bone artifact

Oldest ink pen found in Ireland

Its discovery is significant because while there is archaeological evidence for secular literacy in the Roman and early medieval periods in Britain, this is not really the case in Ireland

Engraved deer bone

What is it? This 51,000-year-old engraved toe bone is one of the oldest works of art ever found. The bone, which is the second phalanx of a giant deer, is 56.8mm long, 38.9mm wide, and 30.9mm thick, and weighs 36.1g.…

The Past

New theory emerges about how humans learned to count

The Les Pradelles hyena bone is ‘potentially the earliest known example of this type of mark-making’, and suggests Neanderthals possessed the cognitive abilities for numeracy.

Below Why was this human femur carved to create a musical instrument, which was then placed in the grave of a different Bronze Age individual who had lived and died some years later?

Rest in pieces: exploring evidence for Bronze Age curation of the dead

Archaeologists have long puzzled over fragments of human bone that have been found scattered around late Bronze Age settlements and placed in early Bronze Age burials like grave goods. Carly Hilts examines a recent study that sheds intriguing light on these enigmatic practices.