Constructing coral cottages
A new study is investigating the architecture of a Pacific society after European colonialisation.
dating techniques
Science Notes: Analysing amino acids to ascertain Palaeolithic chronologies
In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we are examining amino acid geochronology (AAG) – a dating technique that can be used to help date the whole Quaternary period, from c.2 million years ago up to the present day. Recently, a team…
World’s oldest figurative art?
New analysis of rock-art sites in Indonesia has identified the earliest narrative art currently known anywhere in the world. Research in recent years had already revealed that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is home to some of the oldest figurative…
Ancient human relative identified in China
The fossil human cranium, thought to belong to a male about 50 years old, was found in 1933
Dating techniques identify possible earliest evidence for cave occupation
Wonderwerk Cave was first excavated in the 1940s. Its archaeological stratigraphy comprises evidence of human activity spanning from the Early Stone Age in South Africa to the present day.
Digging Deeper: how archaeology works
How do archaeologists know where to dig? How do they find out how old things are? And who gets to keep the objects they find? It is questions like these, often asked by curious members of the public, that Eric…
Investigating the age of the Cerne Abbas hill figure
The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55m-tall chalk hill figure depicting a nude man, has been in the care of the National Trust for 100 years. To mark this anniversary, small-scale excavations retrieved dating samples from the Dorset landmark – and, although the present lockdown has put analysis on hold, intriguing clues are already beginning to emerge. Mike Allen and Martin Papworth report.