news 2020

A richly-furnished grave belonging to an Iron Age 'warrior' buried 2,000 years ago has been uncovered in West Sussex by UCL archaeologists. Iron weapons had been placed inside the grave, including a sword in a highly-decorated scabbard and a spear. The burial was discovered during an excavation commissioned by Linden Homes, who are developing a site on the outskirts of Walberton, near Chichester, to create 175 new homes.

A UC Berkeley archaeologist has dug up ancient human feces, among other demographic clues, to challenge the narrative around the legendary demise of Cahokia, North America's most iconic pre-Columbian metropolis. In its heyday in the 1100s, Cahokia - located in what is now southern Illinois - was the center for Mississippian culture and home to tens of thousands of Native Americans who farmed, fished, traded and built giant ritual mounds.

In Ghent, it's all about Van Eyck and the Ghent Altarpiece in 2020. One of the highlights is undoubtedly the return of the restored painting to St. Bavo's cathedral.

Researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne Université, université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac have shown colours formerly painted on the Pachacamac idol, a 15th century Inca God and oracle. Paired with the first carbon 14 dating of the object, these results published in PLOS ONE on 15 January 2020 shed light on colour practices, and how important they were in the Andes at that time.