Archaeology, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2021

Why did the Maya civilization collapse?

The Maya have lived in Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula since at least 1800 B.C. and flourished in the region for thousands of years. According to countless studies, the Maya civilization collapsed between A.D. 800 and 1000. But though the term Maya collapse brings up images of ruins overgrown...

Jul 31, 2021

Machu Picchu was built decades earlier than thought

The mountaintop Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in southern Peru was built and inhabited decades earlier than previously believed, according to new radiocarbon dates of human remains found at the archaeological site. The discovery that Machu Picchu was inhabited by 1420 — and possibly much earlier — has implications for...

Jun 30, 2021

500-year-old skulls with facial modification unearthed in Gabon

Men and women living in West Central Africa 500 years ago dramatically changed their looks by removing their front teeth, ancient skulls reveal. Archaeologists found the centuries-old altered skulls deep underground in a cave that could be reached only by rope, through a hole in the cavern's roof. The harrowing...

Mar 31, 2021

3,000-year-old 'Lost Golden City' discovered in Egypt

Archaeologists have found a Lost Golden City that's been buried under the ancient Egyptian capital of Luxor for the past 3,000 years, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced Thursday (April 8). The city, historically known as The Rise of Aten, was founded by Amenhotep III (ruled 1391-1353 B.C.),...

Feb 28, 2021

Scientists unlock the 'Cosmos' on the Antikythera Mechanism, the world's first computer

Scientists may have finally made a complete digital model for the Cosmos panel of a 2,000-year-old mechanical device called the Antikythera mechanism that's believed to be the world's first computer. First discovered in a Roman-era shipwreck by Greek sponge divers in 1900, the fragments of a shoebox-size contraption, once filled...

Feb 28, 2021

Biblical scroll discovered in 'Cave of Horror' in Israel

Fragments of a biblical scroll dating back 1,900 years have been discovered in the Cave of Horror in the Judean Desert in Israel. The cave's existence has been known for some time; it gets its macabre name from 40 ancient human skeletons that were discovered there in the 1960s. The...

Jan 31, 2021

Never-before-seen 'mud mummy' from Egypt discovered in wrong coffin

The discovery of a rare mud mummy from ancient Egypt has surprised archaeologists, who weren't expecting to find the deceased encased in a hardened mud shell. The mud carapace is an unparalleled find; it reveals a mortuary treatment not previously documented in the Egyptian archaeological record, the researchers wrote in...

Jan 31, 2021

Stash of more than 600 Roman-era silver coins discovered in Turkey

Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed a hoard of Roman-era silver coins in a jug buried near a stream. The 651 coins are about 2,100 years old, but despite their age, the text and imagery engraved on them is still legible, said Elif Özer, an archaeologist at Pamukkale University in Turkey...

Jan 31, 2021

Ancient Egypt's Mona Lisa? An elaborately drawn extinct goose, of course

Nearly five millennia ago, an artist inked an incredibly detailed painting of geese in the tomb of an Egyptian vizier and his wife. This Mona Lisa of ancient Egypt may depict a previously unknown and now extinct species of goose, a new analysis suggests. The 4,600-year-old painting, known as Meidum...

Dec 31, 2020

Woman's garden 'stepping stone' turns out to be an ancient Roman artifact

A seemingly dull marble slab, used for 10 years as a stepping stone in an English garden, is actually a rare ancient Roman engraving, a new analysis finds. The discovery surprised its owner, who learned that the 25-inch-long (63 centimeters) slab — a stone she had previously used as a...

Dec 31, 2020

How do scientists figure out how old things are?

The ability to precisely date, or identify the age of an object, can teach us when Earth formed, help reveal past climates and tell us how early humans lived. So how do scientists do it? Radiocarbon dating is the most common method by far, according to experts. This method involves...

Dec 31, 2020

Statue of mysterious woman with 'Star Wars'-like headdress found in Mexico

A 500-year-old statue of a mysterious woman wearing a large, Star Wars-like headdress has been discovered in central Mexico, according to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The 6.5-foot-tall (2 meters) limestone statue depicts a young woman dressed in elaborate clothes and jewelry, including a circular pendant, known...

Dec 31, 2020

Europe's earliest form of money found and it's a bunch of rings and axes

Got change for an axe? Thousands of years ago, people used bronze objects such as neck rings, axe blades and ribs (curved, flattened rods) as a type of prehistoric currency, making them the one of the oldest known forms of money in the world. Archaeologists recently analyzed more than 5,000...

Dec 31, 2020

Ritual monument discovered in Scotland dates to the time of Stonehenge

A massive cursus monument, a site for ancient rituals, that was built around the same time as Stonehenge, has been discovered on the Scottish Isle of Arran. Cursus monuments, which were constructed during the Neolithic period (4000 B.C. to 2500 B.C.) are long rectangular earthwork enclosures, meaning that they are...

Nov 30, 2022

Woman's name and tiny sketches hidden in 1,200-year-old manuscript

Researchers have discovered secret scribbles and sketches that were scratched into a medieval manuscript more than 1,200 years ago. The hidden markings, made without ink, were found in the pages of an early medieval book housed at a University of Oxford library in England. Researchers think they are the work...