Petra is renowned for its extraordinary tomb architecture, but little is known about the builders of these mausolea. George H Nash, Genevieve von Petzinger, Lina Alrabab’h, and James Nash examine this funerary landscape and the traces of those who made it possible.
In the first of a two-part piece, Richard Hodges visits Corinth for a conversation with its legendary excavator Charles K Williams.
Human beings may have suddenly doubled their age thanks to some recent research on a group of fossilised skulls from China, known as Yunxian 1 and 2. Previously classified as Homo erectus, they have now been designated as belonging to the Denisovan group, based on skull shape.
An extraordinary survival plucked from a Danish bog sheds light on the technical virtuosity available in the Roman Iron Age. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja examine the significance of a remarkable piece of armour.
Easter Island did not just produce monumental stone sculptures. It was also home to talented woodcarvers making an extraordinary range of figurines. Paul Horley, Rafal Wieczorek, Catherine Orliac, and Paul Bahn explore a side to these sculptures that was hidden in plain sight.
Over the last century, Messenia in Greece has produced an extraordinary range of archaeological riches. Together, these finds showcase sumptuous burials and flourishing settlements, and shed vivid light on life during a pivotal period for the Mycenaean world. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Claire Lyons, Jack Davis, and Sharon Stocker.
A visit to Kea allows Martin J P Davies to dip into the archaeology of a charming island.
If you happen to be among the many people who are born and raised in the countryside, chances are that you have found yourself at some point in your life quarrelling about city people who seemed to imagine themselves to be naturally more innovative and progressive than the rest of humankind, your good self included.
An exhibition in Paris explores the history of the city through the objects recovered from the river at its heart.
On 1 August 1960, I visited Mycenae for the first time. In my diary I described it as a terribly moving experience, seeing the shaft graves and the famed treasuries of Atreus and Clytemnestra. Looking back, what I recall most clearly was the romance of it all.
The statuette… is intricate and highly detailed… What is it? This small, bronze figurine, which measures 7.5cm tall and weighs 55g, depicts a warrior standing in a lunging pose. He holds a sword in one hand and a shield in…
A recent study has successfully carried out full genome sequencing of a person from ancient Egypt for the first time.
REVIEW BY MATTHEW SYMONDS This volume honours Professor David Kennedy, a pioneering scholar of ancient Arabia and Rome’s eastern frontier, by bringing together 21 scholarly contributions examining both the archaeology of the wider region, and the way that it is…
REVIEW BY OSCAR MORO ABADIA This publication was created to accompany the British Museum Partnership Exhibition Ice Age art now, held at Cliffe Castle Museum in summer 2025. The exhibition showcased the British Museum’s remarkable collection of Pleistocene mobiliary art…
REVIEW BY TIMOTHY MATNEY The academic world inhabited by Sumerologists and Assyriologists is highly specialised and largely inaccessible for even the hardiest lovers of history. The texts themselves are fragmentary, often pieced together from disparate copies, deliberately anachronistic, and range…
Across 8 US state containing the Last Supper Cave archaeological site (6)9 Persian dynasty founded by Ardashir I (8)10 US state, location of the Hell Island archaeological site (8)11 Military governor of feudal Japan (6)12 ___ culture, Neolithic communities of…
Iván Ghezzi, Alcides Alvarez, and Cecilia Camargo discuss the unique site of Chankillo in Peru.
Recent analysis has shed new light on the circumstances surrounding a pair of unusual Neolithic mass graves in north-east France. Around a decade ago, two late Middle Neolithic burial pits were discovered at the sites of Bergheim and Achenheim in…
Excavations by an Egyptian archaeological mission at the site of Tell el-Kharouba in North Sinai have discovered a large military fortress dating to the New Kingdom period, c.1550-1070 BC. Initial archaeological work has revealed part of the fortification’s southern wall,…
A c.12,000-year-old stone pillar decorated with a human face has been found at the archaeological site of Karahan Tepe in Turkey. Karahan Tepe is a Pre-pottery Neolithic ritual complex that forms part of the Taş Tepeler group of prehistoric sites…
Earthen platforms uncovered at a site in eastern China are believed to reflect efforts by early states to use ritual events as a way to unify their expanding territories. The three large platforms were discovered during excavations of the site…
A large silver hoard dating to the medieval period has been discovered near Stockholm, Sweden. The treasure was unearthed by a member of the public digging for worms near his summer house, and reported to the County Administrative Board in…
Culture vultures A new study, recently published in Ecology (), reveals that the nests of bearded vultures can contain objects dating back hundreds of years. Examination of more than 50 historical bearded vulture nests in southern Spain, where the species…
Recent research at the Karnak temple complex near Luxor, Egypt, is offering new insights into the site’s origins and the development of the surrounding landscape over its 3,000 years of use. The famous religious site has been subject to excavations…