Archaeology, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2018

Mummy Wearing Gold-Gilded Face Mask Discovered at Ancient Egypt Burial Ground

A silver face mask gilded with gold, a mummification workshop, mummies and sarcophagi have all been discovered at a tomb complex in Saqqara, Egypt, an Egyptian-German team announced this morning (July 14). The complex contains several burial shafts dug into the ground, some of them extending more than 100 feet...

Jun 30, 2018

Hidden Compartments in This Wrecked Confederate Submarine Could Solve a 150-Year-Old Mystery

The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was a 40-foot-long (12 meter) sausage of bulletproof iron built in Mobile, Alabama, and propelled through the water by seven daring men cranking a single, giant screw. It was, it's fair to say, not the safest place in which to spend the Civil War. During...

May 31, 2018

How Did Easter Island Statues Get Their Massive 'Hats'?

Archaeologists put on their thinking caps to solve a long-standing puzzle about another kind of cap: the enormous stone hats that sit atop the heads of colossal statues on Easter Island, a place also known as Rapa Nui. The solemn, carved faces of the imposing rocky figures, or moai, are...

May 31, 2018

Rare 1,000-Year-Old Amulet with Arabic Blessing Found in Jerusalem

Teams from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University unearthed the rare ornamental piece beneath the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David, in Jerusalem Walls National Park. In the past decade, archaeologists have uncovered numerous artifacts, including precious stones and gold coins, beneath the Givati Parking...

Apr 30, 2018

Sprawling 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb Hides Secrets of Ancient War

Archaeologists have discovered the sprawling, 3,300-year-old tomb of an army general named Iwrhya at the ancient Egyptian site of Saqqara. Hieroglyphic inscriptions found on the tomb walls say that Iwrhya is a high army General, and High steward of the domain of Amun [and] High steward of the estates of...

Apr 30, 2018

Hatshepsut: Powerful Female Pharaoh

Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh of Egypt. She reigned between 1473 and 1458 B.C. Her name means “foremost of noblewomen.” Her rule was relatively peaceful and she was able to launch a building program that would see the construction of a great temple at Deir el-Bahari at Luxor. She also...

Apr 30, 2018

Intriguing Gold Coin and Other Treasures Uncovered in Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the remains of a huge, red, brick building — likely the remnants of a Roman bath — as well as a mountain of treasures, including a statue of a ram and a gold coin featuring King Ptolemy III, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities....

Mar 31, 2018

'Space Alien' Mummy Spurs DNA Debate

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The remains of a 6-inch-long mummy from Chile are not those of a space alien, according to recently reported research. The tiny body with its strange features – a...

Mar 31, 2018

Why New Guinea Warriors Prized Human Bone Daggers

When facing rivals, the warriors of New Guinea had a choice of deadly bone daggers; they could fight with daggers crafted from human thighbones or weapons shaped from the thighbones of cassowaries, flightless, dinosaur-like birds. But which type of dagger — the human or the cassowary — is stronger? According...

Mar 31, 2018

This 3,000-Year-Old Horse Got a Human-Style Burial

More than 3,000 years ago in the Nile River Valley, a body was carefully prepared for ceremonial burial. It was wrapped in a shroud and placed in a tomb, surrounded by important objects that demonstrated its elevated status. The mourners probably had long faces as they sent their loved one...

Feb 28, 2018

In Photos: Ancient Home and Barracks of Roman Military Officer

Commander's digs (Image credit: Ministero Dei Beni E Delle Attività Culturali Del Turismo)Archaeologists in Rome have recently discovered a 1,900-year-old home that would have belonged to a Roman military commander. It is located beside a barracks that housed Roman soldiers. The home has 14 rooms as well as the remains...

Jan 31, 2018

In Photos: Tomb of Royal Woman Found in Ancient Egypt

Royal woman (Image credit: Egypt Antiquities Ministry)A tomb dating back over 4,300 years that held a woman named Hetpet has been discovered in a cemetery on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. She was a senior official in the royal palace, archaeologists say. [Read more about the ancient Egyptian discovery] Tomb...

Jan 31, 2018

The ‘Screaming Mummy’ Was a Murderer Who Killed Himself

He's back. Prince Pentawere, a man who tried (probably successfully) to murder his own father, Pharaoh Ramesses III, and later took his own life after he was put on trial, is now on public display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Pentawere's mummy, popularly known as the screaming mummy, was...

Jan 31, 2018

Beneath Biblical Prophet's Tomb, an Archaeological Surprise

Deep inside looters' tunnels dug beneath the Tomb of Jonah in the ancient Iraq city of Nineveh, archaeologists have uncovered 2,700-year-old inscriptions that describe the rule of an Assyrian king named Esarhaddon. The seven inscriptions were discovered in four tunnels beneath the biblical prophet's tomb, which is a shrine that's...

Dec 31, 2017

5 Major Archaeology Discoveries to Look for in 2018

The burial of a warrior who lived and (literally) died by the sword, a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings and a cave that may have held Dead Sea Scrolls — these are just some of the big archaeology and history stories that we think we may hear...