The 44th Conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology will be held in Oxford between 12th-14th December 2024, with the theme Past Environments for Emerging Worlds. It will be hosted by the School of Archaeology of the University of Oxford and Oxford Archaeology, one of the UK’s leading archaeological practices. Credit: University of Oxford/Oxford Archaeology The field of … Read more
You have to wonder how people originally figured out how to eat some foods that are beloved today. The cassava plant is toxic if not carefully processed through multiple steps. Yogurt is basically old milk that’s been around for a while and contaminated with bacteria. And who discovered that popcorn could be a toasty, tasty … Read more
Significant archaeological discoveries have been made near Monastero, a suburban area of Aquileia in northeastern Italy, during the construction of a new cycling path along the Via Gemina. Remains of Roman structures unearthed in Aquileia. Credit: Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio – Friuli Venezia Giulia This project, funded under the European Union’s Next Generation … Read more
by Michelle Spear, Professor of Anatomy, University of Bristol — In recent years, skulls, bones, and even modified human remains have appeared with increasing frequency on online marketplaces and social media platforms. What might once have been confined to specialist collectors has become a global, online trade. The market is fuelled by diverse groups of … Read more
Queen Nefertiti – The Enigmatic Queen of Ancient Egypt (Quiz)
by Paul Pettitt — The ability to make art has often been considered a hallmark of our species. Over a century ago, prehistorians even had trouble believing that modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic (between 45,000 and 12,000 years ago) were capable of artistic flair. Reconstruction of a male homo neanderthalensis with child. Natural History … Read more
by Serdar Yalçin — The earliest form of the signature came from ancient Iraq in the form of cylinder seals. Mesopotamians, the ancient inhabitants of the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, are credited for many firsts in human history, including writing, urbanism and the state. Among these inventions, cylinder seals are perhaps the … Read more
by Adrian R Bell, Anne Curry, Jason Sadler — When you picture medieval warfare, you might think of epic battles and famous monarchs. But what about the everyday soldiers who actually filled the ranks? Until recently, their stories were scattered across handwritten manuscripts in Latin or French and difficult to decipher. Now, our online database … Read more
