Sandee Oster

In the rugged landscapes of southern Siberia, rare images of shamans disappearing into the cracks of mountains can be found. Hundreds of years old and their artists long gone, their meaning remains a mystery. But perhaps ...

In the arid landscapes of southern Peru, around 1,100 years ago, someone carefully dug a small pit, laid down a woven mat and placed a young dog within as if sleeping, possibly wrapped in twine. Centuries later, the mummified ...

Four goose skulls were pulled from a former toilet shaft in Brandenburg, Germany, each of them riddled with strange holes. As it turns out, these holes were the telltale signs of fancy feathered crests, making them the first ...

On the edge of the Mongolian steppe, overlooking where two rivers meet, lies an ancient cemetery. Buried within are two families, traced through ancient DNA across six generations, surrounded by dozens of "strangers." The ...

A tiny, iridescent shell seal found in an ancient garbage pit in Israel is the first of its kind ever found in the region and may have belonged to a community deported and relocated by one of the ancient world's mightiest ...

Archaeologists digging at an Inca site on the arid coast of southern Peru have unearthed two rare, roughly 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes. The potatoes are among the only ones found in more than a century and would have ...

A clay figurine, small enough to cradle in your hand, with 11 dots arranged in columns where its head should be, may depict the oldest known example of written numbers in Mesoamerica.

Over 3,000 years ago, the people of Bronze Age Poland burned their dead and placed their ashes in urns, often destroying the intimate records of their lives preserved in their bones. Now, researchers have shown that some ...

The Langobards are frequently depicted as fierce warrior-like people, with all known archaeological evidence of violence restricted to men. However, nearly 1,400 years ago, a Langobard woman took two severe injuries to the ...

Ancient Egyptians are often depicted wearing black eyeliner, known as kohl, which was stored in small containers. While kohl containers are typically found throughout Egypt and Sudan (Nubia), their presence beyond these areas ...

Nearly 5,000 years ago, respiratory infections, possibly including tuberculosis, were ravaging the children buried at Camino del Molino (CMOL), Spain. The massive circular burial cave carved into rock is Europe's largest ...

More than 1,000 years ago, Panama elites were buried together with translucent green stones long suspected to be emeralds. However, scientific analysis confirming the suspicion has never been conducted. Now, scientists have ...

Most nonhuman primate mummies originate from arid regions such as Egypt and northern Chile. However, a recent comprehensive report by Dr. Bernardo Urbani and his colleagues presents a primate mummy originating from subtropical ...

The first documented case of a fixed bone bridge unearthed in Portugal was presented in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology by researchers Ms. Steffi Vassallo and her colleagues. The item is estimated to date to ...

A recent study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, led by Dr. Elena Fiorin and her colleagues investigated the potential use of mercury-based treatments for leprosy during the late medieval period. Typically, ...