Latest about astonishing artifacts
Bad Dürrenberg headdress: An elaborate 9,000-year-old headpiece worn by a female shaman in Europe
A lavish 9,000-year-old grave in central Germany revealed the burial of a powerful female shaman.
Doban-kun: A 'cute' human-shaped counting tool from prehistoric Japan
This anthropomorphic clay tablet was likely used in an ancient ritual by the Jōmon culture in Japan.
Dancing dwarf: A 2,300-year-old ancient Egyptian statue of a godlike man with a muscular 6-pack
This marble statuette is emblematic of Ptolemaic-era art: a mishmash of styles with a decidedly Egyptian twist.
2,000-year-old RSVP: A birthday invitation from the Roman frontier that has the earliest known Latin written by a woman
This wafer-thin wooden tablet from a first-century Roman fort in the U.K. includes a heartfelt birthday party invitation.
Queen Puabi's lyre: A bull-headed music maker played for Mesopotamian royalty 4,500 years ago
A lyre in a treasure-laden royal tomb discovered in Mesopotamia is the earliest stringed instrument ever found.
Sutton Hoo helmet: A gold- and jewel-encrusted relic with ties to Beowulf and a lost Anglo-Saxon king
Fragments of a helmet recovered from the Sutton Hoo ship burial show that early-medieval metalwork could be decorative and functional.
Roman scutum: An 1,800-year-old shield dropped by a Roman soldier who likely died in battle
A wood and leather shield dating to around A.D. 250 is one of only a few complete Roman scuta ever found.
Babylonian tablet preserves student's 4,000-year-old geometry mistake
A small clay tablet from the site of Kish in Iraq reveals a student calculated the area of a triangle incorrectly 4,000 years ago.
