Archaeology

Not just a madman: Yale study reveals Caligula's medical expertise

Study suggests Caligula's medical knowledge influenced his actions as emperor.

 Bust of Emperor Caligula in the gallery park. Statue in the "Łazienki Królewskie" park. Warsaw, Poland.

X-Ray bombshell: Vienna’s ‘Spear of Longinus’ secrets revealed

 X-Ray bombshell: Vienna’s ‘Spear of Longinus’ secrets revealed.

Ritual donkey sacrifice in Israel provides insights into ancient Egyptian trade

 A decapitated donkey found in Tell es-Safi, south Israel, July 2025.

Was Sodom destroyed by a comet? Journal pulls controversial study

 Was Sodom destroyed by a comet? Journal pulls controversial study.

Study: Body image on Shroud of Turin best explained by a burst of radiation

Image-analysis paper says pixel intensity encodes three-dimensional data that point to an energetic burst.

AI detects a radiation-like signal on the Shroud of Turin, new study claims.

Bayeux Tapestry headed back to Britain, a first in nearly a 1,000 years

In return, artefacts from the Sutton Hoo burial and the Lewis Chessmen will travel to Normandy as part of an unprecedented cross-Channel cultural exchange.

 Bayeux Tapestry headed back to Britain, a first in nearly a 1,000 years.

DNA study: Modern Jews and Arabs retain more than half their ancestry from Bronze Age ‘Canaanites’

Genome-wide analysis of 93 skeletons from Israel, Jordan and Lebanon traces an unbroken genetic thread across three millennia.

 Excavation near Jerusalem.

Ancient proteins found in fossils up to 24 million years old

Proteins, a cell's molecular machinery, also offer valuable information and have the virtue of surviving much longer, as new research shows.

 A paleontologist cleaning a skeleton during an archaeology dig; illustrative.

Sirius Rising: The mystery of Canary Island churches pointing to the Dog Star

Most churches surveyed face the sunrise, but a south-eastern handful match the Dog Star’s 17th-century rise.

 Sirius Rising: Why some Canary Island churches point to the Dog Star.

Roman-era 50-square-meter mosaic found almost untouched in Dara, Turkey

Archaeologist Devrim Hasan Menteşe says a coin from emperor Justinian I dates the floor to AD 525-575 and confirms Dara's status as a key Mesopotamian trade and pilgrimage center.

 Dara Antique City.

AI cracks Hammurabi’s ancient script with near-perfect accuracy

Computers now read cuneiform tablets almost flawlessly.

 AI cracks Hammurabi’s ancient script with near-perfect accuracy.

Where did date palms come from? Earliest secure evidence points to the Gulf, c. 5000 BCE

‘DateBack’ logs 154 archaeobotanical records and tracks the moment cultivation overtook mere consumption across West and South Asia.

 Where did date palms come from? Earliest secure evidence points to the Gulf, c. 5000 BCE.

Oldest known 15th-Century Orit Books of Ethiopian Jewry uncovered by TAU researchers

These sacred texts, written in Ge'ez, a language known only to the Kessim (Ethiopian Jewish priests), hold significant cultural and historical importance.

 The 15th-century sacred books of Ethiopian Jewry from the Faitlovitch Collection at the Sourasky Central Library, TAU.

Sonar survey confirms mastodon carving at 9,000-year-old Lake Michigan’s ‘Underwater Stonehenge’

High-resolution imaging shows a human-made mile-long boulder array 12 m under Grand Traverse Bay, predating Stonehenge by 4,000 years.

 Sonar survey confirms mastodon carving at 9,000-year-old Lake Michigan’s ‘Underwater Stonehenge’.