History

Improved radiocarbon dating aided by a solar flare in the year 775 sheds light on the early days of Vikings and global trading in medieval times.

In 985, Viking explorer Erik the Red led a group of Icelandic farmers to Greenland, where they established a settlement on the west coast. The Norse settlers strove through winter cold, food shortages, and, in the end, a shifting climate. Nevertheless, finally, seemingly suddenly, they vanished, and their mysterious...

Benjamin Franklin was so busy as an inventor, publisher, scientist, diplomat and U.S. founding father that it's easy to lose track of his accomplishments.

Four suspects in the shocking theft of a Celtic gold coin hoard from the Celtic-Roman Museum in Manching, Bavaria, have been arrested. The bad news is one of the suspects was carrying 18 gold lumps in a plastic bag at the time of his arrest.

When people think of ancient paleoart, cave paintings (pictographs), rock engravings (petroglyphs), images on trees (dendroglyphs) or arrangements of rocks in patterns (geoglyphs) might come to mind. Until recently it was only possible to speculate that the oldest art might have been in sand.

For the first time, researchers have developed a model to estimate how much energy the original colonizers of New Zealand expended to maintain their body temperatures on the cold, harrowing ocean journey from Southeast Asia.

A team of archaeologists and environmental researchers have been exploring early Polynesian presence on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands.

Analysis of a wooden stick thought to be around 300,000 years old suggests it was designed to be thrown rotationally, rather than as a spear

Oil lamps and fragments of human skull lead archaeologists to believe Teomim Cave was used for necromancy, or communication with dead, some 1,700 years ago

A rescue archaeology excavation at the site of railroad expansion in the Askizsky region of Khakassia in Siberia has unearthed the grave of a Late Bronze Age man buried wearing a “charioteer’s belt,” a flat bronze plate with two curved hooks at the end reminiscent of a yoke used to harness draft animals. This device is...

Scientists from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) report they have discovered a previously unknown 2,000-year-old Celtiberian city. The find was made when the research team took a closer look at a limestone quarry in the Soria town of Deza. According to researchers, it is possible the site could be the lost city of...

One event Vikings feared most was Ragnarök, the Doom of the Gods. While investigating the Icelandic Surtshellir Cave, scientists discovered how Vikings attempted to prevent Ragnarök.

A rare polissoir, a stone used by Neolithic people to sharpen and polish stone axe heads 5,000 years ago, has been discovered in the Valley of Stones National Nature Reserve in Dorset. It is only the second polissoir found undisturbed in situ, known as an “earthfast” stone, in England.

About 120 well-preserved and intact oil lamps dating to the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods were found n the Te’omim Cave.. Is it possible that all the oil lamps, human skulls, weapons, and pottery vessels were used as part of necromancy rituals that took place in the cave during the Late Roman period?

An unusual burial of a Roman soldier, his iron sword, crossbow fibula and hobnailed shoes attesting to his profession and rank, has been discovered in Wales. He was buried face-down in prone position and large nails were found at the back of his neck, shoulder and between his feet. This atypical posture and the presence of the...

British Library uses new technique to uncover passages of Camden’s Annals, the first official account of Elizabeth’s reign

The discovery of a mysterious Viking grave in the Swedish Mountains last year was hailed as one of the country's greatest and most exciting archaeological finds. Archaeologists are now excavating the grave and know more about the buried Viking woman.

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/1443411...

The intact marble head of a female deity has been discovered during redevelopment works of the Mausoleum of Augustus and the surrounding Piazzale Augusto Imperatore. The life-sized head is finely carved out of Parian marble, a bright white, flawless stone quarried from the Greek island of Paros. Parian marble was highly prized...

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If you think cannabis possesses a broad range of applications, olive oil is going to blow your mind! Humans have been hip to this miracle elixir since approximately 2500 BCE, when Mediterranean dwellers used it as lamp fuel and to anoint royalty, warriors, and other VIPs.

Public outcry over whistleblower William Morgan's disappearance gave rise to the Anti-Masonic Party, which nominated a candidate for president in 1832

Scientists have uncovered a spectacular mosaic panel in Israel's Lower Galilee. In the center of the mosaic is an enigmatic Hebrew inscription framed within a wreath.

We dare not speculate as to what Leonardo DaVinci would make of artificial intelligence. We are, however, fairly confident that he would love the Internet.