New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe — revealing that the rodent colonised the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods. The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) is one of the most common of the world’s 56 Rattus species, and…
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A warehouse along the Savannah River is holding historical treasures that evidence suggests remained lost for more than 240 years—a cache of 19 cannons that researchers suspect came from British ships scuttled to the river bottom during the American Revolution. Revolutionary War cannon raised from Savannah River in January 2022 [Credit: Michael Jordan/US Army Corps…
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A new analysis of archaeological sites in the Americas challenges relatively new theories that the earliest human inhabitants of North America arrived before the migration of people from Asia across the Bering Strait. Conducted by University of Wyoming Professor Todd Surovell and colleagues from UW and five other institutions, the analysis suggests that misinterpretation of…
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In 2001, a group of archaeologists led by William Saturno discovered a partially concealed Maya city in the jungle of El Peten, in Guatemala. The place known as San Bartolo stood out for its pyramid built in successive phases, one on top of the other. They called it Las Pinturas (“the paintings” in Spanish) after…
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Mollusk shells at 4,000-year-old Native American shell ring villages indicate that environmental change may have driven the formation and abandonment of these coastal communities, according to a study by Carey Garland and Victor Thompson in the open-access journal LiDAR map showing the Sapelo Island Shell Ring Complex [Credit: Carey J. Garland] Shell ring villages were…
The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced than previously thought. Late Classic limestone stela from Tonina, Chiapas [Credit: Haupt & Binder] After systematically analyzing written and otherwise recorded evidence of shared information in prehispanic Mesoamerica over 3,000 years, two archaeologists say governance…
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Colombia took a step Thursday toward recovering a long-lost Spanish wreck and its fabled riches, but it may be a rough ride as Spain and native Bolivians have also staked claims on the booty. The wreckage of the San Jose galleon, a ship sunk off the coast of Colombia in 1708, can be seen in…
For more than a century written language was seen by anthropologists and other social scientists as a definitional feature of societal complexity or “advancement” (a term that is tinged with colonialism and racism). But in a new study in the Palace at Palenque [Credit: Linda M. Nicholas, Field Museum] “The development of writing was thought…
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The wreck of Captain James Cook’s famed vessel the Endeavour has been found off the coast of the US state of Rhode Island, Australian researchers said Thursday. Their research partners in the United States, however, have described the announcement as premature. A replica of Captain Cook’s ship ‘Endeavour’ is seen at the Australian National Maritime…
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Human DNA can be extracted from the ‘cement’ head lice used to glue their eggs to hairs thousands of years ago, scientists have found, which could provide an important new window into the past. A mummified adult man of the Ansilta culture, from the Andes of San Juan, Argentina, dating back approx 2,000 years [Credit:…
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