EurekAlert! News by Subject: Archaeology - News by Subject: Archaeology

Archaeology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Oct-2025 09:11 ET (21-Oct-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)

17-Jul-2025

Specialty of the house: Neanderthals at two nearby caves butchered the same prey in different ways, suggesting local food traditions

Neanderthals lived in the nearby caves of Amud and Kebara between 50 and 60,000 years ago, using the same tools and hunting the same prey. But scientists studying the cutmarks on the remains of their prey have found that the two groups seem to have butchered their food in visibly different ways, which can’t be explained by the skill of the butchers or the resources or tools used at each site. These differences could represent distinct cultural food practices, such as drying meat before butchering it.

Journal: Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology
Funder: Israel Science Foundation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Science Foundation, Calleva Foundation

16-Jul-2025

Did a meteor impact trigger a landslide in the Grand Canyon?

University of Arizona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Based on remarkably similar ages, the meteor impact that created one of Arizona's most recognizable landmarks and wood and sediments found in caves high up in the walls of the Grand Canyon, a new study suggests the two events could be related.

Journal: Geology

16-Jul-2025

Cranial lesions are signs of compromised immune function

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When trying to understand the health of long-past populations, sometimes you have to rely on nothing but the bones. In anthropology, porous cranial lesions (PCLs) — areas of pitting on the roof of the eye socket (called cribra orbitalia) and on top of the skull (called cribra cranii) — have traditionally been considered tell-tale signs of poor childhood health in past populations, but have rarely been tested.

Journal: Science Advances

16-Jul-2025

Interbreeding with Neanderthals may be responsible for modern-day brain condition, SFU study finds

Simon Fraser University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new Simon Fraser University-led study reveals interbreeding between humans and their ancient cousins, Neanderthals, as the likely origin of a neurological condition estimated to impact up to one per cent of people today.

The study, published this week in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, was led by Kimberly Plomp, a recent postdoctoral fellow at SFU and Mark Collard, the Canada Research Chair in Human Evolutionary Studies and a professor in the Department of Archaeology. Their findings suggest that Chiari Malformation Type 1, a serious and sometimes fatal neurological condition, may be linked to Neanderthal genes that entered the human gene pool through interbreeding tens of thousands of years ago.

Journal: Evolution Medicine and Public Health

16-Jul-2025

Unlocking the secrets of Viking and medieval walrus tusk trade

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Two tiny Scandinavian settlements in Greenland persisted for nearly 500 years and then mysteriously vanished. Their disappearance has been blamed on everything from poor agricultural practices to a changing climate. But what if the real reason was the walrus tusk trade?

Journal: Quaternary Science Reviews

15-Jul-2025

Lost English legend decoded, solving Chaucerian mystery and revealing a medieval preacher’s meme

University of Cambridge
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A medieval literary puzzle which has stumped scholars including M.R. James for 130 years has finally been solved. Cambridge scholars now believe the Song of Wade, a long lost treasure of English culture, was a chivalric romance not a monster-filled epic. The discovery solves the most famous mystery in Chaucer's writings and provides rare evidence of a medieval preacher referencing pop culture in a sermon.

Journal: The Review of English Studies

10-Jul-2025

University of Houston archaeologists discover tomb of first king of Caracol

University of Houston
Business Announcement

Archaeologists from the University of Houston working at Caracol in Belize have uncovered the burial of Te K’ab Chaak, the first ruler of this ancient Maya city and the founder of its royal dynasty, marking the first identifiable ruler's tomb found in over four decades of work in Caracol, the largest Maya archaeological site in Belize and in the Maya lowlands.