The Iranian archaeological site known as the Burnt City, abandoned for unknown reasons in 2350 B.C.E., has long been a treasure trove of unique archaeological finds. The Tehran Times reported this week that a team of Iranian, Serbian, and Italian archaeologists discovered rare figurines of people and animals. “The figurines include various animal designs, especially cows, as well as human statues, which are in ...
After two and a half years of research, Operation Night Watch, the Rijksmuseum’s investigation into Rembrandt van Rijn’s iconic painting, has revealed its findings. The museum announced on Wednesday that analysis of the colossal Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq—more commonly known as The Night Watch—has afforded new insight into the Dutch master’s process, as well as ...
In oxygen-free sediment preserved beneath the ocean floor near Belize, archaeologists have discovered the remnants of salt kitchens built by ancient Maya people to boil brine for use in food and preservation. As reported in a paper titled “Briquetage and Brine: Living and Working at the Classic Maya Salt Works of Ek Way Nal, Belize” published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica, Louisiana State University ...
Archaeologists working in the Bizmoune Cave in southwest Morocco published a surprising finding in Science Advances last week: they had discovered what is believed to be the oldest jewelry in the world. The team found 33 shell beads that they dated to between 142,000 and 150,000 years old. The beads were found between 2014 and 2018 and in the time since the team has been working ...
To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. The Headlines A STELLAR DAY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY: A trove of roughly 1,600-year-old Roman gold coins has been discovered in the waters off Xàbia, on Spain’s eastern coast, CNN reports. Totaling about 50 coins, it is being described as one of the largest finds of the kind ever made in Europe. The windfall came after two eagle-eyed amateur ...
A new Roman temple has been discovered by archaeologists in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, located off the coast of Lebanon. The joint excavation, led by María Eugenia Aubet (Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona), Ali Badawi (General Directorate of Antiquities of Lebanon), and Francisco J. Núñez (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw), focused on the massive structure. Two phases of construction ...
A drawing that has been newly attributed to Vincent van Gogh is set to go on display publicly for the first time ever. The van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam will put the work—a rarity, given that new van Gogh pieces infrequently come to light—on view this week. The work, titled Study for Worn Out, is dated November 1882 and depicts an elderly male worker sitting ...
A team of archaeologists on the island of Alderney, the northernmost of the Channel Islands located between England and France, have found a World War II Nazi bunker built directly inside an ancient Roman fort, according to BBC News. The site, nicknamed the Nunnery, has revealed overlapping structures from the medieval, Tudor, and Napoleonic eras. Alderney has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic ...
An eight-foot-tall wooden idol from the Iron Age has been uncovered by archaeologists during work on the N5 Road Project in western Ireland, Roscommon County Council announced on Sunday. Excavations carried out by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) revealed the humanoid carving in Roscommon bog. The Gortnacrannagh Idol, as the find has been dubbed, is a 1,600-year-old pagan sculpture cut from the split trunk of ...
Archaeologists have uncovered the world’s oldest known coin mint, along with pieces of spade-shaped metal currency, inside a bronze foundry dating to 770 B.C.E. in Guanzhuang, China. Using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, the new research, published this month in Antiquity, reveals the coin mint began operating between 640 and 550 B.C.E., after the foundry switched from producing other valuable items to creating ...
