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Photo: The 19th-century gin bottle was found north of Perth with a damp, rolled up piece of paper inside. (Supplied: Kym Illman) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A Perth family has made an extraordinary historical discovery after becoming bogged on a West Australian beach. Tonya Illman was walking across sand dunes just north of Wedge Island, 180 kilometres north of Perth, when she noticed something sticking out of the sand. "It just looked like a lovely old bottle, so I picked it up thinking it might look good in my bookcase," she said. But Mrs Illman realised she had likely uncovered something far more...

Full Title: History of tattooing is rewritten after world's earliest figurative inkings are found on 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies in the British Museum The world's earliest figurative tattoos have been discovered on 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies at the British Museum, rewriting the history of inking. The tattoos are of a wild bull and a Barbary sheep on the upper-arm of a male mummy, and S-shaped motifs on the upper-arm and shoulder of a female. The find dates tattoos containing imagery rather than geometric patterns to 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. Researchers say the discovery 'transforms' our understanding of how people lived...

A Native American burial site hidden for 7,000 years beneath the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida has been unearthed in what archaeologists are calling an "unprecedented" discovery. Florida Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, said in a news release on Wednesday the unmarked site near Venice, which measures roughly 0.75 acres, was first discovered by a diver in June 2016, who then reported possible human remains on the continental shelf to the Bureau of Archaeological Research. One of the stakes excavated at Manasota Key Offshore revealed a notch in its length. It is not yet known what the...

Credit: Biblical Archaeology Review 44:2, March/April May/June 2018 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Author and archaeologist Eilat Mazar has published an article in Biblical Archaeology Review suggesting that a small piece of clay with a seal imprint on it (called a bulla) might be the first-ever extra-biblical reference to the prophet Isaiah. In her article, she gives a historical overview of both King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, followed by an overview of the locations in which both people were believed to have lived and worked—specifically temples in Jerusalem that have been under excavation for many years. Researchers found a bulla believed to...

Puzzle: fragments of 2,000-year-old scrolls before reassembly. Credit: Shay Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority, The Leon Levy Library of the Dead Sea Scrolls ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About 1,000 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered just over 70 years ago near Khirbet Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea have been officially published since the turn of the millennium. But in the case of some, all that was left were poorly preserved remains of texts written in a cryptic script – and all that had been released to the world were photos of small pieces of manuscript, in a preliminary order. There have been...

FILE - A scuba diver measures the length of Sac Aktun underwater cave system as part of the Gran Acuifero Maya Project near Tulum, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico, Jan. 24, 2014. Herbert Mayrl/Courtesy Gran Acuifero Maya Project (GAM) handout. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MEXICO CITY — Items discovered underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believed to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet Archaeologists exploring the world's biggest flooded cave in Mexico have discovered ancient human remains at least 9,000 years old and the bones of animals who roamed the Earth during the last Ice Age. A group...

High relief of standing dromedary on sandstone spur at center of image. Credit: © CNRS/MADAJ, R. Schwerdtner _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At a remarkable site in northwest Saudi Arabia, a CNRS archaeologist and colleagues from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) have discovered camelid sculptures unlike any others in the region. They are thought to date back to the first centuries BC or AD. The find sheds new light on the evolution of rock art in the Arabian Peninsula and is the subject of an article published in Antiquity (February 2018). Located in the province of Al Jawf in northwest...

The first modern Britons, who lived about 10,000 years ago, had “dark to black” skin, a groundbreaking DNA analysis of Britain’s oldest complete skeleton has revealed. The fossil, known as Cheddar Man, was unearthed more than a century ago in Gough’s Cave in Somerset. Intense speculation has built up around Cheddar Man’s origins and appearance because he lived shortly after the first settlers crossed from continental Europe to Britain at the end of the last ice age. People of white British ancestry alive today are descendants of this population. It was initially assumed that Cheddar Man had pale skin and...

MANSOURA, Egypt (AP) — A skeleton has been unearthed in Egypt’s Western Desert, whose ancient sands have long helped preserve remains, but unlike most finds this one isn’t a mummy — it’s a dinosaur. Researchers from Mansoura University in the country’s Nile Delta discovered the new species of long-necked herbivore, which is around the size of a city bus, and it could be just the tip of the sand dune for other desert dinosaur discoveries. “As in any ecosystem, if we went to the jungle we’ll find a lion and a giraffe. So we found the giraffe, where’s the lion?”...

Proto-Sinaitic led to the development of the Phoenician alphabet and its variants, many characters from which are clearly visible within the Uruguayan petroglyphs. Based upon this hypothesis, the characters would be dated from 1850 BC to 1100 BC. After this date (1100 BC) came the fully developed, 22 character, Phoenician 'international' writing system subsequently used by all West Semitic languages. I observed that many of the 'new international' characters do not appear among the petroglyphs suggesting movement away from this particular coastline 'port of call' some time after 1100 BC... Proto-Sinaitic has, allegedly, been found in Brazil at Itacoatiara, near...

[S]cholars digitally removed the tree canopy from aerial images of the now-unpopulated landscape, revealing the ruins of a sprawling pre-Columbian civilization that was far more complex and interconnected than most Maya specialists had supposed. “The LiDAR images make it clear that this entire region was a settlement system whose scale and population density had been grossly underestimated,” said Thomas Garrison, an Ithaca College archaeologist....who specializes in using digital technology for archaeological research. The project mapped more than 800 square miles (2,100 square kilometers) of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region of Guatemala, producing the largest LiDAR data set...

The left hemi-maxilla with teeth. Credit: Rolf Quam _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A large international research team, led by Israel Hershkovitz from Tel Aviv University and including Rolf Quam from Binghamton University, State University of New York, has discovered the earliest modern human fossil ever found outside of Africa. The finding suggests that modern humans left the continent at least 50,000 years earlier than previously thought. "Misliya is an exciting discovery," says Rolf Quam, Binghamton University anthropology professor and a coauthor of the study. "It provides the clearest evidence yet that our ancestors first migrated out of Africa much earlier than we...

To the west of Ethiopia near the Sudanese border lies a place called the Asosa zone. This may be the location of the oldest gold mine in the world. Dating back some 6,000 years, it provided a key source of gold to the ancient Egyptian empire, whose great wealth was famous throughout the known world. It may even have supplied the Queen of Sheba with her lavish gifts of gold when she visited King Solomon of Israel almost 3,000 years ago. The excitement in this part of the world is more about the future, however. Some local inhabitants already make...

Glacial archaeologists are racing melting ice in Norway to rescue thousands of ancient artifacts exposed by climate change—revealing something surprising about a mysterious and little-known ice age. A team of scientists from Norway and the United Kingdom working in the mountains of Oppland, Norway, have discovered more than 2,000 artifacts, including Iron Age and Bronze Age weapons, remains of pack horses and even prehistoric skis. According to lead author Lars Pilø, co-director of the Glacier Archaeology Program at Oppland County Council, the skis differ from the modern-day version considerably. They're broader, and might have at one point been partly covered...

FULL TITLE: Sprawling Greek monuments built 4,500 years ago on 'the world's oldest maritime sanctuary' reveal the impressive engineering skills of Bronze Age islanders Excavations around Keros show the technological prowess of Bronze Age Greeks Researchers found the remains of terraced walls and giant gleaming structures The structures were built using 1,000 tons of stone dug up six miles away Together they turned a tiny islet near Keros into a single, massive monument A remote Greek island known as the 'world's oldest maritime sanctuary' was once covered in complex monuments built using stone dug up six miles (10 km) away....

A huge void discovered inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt late last year may hold an iron throne carved from meteorites, according to new analysis of ancient religious texts. Giulio Magli, Director of the Department of Mathematics and Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the Politecnico di Milano, studied the Pyramid Texts, religious writings carved into pyramid walls around 2400 BC. Based on his studies, Magli proposes that it’s possible the throne of Pharaoh Khufu – or ‘Cheops’ – lies inside the chamber. ================================================================================================================================ “Of course it would not be melted iron but meteoritic iron, that is, fallen from the...

An ancient mouth harp belonging to the Huns that dates back to around 1,700 years ago has been unearthed in Siberia - and it is still capable of making music. Also known as a jaw or 'Jew's harp', the reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce the note. The instrument - 4 inches in length - was made by a craftsman from the ribs of a cow or horse and dates from the time the nomadic Huns controlled southern Siberia 1,580 to 1,740 years ago.

As the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah comes to a close, the discovery of an ancient tomb door with a stunning menorah carving is providing a fascinating glimpse into Israel’s rich history. The basalt tomb door, which is undergoing preservation work, was recently put on display by the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. The door was discovered in Tiberias in Israel’s Galilee region in 2010 by archaeologists from the University, but was only revealed to the public a few weeks ago, said Dr. Katia Cytryn-Silverman, senior lecturer at Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology and Department of Islamic and...

A Swedish-Egyptian team working at the Gebel el Silsila site uncovered four child burials dating back to the Thutmosid period more than 3,000 years ago. The discoveries, which were announced recently, were made earlier this year. In a Facebook post, Dr. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities explained that the remains of a child aged between two and three years old was found in a rock-hewn grave at the site. The mummy, he explained, still retains its linen wrapping and is surrounded by “some organic material” from the remains of a wooden coffin. TROVE OF STATUES...

Tiny fossils preserved in Cretaceous resin include one parasite that was engorged when it died. Blood-filled parasites trapped in amber have been igniting imaginations since the 1990s, when the resurrected dinosaurs of Jurassic Park burst out of Michael Crichton’s novels and onto the big screen. Now, scientists say they have found the real deal: chunks of Burmese amber carrying ticks that drank the blood of feathered dinosaurs some 99 million years ago. One of these parasites is tangled up in a possible dinosaur feather found encased in a lump of amber. Another was found in a separate piece of amber...