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Mummy mask with wig: A 1,000-year-old 'false head' found in Peru that was crafted with real human hair and toxic red cinnabarAstonishing Artifacts Stylized masks like this one adorned pre-Inca mummies in Peru hundreds of years ago.
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Scientists show that DNA can last for up to 50,000 years in Africa — much longer than previously thoughtResearchers extracted DNA from long-dead animals that lived in South Africa during the last ice age, revealing that genetic material lasts longer in hot climates than was previously thought.
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5 'extremely rare' iron shackles discovered in France highlight Celtic slave trade 2,300 years agoArchaeologists were surprised to find evidence of shackles in a pre-Roman settlement in France.
archaeology -
Elamite helmet with divine figures: A warrior king's 3,500-year-old bronze armor depicting a raptor and gold-plated godsAstonishing Artifacts This bronze helmet has been decorated with ancient deities from a civilization that flourished before the Persian Empire took over the area that is now Iran.
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'Some people called it horrifying': 'Dinner with King Tut' author on using Egyptian mummification techniques on a modern-day human bodyInterview "A lot of the book was actually me floundering around, failing to complete the projects or figuring out what I was doing wrong," author Sam Kean says about his experimental archaeology adventures.
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'He looked like Ramses the Great': How experimental archaeologists used ancient techniques to mummify a modern-day personExcerpt In his new book, "Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations," science writer Sam Kean explains the odd and intriguing world of experimental archaeologists.
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Medieval babies and adults buried together in Sweden were not related, archaeologists discover — raising big questions about early Christian burial practicesIn an unexpected discovery, researchers found that three medieval Swedish cemeteries held children buried with unrelated adults.
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100,000 years ago, one of the earliest Homo sapiens outside Africa was stabbed in the face, analysis findsA microscopic analysis of the skull of Qafzeh 25 revealed a cut mark likely made by a stone tool 100,000 years ago.
3 Commentshuman-evolution -
'One of the oldest gravestones of a free Black person in America' discovered in BostonExperts have identified the gravestone of Boston, a free Black man who died in 1729.
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2,500-year-old tomb of a 'warrior prince' with chariot and helmet discovered on Italy's Adriatic coastArchaeologists have excavated a royal burial ground of the Piceni, a mysterious pre-Roman civilization in Italy that is not well known historically.
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The Stargazer: A 5,000-year-old marble statuette of a Stone Age woman looking skywardAstonishing Artifacts Only a handful of these small, sleek, marble figurines carved by enigmatic Stone Age people are known to exist.
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Diminutive species 'the Hobbit' did not hunt or control fire, deepening the mystery of its ancestry, dwarf elephant bones revealThe extinct human species Homo floresiensis was a scavenger, not a hunter, an analysis of fossil animal bones reveals.
8 Commentshuman-evolution -
Elite families ruled nomadic Scythian society 2,500 years ago, DNA analysis revealsNomads of the Eurasian steppe were ruled by elite dynastic families, including women, a large-scale genetic analysis reveals.
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Ancient-DNA analysis solves 500-year-old mystery of what killed 2 Medici brothersAn ancient-DNA analysis of the bones of two members of the Renaissance Medici family has confirmed they had malaria when they died.
4 Commentsarchaeology -
Sleep and Death cista handle: A 2,400-year-old sculpture depicting gods carrying away Zeus' son during the Trojan WarAstonishing Artifacts A small, bronze sculpture depicting a death scene in the Trojan War once graced an Etruscan box.
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'A weird result from an already weird hominin': Archaeologists discover all Homo naledi skeletons found in South African cave are femaleA cutting-edge analysis of the teeth from Homo naledi skeletons in a South African cave system found no males within the group. Experts are unsure what to make of the finding.
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Hanging lamp in the form of a sandaled right foot: A 1,600-year-old bronze lamp with multilayered Christian symbolismAstonishing Artifacts This rare, foot-shaped oil lamp had multiple layers of meaning in early Christianity, including symbolizing enlightenment and Christian pilgrimage.
2 CommentsAstonishing Artifacts -
'It's a huge deal': Archaeologists discover second cannonball from the Battle of the Alamo, and it was likely fired by TexansArchaeologists have discovered a second cannonball from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, and now they have one from each side.
6 Commentsamericas -
5,000-year-old burial of man with battered skull found in kiln in Germany — and he may have been a human sacrificeAn injured man from the Corded Ware culture was buried in a pit previously used as a kiln, and he may have been sacrificed.
3 Commentsarchaeology -
Lavish Roman villa discovered outside Rome's walls may have been frequented by Hadrian and Marcus AureliusThe villa, which came to light because it was illegally excavated, was found in an area frequented two millennia ago by the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.
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Mask of Mictlantecuhtli: A 500-year-old mask of the Aztec god of the underworld, who tore apart the dead as they entered his realmAstonishing Artifacts This skull-shaped mask was made to be used in a ritual involving the Aztec god of death.
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'Political motivations' of Inca emperor led to the sacrifice of 3 children on a snow-capped volcano over 500 years ago, study suggestsAn analysis of corn, cassava and coca plants discovered with sacrificed Inca children reveals they died during the reign of one of the last Inca emperors.
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Complete skin of an adult horse found with 10th-century woman and newborn in rare Siberian burialArchaeologists found a rare medieval burial of a woman, newborn child and horse in southern Russia.
3 Commentsarchaeology -
2,000 years ago in Scotland, people removed a corpse's brain and fashioned the arm bones into toolsA new analysis of 2,000-year-old skeletons found in northern Scotland has revealed an unusual funeral ritual involving the manipulation of dead bodies.
archaeology
