Archaeology May 2013 Archive

A new video collection from PBS called Journey of the Universe is due out June 4, 2013. It explores the philosophical efforts of some religious and scientific leaders to pull ... Read More

Palmyra was an important crossroads for the Silk Road passageway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Far East. Set at an oasis in what is now the Syrian Desert between ... Read More

Evidence shows that humans have been grinding flour from seeds to make soups, bread, cookies and other kinds of edibles for some 30,000 years. Probably longer, in fact. Traditional Grindstones from ... Read More

Cotton (Gossypium spp), is, according to the USDA, the single most important textile fiber in the world, and accounts for some 40% of all the fibers produced. Karachi Cotton Vendor, ... Read More

Anyone who has been a reader of these pages for very long knows I have a thing about ancient roads. I can't really explain it, except to say that it ... Read More

This week, PBS airs "Caveman Cold Case", the latest episode of the long-running series Secrets of the Dead, featuring archaeological evidence of survival cannibalism by Neanderthals some 49,000 years ... Read More

Chinese archaeologists have found evidence pushing back the domestication of the sago palm at least 3,500 years earlier than was thought. Sago Palm Garden, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. Toksave Sago palms, ... Read More

Arguably the best sword makers in world history were medieval Islamic blacksmiths, makers of the fearsome Damascus steel blades. Damascus Steel: Sabre #10, Berne Historical Museum, Switzerland, made by ... Read More

A recent paper in the journal Science describes investigations by Mayanist Takeshi Inomata and colleagues at Ceibal, a Maya capital site in Guatemala. Those excavations recently revealed the earliest known ... Read More

About 75,000 years ago, an immense volcanic eruption occurred in Mt. Toba on the island of Sumatra, in an explosion estimated between 10 and 360 times that of Mt. Pinatubo. ... Read More