-
Face of “Conquest Man,” Buried Soon After the Norman Conquest, Reconstructed in England
The face of “Conquest Man,” an individual buried in England shortly after the Norman Conquest, has been digitally reconstructed from his 1,000-year-old skull. His burial combined a Christian setting with Scandinavian-influenced grave goods, while scientific tests indicate substantial continental European ancestry. His skeleton was excavated at St Peter’s Church in Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire. He was…
-
Two Unknown Human Lineages Still Survive in Modern DNA, One Traces Back 1.8 Million Years
Modern human DNA appears to preserve traces of two ancient human populations that scientists have never identified directly from ancient genomes. One of those lineages may reach back to a population that split from other human ancestors roughly 1.8 million years ago. The finding comes from a new study published in Science, in which UC…
-
5,000-Year-Old Yamnaya Graves in Romania Reveal an Unusual Skull Placement
More than 5,000 years ago, several people were buried beneath a mound in what is now eastern Romania. Archaeologists have now uncovered four Yamnaya graves, including a double burial, revealing traces of an elaborate funerary tradition involving red ochre, wooden beams, matting and fire. One burial contained an especially unusual detail. The skull was not…
-
A Turquoise Mosaic Skull Spent 60 Years in Europe. Researchers Now Want to Know Who He Was
A human skull covered with turquoise, shell, jadeite and rock crystal spent six decades in a museum in the Netherlands. Now back in Mexico, it is now being documented in three dimensions as researchers confront a more difficult question: who was the man behind the mosaic? Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced…
-
Ancient DNA Reveals Ice Age Humans Disproportionately Targeted Female Woolly Mammoths
Ancient DNA recovered from more than 500 woolly mammoths has revealed an unexpected pattern in the relationship between Ice Age people and one of the largest animals they shared the landscape with: at archaeological sites associated with human activity, female mammoths vastly outnumber males. An international team analyzed genomic data from 521 woolly mammoths from…
-
Why Were Four Girls Buried Beneath a Medieval Norwegian Church Wearing Red Mittens?
Two children and two teenage girls were laid together in a shallow grave beneath the floor of Uvdal Stave Church in Norway. Their faces, hands and feet were covered, while red woollen mittens had been sewn onto their sleeves. No written record identifies them or explains why all four received the same unusual burial treatment.…
-
2,800-Year-Old Face-Down Burial With Turtle-Shaped Vessel Found in El Salvador
Archaeologists excavating beneath a residential area in El Salvador have uncovered a pre-Hispanic burial that may date to around 850 B.C. The grave was discovered at the Pasaje 4 archaeological site in Antiguo Cuscatlán, part of the San Salvador metropolitan area. The individual had been buried face-down, while a small ceramic vessel shaped like a…
-
4,000-Year-Old UAE Tomb Remained in Use for More Than 1,000 Years
A Bronze Age tomb discovered in the United Arab Emirates served as a communal burial place for more than a millennium, with successive generations returning to the same underground chamber to bury their dead. Archaeologists from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi uncovered the tomb at the Qattarah Necropolis in Al Ain.…
-
Ancient DNA Reveals Malaria in Medici Brothers, Weakening 400-Year-Old Poisoning Theory
Ancient DNA recovered from the remains of two Medici brothers has provided the strongest genetic evidence yet that both men were infected with malaria when they died—and further weakened a centuries-old claim that Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici was poisoned. Researchers from Yale University and the University of Pisa detected malaria parasite DNA in…