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A newly uncovered archaeological site in southeastern Turkey may predate Göbeklitepe, long considered the world’s oldest known temple complex. The discovery at Mendik Tepe, located in the rural Payamlı neighborhood of Eyyübiye district in Şanlıurfa province, is offering early insights into the Neolithic era and reshaping timelines of early human settlement in the region. Researchers believe the site may date back to the very beginning of the Neolithic period, when humans first began shifting from mobile foraging to settled living. Excavation director Prof. Douglas Baird, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Archaeology, said the team is investigating the early...

A hidden city buried under Iraq’s desert may hold the key to a forgotten global civilization destroyed by a flood 20,000 years ago. Credit: Shutterstock | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel ================================================================================ In a recent investigation originally published by the Daily Mail and later echoed by Indy100, researchers at the ancient Sumerian site of Tell Fara revealed signs of a previously unknown, potentially advanced civilization buried beneath 5,000-year-old ruins. The findings, which combine geological anomalies with rare artifacts, suggest this early society may have been wiped out by a massive flood nearly 20,000 years ago, long before the emergence...

A well-preserved Roman mausoleum, modeled after the famous Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, was discovered by archaeologists in Saint-Romain-en-Gal, near Lyon, France. Constructed around 50 CE, the interior of the structure measures more than 50 feet in diameter and is thought to have had 20-foot-tall ceilings. It would have been visible to those in the Roman colony Vienna and can be seen along the Rhône River. “This was a person who, even in death, remained present in the world of the living,” Giulia Ciucci, archaeologist and scientific director of the Saint-Romain-en-Gal museum site, told Arkeonews. “The resemblance to the emperor’s...

Archaeologists have recovered a series of ancient statues from the seabed near Alexandria, Egypt, offering new insight into a once-thriving city submerged for over two millennia. The discoveries were made in Abu Qir Bay, where divers and cranes recently brought several large sculptures and relics to the surface. The recovered artifacts include royal statues, sphinxes, and carved figures that had been lying beneath the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. Experts say these ancient statues likely belonged to the city of Canopus, a prominent hub during the Ptolemaic (Greek) and Roman periods. Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, continues to yield significant finds from...

Authorities in southern Libya have uncovered a prehistoric rock art site believed to be as much as 10,000 years old, following a report from a resident who spotted unusual engravings on rock faces in the Al-Hasawna Mountains, near Wadi Mubarak. The discovery has sparked major archaeological interest and led to immediate protective action by Libyan officials. The markings were first brought to the attention of the Sabha branch of the Tourist Police and Antiquities Protection Agency. A formal investigation was launched soon after, with the Public Order Prosecution in Sabha and the Fezzan Antiquities Authority notified to oversee the site’s...

In a groundbreaking archaeological discovery, Israeli researchers have unearthed a 5,500-year-old flint blade workshop near Kiryat Gat, southern Israel—the first of its kind ever found in the region. Announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the Early Bronze Age site sheds new light on the technological ingenuity and social complexity of ancient Canaanite civilization.The excavation, carried out at the Naḥal Qomem site—also referred to as Gat-Govrin or Zeita—revealed a full-scale production center where highly skilled craftsmen manufactured long, razor-sharp flint blades. This prehistoric workshop marks a major milestone in understanding the early development of urban society and professional specialization in...

A newly analyzed inscription found in Sinai, Egypt, has stirred new debate among scholars after a language researcher claimed it may include the words, “This is from Moses.” The carving, located near an ancient turquoise mine in the south-central region of the peninsula, was photographed using high-resolution imaging technology that brought faded markings into clearer view. The markings belong to a group of rock-cut writings known as Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions. These early alphabetic characters were first documented in 1904 and are believed to date back to around 1800 BCE. The particular panel under review, labeled Sinai 357 and located across from...

Join Dr. Donald Blakeslee on the excavations into Kansas' lost megasite of Etzanoa, a Great Plains archaeology site that is rewriting the understanding of indigenous societies. Etzanoa: The Lost Kansas Megasite | 11:10 Matt Gush | 1.91K subscribers | 342,995 views | March 30, 2024

Archaeologists have cracked the code of 255 mysterious symbols carved into a rock in Canada more than 200 years ago. The writing was discovered in 2018 after a fallen tree revealed the square-shaped inscription near the town of Wawa, located about 155 miles from the nearest US border crossing in Michigan. Ryan Primrose, an archaeologist from the Ontario Center for Archaeological Education, has now revealed that the symbols form the Lord’s Prayer — a well-known Christian prayer — written in Swedish. He identified the characters as Nordic runes, part of an old alphabet once used in Sweden and other parts...

The Aztec Empire once hosted an expansive trade network that brought volcanic glass to its capital from right across Mesoamerica, coast to coast. The largest compositional study of obsidian artifacts found in the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan has now revealed the far-flung influence of the Mexica culture – the largest and most powerful faction of the Aztec Alliance. The 788 precious obsidian objects analyzed include weapons, urns, earrings, pendants, scepters, and decorated human skulls. They appear to have been sourced from across the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, even from the lands of rival governments. The discovery speaks to the commercial...

Archaeologists have condemned a Tory council leader's threat to dismantle all archaeological controls on development, saying that the regulations are necessary to protect the UK's unique national heritage. Alan Melton, leader of Fenland District Council, dismissed opponents of development as "bunny huggers" in a speech last week. Archaeologists fear his views reflect a national threat to all heritage protection as a result of the government's determination to simplify the planning process to encourage development. The principle that developers must pay for archaeological excavation -- before construction work destroys sites -- has led to a string of major discoveries in the...

Art imitates life ... maybe.There’s something intriguing, even frightening, about the image of an ancient horned serpent roaming across the land. Thanks to some suggestive fossils and legends of old, talk of such a creature isn’t a new concept. But the recent discovery of 200-year-old rock paintings found in South Africa now has scientists hypothesizing that this ancient creature may have been far more than just a legend. The first formal scientific descriptions of this horned serpent—a supposed member of the dicynodont group—appeared in 1845. Considering the abundance of dicynodont fossils found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa, some...

An Early Bronze Age grave In the spring of 2002 what started as a routine excavation was undertaken in advance of the building of a new school at Amesbury in Wiltshire. By the end of the excavation the richest Bronze Age burial yet found in Britain had been discovered. The Bronze Age man discovered there had been buried not far from the great temple of Stonehenge. He was a man who owned and could work the new and magical metals of gold and copper. And he had come from what is now central Europe, perhaps around the Alps. Was he...

The National Museum of Denmark has confirmed that two 18th-century shipwrecks in Cahuita National Park, long thought to be pirate ships, are the Danish slave ships Fridericus Quartus and Christianus Quintus, which sank in 1710. The identification was announced on Sunday, resolving decades of speculation about the wrecks off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. The ships were identified through underwater excavations in 2023, which analyzed ship timbers, cargo blocks, clay pipes, and other artifacts. In 2015, U.S. archaeologists from East Carolina University discovered yellow bricks, specific to Danish manufacturing in Flensburg, among the wreckage, prompting renewed investigation. The wrecks, located on...

Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an ancient Egyptian town dating back 3,400 years near the city of Alexandria, according to a recent study published in Antiquity. The researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research have theorized that the mud-brick settlement was likely founded during Egypt‘s 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550 BCE–1292 BCE), due to the presence of items bearing an amphora stamp with the name Merytaton. Merytaton was the daughter of the pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti and the sibling of Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut. Related Articles The tomb of an ancient Egyptian military commander....

A team of Brazilian researchers is investigating a cave site featuring ancient paintings in Itatiaia National Park, near the border between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. The discovery, which could reshape the understanding of early human presence in the region, has drawn the attention of leading archaeologists and cultural preservation agencies. Though the paintings were discovered in 2023 by Andres Conquista, an operational supervisor at the park, the news was kept under wraps to protect the site, which sits along a well-traveled hiking trail. While hiking during a climbing trip, Conquista was drawn to a cluster of blooming red...

Artifacts at Kach Kouch reveal stable agricultural settlements in mediterranean africa over 3,000 years ago.Recent archaeological discoveries at the Kach Kouch site in Morocco transform the understanding of ancient civilizations in North-West Africa. A team of young researchers from Morocco's National Institute of Archaeology carried out extensive excavations in 2021 and 2022, utilizing technology such as drones, differential GPS, and 3D models, as reported by The Independent. The findings at Kach Kouch suggest that stable agricultural settlements existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago. This was at the same time...

The discovery of a ship, missing for five centuries, in a southwest African desert, filled with gold coins, is one of the most thrilling archaeological finds in recent times. The Bom Jesus (The Good Jesus) was a Portuguese vessel that set sail from Lisbon, Portugal on Friday, March 7, 1533. Its fate was unknown until 2008 when its remains were discovered in the desert of Namibia during diamond mining operations near the coast of the African nation. When it sank in a fierce storm, it was on its way to India laden with treasures like gold and copper ingots. Two...

Archaeologists believe they have uncovered evidence of a massive underground city lying beneath Egypt’s famous Giza pyramids. Researchers from Italy and Scotland used advanced radar technology to produce detailed images from deep below the surface, revealing possible hidden structures 10 times the size of the pyramids themselves. The report highlights eight distinct vertical, cylinder-shaped formations stretching over 2,100 feet beneath the pyramids, along with a series of additional unidentified structures located another 4,000 feet further down. However, some experts remain skeptical of the claim, insisting that such a feat would be structurally impossible. -------- Mail Online reported: Professor Lawrence Conyers,...

Archaeologists have discovered Britain’s largest known Viking-era building, offering new insights into early medieval life. The structure, buried beneath a field at High Tarns Farm in northwest England, was uncovered by the researchers and more than 50 volunteers. Researchers affiliated with Grampus Heritage, a nonprofit organization specializing in archaeology, have identified the remains of a substantial hall measuring approximately 160 feet in length and 50 feet in width. This discovery, made last summer, indicates that the site was an important assembly location during the Viking Age. “The significance of this discovery, in shedding light on the early medieval period and...