Perforated shell artefact from Murrawong (Glen Lossie) on the Lower Murray River in South Austrtalia. Credit: Flinders University

Aboriginals Finely Serrated And Perforated Shell Artifacts – Evidence From The Murray River, Australia

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – New research by archaeologists has described rare shell artifacts discovered at Calperum Station and Murrawong (Glen Lossie) on the Murray River in South Australia. The artifacts were found in sites known to archaeologists as shell middens during field trips by Flinders and Griffith University scientists, in collaboration with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal […]

Fixing Archaeology's Dating Problem - New Method Developed By Scientists

Fixing Archaeology’s Dating Problem – New Method Developed By Scientists

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists have long had a dating problem. The radiocarbon analysis typically used to reconstruct past human demographic changes relies on a method easily skewed by radiocarbon calibration curves and measurement uncertainty. And there’s never been a statistical fix that works—until now. “Nobody has systematically explored the problem, or shown how […]

Scientists Explore How Neanderthals Caught Birds In Caves For Food

Scientists Explore How Neanderthals Caught Birds In Caves For Food

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Neanderthals, our closest relatives, became extinct between 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Since the discovery of the first Neanderthal fossil 165 years ago, scientists have learned more about Neanderthals—including their culture, sociality, ecology, diet, control of fire, production and use of tools, physiology, and even their genomic code—than about any […]

Milk Enabled Massive Steppe Migration

Milk Enabled Mᴀssive Steppe Migration

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – The long-distance migrations of early Bronze Age pastoralists in the Eurasian steppe have captured widespread interest. But the factors behind their remarkable spread have been heavily debated by archaeologists. Now, a new study in Nature provides clues regarding a critical component of the herders’ lifestyle that was likely instrumental to their success: […]

Unique Life-Sized Camel Carvings In Northern Arabia Are Much Older Than Previously Thouhgt

Unique Life-Sized Camel Carvings In Northern Arabia Are Much Older Than Previously Thought

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – The monumental reliefs at the Camel Site in northern Arabia are unique: three rock spurs are decorated with naturalistic, life-sized carvings of camels and equids. In total, 21 reliefs have been identified. Based on similarities with artworks found in Petra, Jordan, the rock site was initially dated from the Nabataean […]

World's Oldest Hand And Footprints Discovered On The Tibetan Plateau Are 226,000-Year-Old!

World’s Oldest Hand And Footprints Discovered On The Tibetan Plateau Are 226,000-Year-Old!

Conny Waters- AncientPages.com – An international group of scientists has identified what may be the oldest work of art, a sequence of hand and footprints discovered on the Tibetan Plateau. The prints date back to the middle of the Pleistocene era, between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago – three to four times older than the […]

1,500-Year-Old Joint Burial Offers A Look Into Attitudes Toward Love And The Afterlife

1,500-Year-Old Joint Burial Offers A Look Into Atтιтudes Toward Love And The Afterlife

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – On the left side of the grave, the male skeleton lays with one arm outstretched, holding the abdomen of the female skeleton by its side. The woman’s face is pressed into his shoulder, left hand resting across his waist; on her fourth finger is a simple silver ring. The postures […]

Cousin-Marriages Were Uncommon In The Ancient World

Cousin-Marriages Were Uncommon In The Ancient World

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Today, more than 10 percent of all global marriages occur among first or second cousins. While cousin-marriages are common practice in some societies, unions between close relatives are discouraged in others. Scientists from the Max Planck Insтιтute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the University of Chicago have now […]

The Dharmarajika Buddhist monastery — ruins at the Dharmarajika, Taxila archaeological site. Located in ancient Taxila — in Punjab Province, Pakistan.

Takshashila: Renowned Learning Center That Attracted Buddhist Masters, Disciples And Students Of The World

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – According to available ancient references, Takshashila was the first and earliest Buddhist center of Vedic learning, and the city of Takshashila itself also flourished as the center of trade and commerce, which took place under the early dynasties of rulers. The Dharmarajika Buddhist monastery — ruins at the Dharmarajika, Taxila […]

European Medieval Burial Practices Were Different Than Previously Thought

European Medieval Burial Practices Were Different Than Previously Thought

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – During the middle of the sixth century CE a dramatic transformation began in how the people of western Europe buried their ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. The transition from ‘furnished’ inhumation (those with grave goods to include jewelry, dress accessories, tools and personal items etc) to ‘unfurnished’ (those without grave goods) was widespread and […]