Researchers from the University of Bristol have revealed the chemical constituents of embalming fluids by analysing the air surrounding mummies, rather than removing physical samples. The team captured the gases emitted by the embalming materials of 19 mummies, ranging in…
We have covered the growing area of palaeoproteomics – the study of proteins in archaeological remains – a few times in ‘Science Notes’ (see, in particular, CA 338 and 353). The research up to this point has been largely focused…
New research suggests that one of Stonehenge’s famous megaliths may have come from the very north of the UK. The Altar Stone is a six-tonne sandstone slab that currently lies in the middle of the famous stone circle. It was…
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.
Analysis of the contents of a Ptolemaic Bes-shaped jug from the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida has revealed a complex concoction of fermented fruit, psychoactive plant-based substances, and human fluids that include breast milk, oral and vaginal fluids, and…
Strontium isotope analysis has become a standard in mobility research, featuring in many post-excavation analyses of human and animal remains. While ‘typical’ strontium analysis is able to tell us much about movement in the past, new techniques are being applied…
Analysis of pottery from the Caribbean island of Isla de Mona, part of the Puerto Rican archipelago, is shedding new light on food and drink practices on the island at the time of its early colonisation, including what may be…
Strands of human hair from the Bronze Age burial and cult-cave of Es Càrritx in Menorca have been analysed, providing the first direct evidence of ancient drug-use in Europe. Around 1450 BC, Menorca’s inhabitants started to use natural caves as…
Joannes Dekker, along with researchers from the Universities of York, Copenhagen, Chester, and Leiden, used a type of mass spectrometry to visualise the two-dimensional distribution of proteins in both archaeological and modern teeth. In this month’s ‘Science Notes’, we explore the results from this project.
The British Museum said that it would continue to use the word ‘mummy’, but would use the name of the mummified person wherever this was known
The fact that cacao appears to have been generally available does not diminish its value, but rather suggests that its importance for the Maya people extended throughout society.
It appears that, starting from now, it will become extremely difficult to accurately date certain objects based solely on 14C levels.
‘Daneskins’ – medieval skin fragments that have been found attached to the doors of some English churches – have been interpreted as coming from the bodies of Viking Age raiders.