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A 3,000-Year-Old Zhou Domain Emerges in China with Thousands of Tombs and Chariot Pits
A vast Western Zhou site in China’s Shaanxi Province is beginning to look less like an isolated cemetery and more like a lost noble domain that once helped anchor royal power on the edge of the Zhou heartland. Archaeologists identified the site at Changchun in Fuping County, where rescue excavations began in 2022 after reports…
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2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Stele Discovered at the Sun Gate of Ancient Nineveh
A stone monument has been uncovered at Bab Shamash, the ancient Sun Gate of Nineveh, where people once passed into one of the most powerful cities of the Assyrian world. Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage announced the discovery during ongoing excavation work in Nineveh Governorate, northern Iraq. The large stone stele has been…
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Unique 2,500-Year-Old Bronze Ritual Cart with Achelous Found at Casas del Turuñuelo
A small bronze cart, broken in half and buried for nearly 2,500 years, has become the latest surprise from Casas del Turuñuelo, the Tartessian site in southwestern Spain that keeps forcing archaeologists to rethink one of the Iberian Peninsula’s most elusive ancient cultures. The object was found during the eighth excavation campaign at the site,…
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A Tiny Shrine to Minerva Was Carved Into a Roman Quarry in Spain 1,800 Years Ago
A Roman quarry in central Spain has yielded an unusually intimate trace of worship: a tiny rock-cut shrine to Minerva, carved directly into the same sandstone face where workers once extracted building material. The sanctuary, found near Campos del Paraíso in the province of Cuenca, dates to the late second century A.D. It stands about…
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Five-Ton Roman Sarcophagus Found Sealed Beneath Cavtat After 1,500 Years
A five-ton Roman sarcophagus discovered beneath Cavtat, Croatia, was found still closed, sealed with lime mortar, and untouched after more than 1,500 years. The stone coffin, dated to the 4th–6th centuries A.D., was uncovered three meters below the surface in the necropolis of ancient Epidaurum, a Roman colony on the Adriatic coast. A sealed tomb…
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Offerings Buried With the Llullaillaco Maiden Reveal When the Famous Inca Child Was Sacrificed
Frozen near the summit of a volcano, the Llullaillaco Maiden has looked almost untouched by time for more than 500 years. Now, maize, cassava and coca leaves buried beside her have helped researchers place her death more precisely in history. A new study suggests that the famous Inca capacocha ceremony took place around 1499, during…
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Rare 1,750-Year-Old Jar Burial at Hadrianopolis May Be the First of Its Kind in the Region
A large ceramic jar buried nearly 1,750 years ago has revealed an unusual Roman-period grave at Hadrianopolis Ancient City, where archaeologists found a skeleton placed with pottery, a lamp, a coin, a knife, and bone hair clasps. The discovery was made during ongoing excavations in Eskipazar, Karabük, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ersin Çelikbaş…
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5,000-Year-Old Tombs Found in Minya May Reveal an Early Step Toward Egypt’s Pyramids
Before the first pyramids appeared, Egyptian builders were already experimenting with stone tombs that demanded careful control of weight, balance, and stability. Archaeologists at Jabal al-Tayr in Egypt’s Minya Governorate have uncovered two Early Dynastic tombs, along with burials dating to the Predynastic period and the Late Period. Announced by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and…
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A Curse Tablet Found Under a Dutch Town Square Carries a Greek Spell in Egyptian Style
A small lead tablet found beneath Heerlen’s town hall square was meant to do harm. Nearly 1,800 years later, its scratched Greek words are revealing how Egyptian-style magic reached Rome’s northern frontier. Researchers at Heidelberg University have deciphered the inscription on the Roman-period curse tablet, discovered in the Dutch municipality of Heerlen. In antiquity, the…