ancient

The US has returned 36 ancient Syrian artifacts worth more than $5 million; 13 were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Palmyra stone relief, 14 Roman mosaics were among the objects sent home

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The US has returned 36 ancient Syrian artifacts worth more than $5 million; 13 were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Palmyra stone relief, 14 Roman mosaics were among the objects sent home

The collection also includes 14 mosaics taken from a Roman villa in Syria. Among the other notable pieces is a third-century BCE mosaic section portraying the mythological wedding of Telete and Eros, created from hundreds of tiny pieces of colored stone known as tesserae. Ancient pieces of Syrian history that had traveled far from their … Read more

Around 1200 BC, an inscription named the ancient Egyptian city of Mesen; 3,200 years later it may have helped archaeologists locate the lost city

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Around 1200 BC, an inscription named the ancient Egyptian city of Mesen; 3,200 years later it may have helped archaeologists locate the lost city

A view of the inscriptions and city view of Mesen For more than three millennia, the name Mesen survived in ancient records without a confirmed place on the map. Now, a battered stone inscription found in Egypt’s northern Sinai may have given archaeologists their strongest clue yet to the city’s whereabouts, states an online report … Read more

An ancient British farming craft faded after World War II; now 2,500 farmers want to revive 1,300km of mature hedgerows to help wildlife and reduce flooding

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An ancient British farming craft faded after World War II; now 2,500 farmers want to revive 1,300km of mature hedgerows to help wildlife and reduce flooding

It’s seeing a revival and how. The ancient craft of hedge laying is back in trend among farmers as they are using the technique dating back to 18th and 19th centuries in order to boost wildlife, capture carbon and help tackle flooding. Hedge laying which restores and revives mature hedges to keep them fresh was … Read more

A 66-million-year-old gastropod fossil was found at a 5,000-year-old settlement in Ankara; ancient inhabitants may have brought it there

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A 66-million-year-old gastropod fossil was found at a 5,000-year-old settlement in Ankara; ancient inhabitants may have brought it there

PC: Anadolu Agency of Turkey A 66-million-year-old gastropod fossil has been discovered at an archaeological site in Ankara, Turkey. Excavators uncovered the fossil during work at Kulhoyuk in the Oyaca neighbourhood of Ankara’s Golbasi district. Researchers believe it dates to one of the final phases of the Tethys Sea, an ancient body of water that … Read more

Scientists reconstructed a Wyoming forest from 56-million-year-old fossil leaves; it lost about 60% of its canopy during ancient warming and took more than 100,000 years to recover

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Scientists reconstructed a Wyoming forest from 56-million-year-old fossil leaves; it lost about 60% of its canopy during ancient warming and took more than 100,000 years to recover

Wyoming tetons Representative image from Canva Deep in the rock record of Wyoming, a layer of fossil leaves tells a quiet but powerful story about what happens to forests when the planet warms rapidly. About 56 million years ago, during a spike in global temperatures known as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a lush … Read more

Ancient Greek elites wore jewellery made from metal that fell from space; scientists identified meteorite iron in 3,000-year-old rings

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Ancient Greek elites wore jewellery made from metal that fell from space; scientists identified meteorite iron in 3,000-year-old rings

Three ancient Greek rings that were likely made using meteoritic iron and other precious metals, PC: Journal Archaeological Science Long before iron smelting became widespread in Greece, some Bronze Age elites were already wearing jewellery made from iron that may have come from meteorites. A five-year study by Matthieu Gounelle of France’s National Museum of … Read more

14 fossilised teeth found in Egypt’s ancient shark graveyard reveal five extinct species from the age of dinosaurs

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14 fossilised teeth found in Egypt’s ancient shark graveyard reveal five extinct species from the age of dinosaurs

A barren stretch of Egypt’s Western Desert has yielded an unexpected glimpse into a prehistoric ocean, with scientists uncovering fossilised shark teeth belonging to five extinct species that lived during the Late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs still dominated the planet. The discovery comes from the Abu-Tartur Plateau in southwestern Egypt, an area that today is an … Read more

1,500-year-old child burial unearthed in Peru with whistles, a rattle and a striking sculptural vessel, archaeologists uncover clues to an ancient civilisation’s rituals

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1,500-year-old child burial unearthed in Peru with whistles, a rattle and a striking sculptural vessel, archaeologists uncover clues to an ancient civilisation’s rituals

Huacas de Moche (Image Credit: Canva) Archaeologists working at the Huacas de Moche Archaeological Complex in northern Peru have uncovered the burial of an infant estimated to be about 1,500 years old. The child, approximately 1.5 years old, was buried with a funerary assemblage that included two whistles, a rattle and a sculptural vessel. Researchers … Read more

Researchers developed custom 3D-printed replacements for missing sections of ancient pottery and embedded sensors inside them, allowing conservators to monitor temperature, strain and environmental damage

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Researchers developed custom 3D-printed replacements for missing sections of ancient pottery and embedded sensors inside them, allowing conservators to monitor temperature, strain and environmental damage

Dr. Savannah Ulalian Bishop photographs an archaeological amphora (Picture: KOC University) Imagine an ancient amphora recovered from the seabed after centuries underwater. It may be cracked, covered with deposits or missing large sections. Restoring such an object is difficult without causing further damage.To overcome this problem, researchers at Koc University in Turkiye have developed a … Read more

More than 100,000 ancient shipwrecks may be hiding beneath the Baltic Sea; researchers are beginning to map the underwater graveyard

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More than 100,000 ancient shipwrecks may be hiding beneath the Baltic Sea; researchers are beginning to map the underwater graveyard

The destructions created by the 1872 Baltic sea flood in the area between Præstø and Faxe as depicted by Holger Drachmann as reporter for Illustreret Tidende. Image Credit: Holger Drachmann/Wikipedia More than a thousand ancient shipwrecks could still be lying beneath the Baltic Sea off the coast of Latvia, according to estimates cited by Latvian … Read more