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History / Archeology - 15.12.2022

Tiny flakes tell a story of tool use 300,000 years ago
When prehistoric people re-sharpened cutting tools 300,000 years ago, they dropped tiny chips of flint - which today yield evidence of how wood was processed by early humans. The small flint flakes were discovered at the Lower Paleolithic site of Schöningen, Lower Saxony. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) in Tübingen has analyzed this very old material for the information it can provide.

Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 09.12.2022

Medieval and contemporary Ashkenazi Jews are genetically virtually identical, and that’s surprising
Unique genetic research shows that the Ashkenazi Jewish community has been a virtually closed group since the 14th century. The international and interdisciplinary Genetic Legacies project examined DNA from the teeth of dozens of medieval and contemporary members of the community from the German city of Erfurt.

Environment - History / Archeology - 08.12.2022

Climate whiplash increased wildfires on California's west coast about 8,000 years ago
Researchers use speleothems as a source of information on historic climate / Hydroclimate volatility and increase in natural forest fire events are linked Scientists are trying to uncover and analyze evidence from the past in their search for a better assessment of future climate trends. In a joint international research project, researchers have been studying the effects of the sudden decrease in global temperatures that occurred about 8,200 years ago, the so-called 8.2-kiloyear event, with the help of mineral deposits present in White Moon Cave in Northern California.

History / Archeology - 30.11.2022

Gold from Troia, Poliochni and Ur had the same origin
The gold in objects from Troia, Poliochni - a settlement on the island of Lemnos, located about 60 kilometers off the coast of Troia - and Mesopotamian Ur has the same geographical origin and was traded over long distances. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers who used an innovative mobile laser method to analyze samples of famous Early Bronze Age jewelry from Troia and Poliochni for the first time.

History / Archeology - Architecture - 23.11.2022

Archaeology of the Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor cathedral in Nîmes (Gard)
Since the beginning of 2022, a study of the archaeology of the building led by the Inrap is engaged on the bell tower and the western facade of the cathedral of Nîmes. It is an exceptional opportunity to deepen our knowledge of this emblematic building of the city of Nîmes, by studying closely its elevations.

Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 21.11.2022

Hominins were cooking fish already in the early Paleolithic period about 780,000 years ago
Ancient fish teeth discovered at the archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel provide earliest evidence of our prehistoric ancestors deliberately cooking foodstuff Nutrition and the ability to prepare foodstuffs helped facilitate the evolution of the human species. Considered particularly relevant to the development of the genus Homo in this context are the processes of cooking.

History / Archeology - Environment - 18.11.2022

Let them eat stew: University of Glasgow research sheds new light on foodways in the first cities
The world's first urban state societies developed in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, some 5500 years ago. No other artefact type is more symbolic of this development than the so-called Beveled Rim Bowl (BRB), the first mass produced ceramic bowl. BRB function and what food(s) these bowls contained has been the subject of debate for over a century.

History / Archeology - Architecture - 10.11.2022

Previously unknown monumental temple discovered near the Tempio Grande in Vulci
Archeologists from the universities of Freiburg and Mainz identify one of the largest known sacred buildings of the Etruscans Freiburg, Nov 10, 2022 An interdisciplinary team headed by archeologists Dr. Mariachiara Franceschini of the University of Freiburg and Paul P. Pasieka of the University of Mainz has discovered a previously unknown Etruscan temple in the ancient city of Vulci, which lies in the Italian region of Latium.

History / Archeology - 10.11.2022

Comics more and more able to address complex questions around perpetration and complicity
14:35 Publication This special issue of the 'Journal of Perpetrator Research' focusses on the way perpetrators are portrayed in comics and graphic novels and how this is changing.

History / Archeology - Health - 03.11.2022

Five things science has told us about the mummy of Tutankhamun
One hundred years ago, our understanding of ancient Egypt changed forever when the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of Kings. Born around 1305 BC, Tutankhamun only ruled Egypt for about ten years. Yet his tomb was furnished with never-before-seen riches. Our fascination with mummies is understandable.

Paleontology - History / Archeology - 02.11.2022

Prehistoric reptile casts turn out to be copies of priceless fossil destroyed in WWII
Scientists find copies of lost fossil destroyed in WWII hiding in a US museum. The world's first complete skeleton of a prehistoric reptile brought to the attention of science was discovered a little over 200 years ago and named ' Proteosaurus '. Unfortunately, that fossil was destroyed in an air raid in May 1941, during WWII, with no copies thought to exist.

Environment - History / Archeology - 02.11.2022

Congo peatlands could release billions of tonnes of carbon
The world's largest tropical peatland turned from being a major store of carbon to a source of carbon dioxide emissions as a result of climate change thousands of years ago, new research has revealed. Around the time that Stonehenge was built, 5,000 years ago, the climate of central Congo began to dry, leading to the peatlands emitting carbon dioxide.

History / Archeology - 31.10.2022

Archaeological artefacts found on Norfolk Island
An archaeological dig on Norfolk Island has uncovered two Polynesian adzes (stone axes) and hundreds of flakes dating back to pre-European settlement. The adzes were used for wood working and canoe building and form hard evidence of settlement on Norfolk Island by the Polynesians during the 13  and 15  CE.

History / Archeology - Chemistry - 26.10.2022

The first analysis of zinc in dental enamel in a Neanderthal indicates that he had a very meat-rich diet
Domingo Carlos Salazar, molecular archaeologist and researcher at the University of Valencia, has participated in the first analysis of zinc isotope ratios (atoms of different masses of the same chemical element) in the dental enamel of a Neanderthal to determine his position in the food chain. The study, published in the journal PNAS, and led by a researcher from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, has determined that the Neanderthal to which the tooth belonged probably had an almost carnivorous diet.

Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 24.10.2022

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations
The first genetic data from Palaeolithic human individuals in the UK - the oldest human DNA obtained from the British Isles so far - indicates the presence of two distinct groups that migrated to Britain at the end of the last ice age, according to new research. Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.

History / Archeology - Astronomy / Space Science - 20.10.2022

Discovery of extracts from a lost astronomical catalog
Hipparchus' star catalog is the earliest known attempt to accurately determine the positions of fixed stars. Researchers have just found fragments of this missing text in an old manuscript. They show that Hipparchus' data were significantly more accurate than those of another catalog composed centuries later.

Astronomy / Space Science - History / Archeology - 20.10.2022

Discovery of extracts from a lost astronomical catalogue
They prove that Hipparchus' data were significantly more accurate than those of another catalogue composed centuries later. Researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne Université and Tyndale House (affiliated with the University of Cambridge) have recently found fragments of the Star Catalogue composed by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus during the 2nd century BC.

Linguistics / Literature - History / Archeology - 14.10.2022

New edition of the Mesopotamian classic Epic of Gilgamesh , by two IPOA lecturers
Cultura Researchers Adelina Millet and Lluís Feliu, members of the Institute of Ancient Near East Studies (IPOA) of the University of Barcelona, have published a new edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh , the oldest literary epic and a classic in universal literature. Recent archaeological findings led to an update of the Epic, of which a first edition was published in Catalan in 2007.

History / Archeology - 05.10.2022

New data reveals impact of contact with Pacific nations
Population decline following European settlement in Pacific island nations was far greater than previously thought, according to ANU research. Pacific Island nations suffered severe depopulation from introduced diseases as a consequence of contact with European vessels, a new study from The Australian National University (ANU) shows.

History / Archeology - 04.10.2022

A research in the Abric del Pastor of Alcoi manages to isolate an episode of Neanderthal occupation
A research by six scientific institutions in the Abric del Pastor of Alcoi, including the universities of Valencia (UV) and Alicante (UV), has managed, through an interdisciplinary approach, to characterise a moment in the life of a Neanderthal group. This research has reduced the palimpsest effect (superimposition of multiple occupation episodes on the same surface over a long period of time) to a time resolution very close to the life of said group.