Archaeological Interest

The latest archaeology news from around the web

Dinosaurs could hold key to cancer discoveries

May 29, 2025

New techniques used to analyze soft tissue in dinosaur fossils may hold the key to new cancer discoveries. Researchers have analyzed dinosaur fossils using advanced paleoproteomic techniques, a method...

Does planting trees really help cool the planet?

May 29, 2025

Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19th century is replanted, the total effe...

2025 Spring Society Outreach Grant Winners

May 28, 2025

Athens, GA – Archaeo-Cinema Night The Athens, GA Society was awarded a grant for their upcoming October event. The Society will be hosting this event in collaboration with the University […...

New method provides the key to accessing proteins in ancient human remains

May 28, 2025

A new method could soon unlock the vast repository of biological information held in the proteins of ancient soft tissues. The findings could open up a new era for palaeobiological discovery....

Bed bugs are most likely the first human pest, new research shows

May 28, 2025

Researchers compared the whole genome sequence of two genetically distinct lineages of bed bug, and their findings indicate bed bugs may well be the first true urban pest....

New velvet worm species a first for the arid Karoo

May 28, 2025

A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the ...

Report on CPAC Public Hearing, May 20-23, 2025

May 28, 2025

The Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) met from May 20-23. The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), represented by its Vice President for Cultural Heritage Ömür Harmanşah, expressed ...

Oldest whale bone tools discovered

May 27, 2025

Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a new study. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable i...

A root development gene that's older than root development

May 26, 2025

A gene that regulates the development of roots in vascular plants is also involved in the organ development of liverworts -- land plants so old they don't even have proper roots. The discovery highlig...

Mystery of 'very odd' elasmosaur finally solved: fiercely predatory marine reptile is new species

May 23, 2025

A group of fossils of elasmosaurs -- some of the most famous in North America -- have just been formally identified as belonging to a 'very odd' new genus of the sea monster, unlike any previously kno...

Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant 'harmal' identified in Iron Age Arabia

May 23, 2025

A new study uses metabolic profiling to uncover ancient knowledge systems behind therapeutic and psychoactive plant use in ancient Arabia....

Ancient DNA used to map evolution of fever-causing bacteria

May 22, 2025

Researchers have analyzed ancient DNA from Borrelia recurrentis, a type of bacteria that causes relapsing fever, pinpointing when it evolved to spread through lice rather than ticks, and how it gained...

Scientists have figured out how extinct giant ground sloths got so big and where it all went wrong

May 22, 2025

Scientists have analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how and why extinct sloths got so big....

Toothache from eating something cold? Blame these ancient fish

May 21, 2025

New research shows that dentine, the inner layer of teeth that transmits sensory information to nerves inside the pulp, first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish....

'Sharkitecture:' A nanoscale look inside a blacktip shark's skeleton

May 20, 2025

Using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography with detailed 3D imaging and in-situ mechanical testing, researchers are peering inside shark skeletons at the nanoscale, revealing a microscopic 'sharkitecture'...

Research team traces evolutionary history of bacterial circadian clock on ancient Earth

May 20, 2025

To better understand the circadian clock in modern-day cyanobacteria, a research team has studied ancient timekeeping systems. They examined the oscillation of the clock proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC ...