Oldest ever Homo sapiens footprint is found, pushing the record back by 30,000 years

Just over two decades ago, as the new millennium began, it seemed that tracks left by our ancient human ancestors dating back more than about 50,000 years were excessively rare.

Only four sites had been reported in the whole of Africa at that time. Two were from East Africa: Laetoli in Tanzania and Koobi Fora in Kenya; two were from South Africa (Nahoon and Langebaan). In fact the Nahoon site, reported in 1966, was the first hominin tracksite ever to be described.

In 2023 the situation is very different. It appears that people were not looking hard enough or were not looking in the right places. Today the African tally for dated hominin ichnosites (a term that includes both tracks and other traces) older than 50,000 years stands at 14. Read more.

Two new skeletons found at Pompeii excavations

Archaeologists at Pompeii said Tuesday that they had uncovered two new skeletons of male victims who likely died in an earthquake that accompanied the devastating volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which buried the Italian city in ash in AD 79.

The pair, believed to be two males aged at least 55, were found in recent excavations at Pompeii's "Chaste Lovers" block of buildings.

They are believed to have been killed as an earthquake knocked down a wall in the room where they sought shelter. One of the skeletons had an arm raised as if in defense.

The earthquake struck as the huge blast from nearby Mount Vesuvius covered the city of Pompeii with thick volcanic ash, preserving the bodies of many of its residents. Read more.

17th-century century hoard brimming with 1,000 coins discovered in Poland

A metal detectorist searching for discarded tractor parts on a Polish farm discovered a completely different type of valuable metal: A spectacular hoard of 17th-century coins buried beneath the soil.

The hoard — a vast stash of about 1,000 copper coins — was found in late February near the small village of Zaniówka in eastern Poland, near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine, by a local man, Michał Łotys.

Łotys was using a new metal detector to find spare parts for his sister's tractor; and so when the instrument started beeping in one of the farm's fields, he scraped away a layer of the topsoil. That revealed the coins spilling out of a broken clay "siwak" — a jug in a local style with one handle and a narrow neck. Read more.

Oldest reference to Norse god Odin found in Danish treasure

Scandinavian scientists said Wednesday that they have identified the oldest-known inscription referencing the Norse god Odin on part of a gold disc unearthed in western Denmark in 2020.

Lisbeth Imer, a runologist with the National Museum in Copenhagen, said the inscription represented the first solid evidence of Odin being worshipped as early as the 5th century—at least 150 years earlier than the previous oldest known reference, which was on a brooch found in southern Germany and dated to the second half of the 6th century.

The disc discovered in Denmark was part of a trove containing about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold, including large medallions the size of saucers and Roman coins made into jewelry. It was unearthed in the village of Vindelev, central Jutland, and dubbed the Vindelev Hoard. Read more.

Bronze Age ice skates with bone blades discovered in China

Archaeologists in China have unearthed 3,500-year-old ice skates crafted from animal bone in the  country's western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a mountainous area that some archaeologists think was the birthplace of skiing.

These ice skates, the oldest ever found in China,  were made from the bones of oxen and horses, according to a translated statement. They were found in a tomb in the Gaotai Ruins, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) west of the regional capital Ürümqi, archaeologists with the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous regional government said at a news event on Feb. 27.

It's not known if the skates were used for hunting or for regular travel. They consist of a straight piece of bone with holes at both ends so they could be strapped to footwear. The resulting "blade" is very flat compared with modern skates, but it formed a cutting edge that allowed the wearer to glide across the ice. Read more.

World's 1st horseback riders swept across Europe roughly 5,000 years ago

Archaeologists accidentally discovered the world's earliest horseback riders while studying skeletons found beneath 5,000-year-old burial mounds in Europe and Asia, a new study finds.

The ancient riders were part of the so-called Yamnaya culture, groups of semi-nomadic people who swept across Europe and western Asia, bringing the precursor to the Indo-European language family with them. The findings strengthen the hypothesis that the horse played an integral part in the expansion of this group, and therefore, in the spread of the Indo-European language.

The new analysis came from 217 human skeletons from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, a geographical area that runs roughly from Bulgaria to Kazakhstan. For decades, researchers have debated when horses were domesticated. Read more.

Egypt unveils hidden corridor in Giza pyramid

An international research team has discovered a previously unknown chamber in the Cheops pyramid of Gizeh. As early as 2016 measurements had given reason to assume the existence of a hidden hollow space in the vicinity of the chevron blocks over the entrance.

Now scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have used ultrasound and endoscopy to make an important contribution to confirming this assumption. The status of the Egyptian pyramid as one of the best investigated structures in the world makes this find particularly important.

The Cheops pyramid is considered the largest and oldest of the pyramids of Gizeh. As part of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World it has been thoroughly explored; however, the structure still holds many undiscovered secrets. TUM researchers have now solved one more of the pyramid's mysteries. Read more.

Unknown lineage of ice age Europeans discovered in genetic study

A previously unknown lineage of Europeans survived the coldest parts of the last ice age, only to vanish when Europe went through a warm spell starting about 15,000 years ago.

The discovery comes from the largest study yet to look at the genetic makeup of ice age European hunter-gatherers.

For most of the past 100,000 years, glaciers covered much of Europe. Starting about 45,000 years ago, hunter gatherers began arriving in Europe from Africa through the near East, toughing it out during the Last Glacial Maximum (roughly 25,000 to 19,000 years ago), the coldest part of the last ice age.

Archaeologists know about the first modern humans in Europe from the artifacts they left behind. However, few human fossils remain from those early cultures, so little is known about how these ancient people migrated and were related to one another. Read more.

Stunning gem-covered gold earrings discovered in 800-year-old hoard in Germany

A trainee metal detectorist in northern Germany recently hit on something his mentor never expected: an 800-year-old hoard of gold jewelry and silver coins that hints at the area's trade connections.

The large hoard contained a dazzling collection of artifacts. "The hoard consisted of two very high quality gold earrings set with semi-precious stones, a gilded pseudo-coin brooch, two gilded stone-studded finger rings, a ring fragment, a small formerly gilded perforated disc, a ring brooch, and about 30 silver coins, some of them heavily fragmented," Ulf Ickerodt, director of the State Archaeological Department of Schleswig-Holstein (ALSH), told Live Science in an email.

For decades, amateur and professional archaeologists have been working together to investigate the region of Schleswig-Holstein, and in particular the UNESCO world heritage site of Haithabu. Read more.

Comb made from human skull may have been used in Iron Age rituals

An ancient comb carved from a chunk of human skull has left researchers in London scratching their heads about whether or not it was actually used to style hair thousands of years ago.

Archaeologists first discovered the item at Bar Hill, a village in Cambridgeshire, England, during a three-year dig that ended in 2018. The artifact, which dates to the Iron Age (750 B.C. to A.D. 43) and measures approximately 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, contains nearly a dozen carved teeth and was part of the collection at the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).

Dubbed the Bar Hill Comb, the piece is one of 280,000 artifacts from the museum included in an ongoing analysis. Researchers can only theorize the true purpose of the item. There was no evidence showing wear on the comb's teeth, and a hole drilled into the top suggested it may have been worn as an amulet rather than used as a tool to style hair. Read more.

Peru police find pre-Hispanic mummy in ex-delivery man's bag

Police in Peru have seized a mummified human, between 600 and 800 years old, from a former food delivery man who claimed to have had it at his home for three decades.

The mummy was in the isothermal bag the man had once used to deliver food to people's homes.

The man, 26-year-old Julio Cesar Bermejo, will remain in detention while investigators look into the case, a government official told AFP on Tuesday.

Bermejo told local media the mummy, who he called "Juanita," was "like my spiritual girlfriend."

"At home, she's in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her," he said in a video that went viral on social media. Read more.

Ancient Roman 'spike defenses' made famous by Julius Caesar found in Germany

In 52 B.C., Julius Caesar used an ingenious system of ditches and stakes to defend his soldiers from an encroaching Gallic army in modern-day central France. More than two millennia later, archaeologists have discovered the first preserved example of similar defensive stakes, which likely protected an ancient silver mine.

A student team made the unprecedented discovery in the area of Bad Ems, halfway between the present-day cities of Bonn and Mainz in Germany, on the former northern border of the Roman Empire.

Archaeologists have been working in the area of Bad Ems since the late 19th century. Early excavations yielded processed silver ore along with wall foundations and metal slag, so researchers believed that they comprised smelting works dating to the early second century A.D. But in 2016, a hunter noticed odd crop formations and told archaeologists at Goethe University, who later found that the area hosted a 20-acre (8 hectares) double-ditched Roman camp with the remains of around 40 wooden watchtowers. Read more.

Smooth wooden phallus found at a Roman fort was likely a sex toy

A wooden phallus found in a ditch at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort in central England, may have been used for sexual purposes, new research suggests.

Archaeologists unearthed the roughly 7-inch-long (17 centimeters) phallus in 1992 and suspected that it could have been used a number of ways, including as a pestle or a good-luck charm to "ward off evil." However, a more recent analysis using 3D scans of the object revealed that both ends were worn smooth compared to the rest of the piece, indicating that it had been touched repeatedly over time, according to the study, published Feb. 20 in the journal Antiquity.

The object is likely the "first known example of a non-miniaturized disembodied phallus made of wood in the Roman world" and was one of numerous items discarded in a second century A.D. ditch, including shoes and dress accessories, small tools, and craft waste items, like scraps of leather and worked antlers, according to a statement. Read more.

AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great

A 2,000-year-old "lost book" discussing the dynasties that succeeded Alexander the Great may finally be deciphered nearly two millennia after the text was partially destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and, centuries later, handed off to Napoleon Bonaparte.

The reason for the breakthrough? Researchers are using machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, to discern the faint ink on the rolled-up papyrus scroll.

"It's probably a lost work," Richard Janko, the Gerald F. Else distinguished university professor of classical studies at the University of Michigan, said during a presentation at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies, held in New Orleans last month. The research is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Only small parts of the heavily damaged text can be read right now. "It contains the names of a number of Macedonian dynasts and generals of Alexander," Janko said, noting that it also includes "several mentions of Alexander himself." Read more.

Massive, 1.2 million-year-old tool workshop in Ethiopia made by 'clever' group of unknown human relatives

More than 1.2 million years ago, an unknown group of human relatives may have created sharp hand axes from volcanic glass in a "stone-tool workshop" in what is now Ethiopia, a new study finds.

This discovery suggests that ancient human relatives may have regularly manufactured stone artifacts in a methodical way more than a half-million years earlier than the previous record, which dates to about 500,000 years ago in France and England.

Because it requires skill and knowledge, stone tool use among early hominins, the group that includes humans and the extinct species more closely related to humans than any other animal, can offer a window into the evolution of the human mind. A key advance in stone tool creation was the emergence of so-called workshops. At these sites, archaeologists can see evidence of hominins methodically and repeatedly crafting stone artifacts. Read more.

Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin' for primitive cave dweller stereotypes

In a cave just south of Lisbon, archaeological deposits conceal a Paleolithic dinner menu. As well as stone tools and charcoal, the site of Gruta de Figueira Brava contains rich deposits of shells and bones with much to tell us about the Neanderthals that lived there—especially about their meals. A study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology shows that 90,000 years ago, these Neanderthals were cooking and eating crabs.

"At the end of the Last Interglacial, Neanderthals regularly harvested large brown crabs," said Dr. Mariana Nabais of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), lead author of the study. "They were taking them in pools of the nearby rocky coast, targeting adult animals with an average carapace width of 16cm. The animals were brought whole to the cave, where they were roasted on coals and then eaten." Read more.

Stockpile of 2,000-year-old gemstones found in Roman bathhouse drain

Archaeologists recently uncovered a stockpile of 2,000-year-old glittering gemstones clogging the drain of a Roman bathhouse near Hadrian's Wall in Carlisle, England.

The 30 engraved, semi-precious stones — known as intaglios — likely dropped out of the ring settings worn by bathers who took to the waters sometime during the second and third centuries A.D., The Guardian reported.

"It's incredible," Frank Giecco, the archaeologist who led the excavation, told The Guardian. "It's caught everyone's imagination. They were just falling out of people's rings who were using the baths. They were set with a vegetable glue and, in the hot and sweaty bathhouse, they fell out of the ring settings." Read more.

Elaborate underground embalming workshop discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists at Saqqara have finally identified the many embalming ingredients used to mummify the dead in ancient Egypt. They also deciphered how those different ingredients — many of which came from distant lands — were used.

In 2016, an international team of archaeologists discovered the underground embalming workshop near the pyramid of Unas, south of Cairo. The complex of rooms held approximately 100 ceramic vessels dating to the 26th dynasty of Egypt (664 to 525 B.C.). While many of the vessels had inscriptions identifying their contents, some of the embalming substances remained a mystery.

Now, in a first-of-its-kind study published Feb. 1 in the journal Nature, researchers have used chemical analysis of the resins coating the vessels to identify the contents. Read more.

Egyptian mummies covered in gold are rare, and we may have just found the oldest

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold.

The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as Hekashepes, and whose remains were found covered with gold.

"When the sarcophagus was examined, it was found to be completely sealed with mortar, just as the ancient Egyptians had left it 4300 years ago. When the lid was raised, we found the mummy of a man covered with gold leaf," the team said in a statement posted on the Facebook page of Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who led the team that made the discoveries. Read more.

52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 52-foot-long (16 meters) papyrus containing sections from the Book of the Dead. The more than 2,000-year-old document was found within a coffin in a tomb south of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

There are many texts from The Book of the Dead, and analysis of the new finding may shed light on ancient Egyptian funerary traditions. Conservation work is already complete, and the papyrus is being translated into Arabic, according to a translated statement, which was released in conjunction with an event marking Egyptian Archaeologists Day on Jan. 14.

This is the first full papyrus to be uncovered at Saqqara in more than 100 years, Mostafa Waziry, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said, according to the statement. Read more.