Project Archives

Researchers sequenced the DNA from more than 400 Viking remains including from this female skeleton named Kata discovered in a Viking burial site in Varnhem, Sweden.(Image: © Västergötlands Museum) By Yasemin Saplakoglu The research “debunks the modern image of Vikings.” Those ferocious seafaring warriors that explored, raided and traded across Europe from the late eighth toContinue reading “Vikings may not have been blonde, or Scandinavian”

Archaeologists looking for traces of the Vikings in Istanbul have discovered a Viking neighborhood in the ancient city of Bathonea near Lake Küçükçekmece, officials told daily Milliyet. “Vikings lived in Istanbul between the eighth and the 11th centuries in different periods. We have found their exact settlement area to be between the ninth and 11th centuries in the BathoneaContinue reading “Archaeologists unearth Viking neighborhood in Istanbul”

(Courtesy Rafael Lewis) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—The Jerusalem Post reports that Ashkelon Academic College and University of Haifa archaeologist Rafael Lewis believes he has pinpointed the site of the Battle of Arsuf, a key engagement of the Third Crusade. Long celebrated in the West as a great victory, the battle took place on September 7, 1191, whenContinue reading “Crusader-Era Battlefield Identified”

The former Albany Transportation Center in Downtown Albany. By WALB News Team ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – Before the groundwork is laid for a new transportation center in Downtown Albany, an archaeological excavation is underway to preserve the history of the Good Life City’s Freedom Historic District. The excavation includes Albany’s Harlem District and is currently underwayContinue reading “Albany archaeological excavation may uncover historic district at transportation center site”

Two pre-Hispanic carved stone monuments believed to date back more than 1,500 years have been uncovered on a mountaintop in central Mexico. Archaeologists say the site – which in its heyday would have had seven pyramids, a ceremonial area and a games court – was found by villagers. It is thought to have been builtContinue reading “Mexico archaeology: Pre-Hispanic ruins found on mountaintop”

MACKINAW CITY, MICHIGAN—UpNorthLive reports that excavators working at Mackinac State Historic Parks have uncovered a heart-shaped ring, a sleeve button made of glass or crystal, a gunflint, a plain pewter button, a plain brass button, and part of a bone knife handle at the site of a house at Colonial Michilimackinac, a fort first established byContinue reading “Eighteenth-Century Artifacts Uncovered in Michigan”

By Jack Guy, CNN One of the sites was found in the Cape Bruguieres Channel, off northwestern Australia. (CNN)Researchers have found the first confirmed underwater Aboriginal archaeological sites off the coast of Australia, and predict that there are many more to be discovered. Many settlements were built in areas that were on dry land at the end ofContinue reading “Archaeologists find ancient Aboriginal sites underwater, off the coast of Australia”

A new genetic study suggests that Polynesians made an epic voyage to South America 800 years ago. By Carl Zimmer Children play in the ocean behind Ahu Tongariki on Easter Island.Credit…Josh Haner/The New York Times About 3,000 years ago, people on the eastern edge of Asia began sailing east, crossing thousands of miles of ocean toContinue reading “Some Polynesians Carry DNA of Ancient Native Americans, New Study Finds”

By CALLUM HOARE ARCHAEOLOGISTS were able to uncover more than 14,000 settlement sites in northeastern Syria thanks to help from satellite technology from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The small communities were hiding in the overgrown landscape of the Middle East, but scientists say they hold vital clues to ancient civilisations that once inhabited this area. ByContinue reading “Archaeology breakthrough: How NASA satellite exposed 8,000-year-old ‘lost civilisations’”