One of the puzzling mysteries of the Viking settlement during the Nordic Middle Ages may be solved by archaeologists armed with a pioneering scientific method and some ancient walrus tusks. The...
Around the middle of the 15th century AD, the city of Great Zimbabwe was abandoned. The abandonment of its capital city marked the collapse of the African Kingdom of Zimbabwe. One of the results of...
Archaeologists have found an old wharf that points to the existence of an ancient port on the Zuari River near Goa, India. They say it may date back 4,500 years and be evidence of early trade on...
Over the centuries, there was a great influence of art, culture, literature, and architecture from India to Cambodia. But after a certain time, when Cambodia and India become the cultural, religious...
Southeast Asia was under Indian influence from around the 3 rd century BC until the 15th century AD, when Hindu - Buddhist influence was absorbed by local politics. India had established trade,...
A major excavation carried out in the ancient city of Aksum in northern Ethiopia has yielded stunning treasures from both the Roman empire and Aksumite kingdom, revealing a connection with the Romans...
A new study using scientific methods to examine where Irish gold came from has found that there may have been trade between Ireland and southwest England about 4,500 years ago. Scientists speculate...
It is not every day that a team of divers and investigators stumbles upon the wreck of a 17 th century Spanish merchant ship. The Encarnación ( ‘ Incarnation’) was part of a fleet of Merchant Ships...
In a quest to repeat the traditions of ancient merchants, more than 100 tea traders are making an epic journey, crossing 15,000 kilometers on camelback and retracing the steps of the Silk Road...
A clay tablet from ancient Babylon reveals that no matter where (or when) you go, good customer service can be hard find. So it was revealed by the irate copper merchant, Nanni, in 1750 B.C. The...
An incredible archaeological discovery in Alaska provided evidence that trade was occurring between Asia and the New World centuries before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492...
The 15 th century voyages of Chinese maritime admiral and diplomat Zheng He have been well documented by historical accounts. Zheng He, highly influential in Ming emperor Yongle’s court, was...
A silver ring from a Viking-era grave in Birka, Sweden, has a distinctive history: it is the first ring with Arabic inscription from that era found in Scandinavia. The ring, which has an inscription...
Stone Age Iberian miners of both sexes 5,300 to 4,300 years ago are believed to have had important status in their community near what is now Barcelona, Spain, as some of their dead were entombed in...
Archaeologists have concluded that pre-agricultural Stone Age hunter-gatherers on the Isle of Wight 8,000 years ago obtained domesticated wheat from farmers on the continent of Europe. That is 2,000...
Archaeologists in China have just reported on the discovery of a 1,700-year-old cemetery along the old Silk Road consisting of magnificent tombs that contain carvings of the four mythological symbols...
Egypt has long been aware of its problem with looters trying to get their hands on a slice of the riches that lie buried beneath the Sahara sand. But just how severe the problem is, was not fully...
Researchers have uncovered the medieval tipping-point when local fishing could no longer support the demands of the burgeoning metropolis, and catches started to come in from as far away as Arctic...
For over 2,000 years, ancient Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. Chaco Canyon, a major centre of ancestral Pueblo culture between 850 and 1250, was a focus for...
The tiny island of Yap in the western Pacific holds a strange attraction for economists, because it cuts to the heart of a very basic question “what is money?” For centuries the Yap islanders have...
Wilgie Mia, known by the Wajarri Traditional Owners as Thuwarri Thaa (the place of red ochre), lies in the Weld Ranges of Australia. It is the largest and deepest underground Aboriginal ochre mine in...
A team of underwater archaeologists are set to excavate a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sri Lanka, the oldest known shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. It is hoped that the month-long...
Mangareva is home to just 2,000 inhabitants. The island is a tiny 18 square kilometres and is located halfway between Easter Island and Tahiti. Yet on this small, remote island, the ancient...
It has long been said that Christopher Columbus was not the first foreigner to step foot in the Americas by the time he reached there in 1492. Among the theories put forward is that the Vikings,...