Archaeology, features and articles | Educational Science

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...

Dec 31, 2017

Dead Sea Scroll Remains a Puzzle After Scientists Crack its Code

Scholars have deciphered a Dead Sea Scroll written in a Hebrew code, finding that it contains part of a 364-day calendar of holy days. The calendar notes the day of Sabbaths, the start of seasons and the days of festivals and feasts. The scribe, who went to the trouble of...

Nov 30, 2019

An Ancient Egyptian Physician Cited As the 'First Woman Doctor' Likely Never Existed

Merit Ptah was an ancient Egyptian physician, often revered as the world's first female doctor. She was thought to live nearly 5,000 years ago...but she likely never existed, according to new findings. Merit Ptah was everywhere, from online posts about women in STEM and popular history books to computer games,...

Oct 31, 2019

Two Lion Cub Mummies Discovered in Egypt for the First Time

Two mummified lions, dating back about 2,600 years, have been discovered in a tomb full of cat statues and cat mummies in Saqqara, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced today (Nov. 23) at a press conference. This is the first time [that a] complete mummy of a lion or lion...

Oct 31, 2019

Two-Horned 'Rook' Might Be the Oldest Chess Piece on Earth

In the game of chess, a rook can move as many spaces as it can in one direction. Or, it can sit stone-still and guard the pieces around it, potentially holding its ground for an entire match — or thousands of years (whichever comes first). John Oleson, an archaeologist at...

Sep 30, 2019

30 Perfectly Preserved Coffins Holding Ancient Egyptian Priest Mummies Discovered

Archaeologists have unearthed 30 sealed wooden coffins with mummies inside at El-Assasif, an ancient necropolis near Luxor, Egypt, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced this morning (Oct. 19) at a press conference. Called the cachette of the priests because some of the mummies appear to be those of ancient Egyptian priests,...

Sep 30, 2019

Assyrian Tablets Contain Earliest Written Record of Aurora’s Sky Glow

Ancient Assyrian stone tablets represent the oldest known reports of auroras, dating to more than 2,500 years ago. The descriptions, written in cuneiform, were found on three stone tablets, dating from 655 B.C. to 679 B.C. They predate other known historical references to auroras by about a century, researchers reported...