Archaeology
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ArchaeologyA medieval grave may have held a powerful nonbinary person
A 1,000-year-old grave in Finland, once thought to hold a respected woman warrior, may belong to someone who didn’t have a strictly male or female identity.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologySkeletons point to world’s oldest known shark attacks
The newfound remains came from people who had lived thousands of years ago in Peru and Japan, half a world apart.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyHow torchlight, lamps and fire illuminated Stone Age cave art
Experiments with stone lamps and torches are helping scientists see 12,500-year-old cave art with fresh eyes.
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ArchaeologyFossils unearthed in Israel reveal possible new human ancestor
They come from a previously unknown Stone Age group that may represent a complex mashup of early members of our genus Homo.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyTennessee site yields oldest known American tattoo tools
Native Americans may have used sharpened turkey leg bones as tattoo needles between 5,520 and 3,620 years ago.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyEurope’s ancient humans often hooked up with Neandertals
DNA from ancient bones shows humans and Neandertals were regularly mixing genes by about 45,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyUnusual mud shell covers an Egyptian mummy
In ancient Egypt, commoners may have been mummified and then encased in mud to repair damage to the body or to imitate royal techniques used with royals.
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AnimalsHarsh Ice Age winters may have helped turn wolves into dogs
In the Ice Age, Arctic hunters may have turned to some game for their fatty bones. Much of those animals’ meat might have been left to domesticate dogs.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyWhat the mummy’s curse reveals about your brain
A man died soon after opening a mummy’s tomb. But don’t assume the mummy killed him. Statistics help explain why coincidences may not be meaningful.
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ArchaeologyThis prehistoric woman from Peru hunted big game
Women in the Americas speared large prey as early as 9,000 years ago, new archaeological evidence suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
AnimalsSee what these animal mummies are keeping under wraps
A new method of 3-D scanning mummified animals reveals life and death details of a snake, a bird and a cat that lived in ancient Egypt.
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ArchaeologyStonehenge enhanced voices and music within the stone ring
Scientists built a 'Stonehenge Lego' model in a sound chamber to study how sound would have behaved in the ancient stone circle.
By Bruce Bower