When and where the earliest modern human populations migrated and settled in East Asia are relatively well known. However, how these populations moved between islands on treacherous stretches of sea is still shrouded in mystery. In two new papers, researchers from Japan and Taiwan led by Professor Yousuke Kaifu from the University of Tokyo simulated methods ancient peoples would have needed to accomplish these journeys, and they used period-accurate tools to create the canoes to make the journey themselves.

"Boomerang" made from mammoth tusk is likely one of the oldest known in Europe at around 40,000 years old, per analysis of this artifact from a Polish Upper Paleolithic cave

In the windswept steppe of northeastern Mongolia, archaeologists have unearthed a rare window into daily life along the medieval frontier of the Liao Empire. Excavations at a remote garrison site revealed thousands of animal bones—evidence of herding, hunting, fishing, and a harsh environment—offering a ground-level view of survival far from the imperial centers recorded in history books. The findings challenge traditional accounts by illuminating the lives of soldiers and civilians who lived not in palaces, but along the empire’s long and lonely wall.

An ancient society near the southern shores of Lake Titicaca in modern-day Bolivia was once one of the continent’s most powerful civilizations. Known as Tiwanaku, the ancient society is widely considered by archaeologists to be one of the earliest examples of civilization in the Andes and a precursor of the Inca empire, but it mysteriously disappeared about a thousand years ago. Now, a team led by scientists at Penn State and in Bolivia have discovered a Tiwanaku temple, shedding new light on what the society looked like in its prime.

New research cast doubts over suggestions an incestuous social elite ruled over the ancient people of Ireland, 5500 years ago. A paper led by researchers from University College Dublin has questioned the belief that burial within the ‘mega’ passage tomb of Newgrange was the preserve of kings and other dignitaries, who represented a dynasty that practised incest. Such claims were widely reported in the media following the discovery that a skull fragment found inside the tomb chamber of this Stone Age monument came from a man who was the product of either a brother-sister or parent-child pairing.

New research has cast doubts over suggestions an incestuous social elite ruled over the ancient people of Ireland more than 5,000 years ago.

Prehistoric people used a culinary method, similar to slow cooking today, to carefully extract animal teeth to use in decorative crafts, such as pendant-making, archaeologists have shown.