ancient-history

A shattered skeleton found beneath Stirling Castle’s chapel floor in Scotland appears to be the first confirmed archaeological victim of a trebuchet attack. Researchers reached the conclusion after studying Skeleton 150, a young man whose remains carry more than 160 fractures. The pattern and force of the breaks point to a huge projectile striking him […]

A study challenges the idea that Barbarians simply dominated Europe during the Early Middle Ages. A new study from the HistoGenes project, whose co-PI includes Patrick Geary, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies, is helping scholars build a clearer picture of the early medieval people who lived in Western Europe after the fall [...]

Dasosaurus tocantinensis was about 20 meters long and lived roughly 120 million years ago. Its closest known relative inhabited what is now Spain. About 120 million years ago, a 20-meter-long dinosaur roamed what is now northeastern Brazil, leaving behind fossils that would remain buried until modern construction exposed them. A new study in the Journal [...]

Archaeological teams working in northwestern Turkey have uncovered approximately 25 ancient turtle sculptures carved from limestone at İn Cave, positioned close to Gedikkaya Hill within the İnhisar district of Bilecik Province. Radiocarbon analysis of the archaeological layer containing the artefacts has established their age at between 14,500 and 11,200 BC, potentially making them as old as 16,5…

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Tales of drowned cities and lands lost beneath the waves echo through the myths and histories of cultures worldwide. Medieval tradition whispers of a mysterious realm called Lyonesse, once said to lie southwest of England. This vanished kingdom haunts both Cornish and Breton mythology. Are there any facts that can […]

A 6,500-year-old ritual center near Chleby in the Czech Republic was built more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge, new research shows. The large enclosure appears to have been planned around key movements of the Sun and Moon. Archaeologists from the University of West Bohemia led several excavation campaigns at the site. Their work revealed an […]

A Roman cave sanctuary in eastern Spain has yielded more than 120 Latin inscriptions, including five linked to a previously unknown goddess called “the Lady.” Archaeologists recorded the inscriptions during a 2026 campaign at Cova de les Dones, near Millares in Valencia. Most date from the first and second centuries CE. The new finds raise […]

Scientists analyzing a 2,200-year-old Roman shipwreck found that its hull was coated with pine tar and, in one area, a mixture of tar and beeswax. Pollen trapped in those ancient coatings acted like a geographic fingerprint, revealing the landscapes surrounding the ship when repairs were made.

Macedon was an ancient kingdom located in the north of the Greek peninsula first inhabited by the Mackednoi tribe whose identity was challenged by some southern Greeks but who, according to Herodotus (5:22), were Greek. It is famously known as the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - In 480, Roman officials in western Asia Minor engaged in tax fraud for over a decade, leading to the introduction of the death penalty for this offense. Today, an international team, including researchers from the University of Warsaw, is deciphering new fragments of an ancient inscription that illuminate this historical […]

Bronze Age pottery from a desert oasis in northwestern Arabia shows signs of one of the earliest known brands, according to a new study. Researchers say the vessels had a fixed visual style, a steady method of production, a known place of origin, and a strong regional reputation. The pottery, known as Qurayyah Painted Ware, […]

New pieces of a Roman stone inscription in western Turkey help reconstruct a legal order from CE 480. The text describes a long-running tax scam in Asia Minor and the Roman response. Archaeologists found the fragments in 2024 near ancient Stratonikeia. Researchers first thought the verses belonged to a funerary text for a local official. […]

Humans have feasted since the dawn of agriculture – but a new find suggests the practice of bringing exotic food to a communal gathering is even older.

Discovery in China of tools called Quina scrapers suggests the people of East Asia were as inventive and flexible with technology during the Middle Paleolithic era as those in other parts of the world.

Are the descriptions of war passed down by ancient historians accurate? A site in Sicily provided a rare chance to fact-check stories told about two battles from more than 2,400 years ago.

One wonders what Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian empire, would think of the comparison.