archaeologists

Stone tools found buried deep in the sediment of the Korolevo quarry in Ukraine are rewriting the history of human migration.The seemingly unassuming chunks of rock are tools once used by Homo erectus, a direct ancestor of ours, and new dating reveals they represent the earliest evidence of hominid habitation on the European continent."Previously it was thought that our earliest ancestors could not survive in colder, more northerly latitudes without the use of fire or complex stone tool technology," says archaeologist…

Site Manager Jonathon Failor ’17 talks with archaeologists from Integrated Environmental Solutions as they search for artifacts during the townsite excavation at Washington on the Brazos State Historic Site on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Credit: Laura McKenzie/Texas A&M Division of Marketing & Communications A short walk from the banks of the Brazos River in Washington County, members of a small crew dressed in sun…

One of the ceramic vases analyzed . Credit: Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos Archaeologists have analyzed chemical residues from ceramic vases at the city of Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala, revealing physical evidence of tobacco use in Mesoamerica, likely for ritual and therapeutic purposes. Cotzumalhuapa was one of Mesoamerica's greatest cities during the…

Finds from Vaakunakylä, including wartime bullet casings, high-end porcelain and a child’s doll. Credit: authors Archaeologists have excavated the former working-class neighborhood of Vaakunakylä near Oulu, west-central Finland and interviewed its previous inhabitants, revealing the rich heritage of this marginalized community. Vaakunakylä was…

A small, tube-shaped stone container discovered in Iran seems to have once encased a bright red pigment similar to lipstick.Analysis of traces left inside the container show ingredients that are remarkably close to the ingredients in lip pigments used today. It is, scientists say, probably the earliest known example of the use of lip paint by humans.The ancient lipstick appears indicative of a culture advanced enough for the knowledge of metallurgy and chemistry required to develop such innovations."The deep red…

An archaeologist takes samples of pollen found in soil to understand the changing vegetation of a site: a companion technique to the authors' analysis of hazelnut shells. Credit: Nils Forshed. If we could stand in a landscape that our Mesolithic ancestors called home, what would we see around us? Scientists have devised a method of analyzing preserved hazelnut shells to tell us whether the microhabitats around archaeological…

These images are of a tube-shaped bead made of bone that is about 12,940 years old. The bead was discovered at Wyoming’s La Prele Mammoth site by University of Wyoming archaeology Professor Todd Surovell and his research team. Credit: Todd SurovellProfessor Todd Surovell, an archaeologist at the University of Wyoming, along with his research team, uncovered a bone bead shaped like a tube, which is approximately 12,940 years old. This artifact, discovered at the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, represents the…

These images are of a tube-shaped bead made of bone that is about 12,940 years old. The bead was discovered at Wyoming's La Prele Mammoth site by University of Wyoming archaeology Professor Todd Surovell and his research team. Credit: Todd Surovell University of Wyoming archaeology Professor Todd Surovell and his team of collaborators have discovered a tube-shaped bead made of bone that is about 12,940 years old. The bead,…

An aerial view of an old shipwreck on the shore of Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on January 30, 2024. A shipwreck believed to date from the 19th century has washed up on the snow-covered shores of Canada's Atlantic island province of Newfoundland, attracting a bevy of looky-loos and archaeologists probing its mysterious past. Over the past weekend,…

During lower sea levels a vast archipelago formed on the Australian northwest continental shelf (top). A modern-day example of an archipelago on a submerged continental shelf is the Åland Islands near Finland (bottom). Credit: US Geological Survey, Geoscience AustraliaA team of archaeologists and earth scientists have recently unveiled insights into the ancient terrains of Sahul, the landmass that during the Ice Age included Australia and New Guinea. Their research, which was published in Quaternary Science Reviews,…