Archeology

Many of us have had a tooth pulled in the dentist's chair, and even with anesthetic, it's not pleasant. So spare a thought for the people who, for millennia, chose to have good teeth yanked out with no painkillers – all in the name of beauty (mainly).

The ingenuity of ancient Egyptian engineers may have been more advanced than we thought. A currently unexplained ancient structure may have been part of a water purification system feeding a hydraulic lift to raise huge stone blocks to build a pyramid.

New insights into a mummy frozen in time with mouth agape, which has disturbed and fascinated archeologists for decades, have revealed that her animated expression was not due to bad embalming but more likely caused by dying in immense, emotional pain.

Pompeii is famous for its uniquely pristine preservation of the daily lives of its residents 2,000 years ago. While most residents were quickly buried under volcanic ash, two newly discovered skeletons reveal unlucky people who suffered a different fate.

The ancient Egyptians may have had help building the pyramids after all – not from aliens but a long-lost river. Evidence of a previously uncharted branch of the Nile has been found snaking along the pyramids, suggesting blocks were floated to sites.

The discovery of rare painted rock art featuring cattle in one of the driest parts of the Sahara Desert indicates that the region was once covered in grass, swamps and waterholes, making it a resource-rich home to a diverse community of animal species.

Neanderthals were gluing handles onto their tools over 100,000 years ago, possibly making the species even smarter than previously thought. So says a new study that discovered the use of adhesives on ancient stone tools that were previously overlooked.

Upending existing theories, there was no peaceful transition of power from hunter-gathers to the first farmers. New DNA analysis reveals that instead it was a deadly takeover – one that completely wiped out the hunter-gathers within a few generations.

Genetic and isotopic analyses have pieced together a remarkable narrative of a 20-year-old female woolly mammoth, detailing her health, status, travels and ultimate ending in interior Alaska – even though her story is now more than 14,000 years old.

About 10,000 years ago, a group of hunter-gatherers were hanging out in what is now south-western Sweden chewing pieces of birch tar. New analysis of that substance reveals that they may have had very modern dental issues.

For two million years, a 10-feet-tall, 660-pound ape thrived in the forest, until it mysteriously vanished during the late middle Pleistocene. After 10 years of work, scientists at last reveal just what happened to our largest known distant relative.

Researchers have examined the teeth of Swedish Vikings and found that aside from decay and loss, they engaged in surprisingly advanced dental practices not dissimilar from modern practices. The study provides a rare insight into Viking life.