An exceptional silk shirt made by a skilled Sogdian craftsman is going up for auction at the end of April. The honey-golden color of the silk is decorated with ducks wearing flowing scarves while...
A new study shows that animal domestication was not only a question of food for the ancient Maya. Remains of a variety of species, including small dogs, large cats, and some turkeys, suggest the Maya...
The first evidence of human life in the Olorgesailie Basin comes from about 1.2 million years ago. For hundreds of the thousands of years, people living there made and used large stone-cutting tools...
The Silk Road is arguably the most famous long-distance trade route in the ancient world. This trade route connected Europe in the West with China in the East, and allowed the exchange of goods,...
Iran’s Arg-e Bam, Bam Citadel, once stood as a pillar of longevity in the Middle East. Created upon the beginnings of the Achaemenid Empire (6th-4th centuries BC), and building on the commercial...
An extremely well-preserved 1,900-year-old bronze mirror has been unearthed in Fukuoka, Japan. The artifact stands out for its fantastic condition and an intriguing description engraved on its...
Vikings in history and popular culture are known as strong and dangerous, bloodthirsty killers, raiders, pillagers – pirates of land and sea. But who were the Vikings, and what were the causes of...
Vikings struck terror into the hearts of many in Europeans—and their reputation still lingers today when you ask a person to describe them. The answers given are that they were violent, hairy brutes...
Found in Central Poland but originating from northern Scandinavia or north-western Russia, an engraved reindeer antler has piqued researchers interest. The reasons behind its long journey, purpose,...
The bodies of nine sacrificed children have been found at the Maya site of Ceibal in Guatemala. Some of the children were buried with obsidian tools, a fact which research suggests shows the enhanced...
There are several criteria archaeologists look for in the quest to determine the level of cultural advancement of ancient peoples. Obviously, one of these criteria is technological advancement,...
"My fleet sailed from the mouth of the Rhine eastward as far as the lands of the Cimbri to which, up to that time, no Roman had ever penetrated either by land or by sea, and the Cimbri and Charydes...
A team of archaeologists from The Australian National University (ANU) has uncovered a vast trading network which operated in Vietnam from around 4,500 years ago up until around 3,000 years ago. A...
“They were all young, well built and not black but fairer than the other natives I have seen in the Indies. They were handsome with fine limbs and bodies, and long straight hair cut in the Spanish...
The city of Rome has long been nicknamed the eternal city because of its association with the Roman Catholic Church and the belief among ancient Roman pagans that the city would last forever -...
Scientists have officially verified that copper used to make Otzi the Iceman’s axe blade did not come from the Alpine region as was initially suggested, but instead it came from southern Tuscany in...
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 3,000-year-old altar to the sun in North West China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Experts say that the altar resembles the heaven-worshipping...
Chapurukha Kusimba / The Conversation Sometimes you run across a grimy, tattered dollar bill that seems like it’s been around since the beginning of time. Assuredly it hasn’t, but the history of...
A team of archaeologists has uncovered amazing evidence of a 4,000-year-old trading post on Sir Bani Yas island, off Abu Dhabi's coast. The excavations focused on a stone-constructed building at a...
The Culture and Sports Ministry of Greece has recently announced that ancient remains and new shipwrecks have been found during an underwater archaeological excavation conducted by the Ephorate of...
Henry IV of Spain – known as "The Impotent" for his weakness, both on the throne and (allegedly) in the marriage chamber – died in 1474. A long and inconclusive war of succession ensued, pitting...
The ancient city of Pingyao is a county-level city located in the center of China’s Shanxi Province. This ancient city has been described as an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional...
In ancient times, people would travel thousands of kilometers across land and sea, along a network of trading routes, to acquire the precious commodities of myrrh and frankincense. The ancient...
Nearly 5,000 years ago, long before Marco Polo traversed the vast east-west trade routes of the Great Silk Road, nomads were carving the foundations for these trans-Asian interaction networks. “Our...
