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One of Anatolia’s Oldest Painted Caves Discovered in Malatya’s Tohma Canyon
A prehistoric cave discovered in Tohma Canyon in Malatya, eastern Türkiye, may rank among the oldest and richest painted caves known in Anatolia. Initial surveys identified nearly 100 human and animal figures on the cave walls, along with numerous geometric symbols. The paintings, made in red and reddish-brown tones, appear to belong to a symbolic…
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A 2,700-Year-Old Figurine from Guatemala May Preserve Mesoamerica’s Earliest Numbers
Mesoamerica’s earliest numbers may have survived on something far smaller than a monument. A fragmentary ceramic figurine found at La Blanca, on Guatemala’s Pacific coast, carries eleven tiny clay dots pressed into the area of its head. The object is only a few centimeters across, but researchers argue that those marks may represent the earliest…
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Ancient Oracle and Freedom Inscription Found at Termessos, Turkey’s Mountain City Above Antalya
High above Antalya, among the rugged slopes of southern Turkey, Termessos has always carried the image of a city that refused to bend. Newly examined inscriptions at its ruined gate now give that reputation a voice: one declares the lasting rights of the “Independent Termessians,” while another reveals an oracle system based on knucklebones. The…
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A 2,000-Year-Old Roman Makeup Box from Munigua Blends Beauty with Memory After Death
A small bronze makeup box from the Roman city of Munigua in southern Spain brings an unusually intimate detail into view: the daily act of preparing the face, and the decision to carry that personal world into the grave. The object comes from ancient Mulva-Munigua, near modern Villanueva del Río y Minas in Seville. In…
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Sealed Cave Near Haifa Preserves 300,000-Year-Old Traces of Early Humans
A sealed prehistoric cave near Fureidis, south of Haifa, is giving archaeologists a rare chance to study human life in the Levant around 300,000 years ago. The cave is being uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the University of Haifa, with support from Ayalon Highways. Researchers say the site was sealed for hundreds of…
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A Building Older Than Hadrian’s Villa Has Been Found at Villa Adriana
Archaeologists working at Villa Adriana have uncovered a structure that may predate one of the Roman world’s most famous imperial residences. The newly identified underground feature, found in the Palazzo area of the UNESCO World Heritage site near Tivoli, could be the oldest documented construction so far known at Hadrian’s Villa. The discovery was made…
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Rock Inscriptions Bearing Caliph Umar’s Name Found in Saudi Arabia’s Medina Region
Rock inscriptions bearing the name of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab have been documented in Saudi Arabia’s Medina region, in a discovery that adds a rare early Islamic reference to the kingdom’s archaeological record. The inscriptions were found during a large-scale survey in Al Mahd Governorate, where Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission recorded 1,774 archaeological finds across…
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100,000-Year-Old Teeth from a Polish Cave Reveal Central Europe’s Oldest Neanderthal Genetic Group
A few ancient teeth from a cave in southern Poland have given researchers a rare genetic portrait of Neanderthals who lived north of the Carpathians nearly 100,000 years ago. The teeth, recovered from Stajnia Cave in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, belonged to at least seven Neanderthals who lived between about 120,000 and 92,000 years ago. The…
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“My Name Is Aba”: Rare Old Turkic Inscription Found Among 1,200 Petroglyphs in Kazakhstan
More than a thousand years ago, someone named Aba carved his name into a rock in southern Kazakhstan. Archaeologists have now found that short Old Turkic sentence among more than 1,200 petroglyphs in Burkhansai Gorge. The discovery was made in the Jambyl Region, in Zhualy District, where researchers began systematic work in 2024. The site…