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Metal Detectorist Mistakes 3,000-Year-Old Gold Bracelet for Foil in Wales
A metal detectorist searching a Welsh farm initially thought he had uncovered another scrap of foil. The flash beneath the soil was instead a Late Bronze Age gold bracelet, made around 3,000 years ago and now officially declared treasure. Idris Thomas had spent only about 20 minutes scanning farmland at Llanuwchllyn in Gwynedd when his…
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Inside the School Linked to Alexander the Great, Archaeologists Found Rooms Built for Feasting
The school linked to Alexander the Great at ancient Mieza was not devoted to lectures and physical training alone. Archaeologists have also uncovered mosaic-floored rooms where members of Macedonia’s young elite appear to have reclined, dined and talked together. Archaeologists excavating the Royal Gymnasium of Mieza in northern Greece have uncovered a large structure containing…
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Unusual Funeral Rites Discovered in an Early Bronze Age Mound in Azerbaijan
Five burials uncovered inside an Early Bronze Age mound in southern Azerbaijan show that the dead were laid to rest in markedly different ways. Archaeologists found one person tightly curled on the right side, another extended on the back, and fragmented human remains placed inside an upright ceramic vessel. The discoveries come from one of…
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4,200-Year-Old Wall Emerges at a Vast Settlement Across the Dardanelles from Troy
Seven meters beneath Maydos Kilisetepe, archaeologists have reached a defense wall built more than four millennia ago. The Early Bronze Age structure once protected a coastal settlement comparable in size to Troy, although only a small fraction of the mound has been explored. The wall was uncovered at Eceabat on the Gallipoli Peninsula, close to…
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Ceremonial Horse Burial Discovered Inside a 3,200-Year-Old Egyptian Fortress
A carefully buried horse, grain still resting inside storage vessels and ovens once used to feed a military community have emerged from an ancient Egyptian fortress on the western edge of the Nile Delta. Together, the discoveries offer an unusually intimate view of life behind the walls of a New Kingdom border outpost. The Egyptian…
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Ice Age Artists Turned the Natural Patterns of Mammoth Tusks into Art 18,000 Years Ago
Around 18,000 years ago, artists living in what is now northern Ukraine carved small human figures from mammoth ivory. A new study suggests that the patterns covering these objects were shaped by the natural structure of the ivory itself. Researchers made the discovery after examining 18 figurines from Mizyn, one of Ukraine’s most important Upper…
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Mysterious Deer-Decorated Ossuary and Fire-Scarred Altar Unearthed in Uzbekistan
Archaeologists excavating the ancient settlement of Odirmon in southern Uzbekistan have uncovered a decorated ossuary and a ritual altar still bearing traces of fire. Dating from a period between the third century BC and the third century AD, the discoveries could reveal how the settlement’s inhabitants honored their dead and maintained their ceremonial traditions. The…
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5,000-Year-Old Drainage System Reveals Early Planning in Western Türkiye
Archaeologists excavating Liman Tepe, a prehistoric coastal site in western Türkiye, have uncovered a stone drainage system built approximately 5,000 years ago. The channels ran between terraces at different elevations and probably directed rainwater toward a designated part of the site. Located in Urla, İzmir, Liman Tepe was an important coastal centre during the Early…
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Rare 2,600-Year-Old Cube-Shaped Tomb in Italy Held Cremated Remains Inside a Greek Wine Vessel
A rare Etruscan-era burial built around an imported Greek wine vessel has been discovered beneath the modern town of Pontecagnano Faiano in southern Italy. Dating to the first half of the sixth century BC, the tomb is believed to have belonged to a high-ranking member of the ancient community. Archaeologists uncovered the burial during preventive…