news 2026

O A page from Archimedes' palimpsest, considered lost for several decades, has been identified by a CNRS researcher at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois. o The sheet contains a passage from the treatise "De la sphère et du cylindre" on one of its still-readable sides, the other side being obscured by an illumination added in the 20th century.

A research team led by a CNRS 1 researcher has for the first time accurately determined the age of the cave paintings at Font-de-Gaume (Les Eyzies) in Dordogne (southwestern France), according to work to be published on 9 March 2026 in PNAS. It had previously been impossible to precisely date the Palaeolithic cave art in the region, including that in Lascaux, using radiocarbon dating, as the paintings were believed to contain only iron and manganese oxides.

Insights into the lives of people in the Late Bronze Age: Interdisciplinary analyses (DNA, isotopes) shed light on the ancestry, mobility, diet, health, and burial practices of people in Central Europe during this period. Genetic ancestry: Genetic data reveal gradual, regionally varying changes in ancestry, along with growing ties to the Danube region, without replacing local traditions.

Recent genetic research sheds new light on the prehistoric population of the Rhine-Meuse region. The study shows that demographic developments in this area differed significantly from patterns observed elsewhere in Europe. Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam contributed through isotope analysis that provides insight into individual life histories and mobility.

Researchers used strontium isotope mapping to identify these long-distance trades A University of Calgary archaeologist has found evidence that the Classic Period Maya were trading live dogs over long distances between the northern Yucatan peninsula and central Chiapas regions. Dr. Elizabeth Paris , PhD, an associate professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in the Faculty of Arts , studied the bones and enamel of deer and dogs found in the Maya archaeological sites of Moxviquil and Tenam Puente in highland Chiapas, Mexico.

First names in Western countries today are more diverse than they were before early modern states evolved. This difference started to emerge in the 17th century in response to a change that took place in the naming system in large parts of Europe and the English-speaking world. Societies moved away from attributive last names - based on occupation or appearance like John (the) Short - to inherited surnames.

Study reveals social networks spanning thousands of square kilometres during the Upper Palaeolithic period The study, based on the geochemical analysis of knapped stone tools, shows that hunter-gatherers in the center of the Iberian Peninsula maintained long-distance contacts, covering large areas of Western Europe.

Researchers have deciphered the diet of an important nomadic people in Eastern European history. By analyzing dental calculus, they have provided the first direct evidence that the diet of the Scythians included milk from various ruminants and horses. For centuries, the Scythians have been regarded as a nomadic horsemen people who roamed the vast steppes of Eurasia during the Iron Age.

A remarkable prehistoric hammer made from elephant bone, dating back nearly half a million years ago, has been uncovered in southern England and analysed by archaeologists from UCL and the Natural History Museum, London. It is the oldest elephant bone tool to ever be discovered in Europe and provides an extraordinary glimpse into the ingenuity of the early human ancestors who made it.

An interdisciplinary research team from Leipzig has discovered strong evidence of a Black Death mass grave near the deserted medieval village of Neuses, outside Erfurt. It represents the first systematically identified burial site associated with plague burials in Europe. The study, conducted primarily by Leipzig University, the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), has just been published in the scientific journal PLOS One.

Researchers from the University of Valencia (UV) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), among other research centres, have for the first time analysed Mediterranean cave art in situ using a technique that combines the use of smartphones and a portable X-ray fluorescence device, at the archaeological site of Cocó de la Gralla (Mas de Barberans, Tarragona).