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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...

Archaeologists have discovered a road in Utrecht that led to the Traiectum fortress in Roman times, which was built about 2,000 years ago on the site of the current Domplein. The discovery was made last week during archeological research in connection with upcoming construction work, the municipality of Utrecht reported on Wednesday. According to the municipality, the find is “of great importance for our knowledge of Roman Utrecht and the border community around it.”The northern border of the Roman Empire went straight through the Netherlands, past the Rijn River. Part of these so-called limes (the Latin word for border) was...

Not everyone is convinced.-Archaeologist Kathleen Martinez, who has been on the hunt for Cleopatra VII’s tomb for nearly 20 years, believes she’s found a bust that depicts the Egyptian queen. -The claim has put some at odds with Martinez, as other experts say the bust looks nothing like Cleopatra. -Along with the marble statue, the team also discovered 337 coins—some of which (less controversially) depict Cleopatra. Lawyer-turned-archaeologist Kathleen Martinez has been on the hunt for Cleopatra VII’s tomb for nearly two decades. And now, she believes that she and her team have just unearthed a small marble bust of the...

The pyramid structure has been hidden for centuries. Image credit: CINAH Hidalgo Construction workers have stumbled across the ruins of a large pyramid along the side of a highway in Mexico. After being alerted to the discovery, archaeologists collected dozens of other artifacts from the site that will be closely studied in the lab over the next few months. The structure was unearthed in June 2024 during the construction of a third lane on a federal highway in Hidalgo, east-central Mexico. Archaeologists at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) headed to the scene to carry out an investigation....

A £560,000 prize was on offer for scholars who could read the ancient Roman texts buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Scrolls cocooned in volcanic ash that consumed the Roman city of Pompeii have been deciphered for the first time in 2,000 years. Using AI researchers were able to discern some meaning from the writings which were discovered in the doomed ancient Italian city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. ...In a statement the Vesuvius Challenge revealed some of the information hidden until now in the scrolls which appear to be philosophical treatises concerning...

... The website coincides with a study from the team published in the journal Antiquity, which investigates the inhabitants of the hospital of St. John the Evangelist. Founded around 1195, this institution helped the "poor and infirm," housing a dozen or so inmates at any one time. It lasted for some 300 years before being replaced by St. John's College in 1511. The site was excavated in 2010. "Like all medieval towns, Cambridge was a sea of need," said Robb. "A few of the luckier poor people got bed and board in the hospital for life. Selection criteria would have...

The movie franchise speaks to ethical issues at the very heart of anthropological thinkingPop culture’s most famous archaeologist, Indiana “Indy” Jones, returns to the big screen this summer. In this fifth installment, The Dial of Destiny, Harrison Ford once again stars as the titular character who defined public perceptions of archaeology. Producers have confirmed this will be the final chapter in Indy’s story. It’s also the first and only film in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg, though he remains an executive producer. Now directed by James Mangold, the flick premiered at the Cannes Film Festival with lackluster initial...

Archeologists have uncovered what they believe are the final remains of Sodom and Gomorrah's beloved Target store. "You could still make out the display for tuck-friendly tunics," said Dr. Sally Mcneil. "It's clear these perverted rapists were massive Target fans." According to the Israeli excavators, researchers began searching for a possible Target store after unearthing hundreds of pairs of yoga pants. "We knew we had to be close," said Dr. McNeil. "As soon as we found the sign saying 'Satan Respects Pronouns', we knew we'd found it. Our survey indicates the Sodomites had installed curbside pick-up to the south, and...

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Severe beach erosion from two late-season hurricanes has helped uncover what appears to be a wooden ship dating from the 1800s which had been buried under the sand on Florida’s East Coast for up to two centuries, impervious to cars that drove daily on the beach or sand castles built by generations of tourists. Beachgoers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure, between 80 feet to 100 feet, poking out of the sand over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes that collapsed into rubble on Daytona Beach Shores last month from Hurricane Nicole. “Whenever you find...

A show with a truly preposterous theory is one of the streaming giant’s biggest hits – and it seems to exist solely for conspiracy theorists. Why has this been allowed? At the time of writing, Ancient Apocalypse has been comfortably sitting in Netflix’s Top 10 list for several days. This presents something of a mystery.... ... if he’s right, and the history of humanity really is just the first five minutes of Prometheus, it would change everything we know about ourselves. But we certainly shouldn’t treat his hodgepodge of mysteries and coincidences as fact. That’s the danger of a show...

HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla. — The bones stuck out of the sand. Dakota Brady, 30, said he was with some friends at Chastain Beach in southeast Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicole when they discovered human remains. “It was just surreal. Just to think that this is something that we walk on on a daily basis and nobody knows. Everybody’s oblivious to it," Brady said. Authorities learned of the remains soon after. Investigators are examining what they said are likely human remains of the indigenous Ais tribe on Hutchinson Island, a barrier island along the Atlantic about 50 miles north...

Scientists have found evidence that an earthquake 3,800 years ago in Northern Chile is the largest in human history, according to a new study. The quake had a magnitude of around 9.5, prompting tsunamis that struck countries as far away as New Zealand and boulders the size of cars to be carried inland by the waves, according to researchers at the University of Southampton. Since earthquakes occur when two tectonic plates rub together and rupture, a longer rupture indicates a bigger earthquake, they said. "It had been thought there could not be an event of that size in the north...

A rare archeological find from Mount Ebal: A small, folded 3,200-year-old lead plate sheds new light on biblical study - and was unveiled today (Thursday). Inside it - an ancient curse in ancient Hebrew script ("Proto-Canaanite"), with the God's explicit name [of the Divine]. Prof. Gershon Galil, from the University of Haifa, calls the discovery an "earthquake in biblical studies." He said, "The new find unearthed today is the earliest Hebrew inscription found so far." An inscription was found in Hebrew from the 13th century BC Prof. Galil: "The new finding is a death blow to all biblical deniers" An...

An anthropology professor is suing San Jose State University in federal court in California, claiming the school smeared her as a racist and colonialist, and punished her because she’s been critical of a federal antiquities law. The legal complaint (pdf) in the case, Weiss v. Perez, court file 5:22-cv-641, was filed on Jan. 31 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead defendant, Stephen Perez, is being sued in his official capacity as interim president of San Jose State University (SJSU). The public university “retaliated against” SJSU professor Elizabeth Weiss “for her views,” attorney Daniel...

Tel Beth Shemesh was one of the first biblical sites to be excavated in the Land of Israel. The site is perched on a low hill overlooking the wide Soreq Valley, a main water source crossing lush agricultural land, on the border between the higher Shephelah (foothills) to the west and the Judean Highland to the east. Biblical Beth-Shemesh appears in the Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles—notably as the place where the Philistines returned the briefly captured Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites (1 Samuel 6).In 1856, Edward Robinson...

ARCHAEOLOGY magazine reveals the year’s most exciting finds:Top 10 Discoveries of 2020ARCHAEOLOGY magazine reveals the year’s most exciting finds:Mummy Cache - Saqqara, EgyptCarbon Dating Pottery - WorldwideLargest Viking DNA Study - Northern Europe and GreenlandThe First Enslaved Africans in Mexico - Mexico City, MexicoLuwian Royal Inscription - Türkmen-Karahöyük, TurkeyA Shrine to Romulus - Rome, ItalyOldest Chinese Artwork - Henan, ChinaEnduring Rites of the Mound Builders - Georgia, USAOldest Maya Temple - Tabasco, MexicoFirst English Playhouse - London, England

The remarkable find was made at Penn Museum in Philadelphia, in the basement of the building where other archaeological artefacts are displayed. The skeleton had been left in the basement for 85 years before being rediscovered and represents a rare find. While the museum has other remains from ancient Ur, about 10 miles (16 km) from Nassiriya in southern Iraq, "Noah" - as the skeleton was named - is about 2,000 years older than any remains uncovered during the excavation at the site. The museum said the discovery had important implications for current research. Scientific techniques that were not available...

Francaviglia does not dispute that Muslims could have beaten Columbus to the New World. They certainly possessed the technological expertise to have done so; but, so far, there is no reliable evidence that they did. There are, however, very good reasons for thinking that they didn't. Arab maps were the best in the world, but none of the existing early maps demonstrates any knowledge of the Americas. Arabs also were prolific writers. Francaviglia thinks it’s virtually impossible that Arab explorers discovered the Americas and made no mention of the fact. Why then is the supposed pre-Columbian Muslim discovery of America...

On his father’s farm in Rutland, Jim Irving and his family were out walking when he spotted a few bits of ancient pottery scattered on the ground. Little did he know that further investigation into this would lead to the discovery of an extraordinary 1,700-year-old Roman mosaic, depicting Achilles and the Trojan War from The Iliad, and the remains of an ancient villa. Upon finding these traces during lockdown in 2020, Irving accessed satellite imagery and discovered a cropmark, and after a preliminary search he contacted the Historic Environment team at Leicestershire County Council, who in turn reached out to...