Latest articles by Kristina Killgrove
Native Americans invented dice and games of chance more than 12,000 years ago, archaeological study reveals
A new study shows that dice and games of chance date back thousands of years earlier than experts previously thought.
Tudor Heart: A Renaissance gold necklace featuring a French-English pun on the love between Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon
Astonishing Artifacts A chance discovery of a 16th-century necklace reveals new information about Tudor-era jewelry styles.
1,000-year-old altar and human sacrifices from Toltec Empire discovered in Mexico
Archaeologists found the altar and human bones during a construction project near Tula, an ancient city that was the capital of the pre-Hispanic Toltec Empire.
Chemistry student develops clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus
Researchers have developed a prototype nail polish to help more people access electrically-charged touch screens.
Urfa Man: An 11,500-year-old life-size statue of a man holding his penis
Astonishing Artifacts Discovered in a city in southern Turkey, this life-size male statue may represent an important deceased ancestor.
Cannonball dating to the Alamo battle unearthed 1 day before 190th anniversary of the conflict that killed Davy Crockett
An intact bronze cannonball unearthed near the Alamo was likely used in the 1836 battle between Mexico and the Republic of Texas.
Unusual burials of Celtic 'warriors' discovered in France point to violent deaths
Archaeologists have unearthed a Celtic cemetery in France that holds 18 unusual seated burials.
Monte Verde, one of the earliest Indigenous sites in South America, is much younger than thought, study claims. But others call it 'egregiously poor geological work.'
A new analysis of archaeological layers at Monte Verde in Chile suggests that people lived there 4,200 years ago, not 14,500 years ago as originally proposed. But many experts point to errors in the methods.
Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius: The only surviving larger-than-life-size statue of a pagan Roman emperor — a rarity that Michelangelo refurbished
Astonishing Artifacts The giant, one-of-a-kind statue of a Roman emperor on horseback depicts him addressing his troops.
Children wearing bronze 'warrior' belts discovered in 2,500-year-old cemetery in Italy
Archaeologists have uncovered the graves of two pre-Roman children who were buried like male warriors.
Russian Revolution gold coin hoard worth over $500,000 discovered during house construction
Archaeologists excavating the foundation of a historic house in Russia discovered 409 coins buried before the revolution in 1917.
2,000-year-old Phoenician coin was used as bus fare in England, but 'how it got there will always be a mystery'
The ancient coin was probably minted in what is now Spain in the first century B.C., but no one knows why it was used to pay a 1950s transport fare.
Asante spider: A rare African sword ornament from Ghana's Gold Coast that later helped a man in Texas barter for his life
Astonishing Artifacts The spider-shaped sword ornament was created in Ghana in the 19th century and was passed down in a Texas family for generations.
Ancient 'alien-like' skulls have been found on every continent but Antarctica. Anthropologists are starting to figure out why.
Humans have practiced head shaping for tens of thousands of years, and anthropologists are beginning to uncover clues as to why.
9 ways people have modified their bodies since the dawn of time, from foot binding to castration
Many types of body modification date back hundreds or thousands of years, revealing our ancient ancestors were not that different from us.
Climate disasters caused societal upheaval 3,000 years ago in China, study of 'oracle bones' hints
Some civilizations in inland China underwent dramatic changes and population drops 3,000 years ago. Now, researchers are using oracle bones, archaeological evidence and climate modeling to find out why.
Stone Age woman was buried like a man, revealing flexible gender roles 7,000 years ago in Hungary
A study of 125 skeletons from two Neolithic cemeteries in Hungary has revealed that men and women had clear gender roles — but sometimes those roles were fluid.
Lady of Elche: A 2,400-year-old bust of a mysterious 'highborn' woman from pre-Roman Spain
Astonishing artifacts The mysterious Lady of Elche was crafted from a large limestone block before the Romans ruled Spain.
Paleolithic humans invented an 'early predecessor to writing' at least 40,000 years ago, carved signs suggest
A statistical analysis of a series of signs carved into artifacts from around 40,000 years ago suggests humans developed proto-writing in the Stone Age.
Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover
A new method of studying the contents of soil samples has revealed Stone Age people in Sweden were buried in decorated fur-and-feather clothing.
Humans and Neanderthals interbred — but it was mostly male Neanderthals and female humans who coupled up, study finds
A preference for pairings between male Neanderthals and female Homo sapiens may answer the question of why there are "Neanderthal deserts" in human chromosomes.
Babies weren't supposed to be mourned in the Roman Empire. These rare liquid-gypsum burials prove otherwise.
Despite historical records saying otherwise, Roman babies were mourned at death, research into unique plaster burials from York reveals.
Far fewer people are related to Genghis Khan than previously assumed, new genomic study suggests
Some experts have suggested as many as 1 in 200 men in the world are related to Genghis Khan. But a new genomic study reveals the number is significantly lower.
