New Atlas

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Ancient Greek vessel found in Black Sea is world's oldest intact shipwreck

Ben Coxworth October 23, 2018

For three years, an international team of scientists surveyed the floor of the Black Sea, off the coast of Bulgaria. Now, radiocarbon tests have confirmed that the remains of an ancient ship discovered last year date from 400BC, officially making it the world's oldest known intact shipwreck.

The shipwreck is located at a depth of over 2 km (1.2 miles)

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Roman "vampire burial" tells tale of ancient undead fears

Michael Irving October 14, 2018

To us vampires are the stuff of movies, but for many ancient cultures the undead were seen as a very real threat. Now archaeologists excavating a children’s cemetery in Italy have uncovered the skeleton of a child with a large stone jammed into its mouth, to prevent the body returning from the dead.

The researchers say that the stone was deliberately placed in the child's mouth between death and ...

Science

Oldest-known beer is a 13,000-year-old vintage

Michael Irving September 13, 2018

Beer is generally thought to be about 7,000 years old, but now archaeologists have found clues that could date beer-making to almost twice that age, meaning it predates agriculture and represents the oldest record of man-made alcohol.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of beer-brewing dating back around 13,000 years – making it the oldest ...

Science

Oldest-known drawing found in South African cave

Michael Irving September 12, 2018

Archaeologists have uncovered what may be the oldest human-made drawings ever found. Discovered in a cave in South Africa, the cross-hatch pattern was drawn in red ochre and found to date back over 70,000 years, making the image more than 30,000 years older than the previous reigning champion.

The drawing, made up of six vertical lines cross-hatched by three horizontal ones, is 73,000 years ...

Science

Genome study of cave bones reveals early human hybrid

Michael Irving August 23, 2018

Early hominins were known to have cross-bred when they crossed paths, and now the most direct evidence of those meetings has been found. By sequencing the genome of a hominin bone from a Siberian cave, anthropologists have discovered the direct descendant of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan.

Genetic analysis on an ancient bone fragment has revealed the direct descendant of a Neanderthal and ...

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Prehistoric mummy shows embalming took place 1,500 years before the Pharaohs

Michael Irving August 15, 2018

Mummification is usually associated with the age of Pharaohs, but it didn't spring up overnight. Now an international team has found further evidence that deliberate mummification was taking place a millennium and a half earlier and across a much wider area of Egypt than previously believed.

Chemical analysis of a mummy has now revealed that the mummification process was being performed 1,500 ...

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Stone tools suggest North America was settled 20,000 years ago

Michael Irving July 24, 2018

The story of how humans spread across the globe is constantly being rewritten. Dating back to about 13,000 years ago, the “Clovis culture” was long thought to be the earliest humans in North America. Now archaeologists have uncovered stone tools in Texas that could be as old as 20,000 years.

Archaeologists have uncovered stone tools dating back between 16,000 and 20,000 years

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Giant black sarcophagus opened to reveal three skeletons

Michael Irving July 19, 2018

Archaeologists have opened the giant black sarcophagus discovered in the city of Alexandria a few weeks ago. Three skeletons were found inside – as well as a fetid pool of sewage.

Archaeologists have opened the giant black sarcophagus discovered in Alexandria two weeks ago

Science

World's oldest bread is over 14,000 years old and predates farming

Michael Irving July 16, 2018

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest direct evidence of bread ever found, dating back over 14,000 years. It predates farming, leading researchers to suggest that the realization that cereals can be cultivated might have helped humans transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

An archaeological site in Jordan, where traces of the oldest bread were found in the 14,400-year ...

Science

The original Paleo Diet: Ancient Iceman's stomach contents reveal last meal

Michael Irving July 12, 2018

Ötzi the 5,300-year old Iceman has taught us a lot about the Copper Age world he came from. The newest lesson comes from an analysis of his stomach contents, indicating an unexpectedly high-fat diet of meat interspersed with cereals and strangely, toxic bracken.

It may look like an alien autopsy, but here researchers examine the stomach contents of the ...