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Archaeologists in Boston have unearthed surprising luxury items from the 17th century, shedding new light on the lives of Puritans in the city. Items found include an extravagant fragment of 17th-century Venetian glassware and part of an Italian plate decorated with a flower that dates from around 1630, which may be the oldest piece of European ceramic ever found in Boston. “The items are significant because we rarely see them, archaeologically,” Joe Bagley, city archaeologist for Boston’s Landmarks Commission, told Fox News via email. “Also, Puritan Boston is often seen as an extremely conservative, reserved, and religious location in the...

Human remains buried by a pair of monks in China over a millennia ago are claimed to belong to Buddha. Believers say the 2,000 pieces of cremated bones belonged to Siddhartha Gautama, whose teachings became the foundations of the Buddhist religion. The cremated bones were found in an ceramic box with an inscription claiming they belong to Buddha, who is believed to have died 2,500 years ago. The box was found in Jingchuan County, China, alongside more than 260 Buddhist statues.

The Hebrew Bible has several references to King Hezekiah's reforms and attempts to centralize worship in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 29-32 describes his efforts during the first year of his reign to cleanse and refurbish the Temple in Jerusalem, believing that his ancestors had not worshipped the God of Israel dutifully. 2 Kings 18:4 narrates that "he removed the high places (bamot), broke down the pillars (masseboth), and cut down the sacred pole (asherah)."

Sometimes I wish I'd become an archaeologist. Imagine discovering something like, oh, I don't know, Naboth's vineyard from 1 Kings. Here at BreakPoint, we love to tell you about the ways that archaeology is confirming the biblical narrative, and, judging by the response, you love to hear about it. Well, the latest discovery is one of the coolest yet. It's possible confirmation of one of the most memorable stories in the Bible: Ahab and Naboth's vineyard. First Kings 21 tells the story of Naboth the Jezreelite who had the misfortune to own a vineyard near king Ahab's palace. Ahab coveted...

Google Earth reveals hundreds of geoglyphs in the desert, possibly 9,000 years old. For almost a century, aerial photographers have been documenting mysterious, millennia-old structures built from low walls of stone in the rocky lava fields, known as harrat, in Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. This desert region, blistered with volcanic mounds, is nearly devoid of life. But seen from above, the barren ground is covered with massive, interlocking geoglyphs that take the form of abstract arrow shapes called "kites" and rough rectangles called "gates." University of Western Australia archaeologist David Kennedy became interested in the structures after discovering how...

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the tomb of a royal goldsmith containing the mummies of a woman and her two children, authorities said. The tomb, dating back to the New Kingdom (16th to 11th Centuries BC), was found near the Nile city of Luxor, 400 miles (700km) south of Cairo. Among the items discovered inside was a statue of the goldsmith Amenemhat, sitting beside his wife. ... According to the archaeologists, the mother died aged about 50, with tests revealing she had a bacterial bone disease. Her two sons were in their 20s and 30s and their bodies said to...

A dig to lay new cable for the Partner communications company near Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem this summer unearthed a very old missed message: a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor bearing a Greek inscription. Dr. Leah Di Segni of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem deciphered the inscription, which reads: "In the time of our most pious Emperor Flavius Justinian, also this entire building Constantine the most God-loving priest and abbot, established and raised, in the 14th indiction." According to Di Segni, "This inscription commemorates the founding of the building by Constantine, the priest. The inscription names the emperor,...

Most people don't spend their free time imagining what it would be like to get on the subway and sit across from a 300,000-year-old person. But anthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin isn't most people. In June, Hublin published two papers in the highly-respected journal Nature suggesting that the first Homo sapiens — that is, the first members of our species — lived 100,000 years earlier than previously thought in a place that no one would have expected. They also had faces that looked surprisingly like ours. ”I’m not sure these people would stand out from a crowd today," said Hublin on a...

1. A breakthrough study from the Institute of Crystallography in Italy has just confirmed that the image of the man on the Shroud of Turin is composed of real blood and in fact a microscopic analysis of blood particles reveals that the blood had to come from someone undergoing torture.  This just further confirms the possible authenticity of the Shroud (see here). 2. Using a recently developed X-ray imaging technology, archaeologists were able to read the inside of a biblical scroll that was covered in ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD.  The results?  The current manuscripts...

After decades of searches by archeologists in the upper Jordan Valley, the lost Roman city of Julias, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus’s apostles Andrew, Peter and Philip, may have recently been unearthed. The discovery was made during excavations at Beit Habek, located in Bethsaida, by archeologist Dr. Mordechai Aviam, head of the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archeology at Kinneret Academic College. Bethsaida was once a fishermen’s village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and is mentioned in several New Testament books as the home of at least three of Jesus’s most important apostles, reports the...

(Photo: YouTube/Israel Antiquities Authority Official Channel)Artifacts dating from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in the sixth century BC.A newly discovered archaeological find confirms the Old Testament's account of the taking of Jerusalem by the Babylonian Empire in the sixth century BC.Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the Jerusalem Walls National Park, as funded by the City of David Foundation, discovered strong evidence of fire damage from around the time when the city was conquered by the Babylonians.The IAA explained in a YouTube video from late July that various findings recently unearthed included "charred wood, grape...

A marble slab was uncovered with an inscription in Hebrew that might indicate the exact location of the event. The Gospel of Mark recalls the arrival of Jesus to the northeastern region of the Sea of Galilee, the Kineret: They reached the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and when he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit at once came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain, because he had often been secured with fetters and...

The tunnel was found under the Pyramid of the Moon, the second-largest structure in the ancient city (the largest is the Pyramid of the Sun), according to the International Business Times. The archaeologists who discovered it believe that it mirrors the Teotihuacans’ great monuments and may represent the underworld in the belief system of the pre-Colombian, 2,000-year-old civilization that built it (a civilization thought to pre-date the Aztecs, who later occupied the site). The tunnel is long, extending from the central square known as the Plaza de la Luna to the nearby pyramid. It is about 33 feet (10 meters)...

A rabbit hole in the UK conceals the entrance to an incredible cave complex linked to the mysterious Knights Templar. New photos show the remarkable Caynton Caves network, which looks like something out of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” The shadowy Knights Templar order is said to have used the caves. The Sun reports that the caves are hidden beneath a farmer’s field in Shropshire. The site was visited by photographer Michael Scott after he saw a video of the caves online. “I traipsed over a field to find it, but if you didn’t know it was...

A gene study has shown that incomers could have ousted Stone Age Britons During the building of Stonehenge, around 2500BC, gene records show Stone Age Britons were replaced by Bronze Age Beaker folk. The men and women who built Stonehenge left an indelible mark on the British landscape. However, researchers have discovered that their impact on other aspects of the nation may have been less impressive. In particular, their input into Britain’s gene pool appears to have fizzled out, having been terminated by light-skinned Bronze Age invaders who arrived just as Ancient Britons were midway through their great Stone Age...

More of the ancient Roman city of Verulamium’s secrets have been discovered by archaeologists. The burnt remains of a 1,800-year-old kiln - a type of oven used to create pottery - have been unearthed during excavations of the ancient city near the modern city of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain.

For archaeologists, Mary Magdalene’s hometown is the gift that keeps on giving. About a year ago, archaeologists announced the discovery of what was called the “Magdala Stone”: a stone bench that was part of a first century synagogue, one of the only seven that existed during the Second Temple period, and the first one ever found in Galilee. Considering some local coins dated from the year 29 were also found in that very same synagogue, it is likely that Jesus might have walked in and taught there as part of his ministry. As Zoe Romanowsky explained in this article,...

What the opening of the marble slab of the Edicule revealed On October 20th, 2016, one of the most exciting events in centuries took place: the opening of the marble slab guarding the place tradition claims was the tomb of Jesus, inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.Underneath that slab there was a second slab, also of gray marble, containing a slit along its side and bearing a Lorraine Cross. Most likely, this is from the time of the Crusades, from the beginning of the 12th century.Once the second slab was removed, the surprises began, according to testimonies gathered from different sources....

Intriguing new details have emerged about a medieval mummy known for her 'Adidas' boots - which she wore more than a millennia ago. The body of the woman was discovered a year ago this week in the Altai mountains region of Mongolia. And her body and possessions remained so remarkably preserved that experts are still uncovering some of the secrets they keep. Now, scientists have discovered that the mummy suffered a significant blow to the head before her death.

The oral history of the Heiltsuk Nation, an Aboriginal group based on the Central Coast of British Columbia, tells of a coastal strip of land that did not freeze during the ice age, making it a place of refuge for early inhabitants of the territory. As Roshini Nair reports for the CBC, a recent archaeological discovery attests to an ancient human presence in the area associated with the tradition. While digging on British Columbia’s Triquet Island, archaeologists unearthed a settlement that dates to the period of the last ice age. The archaeological team, supported by the Hakai Institute, sifted through...