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Researchers found the collection of ‘Oldowan’ flaked stone tools in the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia. Source: Erin DiMaggio.
4 June, 2019 - 14:02 Ed Whelan

World’s Oldest Stone Tools and Weapons Found in Ethiopia

Researchers have unearthed some deliberately sharpened tools that date from over 2.5 million years ago. These artifacts are changing our understanding of the invention of tools and showing that our...
The hoard of copper axe and axe hammer heads from the 5th millennium BC is said to be Europe’s largest Chalcolithic find of its kind.
12 January, 2019 - 12:26 Ed Whelan

27 Pounds of Copper Age Axe and Hammer Heads is the Largest European Hoard of its Kind

Ancient societies’ ability to manufacture metal objects was critical in the development of civilization. This is why any finds of metallic goods or tools from the prehistoric past is so important for...
Representations in the Boxer Codex of two of the ethnic groups of people living in the Pre-Colonial Philippines - A Zambal Couple (Public Domain) and Pintados of the Visayas (Leyte or Samar). (Public Domain)
1 October, 2018 - 23:04 Caleb Strom

The Rarely Told Story of Pre-Colonial Philippines

The Philippines were ruled by Western powers - first the Spanish and later the United States, for some 350 years. Except for a few religious minorities, the Philippines has also become thoroughly...
Egyptians with domesticated cattle and corn circa 1422-1411 BC
16 November, 2017 - 01:47 ancient-origins

Rising Inequality Began with Agriculture and Domestication of Plants and Animals

Researchers at Washington State University and 13 other institutions have found that the arc of prehistory bends towards economic inequality. In the largest study of its kind, the researchers saw...
Reconstructed heads of the children that may have been sacrificed for a double burial in Sunghir, Russia.
5 October, 2017 - 19:00 Caleb Strom

The Sunghir Burial Site: Were these Two Children Sacrificed in a Form of Prehistoric Scapegoating?

One of the clearest signs of behavioral modernity in the archaeological record is the appearance of art and religion. Once we see indications of creative and speculative minds at work trying to...
Hurricane Irma centered over the island of Barbuda.
16 September, 2017 - 14:01 ancient-origins

Hurricane Irma Leaves Island of Barbuda Uninhabited for the First Time in 4,000 Years

2017 is a turning point in the history of Barbuda. Due to the devastation of Hurricane Irma, this small Caribbean island currently has no human inhabitants. As Ambassador Ronald Sanders, Antigua and...
Model of a Neanderthal
2 July, 2017 - 02:01 ancient-origins

130,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Teeth Reveal Evidence of Prehistoric Dentistry

Neanderthals treating toothaches? A discovery of multiple toothpick grooves on teeth and signs of other manipulations by a Neanderthal of 130,000 years ago are evidence of a kind of prehistoric...
Stepping Back in Time at Skara Brae: A Neolithic Settlement in the Heart of Prehistoric Orkney
28 December, 2016 - 03:50 Caleb Strom

Stepping Back in Time at Skara Brae: A Neolithic Settlement in the Heart of Prehistoric Orkney

In 1850, a fierce storm hit the Bay o’ Skaill on the main island of the Orkney island archipelago. In doing so, it ripped grass from a hill, then known as Skerrabra, to reveal the remnants of an...
Oldest Human Burial and Polished Axe Unearthed in Ireland
13 November, 2016 - 00:48 ancient-origins

Oldest Human Burial and Polished Axe Unearthed in Ireland

Archaeologists have shed new light on the belief systems of early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers after analyzing cremated remains and artifacts given as grave offerings from the earliest recorded human...
Stay Out of the Water: Does a Prehistoric Shark Still Live in the Ocean?
7 September, 2016 - 14:50 Natalia Klimczak

Stay Out of the Water: Does a Prehistoric Shark Still Live in the Ocean?

There is said to be a shark that is scarier than the one from the movie Jaws which is as large as the biggest whale. But this isn’t a monster from a sci-fi movie, it’s real. This kind of shark lived...
A sample of flint tools found in the Barranc de la Boella site
16 June, 2016 - 21:49 Marilo

Scraping Up Prehistory in Iberia: Million-Year-Old Flint Tools Found in Spain

Excavations being carried out at the site of La Boella Creek, Tarragona, Spain are bringing to light a world packed with diverse, ancient, and large mammals. The archaeological remains found at this...
‘The Stone Age’ (1882-1885), detail of a painting by Viktor M. Vasnetsov.
5 February, 2016 - 21:48 Marilo

Why Did Hunter-gatherer Group in Europe Unexpectedly Disappear After the Last Ice Age?

A recent study has shown that a group of hunter-gatherers had survived the last Ice Age while living in the modern location of Europe, only to unexpectedly disappear about 14,500 years ago. As the...
One of the smashed skulls from Lake Nataruk, Kenya.
21 January, 2016 - 00:47 Mark Miller

Earliest War Grave Found with 27 Slain People Dates Back 10,000 Years

The world’s earliest known mass-homicide grave of 27 adults and children shot with arrows and bludgeoned to death about 10,000 years ago has been found west of Lake Nataruk in Kenya. The authors of a...
Neolithic farmers
5 January, 2016 - 21:46 Mark Miller

New Study Indicates that Europe Owes Ancestry and Agriculture to Early Anatolian Farmers

Anatolia was a source of not just agriculture but of human ancestry during the advent of farming in Europe around 8,000 years ago, according to a researcher from Stockholm University. “When farming...
“Tourist art” bullroarer decorated with a kangaroo design.
14 December, 2015 - 14:46 dhwty

The Bullroarer: An Instrument That Whirls Through Cultures and Time

Music is believed to have been made by human beings since prehistoric times. Paleolithic tombs suggest that one of the earliest and longest-surviving artifacts that can be called a ‘musical...
Snails appear to have holes drilled into them to make it easier to extract the meat, researchers say.
26 October, 2015 - 02:39 Mark Miller

A delicacy now, snails in the human diet may have meant survival 150,000 years ago

Archaeologists digging in Libya have found evidence of human habitation going back at least 150,000 years and have had a glimpse into the people’s diet: snails whose shells were pierced to get at the...

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