According to a recent study by Newcastle University, if you want to build a replica of Stonehenge, get some lard. By studying neolithic pottery from a site near the ancient stone circle, archaeologists suggest that pig fat was used as a lubricant to help move the gigantic megaliths.
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Fossilized human skulls found in a cave in Greece may force a rewrite of the human migration timeline yet again. Archaeologists have dated one of the skulls to about 210,000 years old – roughly 150,000 years older than the previous record-holder for earliest modern human remains in Europe.
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An expedition to the “Lost City of the Monkey God” in Honduras has revealed a trove of natural treasures. The pristine forests house an incredibly rich ecosystem, including species new to science, some unknown in the area, some that haven’t been seen in decades and others that were believed extinct.
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Archaeologists from the Universities of Southampton and Reading have determined that some of Scotland's famous lake dwellings are older than Stonehenge. Called "crannogs," the little artificial islands have yielded pottery that indicate that settlements were built as early as 3640 BCE.
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A study has revealed cannabis residue with high levels of THC in funerary incense burners found in western China. The discovery is the earliest evidence of marijuana being burned for its psychoactive properties, as the THC levels found were higher than what is seen in wild types of the plant.
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A team of archaeologists has discovered over 100 ancient stone jars across 15 sites in Laos. The new discoveries add to the thousands of other strange jars found on the central plains of Laos, increasing the scope of one of Southeast Asia’a most enduring archaeological mysteries.
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A new study from the University of Bristol claims to have, for the first time, found direct, definitive evidence of the food eaten by medieval common folk in England based on the chemical analysis of food residue found on pottery fragments from excavations of the village of West Cotton.
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A thousand-year-old pouch in Bolivia has revealed traces of several psychoactive compounds, indicating not only some of the earliest archeological evidence of ayahuasca use but also other intoxicants. The find suggests significant plant knowledge and a broad ancient plant trading network.
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One of the most important transitions in human history was when we stopped hunting and gathering for food and settled down to become farmers. Now, to reconstruct the history of one particular archaeological site in Turkey, scientists have examined the salts left behind from human and animal pee.
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It’s currently believed that Aboriginal ancestors made their way to Australia as long as 65,000 years ago, but new evidence may push the timeline back much further. If the Moyjil site does turn out to be human-made, it suggests that people have been living in Australia for as long as 120,000 years.
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