Archaeology
Ancient pottery shows the earliest evidence of humans doing math
The numbers of petals painted on 8,000-year-old pottery showed a distinct numerical pattern.
By Tom Metcalfe
Archaeology
More Stories in Archaeology
- Archaeology
Neandertals used fire-making tools 400,000 years ago
Flint, iron pyrite and fire residues found at an ancient site in England offer the earliest clear evidence of people lighting fires.
- Archaeology
This ancient Siberian ice mummy had intricate tattoos
The 2,000-year-old woman wears ink of prowling tigers and a fantastical griffin-like beast. Her tattoos were inked by two artists — a beginner and an expert.
- Humans
Scientists Say: Artifact
Take note: This term might describe ancient pottery shards in the field of archeology. But in statistics, it’s a misleading pattern in data.
- Archaeology
Knotted strands of 500-year-old hair tell a surprising story
Used in a device called a khipu, the hair reveals the owner’s simple diet. Those data now suggest that in Incan society, even some commoners kept records.
- Archaeology
This may be the oldest, most complete Neandertal fingerprint ever seen
The print appears in a red ochre dot, which a Neandertal left on the ‘nose’ of a facelike rock roughly 43,000 years ago.
- Genetics
DNA confirmed a Pueblo tribe’s ties to Chaco Canyon
DNA supports Picuris Pueblo stories of their ancestry going back more than 1,000 years — to the famous Chaco Canyon site.
- Archaeology
Roman gladiators really fought big cats, ancient bite marks suggest
This is the first skeletal evidence of an ancient Roman gladiator show — or execution — involving an exotic animal.
- Archaeology
Let’s learn about radiocarbon dating
Through the power of radioactivity, carbon dating can reveal the age of many fossils and artifacts.
- Fossils
50 years on, Lucy offers lessons for achieving fossil fame
Since the discovery of Lucy's skeleton in 1974, a catchy name and ongoing scientific debates have kept this human ancestor in the spotlight.
