A major new cave-art discovery has recently been made in Cova Dones, Spain. The nature of these images poses fascinating questions about how and where Palaeolithic people created such art, as Aitor Ruiz-Redondo told Matthew Symonds.
Japanese burial mounds can be stunning in scale, while the decorated tomb chambers and grave goods sometimes found within have the power to astonish. In the first of a two-part series examining these tombs, Simon Kaner introduces the archaeology of burials mounds from the 3rd-8th centuries AD.
Across 5 Egyptian falcon-headed god also known as Horus (8)8 Roman goddess of the dawn (6)9 English river taking its name from the Old English for ‘winding’ (6)10 Spanish cave system containing Palaeolithic art (8)11 Building in Oxford housing varied…
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Fresh knowledge about global trade and travel is coming to light in the Jordanian desert. A survey project is revealing information about the chronology of a small fort or fortlet and presumed caravanserai at the site of Khirbet al-Khalde in southern Jordan. Taking us through archival data, new archaeological finds, and the use of drone imagery, the co directors of the project Craig Harvey, Emanuele Intagliata, and Rubina Raja unravel new narratives about this fascinating desert site.
In the first of a two-part feature, Richard Hodges untangles the early evolution of the famed Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.
Hiding in plain sight Look carefully at Renaissance paintings and you will see all sorts of fascinating cultural details, from the most obvious – the clothing that was fashionable at the time the painting was made, the jewellery, the hairstyles,…
In 1296, the Chinese Emperor Temür Khan despatched a diplomatic mission to Angkor. Zhou Daguan was a member, arriving in August 1296 and leaving the following July. On his return, he wrote a memoir of his visit, a unique eye-witness…
The city of Sydney has changed beyond recognition since it was founded as Britain’s first Australian penal colony in 1788. Carly Hilts set out to explore some of the surviving traces of its earliest years.
REVIEW BY ECKART FRAHM Mesopotamian history, Amanda Podany argues in the introduction to her new book, ‘is more of a weathered mosaic than a grand narrative’. What she provides in her long but never boring account, which covers events and…
REVIEW BY SHERRIE-LEE EVANS Archaeology in Antarctica is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of archaeological practice in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic. The authors have researched published, unpublished, and oral accounts of all past archaeological work in…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK What fields are left for Barry Cunliffe to conquer? After the Celts and the Bretons, Europe between the oceans, the Atlantic Ocean, the Scythians, and the Steppe, he has now turned his attention to Africa, and…
REVIEW BY GERALD LALONDE Activity of the Earth’s tectonic plates affects geography, and geography affects the activity of humans. Sliding of the Africa–Arabia plate under the Eurasia plate in the Miocene and Oligocene ages raised mountains from the Pyrenees in…
Analysis of early Viking Age combs from Hedeby has revealed new evidence of links between the town at the base of the Jutland peninsula and distant upland regions of northern Scandinavia.
An Early Bronze Age sanctuary that functioned as a solar calendar has been discovered in the Netherlands. Cristian van der Linde tells us more.
New research at a site in Finnish Lapland, c.80km south of the Arctic Circle, suggests that it could represent one of the largest Stone Age cemeteries discovered so far in northern Europe. Tainiaro, in northern Finland, was originally excavated in…
Beaver remains at a site in central Germany are changing our understanding of the diets of hominins in Lower Palaeolithic Europe, as well as the antiquity of the exploitation of beavers. Extensive excavations between 1969 and 2002 at Bilzingsleben, an…
Sacred baboons Baboons were long venerated in ancient Egypt and their mummies have been found in several cemeteries. A new study published in PLOS ONE () has analysed a collection of 36 such mummies from the site of Gabbanat el-Qurud,…
Stone beads found near Lake Turkana in Kenya are offering a new way to study how early pastoralists in the area interacted with the landscape around them at a time of environmental and cultural change around 5,000 years ago. The…
Excavations at the archaeological site of Pachacámac, near Lima, have uncovered a remarkable collection of well-preserved burial bundles dating to the time of the Wari Empire (AD 800-1100). Pachacámac, which was occupied from c.200 BC up to the Early Colonial…
An exceptional discovery has been made during the laying of a water pipeline in northern Naples, in Giugliano, an area that has never before yielded this type of find. The archaeological excavations, requested by the Superintendency for the Metropolitan Area…