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…
Prehistoric art
Three Mysterious Carvings May Reveal How Göbekli Tepe Was Designed 12,000 Years Ago
Long before written plans and measuring instruments entered the archaeological record, Göbekli Tepe’s builders were arranging enormous stone pillars within carefully organized monumental spaces. Three…
Ancient Human DNA Found on Cave Walls for the First Time
A cave wall is not usually treated like a genetic archive. In Spain and Portugal, however, researchers have recovered ancient human DNA from the surface…
A Chance Encounter in Central Turkey Reveals Neolithic Rock Art Hidden for Millennia
The figures were almost invisible—faded shapes clinging to a cliff in the highlands of central Turkey. A hiker, pausing to catch his breath on a…
The Oldest Story Painted in the Americas? Rock Art in Texas and Mexico Carried a Single Message for 4,000 Years
Deep inside the limestone canyons that cut across the borderlands of Texas and northern Mexico, ancient murals stretch across cliff walls in sweeping tapestries of…
Long Before Zeus and Leda: Natufians Crafted a 12,000-Year-Old Scene of a Goose Mating With a Woman
The famous myth of Zeus seducing Leda may dominate classical imagination, but the idea of human–bird unions turns out to be far older — and…
5,000-Year-Old Clay Figurine from Iran May Be the World’s Oldest Depiction of a Tiger
Archaeologists have redefined the origins of tiger imagery in Iranian art. A newly analyzed 5,000-year-old ceramic figurine from Yarim Tepe in northern Iran may represent…
A New Chapter in Prehistory: First Human-Faced T-Shaped Pillar Unearthed at Karahantepe
Archaeologists working at Karahantepe, one of Türkiye’s oldest Neolithic sites, have uncovered a T-shaped stone pillar bearing a carved human face — a discovery hailed…
27,000-Year-Old Figurine with Expressive Face Redefines Prehistoric Art
A groundbreaking discovery in northern France has shed new light on prehistoric art and human creativity. During 2021 excavations at the Amiens-Renancourt site, archaeologists uncovered…