Pair of Tombs Discovered in Egypt

Egyptian archaeologists say they have discovered a pair of 4,300-year-old tombs that indicate a burial site south of Cairo is bigger than expected..........

BBC News

King Tut's Father Confirmed

An inscribed limestone block might have solved one of history's
greatest mysteries -- who fathered the boy pharaoh King Tut. "We can
now say that Tutankhamun was the child of Akhenaten," Zahi Hawass,
chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News..........

Discovery News

Rare first century coin found in Temple Mount soil

A rare half shekel coin, first minted in 66 or 67 C.E., was
discovered by 14 year-old Omri Ya'ari as volunteers sifted through
mounds of dirt from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The coin is the
first one found to originate from the Temple Mount. The half shekel
coin was first minted during the Great Revolt against the Romans..........

Haaretz

First Temple Era Water Tunnel Revealed in Jerusalem

A tunnel built thousands of years ago – and which may even have been used during King David's conquest of Jerusalem – has been uncovered in the ancient City of David, just outside the Old City and across the street from the Dung Gate..........

Arutz Sheva

Oldest Hebrew script found

Five lines of ancient script on a shard of pottery could be the oldest example of Hebrew writing ever discovered, an archaeologist in Israel says.

The shard was found by a teenage volunteer during a dig about 20km (12 miles) south-west of Jerusalem.

Experts at Hebrew University said dating showed it was written 3,000 years ago - about 1,000 years earlier than the Dead Sea Scrolls..........

BBC News

King Solomon's Mines?

Did the Bible's King David and his son Solomon control the copper industry in present-day southern Jordan? Though that remains an open question, the possibility is raised once again by research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Led by Thomas Levy of UC San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan's Friends of Archaeology, an international team of archaeologists has excavated an ancient copper-production center at Khirbat en-Nahas down to virgin soil, through more than 20 feet of industrial smelting debris, or slag. The 2006 dig has brought up new artifacts and with them a new suite of radiocarbon dates placing the bulk of industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas in the 10th century BCE – in line with biblical narrative on the legendary rule of David and Solomon. The new data pushes back the archaeological chronology some three centuries earlier than the current scholarly consensus..........

EurekAlert

Greece unearths neolithic home, household equipment

Archaeologists in northern Greece have unearthed the ruins of a Neolithic house, a rare find that offers valuable information about everyday life 6,000 years ago, the Greek culture ministry said Friday..........

ReutersUK

Rome reveals tombs of dark ages city

Workers renovating a rugby stadium have uncovered a vast complex of tombs beneath Rome that mimics the houses, blocks and streets of a real city, according to officials who have unveiled a series of new finds in the Italian capital..........

Guardian

'Gladiator' tomb found in Rome

The tomb of a general thought to have been an inspiration for the main character in the Oscar-winning film Gladiator has been unearthed in Rome..........

BBC News

Archaeologists unearth place where Caligula met his end

Archeologists say that they have found the underground passage in which the Emperor Caligula was murdered by his own Praetorian Guard to put an end to his deranged reign of terror..........

Times Online

Coffin fragment of son of the High Priest found

The Bible and other Jewish sources are full of details about the priests and high priests, from the descriptions of their garments as described in the Book of Exodus, to the number of high priests who served in the First and Second Temples. Now archaeology is providing new evidence to show the institution indeed existed: a fragment from the lid of a sarcophagus, bearing the inscription "son of the high priest" in a Second Temple-era script..........

Haaretz

Stonehenge older than believed

A new excavation puts the stones' arrival at 3000 BC - almost 500 years earlier than originally thought - and suggests it was mainly a burial site..........

BBC News

Earliest known reference describes Christ as magician

A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world's first known reference to Christ..........

MSNBC

Neanderthals enjoyed broad menu

Excavations in caves in Gibraltar once occupied by the ancient humans show they ate seal and dolphin when they could get hold of the animals.

There are even indications that mussels were warmed to open their shells.

The findings, reported in the journal PNAS, give the lie to the popular view that Neanderthals ate a diet utterly dominated by meat from land animals..........

BBC News

Rameses II temple discovered in Cairo

An Egyptian archaeological team has unearthed a temple and parts of a statue belonging to one of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, in a rare find inside the capital, the official MENA agency has reported..........

ABC News

Dig unearths secrets of Alexander the Great's golden era

It would be more than 100 years at least until Alexander the Great led the forces of Macedonia to conquer the Hellenistic world.

But, even in its early days, the Greek kingdom's warriors were already an imposing sight on the battlefield.

A dig in an ancient burial ground in Alexander's birthplace of Pella, northern Greece, has unearthed the graves of 20 warriors in battle dress, a find which archaeologists say sheds fresh light on the development of Macedonian culture..........

Mail Online

Jerusalem ancient walls unveiled

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have given a first glimpse of what they say is a newly-exposed section of the city walls built 2,100 years ago.

They say the mortarless stone structure is the best preserved section of the city's walls ever seen from the period of the Second Jewish Temple.

The walls were first located through tunnels by 19th Century researchers, whose beer bottles were also found.

The researchers hope to open the site to the public in the next few years.

"We knew the walls were here somewhere," said Yehiel Zelinger, who has led the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

"The fact that after 2,100 years the remains of the wall were preserved to a height of three meters is amazing," he said..........

BBC News

Sarcophagus of ancient Pharaoh king Senorsert II discovered

Egyptian archeologists have discovered the graveyard and sarcophagus of ancient Pharaoh king Senosert II.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas has allocated an additional LE50,000 to conduct more excavations at the governorate of Fayoum where the new ancient monuments had been discovered.

The Egyptian archeologists operating in the area further found out skeletons and some tombs dating back to the Greco and Romanian epochs..........

Egypt Information Service

Archaeological discovery in Qatar sheds new light on early man

A team of Qatari and Danish scientists working in the western region of Qatar have discovered evidence of early man which challenges the existing history of the country and the Southern Arabian region.
Exploring under the patronage of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), the scientists found basic hunting tools which they believe date back 700,000 to 800,000 years. If accurate, the discovery means early man lived in Qatar far earlier than was previously believed..........

Gulf Times

Ancient Gold Treasure Puzzles Greek Archaeologists

A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones in a large copper vase that workers initially took for a land mine.

The University of Thessaloniki said in a statement Friday that the "astonishing" discovery was made during its excavations this week in the ruins of ancient Aigai. The city was the first capital of ancient Macedonia, where King Philip II — father of Alexander the Great — was assassinated.

Gold wreaths are rare and were buried with ancient nobles or royalty. But the find is also highly unusual as the artifacts appear to have been removed from a grave during ancient times and, for reasons that are unclear, reburied in the city's marketplace near the theater where Philip was stabbed to death..........

Associated Press

A 2,6000 Year Old Clay Seal Impression Uncovered in Jerusalem

A 2,600 year old clay seal impression, or bulla, bearing the name
Gedaliah ben Pashur has recently been uncovered completely intact
during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem's ancient City of
David, located just below the walls of the Old City near the Dung
Gate. The name appears in the Book of Jeremiah (38:1) together with
that of Yehuchal ben Shelemayahu, whose name was found on an
identical clay bulla in the same area in 2005. The two men were
ministers in the court of King Zedekiah, the last king to rule in
Jerusalem before the destruction of the First Temple..........

ArchNews

Complete Neanderthal Mitochondrial Genome Sequenced from 38,000 Year Old Bone

A study reported in the August 8th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell
Press publication, reveals the complete mitochondrial genome of a
38,000-year-old Neandertal. The findings open a window into the
Neandertals' past and helps answer lingering questions about our
relationship to them........... It also shows that the last common ancestor of Neandertals and humans
lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take 140,000 years...........

EurekAlert

The Bard's First Theatre Found

An archaeological dig has recovered what is thought to be the remains of the theatre where Shakespeare's plays were first performed..........

BBC News

Fully Preserved Thracian Chariot Discovered

A team led by archaeologist Daniela Agre of Bulgaria's National Institute of Archaeology unearthed an ancient four–wheel chariot near the Borissovo village in the Elhovo region, dating back from the first half of the second century ACE, Focus news agency reported..........

Sofia Echo

Ancient Hippodrome Course Found in Olympia

The site of the ancient hippodrome course in Olympia, where the emperor Nero competed for Olympian laurels, has been discovered. The hippodrome was discovered in Olympia by a research team that included Professor Norbert Müller (a sports historian from Mainz), Dr Christian Wacker (a sports archaeologist from Cologne) and PD Dr Reinhard Senff (chief excavator of the German Archaeological Institute - DAI..........

Science Daily

Roman Era Tombs Unearthed

Five intact tombs dating to the Roman era were unearthed in Krinides on Thursday by Philippi municipal water board workers while digging for expansion of the local water supply and drainage network in downtown Krinides..........

HR-Net

2,000 Year Old Biblical Scroll Fragments Found in Israel

A secretive encounter with a Bedouin in a desert valley led to the discovery of two fragments from a nearly 2,000-year-old parchment scroll - the first such finding in decades, an Israeli archaeologist said today..........

nzherald.co.nz

Ancient Royal Burial Ground Found in Egypt

Archaeologists have uncovered ancient wooden coffins in what appears to be a royal burial ground near the necropolis of Abydos in southern Egypt, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

The agency said that the discovery, made by a team from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, could be dated back to the Old Kingdom (3,000 B.C.) -- the golden age of pyramid building in ancient times.

The team "has found what could be a royal complex of 13 tombs of different shapes and sizes that could have belonged to high officials from that period or people who contributed to building these tombs," MENA said.

The agency said that human bones were found inside the coffins, although it did not specify how many coffins were discovered.

Objects made out of ivory similar to pieces used for playing chess were also found. MENA said only one other similar board game has been found in Egypt and that was among the fabled treasures of the legendary boy king Tutankhamun.

The discovery of Tutankhamun's intact tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 near Luxor in southern Egypt caused an international sensation because of the value and quality of its contents.

AFP

Balkan Caves, Gorges Were Pre-Neanderthal Haven

Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:25am EDT

By Ljilja Cvekic

BELGRADE (Reuters Life!) - A fragment of a human jaw found in Serbia
and believed to be up to 250,000 years old is helping anthropologists
piece together the story of prehistoric human migration from Africa to
Europe.

"This is the earliest evidence we have of humans in the area,"
Canada's Winnipeg University anthropology professor Mirjana Roksandic
told Reuters.

The fragment of a lower jaw, complete with three teeth, was discovered
in a small cave in the Sicevo gorge in south Serbia.

"It is a pre-Neanderthal jaw that we believe is between 130,000 to
250,000 years old," said Belgrade University archaeology professor
Dusan Mihailovic, head of the team studying the jaw.

"It could help us explain better the human evolution and implications
of movements of the population and culture across a large territory,"
he said.

Anthropologists believe Africa was the birthplace of man, who then
migrated northwards into the Middle East and Europe, possibly in
reaction to climate changes.

During the periodic ice ages northern Europe would have been covered
in ice, so the theory is these early humans stayed in the easier
climate of southern Europe.

The jaw might belong to homo erectus, the first type of human to walk
upright, who appeared in Africa 1.8 million years ago and was the
precursor of both modern man, or homo sapiens, and the separate
species of Neanderthal man.

The jaw was found at a depth of four meters, below a Neanderthal
village in a linked cave, one of the richest archaeological sites in
the region.

The remains of a hearth, primitive stone and bone tools and animals
indicated an 80,000 year old home base.

"What we found there was enough to reconstruct the way of living,
changes in culture, climate, vegetation and animal life during a
longer period of some 50,000 years," Mihailovic said.

"The fact we found a jaw so many layers below the settlement is
additional proof the jaw is much older."

Archaeologists started digging deeper initially in the hope of finding
more fossil remains.

"We were looking for Neanderthals, " Roksandic said, "but this is much
better."

Neanderthals, viewed as a evolutionary dead-end, died out about 30,000
years ago.

(Additional reporting by Tanja Cvekic, Editing by Ellie Tzortzi and
Matthew Jones)

5,000-Year-Old Jewellery Workshop Uncovered in Cyprus

Archaeologists have uncovered what appears to have been a jewellery workshop during excavations at the 5,000-year old Souskiou-Laona settlement (Cyprus). According to the Antiquities Department, a dense concentration of the mineral picrolite in the west ridge of the cliff-top settlement indicates that the spot was a workshop for the production of the cruciform figurines and large pendants..........

Archaeo News

Mexican Archaeologists Unearth Ruins of Aztec Palace

Mexican archaeologists said Monday they have unearthed the remains of an Aztec palace once inhabited by the emperor Montezuma in the heart of what is now downtown Mexico City..........

International Herald Tribune

Roman Horse Skeletons, Chariot Unearthed in Greece

Archaeologists have dug up the skeletons of 16 horses and a two-wheeled chariot in a grave dating back to the Roman Empire in north-east Greece, the culture ministry announced..........

ABC News

Jordan Cave May Be The Oldest Church

Archaeologists in Rihab, Jordan, say they have discovered a cave that could be the world's oldest Christian church. Dating to the period AD33-70, the underground chapel would have served as both a place of worship and a home. It is claimed that it was originally used by a group of 70 persecuted Christians who fled from Jerusalem..........

BBC News

Little Arrow Re-Writes History Books

It might have been used to bring down a small blue duiker or perhaps pick off a bird high in the forest canopy. Its exact target will never be known, but scientists now know what this ordinary-looking piece of bone was used for.

Two researchers from Wits University believe that what they have discovered is a 60 000-year-old arrow that was fired from the earliest known bow. Their discovery has pushed back the origins of bow-and-arrow technology by 20 000 years..........

iol

Gold Wreaths Unearthed by Thessaloniki Metro

Four gold wreaths decorated with olive leaves, gold earrings and other Hellenistic-era artifacts have been discovered in one of the 700 tombs of an ancient graveyard unearthed during construction work for the Thessaloniki metro in the Sintrivani district, archaeologists announced on Friday..........

ATE

Lost Pyramid Found Buried in Egypt

The pyramid of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been rediscovered after being buried for generations, archaeologists announced today..........

National Geographic News

The Latest Archaeological Discoveries in Egypt

Several recent major archaeological discoveries in Egypt.........

ArchNews

Another Second Temple Quarry Found

For the second time in the past year, archeologists have uncovered a Second Temple Period quarry whose stones were used to build the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday..........

Jerusalem Post

Archaeologist believes he has identified Cleopatra's tomb

A flamboyant archeologist known worldwide for his trademark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is buried.

Now, with a team of 12 archeologists and 70 excavators, Zahi Hawass, 60, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has started searching for the entrance to her tomb.

And after a breakthrough two weeks ago he hopes to find her lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, sharing her last resting place at the site of a temple, the Taposiris Magna, 28 miles west of Alexandria..........

TimesOnline

Satellite Imagery Used to Explore Ancient Mexico

Satellite imagery obtained from NASA will help archeologist Bill Middleton peer into the ancient Mexican past. In a novel archeological application, multi- and hyperspectral data will help build the most accurate and most detailed landscape map that exists of the southern state of Oaxaca, where the Zapotec people formed the first state-level and urban society in Mexico..........

RIT News

Human Race Was Divided For As Much As 100,00 Years

The human race was divided into two separate groups within Africa for as much as half of its existence, says a Tel Aviv University mathematician. Climate change, reduction in populations and harsh conditions may have caused and maintained the separation..........

Tel Aviv University

Rare Bust of Wrinkled Ceasar Found

A marble bust of an aging Julius Caesar—which may date back to 46 B.C.—has been found by divers in the Rhône River in southern France, officials say. The life-size sculpture (shown in a photo released this week) is etched with deep wrinkles and a balding pate.

The bust may be the oldest known representation of the famous Roman leader. Most known ancient sculptures of Caesar were created after his death..........

National Geographic News

Etruscan Tombs Uncovered in Italy

Italian archaeologists say they've found more than two dozen tombs in the Etruscan burial grounds at Tarquinia north of Rome..........

UPI

Archaeologists Find Queen of Sheba's Palace at Axum, Ethiopia

Archaeologists believe they have found the Queen of Sheba's palace at Axum, Ethiopia and an altar which held the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, the Ark of the Covenant, the University of Hamburg said Wednesday. Scientists from the German city made the startling find during their spring excavation of the site over the past three months..........

Earth Times

New Evidence for Earliest Known Settlement in the Americas

New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one early migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago...........

EurekAlert

Nero's Gate Unearthed in Cologne

A two thousand year old Roman gate thought to have been built by
Emperor Nero has been discovered in the western German city of
Cologne..........

ArchNews

Oldest Human Presence in Arabian Peninsula Found

A French archeological mission has found at an archaeological site of a rock cave in Mahweet province more than 5000 pieces of antiquities date back over 75,000 years and
indicate the oldest human presence in the Arabian Peninsula..........

Saba Net

New Discovery in Valley of the Kings

Egypt announced Thursday 10/4/2008 the discovery of a quartzite
Ushabti figure and the cartouche of King Seti I, second king of the
19th Dynasty (1314-1304 BC).They were found inside the corridor of
the tomb of Seti I (KV 17) in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's west
bank..........

ArchNews

Swedes Find Viking-Era Arab Coins

Swedish archaeologists have discovered a rare hoard of Viking-age silver Arab coins near Stockholm's Arlanda airport.

About 470 coins were found on 1 April at an early Iron Age burial site. They date from the 7th to 9th Century, when Viking traders travelled widely..........

BBC News

Necklace is Oldest in Americas

A necklace found near Lake Titicaca in southern Peru is the oldest known gold object made in the Americas, archaeologists say.

Radiocarbon dating puts its origin at about 4,000 years ago, when hunter-gatherers occupied the area..........

BBC News

Researchers Find Pre-Clovis Human DNA

DNA from dried human excrement recovered from Oregon's Paisley Caves is the oldest found yet in the New World -- dating to 14,300 years ago, some 1,200 years before Clovis culture -- and provides apparent genetic ties to Siberia or Asia, according to an international team of 13 scientists..........

EurekAlert

Fossils Show Upright Walking as Early as Six Million Years Ago

George Washington University Professor Brian Richmond and Stony Brook University Professor William Jungers have discovered that humans’ early ancestors were adapted to walking upright on two legs almost six million years ago, settling scientific debate over fossils discovered in 2000. This finding shows that the fossils belong to very early human ancestors and that upright walking is one of the first human characteristics to appear in our lineage, just after the split between human and chimpanzee lineages..........

GW News Cen

First Ever: First Temple Building Remains Found Near Temple Mount

The Israel Antiquities Authority announces the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period have been exposed so close to the Temple Mount – on the eastern slopes of the Upper City..........

Arutz Sheva

Ancient Graves Found in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek workers discovered around 1,000 graves, some filled with ancient treasures, while excavating for a subway system in the historic city of Thessaloniki, the state archaeological authority said Monday.

Some of the graves, which dated from the first century B.C. to the 5th century A.D., contained jewelry, coins and various pieces of art, the Greek archaeological service said in a statement.

Thessaloniki was founded around 315 B.C. and flourished during the Roman and Byzantine eras. Today it is the Mediterranean country's second largest city.

Most of the graves — 886 — were just east of the city center in what was the eastern cemetery during Roman and Byzantine times. Those graves ranged from traces of wooden coffins left in simple holes in the ground, to marble enclosures in five-room family mausoleums.

A separate group of 94 graves were found near the city's train station, in what was once part of the city's western cemetery.

More findings were expected as digging for the Thessaloniki metro continues. Digging started in 2006 and the first 13 stations are expected to be done by the end of 2012. A 10-station extension to the west and east has been announced.

Associated Press

Dredging Hauls Up Ancient Artifacts

A haul of 28 flint hand-axes, dated by archaeologists to be around 100,000 years-old, have been unearthed in gravel from a licensed marine aggregate dredging area 13km off Great Yarmouth..........

ybw.com

Archaeologists to Drill in Bexley for Evidence of Ancient Occupation

Archaeologists from Durham University will be returning to a London borough site where a 19th century historian once found flint tools and animal bones.

This time, however, the latest sonic drilling equipment will be used to take samples from the earth, for the ongoing Ancient Human Occupation of Britain II project (AHOB).

Initial drillings were carried out at Holmscroft Open Space in September 2007 by the archaeologists, who are looking at human occupation of the country right from the first people who lived here about 700,000 years ago, up to the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 8,800 years ago..........

24 Hour Museum News

Cannibalism May Have Wiped Out Neanderthals

A Neanderthal-eat-Neanderthal world may have spread a mad cow-like disease that weakened and reduced populations of the large Eurasian human, thereby contributing to its extinction, according to a new theory based on cannibalism that took place in more recent history..........

Discovery News

Centuries-old May Blue mystery finally solved

Anthropologists from Wheaton College (Illinois) and The Field Museum have discovered how the ancient Maya produced an unusual and widely studied blue pigment that was used in offerings, pottery, murals and other contexts across Mesoamerica from about A.D. 300 to 1500..........

EurekAlert

Royals weren't only builders of Maya temples, archaeologist finds

An intrepid archaeologist is well on her way to dislodging the prevailing assumptions of scholars about the people who built and used Maya temples.

From the grueling work of analyzing the “attributes,” the nitty-gritty physical details of six temples in Yalbac, a Maya center in the jungle of central Belize – and a popular target for antiquities looters – primary investigator Lisa Lucero is building her own theories about the politics of temple construction that began nearly two millennia ago.

Her findings from the fill, the mortar and other remnants of jungle-wrapped structures lead her to believe that kings weren’t the only people building or sponsoring Late Classic period temples (from about 550 to 850), the stepped pyramids that rose like beacons out of the southern lowlands as early as 300 B.C..........

News Bureau

Oldest Urban Site in the Americas Found, Experts Claim

A circular plaza found under an existing archaeological site in Peru could be the oldest known human-made complex in the New World, experts report..........

National Geographic News

Human Culture Subject to Natural Selection, Stanford Study Shows

The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds.

Scientists at Stanford University have shown for the first time that cultural traits affecting survival and reproduction evolve at a different rate than other cultural attributes..........

EurekAlert

Satellites Spot Lost Guatemalan Mayan Temples

Ancient Mayan astronomers aligned their soaring temples with the stars and now modern archaeologists have found the ruins of hidden cities in the Guatemalan jungle by peering down from space.

archaeologists and NASA scientists began teaming up five years ago to search for clues about the mysterious collapse of the Mayan civilization that flourished in Central America and southern Mexico for 1,000 years..........

Reuters

Mysterious Pyramid Complex Discovered in Peru

The remnants of at least ten pyramids have been discovered on the coast of Peru, marking what could be a vast ceremonial site of an ancient, little-known culture, archaeologists say. In January construction crews working in the province of Piura discovered several truncated pyramids and a large adobe platform. Officials from Peru's National Institute of Culture (INC) were dispatched to inspect the discovery. They announced that the complex, which is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, belonged to the ancient Vicús culture and was likely either a religious center or a cemetery for nobility..........

Archaeo News

Clue to the Origins of the Chinese Discovered?

Chinese archaeologists are hailing their biggest discovery in almost 80 years after unearthing a skull that could provide a clue to the origins of a fifth of the world's population. The fossilised skull, named Xuchang Man after the city where it was found, is thought to date back 80,000 to 100,000 years, to a period that has long been a mystery to scientists..........

Guardian Unlimited

Discovery of Divinity Worship at Altar of Zeus Predates Traditional Thinking

Ancient pottery found at an altar used by ancient Greeks to worship Zeus was actually in use at least a millennium earlier, new archeological data suggest.
The pottery shards were discovered during an excavation last summer near the top of Mt. Lykaion in southern Greece.
The finding, which dates back to 3000 B.C., indicates that the tradition of divinity worship on the site is very ancient and may even pre-date the introduction of Zeus into the Greek world, said David Gilman Romano, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and co-director of the excavation project..........

Live Science

Important First Temple Seal Uncovered in Ancient City of David

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archaeologist said Wednesday..........

ArchNews

Rare Egyptian Middle Class Tomb Discovered

Archaeologists have unsealed the intact burial chamber of an ancient Egyptian official, providing a rare glimpse into the burial customs of the Old Kingdom's middle class..........

National Geographic News

Ancient Maya Marketplace Discovery May Up-end Conventional Views

Coaxing answers from 1500-year-old clues hidden in soil clumps, BYU environmental scientists identified a marketplace in an ancient Maya city, calling into question archaeologists' widely held belief that people of the era relied on rulers to tax and re-distribute goods, rather than trading them with one another..........

Deseret Morning News

Ancient Fortress Discovered in Peru

A new archaeological fortress, known as Manco Pata, was discovered in the town of Kimbiri (Cusco), located in the Apurímac-Ene River Valley (VRAE), announced the mayor of the town, Guillermo Torres.

In his statements, he pointed out that the fortress was located in the rural community “Unión Vista Alegre”, of the village of Lobo Tahuantinsuyo, and covers an area of 40,000 square meters.

Last December 29, after clearing the area of brush, beautiful and enigmatic structures built of large stones were found. They were perfectly cut and formed high walls.

Considering the findings, the mayor explained that this fortress could be part of the lost citadel of Paititi, which is the name for a kind of Inca or pre-Inca lost city-state..........

LivinginPeru.com

New Intact Tomb Discovery in Egypt

It’s not everyday that archaeologists can boast a discovery such as this one: the finding of a fully-intact archaeological site dating back 4,500 years. That is exactly what happened in the pyramid fields of Abusir, Egypt, where Czech experts recently opened a tomb belonging to an Egyptian dignitary..........

Radio Prague

New Pharaonic Mummy

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities has stated that the mummy
which had been unearthed at farms in the governorate of Al-Fayoum is
Pharohnic and priceless. A council's committee said that the mummy
belonged to an important figure in the Pharaohnic age..........

Egypt State Information Service

200,000 Year-Old Human Hunting Remains in Carmel Mountains

According to University of Haifa researchers, these activities show that as early as the middle period of the Early Stone Age - about a quarter of a million years ago - people with modern hunting capabilities lived in the Carmel region.

The ability to hunt large animals, choose the most suitable cuts of meat for consumption and grill them is behavior that serves to differentiate between Homo sapiens and earlier forms of human life.

It is possible that one of the most ancient testimonies to the existence of a human population with modern behavior patterns has been found in the Misliya caves of the Carmel..........

Haaretz

Chocolate Used Since 1,900 BCE

Kennesaw State University Professor Terry Powis led a research group that determined man first used of chocolate about 1,900 BCE, about 700 years earlier than expected. Almost 4,000 years ago, residents of hot and humid Central America probably served chocolate, which comes from the beans of the cacao tree, as a cold beverage with different flavors, Powis said. Powis, an assistant professor of anthropology, spent three weeks in a Chiapas, Mexico lab gathering samples from ceramic jars and bowls that date from 1,900 BCE to 1,500 BCE The research from Powis' team appeared in the December edition of 'Antiquity.' Michael Coe, a retired Yale University professor of anthropology and co-author of the journal article, said the findings show that chocolate has been used far longer than researchers would have guessed a decade ago. "We now know how very old the chocolate process - turning raw cacao into chocolate - really is," Coe said. The study means that the Mokaya, the earliest sedentary villagers in Mesoamerica, probably drank some form of cold, liquid chocolate from elaborate bowls and jars, Powis said..........

Stonepages