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The secret science of beer
The first beer we have evidence of probably isn’t one you’d want to drink. A staggering 13,000 years ago an ancient group called the Natufians brewed a beer more like a thin gruel then a clear, bubbly...
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New analysis traces origin of gems from Cleopatra’s mines and Roman times
Researchers have used modern tools to analyse the unique chemical composition of ancient gemstones, tracing samples of peridot, emerald, amazonite and amethyst back to their original source....
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Red Symons: I may not forgive you
I forgive you. Some years ago, a reality television program pursuing ancestry sent me a vial in which to deposit some DNA samples. I read the instructions very carefully and was relieved that all they...
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Genomic analysis reveals new appearance and ancestry for Neolithic Iceman Ötzi
The world’s oldest glacier mummy, nicknamed ‘Ötzi’, may not be the hirsute man we first thought he was. Researchers have re-examined the genomic history of the neolithic Iceman, revealing a different...
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Ancient Egyptian wet nurse mummy embalmed in high-status ingredients
The ingredients used to embalm ancient Egyptian noblewoman Senetnay have been identified for the first time and indicate her high status. Senetnay lived some 3,500 years ago. She was wet nurse to the...
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When did the first Americans arrive – can we ask them?
Rimrock Draw is the type of place most people would barely notice: a small, normally dry swale flanked by a low basalt cliff in a landscape most notable for sagebrush, broad basins, and the occasional...
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Pre-Incan mummies found in Peru by gas workers
The mummified bodies of eight individuals have been found by city workers who were digging a natural gas line in the Carabayllo district on the outskirts of Lima, capital of Peru. Experts believe the...
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Psychologist: Colonialism was not all positive for Aboriginal people
One of Australias leading psychologists, Dr Tracy Westerman has spoken out on recent claims made about the wellbeing of Aboriginal people during the Voice debate, saying: “…trauma feeds trauma.” Last...
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4,400-year-old lost Egyptian tomb rediscovered with mummy inside
Czech archaeologists have rediscovered the lost tomb of ancient Egyptian high official Ptahshepses, who lived during the 24th and 25th centuries BCE. The discovery was announced in a statement...
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New path for early human migration contradicts a single ‘out of Africa’ origin
Michael Petraglia, Griffith University; Mahmoud Abbas, Shantou University, and Zhongping Lai, Shantou University Our species, Homo sapiens, migrated out of Africa multiple times – reaching the Levant...
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Ancient tree rings reveal largest ever solar storm 14,300 years ago
Analysis of ancient tree rings from the French Alps has revealed a massive solar storm – the largest ever identified to date – occurred about 14,300 years ago. The clue – a spike in radiocarbon levels...
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The infamous killer whales of Eden might have been Kiwis
An Eden orca, known as Old Tom, famous for helping whalers slaughter baleen whales, has been put under a microscope. A team of Flinders University researchers analysed the killer whale’s DNA and...
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Roman Empire forts in Cold War imagery topple north-south axis theory
Archaeologists and anthropologists have identified 396 previously undocumented Roman forts after scouring Cold War era satellite images of the Middle East. Analysis by the researchers from Dartmouth...
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Head lice crawling through human history
Head lice have been plaguing humans for thousands of years, and new research shows these blood-sucking parasites hitched a ride with humans during two separate waves of migration to the Americas....
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Can historical whaling data be put to good use?
Researchers at the University of Washington have created WhaleVis, an online map collating a century’s worth of data on commercial whaling between the 1880s and 1980s. They hope the map which...
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Spanish Bronze Age bling upends archaeological assumptions
A 3,000-year-old funerary stone slab found in southwest Spain has challenged longstanding interpretations of gender and social roles in ancient societies. Such funerary stones, called “stelae”, are...
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Iron Age site in Europe unearths rituals of animal sacrifice
An Iron Age site in western Spain offers rare archaeological insights into ritualised animal sacrifice considered “extraordinary for European Iron Age contexts”. Researchers from Spain analysed...
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Hidden Bronze Age megastructures challenge understanding of prehistoric Europe
Archaeologists have found a previously unknown network of massive Bronze Age sites in Central Europe that could explain so-called Bronze Age “megaforts.” The research is published in the journal PLOS...
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2000-year-old Roman engineering could solve colossal climate problem
As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome. And as the construction industry grapples with concrete’s climate problem, some engineers think a technology dating back to Roman times might hold the...
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Surprise discovery about Roman Empire found in ancient DNA
Ancient DNA from the rise and fall of the Roman Empire reveals Italian ancestry had little detectable influence on Balkan Peninsula populations, despite the Empire’s cultural supremacy in the region....
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