidity, and floods resulting from hurricanes and tropical storms.   READ MORE...

Egypt's Pyramids of Giza

An ultra-powerful scan of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza could help identify two mysterious spaces that potentially house the legendary tomb of the pharaoh. The watershed study was published last month in arXiv by University of Cornell archaeologists.

“We plan to field a telescope system that has upwards of 100 times the sensitivity of the equipment that has recently been used at the Great Pyramid,” wrote the researchers of the proposed scan, which is titled “The Exploring the Great Pyramid Mission.” They use advanced cosmic ray technology to map the internal structure of the Great Pyramid, which is Egypt’s largest pyramid and the last surviving wonder from antiquity.

The team’s research is based on a study by Scan Pyramid group, which conducted a series of scans between 2015 and 2017 that analyzed muons — cosmic particles that regularly fall on Earth — to detect any voids, Live Science reported. Muons react differently to air and stone and are therefore ideal for mapping air pockets in stone structures such as pyramids.

The scientists found two spaces, the larger of which measures 98 feet long and 20 feet high and sits above the grand gallery. Meanwhile, the smaller void is located near the citadel’s north face.

And while neither void’s function is clear, scientists speculate that the large one could lead to the secret burial chamber of the pharaoh Khufu (reign circa 2551 B.C. to 2528 B.C.), for whom the Great Pyramid was originally constructed in the 26th century B.C.

In order to peer inside the void, researchers plan to scan the area with supercharged cosmic ray muons, which are 100 times more powerful than the ones used in the prior scan.

Utilizing them will allow researchers to “image muons from nearly all angles and will, for the first time, produce a true tomographic image [three-dimensional internal images created by analyzing waves of energy] of such a large structure,” per the study.  READ MORE...

Most Important Archaelogical Discoveries in 2021

Every year, we delve back through our coverage to find the most fascinating archaeological discoveries of the year, whether by a complete amateur, or as the result of years of careful study by a team of experts.

As always, archaeology news takes us around the globe and throughout the ages, from the earliest days of human history through to the contemporary era. Here are our picks for the 2021 archaeological stories worth revisiting.

Stonehenge Revelations

Stonehenge at sunrise in 2015. Photo by Freesally, public domain.

The ancient circle of stone monoliths on the U.K.’s Salisbury Plain is one of history’s most enduring mysteries. But while we may never fully understand this ancient structure, experts are learning more and more about it each year.

Thanks in no small part to the late Robert Phillips, a diamond cutter who made repairs to a fallen stone at the site in 1958, we now know that the massive monoliths are made from a nearly indestructible matrix of interlocking quartz crystals—which is why the monument has stood for millennia. Phillips drilled a three-and-a-half foot core sample during his work, which he was allowed to keep as a souvenir. He returned it in 2019, allowing scientists to conduct valuable testing on the stones, which are now protected under English heritage law and cannot be sampled.

This year also saw archaeologists discover a former stone circle in Wales that closely matches the dimensions of Stonehenge’s inner ring. That suggests that the site’s inner stone circle was originally erected 175 miles away and moved to Salisbury Plain—and carbon dating shows it was built 400 years before Stonehenge proper. If this all seems too unbelievable to be true, just wait: it perfectly matches a Stonehenge legend that Merlin stole the monument and moved it to England.

Original Flavor Pompeii—and a New Version in Egypt

The lost city discovered by archaeologists near Luxor in Egypt. Photo by Zahi Hawass, courtesy 

of the Center for Egyptology.


Do the discoveries ever seem to stop in Pompeii? A newly excavated thermopolium, a kind of Roman fast food restaurant, began welcoming visitors this summer. Archaeologists were able to identify the space in part because it was decorated with frescoes featuring some popular ingredients in Pompeii cuisine, such as roosters.

Other Pompeii finds this year included an intact chariot, slaves’ quarters, and evidence of thriving Greek theater scene.

But Pompeii isn’t the only ancient city found nearly intact. In fact, a smaller “mini” Pompeii was found hidden beneath vines in Verona by construction workers. And in Egypt, another wellspring of ancient treasures, 2021 saw what’s being hailed as the nation’s most significant discovery since Howard Carter uncovered King Tut’s golden tomb nearly a century ago: the abandoned city of Luxor.

The city was a royal metropolis outside the city of Thebes built by Tutankhamun’s grandfather, King Amenhotep III. His son, Akhenaten, appears to have abandoned the city when he started a new religion worshipping only the sun god, Aten.  READ MORE...

Mummies with Golden Tongues

It’s no secret that untold treasure lies beneath the city of El-Bahnasa, Egypt. An archaeological mission from Spain has now excavated the site for 30 years and found many tombs from different dynasties and papyrus texts that still puzzle experts. And last week, they unearthed two 2,500-year-old mummies with golden tongues.

According to The Times of Israel, the two mummies, a man and a woman, were each laid to rest in a limestone sarcophagus in what was then called Oxyrhynchus. They died around 525 B.C. at the tail-end of the Saite dynasty, which was the last time native Egyptians reigned over their kingdom before the Persian conquest in the 6th century B.C.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said golden tongues allowed the dead to speak to Osiris, the god of the underworld who judged travelers to the afterlife. While the 402 funerary figurines, amulets, and scarabs found within the tombs were also stunning, the state of the male sarcophagus captivated experts the most.

“This is very important because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” said excavation director Esther Pons Melado on Sunday.  READ MORE...

Ancient Egyptian Statue

AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN statue pulled from beneath the bustling streets of Cairo "changed" researchers' understanding of pharaohs in what was a breakthrough find.

Archaeologists, historians and other researchers have poured over relics discovered across Egypt. The country has one of the longest spanning and well recorded histories in the world. 

William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the British archaeologist and Egyptologist, made valuable contributions to the techniques and methods of field excavation in Egypt in the late 19th century.

He invented a method that made possible the reconstruction of history from the remains of ancient cultures.

One of his biggest and most revered finds came in 1884 during the excavation of the Temple of Tanis, where he found fragments of a colossal statue of Ramses II.

Ramses was a great pharaoh, who is often regarded as the most celebrated and most powerful leader of the New Kingdom — a period that was itself the most powerful era of Ancient Egypt.

In March 2017, a team of researchers were carrying out excavations at a neighbourhood in northeast Cairo, the territory once inhabited by Ramses.  READ MORE...

Pompeii Slave Room

Image Credit : Archaeological Park of Pompeii

Archaeologists conducting excavations at Pompeii’s Civita Giuliana have identified a room used by slaves.

Pompeii was a Roman city, located in the modern commune of Pompeii near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum, and many villas in the surrounding area was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

The villa of Civita Giuliana has been studied since 2017, with previous excavations unearthing several rooms, a servant’s quarters, and a ceremonial chariot and stable with harnessed horses.

In the latest series of excavations by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, alongside the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Torre Annunziata, archaeologists found a room near to where the chariot was discovered, that is believed to be the humble lodgings of the slaves who carried out the everyday work in the Roman villa, including the maintenance and preparation of the chariot.  READ MORE...

Stone ChambeerTombs

Restorative work reveals the designs painted on the stone-cut tombs' ceilings. (Image credit: Blaundos Archaeological Excavation Project Archive)

Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered 400 rock-cut chamber tombs that date to 1,800 years ago and make up part of one of the largest rock-cut chamber tomb necropolises in the world.

The team found the tombs in the ancient city of Blaundos (also spelled Blaundus), located about 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey. The city was founded during the time of Alexander the Great and existed through the Roman and Byzantine periods.

The tombs are filled with sarcophagi, many of which contain multiple deceased individuals — a clue that families used these tombs for burials over many generations, said Birol Can, an archaeologist at Uşak University in Turkey and head of the Blaundos Excavation Project.

"We think that the Blaundos rock-cut tomb chambers, in which there are many sarcophagi, were used as family tombs, and that the tombs were reopened for each deceased family member, and a burial ceremony was held and closed again," Can told Live Science in an email.

The city of Blaundos sits on a hill surrounded by a valley, which is actually a branch of the vast Uşak canyons, one of the longest canyon systems in the world, Can said. The people of Blaundos built the necropolis into the slopes of the canyon. "Due to the rocky nature of the slopes surrounding the city, the most preferred burial technique was the chamber-shaped tombs carved into the solid rocks," he said.  READ MORE...

Did Native Americans Originate from Japan?

The biological evidence "simply does not match up" 

with archeological finds.

Native Americans may not have originated in Japan as previous archaeological evidence has suggested, according to a new study of ancient teeth.

For years, archaeologists had predicted that the first people to live in North America descended directly from a group called the Jomon, who occupied ancient Japan about 15,000 years ago, the same time people arrived in North America around 15,000 years ago via the Bering Land Bridge, a strip of land that previously connected Russia to North America before sea levels rose above it. This theory is based on archaeological similarities in stone tools, especially projectile weapons, found in Native American and Jomon settlements.

However, the authors of the new study say this scenario is highly unlikely because the biological evidence "simply does not match up" with the archaeological findings, according to a statement from the researchers.

"The Jomon were not directly ancestral to Native Americans," lead author G. Richard Scott, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, told Live Science. "They [the Jomon] are more aligned with Southeast Asian and Pacific groups than with East Asian and Native American groups."

Instead, the researchers suspect that Native Americans descended from a different group living somewhere in East Asia, although a lot of uncertainty remains about exactly where and when those ancestors lived.

An archaeological theory

Scott and his colleagues began their study because they were unconvinced by the main argument linking Native Americans with the Jomon — the stone tool similarities, they said.

"The artifact similarities between ancient Jomon and at least some of the earliest known Native American sites lie in the stemmed projectile points," co-author John Hoffecker, an archaeologist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Live Science. These similarities led previous researchers to suspect that the knowledge to make those tools had been passed down from one culture to the other, he added.  READ MORE...