How did Egypt build the pyramids? It is a question that has excited the imagination of scholars and visitors for millennia. Now papyri documenting work on the Great Pyramid are revealing fresh insights into construction work. Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner told Matthew Symonds how combining text and archaeology can…
• ‘The city thirsts’: the most extensive water supply system in the ancient world
• The Priest of Pututus: a unique Andean tomb
• Conjuring Mongolian deer stones: seeking the meaning of enigmatic monoliths
• The man in the parcel: unravelling a mortuary mystery
• Ireland: the prehistoric passage tombs of Knowth and…
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions: send them to cwaletters@world-archaeology.com…
A glance at some of the latest exciting archaeological stories from across the globe.…
Archaeologists uncovered 24 finely worked bronze statues – the largest deposit of Etruscan and Roman bronze statues ever found in Italy.…
Across 7 Vegetables domesticated c.8000 BC (8) 9 George ___, 20th-century French archaeologist noted for his work in French Indochina and Siam (6) 10 Boudica’s tribe (5) 11 Huntress of Greek mythology (8) 12 Mayan ceremonial centre in Guatemala (5) 13 Caleb ___, American antiquary who studied the earthworks and…
As the British Institute at Ankara celebrates a major birthday, CWA casts an eye over what it has achieved, and where it is heading.…
What can a freshly discovered tomb reveal about the emergence of Andean civilisations? The early date of this rich burial is raising new questions about how and when social elites appeared, as Yuji Seki reveals.…
The collection of grave goods – dubbed the ‘Harpole Treasure’ after the name of the local parish – has been dated to AD 630-670.…
Supplying Constantinople with water was a monumental challenge that received a monumental solution. Examining the extraordinary remains of aqueducts, bridges, and cisterns reveals the ingenuity – and expense – committed to sating a thirsty ancient metropolis, as James Crow explains.…
Review by David J Breeze John William Burgon’s description of Petra as ‘the rose-red city, half as old as time’ dates to 1845, well within the timeframe covered in this book. It remains an apt statement, underlined by the choice of the Treasury in Petra as the location of Indiana…
Even reputable observers like Pliny the Younger often ended up at the mercy of the competence of later scribes. As his writings only survive as copies, it may be no more than a scribal slip of the hand that immortalised August as the month when Pompeii met its fate.…
A new museum in Van, Turkey, explores the rich history of the area. Nick Kropacek visited to find out more.…
Timothy Power and Mark Horton return to the Old Fort of Stone Town, Zanzibar, to discuss the site’s Swahili origins.…
The enigmatic deer stones speckling the Mongolian steppe have long invited questions. Now fresh research is providing clues to why they were carved and what they may represent. William Fitzhugh and Richard Kortum, with Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, share the story of these remarkable relics.…
Researchers conducted genetic analysis of bone and tooth remains from 13 Neanderthals from two sites in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.…
The discovery of a burial in pride of place in Gårdby Church, Sweden, marked the beginning of an archaeological detective story. What could explain the unusual treatment of the man’s body? Caroline Arcini investigates.…
Review by Carolynn Roncaglia In AD 452, Attila the Hun led his forces over the eastern Alps into Italy. Straightaway they besieged the city of Aquileia, which for more than 600 years had guarded the way into Roman Italy from the north-east. Attila’s forces sacked the city and slaughtered or…
A long-lost Roman emperor. Who could resist such a headline? The media lapped it up. But how could anyone lose an emperor in the first place? It turns out that this emperor was self-declared, so he wasn’t really an emperor at all…
New analysis has revealed that the layer containing the footprints dates to c.295,8000 years ago.…
Until now, inscriptions found in the Canaanite alphabet have been limited to two or three words; this is the first meaningful Canaanite inscription found in Israel.…