Archaeology

Here's Your Chance To Buy Gems Buried With Buddha 2000 Years Ago

Almost 2,000 years ago in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India, someone deposited a cache of gems inside a reliquary (a container for holy relics), along with some bone fragments and ash. The gems were precious, but the bones and ash even more so, for accordin ...

Article - The Conversation - May 11 2025 - 4:30am

Light In The Pantheon And Ancient Astronomy

A while back there was a news story that the Pantheon may have been constructed to create a special effect in the sunlight at the equinoxes. I'm slow in reacting because I've read the book where the claim appears, and I've been taking time t ...

Article - Alun Salt - Jun 17 2025 - 4:14pm

Frankenstein Meets The Mummy In Scotland Of 1,000 B.C.

The best stuff is found in Scotland. And by 'best' I mean weirdest, like haggis, caber-tossing and 3,000-year-old mummies that turn out to be Frankenstein monsters. Well, at least we know the ancient Celts weren't anti-science.  I mean, they ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Jul 10 2025 - 9:06am

What Is That 'Black Goo' Coming From Ancient Egyptian Coffins?

Egyptian coffins and mummy cases have been found covered in a mysterious 'black goo'. What is this goo made from and what can it reveal about Egyptian funerary practice? The British Museum's Kate Fulcher has detailed answers but you can read ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 21 2025 - 1:17pm

The Mysterious Humans Near ‘Hobbit’s Island'

Over 1 million years ago, early hominims made a treacherous deep sea crossing to reach the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and in a modern corn field local people discovered what looked like stone tools in the sedimentary layers and called in archaeologists. ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 6 2025 - 10:40am

Mummy Mia! Medicinal Cannibalism Was More Recent Than You Think

Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies. Driven first by the belief that ground-up and tinctured hu ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 23 2025 - 4:00am

3700 BC: Embalming Was Taking Place 1,500 Years Earlier Than Thought

A mummy dating from 3700-3500 B.C. housed in the Egyptian Museum in Turin since 1901 has never undergone any conservation treatments- and that provided a unique opportunity for some science. And the results were a surprise. It was assumed the Turin mummy h ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 22 2025 - 9:35pm

Ancient Peruvian Heartbreak Therapy: Skull Drilling

Cranial surgery is tricky business today. Patients will need an aseptic environment, specialized surgical instruments and copious amounts of pain medication both during and afterward. In ancient Peru, trepanation  - removing a section of the cranial vault ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2026 - 1:42pm

Is This The D'Artagnan Made Famous In 'The Three Musketeers' By Dumas?

“I have lost D’Artagnan, in whom I had every confidence,” wrote King Louis XIV to his Queen Consort, Maria Theresa of Spain, after he received news that his right-hand man, Charles de Batz de Castelmore, the Earl of Artagnan, was killed during the siege of ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Mar 26 2026 - 1:09pm