archeology

Glimpse into the ancient Maya empire through the writing of its own inhabitants.

And her clothing tells an important story, says archeologist Rita Wright.

Researchers discovered something modern humans had never before seen—a flashy Neanderthal horn collection.

A new discovery pushes back the origin of these technologies by about 40,000 years.

Archaeologists turn to other scientific fields to fill in the picture of how victims lived and why they died.

The strange bronze artifact perplexed scholars for more than a century, including how it traveled so far from home.

An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

The spikes in their mouths would have helped them catch squid or fish.

The monsoon rains were not always so reliable.

The artifacts were often made from found objects – an Ivory dish-soap bottle transformed into an earthenware figure.

Was our distant ancestor a biped or not – i.e., human or not human?

Sex can be a death trap even for modern toad and frog species.

The weird and wild ways mummy fever swept through Europe.

Yorkicystis lived during the “Cambrian explosion,” 539 million to 485 million years ago – hundreds of million years before the dinosaurs.

As always, aDNA research raises as many questions as answers.

Was this a moment when humans interbred with Neanderthals?

Many key inventions were unique: one-offs.

It’s all well and good to discuss how our humanity evolved – but what even is humanity?

A biotech startup has received $15 million in funding to genetically recreate woolly mammoths and rewild them in Siberia.

Searching for happiness in the midst of personal or societal crises are nothing new.

Long before Alexandria became the center of Egyptian trade, there was Thônis-Heracleion. But then it sank.

The chariot survived ancient eruptions and modern-day looters to become a part of the world heritage site.

While other factors exist, sexual prowess appears to have helped determine the role of Protoceratops frills.

An archaeologist considers the history and biology of what defines a taste of home.

Map shows oldest buildings for each U.S. state – but also hints at what’s missing.

The Chumash people poked bits of psychoactive plants into cave ceilings next to their paintings.

In “The Immortality Key,” Brian Muraresku speculates that the Eucharist could have once been more colorful.

All the fun of opening up a mummy, without the fear of unleashing a plague.

To war is human – and Neanderthals were very like us.

Scientists have identified the largest ever assemblage of mammoth bones.