Ireland’s ancient kings married their sisters and fathered inbred children to maintain dynastic bloodlines, 5,000-year-old genomes found in Newgrange tomb revealed. Experts from Trinity College Dublin came to this conclusion after studying the DNA of a man who was buried in the famous passage tomb in Ireland’s County Meath. The individual appears to have been the … Read more
Remains of a Bronze Age settlement dating back 3,500 years are unearthed on the ancient Silk Road by Chinese archaeologists Ruins of two large buildings and three smaller buildings were discovered Experts also excavated a large number of ceramic pieces and animal bones Traces of Bronze Age living were found under a group of 2,000-year-old … Read more
Prehistoric pioneers moving out of Africa and on to Arabia 5,000 years ago feasted on shellfish as a way to sustain themselves, a new study found. Archaeologists from the University of York studied fossil reefs near to the now-submerged Red Sea shorelines that marked prehistoric migratory routes. These routes took our ancestors out of Africa … Read more
A schoolboy who ditched his homework to take a walk along the edge of a lake got a surprise when he stumbled upon the wreck of an ancient longboat. Cathal McDonagh, from Lisacul in County Roscommon, Ireland, spotted the boat as he was wading in the shallows of Cloonacolly Lough at the back of his … Read more
Asteroids colliding with the Earth four billion years ago created the building blocks of life on our planet and possibly even on ancient Mars, a new study claims. Researchers from Tohoku University in Japan recreated the conditions present in seabed craters made by the space rocks crashing into the young Earth. The team say these … Read more
Ancient stone arch forming part of Jerusalem’s ‘great causeway bridge’ to bring worshippers onto Temple Mount was built between 20 BC and 20 AD during the reign of King Herod, radiocarbon dating reveals Archaeologists used method on charred seeds and stems between the stones They also found alterations had been made to archway between 30 … Read more
Ancient skeletons, found in a remarkably well-preserved state in Central American rock shelters, hold clues to the origins of maize as a staple of the human diet. The remains were found in the Maya Mountains of Belize and were buried at various points in the past 10,000 years, according to University of Exeter team. Researchers measured … Read more
A ‘black goo’ used by the ancient Egyptians to cover mummy cases was made from a mixture of animal fat, tree resin, beeswax and crude oil from the Dead Sea, scientists have revealed. Several mummies were given this bizarre treatment from the 19th to 22nd Dynasty, between 1,300 and 750 BC. One such by the … Read more
Two million-year-old hominin with human-like thumb knuckles is the earliest ancient human ancestor to use its hands to grasp objects as well as climb trees, study shows Australopithecus sediba is a distant relative that lived two million years ago Study claims its fingers were suited to climbing and grabbing branches But its thumb was well-suited … Read more
Climate change could trigger an ancient El Niño-like pattern in the Indian Ocean that would create extreme weather such as floods, storms and droughts across the globe. El Niño is the name of a current recurring climate phenomenon across the tropical Pacific, which shifts back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and triggers disruptions of … Read more