Ancient DNA Hub

Easter Island statues may have 'walked' thanks to 'pendulum dynamics' and with as few as 15 people, study finds Simple physics may explain how the Easter Island statues could "walk" miles with only a handful of people, but the debate over their transport is far from over.

How the moai statues of Easter Island walked. And no, their toes aren't Stonehenge.
#AncientBlueSky

www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

Orange Cats Are Genetically Unlike Any Other Mammal and Now We Know Why The iconic coats are due to a mutation not seen in other animals.

Genetics explain why orange cats are so special.
www.zmescience.com/science/news...

An Ancient Roman Tombstone Is Unearthed in a New Orleans Yard | Artnet News A 2,000-year-old tombstone of a Roman sailor that was found in New Orleans will be repatriated to a museum in Civitavecchia, Italy.

How did an ancient Roman tombstone end up in a garden in New Orleans?

news.artnet.com/art-world/an...

DNA Study of 117-Year-Old Woman Reveals Clues to a Long Life There's no escaping the unrelenting passage of time, but supercentenarians who live to see their 110th birthday have a peculiar ability to postpone the inevitable.

Clues to longevity in our environment and our genes.

www.sciencealert.com/dna-study-of...

no disrespect to the wisconsin wreck hunter community but it's very funny to me that this supposed famously elusive ship wreck was found exactly where the eyewitness report said it would be in the newspaper but nobody had bothered to check there

Dionysiac mosaic with dancing Satyrs, Bacchantes and Oceanus masks, dated 2nd century AD, from Hadrumetum, Sousse Archaeological Museum, Tunisia; courtesy of Carole Raddato.
#RomanArchaeology #Archaeology #MosaicMonday

News - Forgotten Medieval Castle Discovered on Scottish Isle - Archaeology Magazine ISLAY, SCOTLAND—BBC News reports that a forgotten medieval castle and royal stronghold were identified at […]

Perhaps a misleading headline. I can't imagine many people "forget" about having a castle. It's not like losing your car keys. Rather, in the 14th century, the castle was taken apart for a new palace to be built.

archaeology.org/news/2025/09...

For this week's #StandingStoneSunday Castlerigg Stone Circle courtesy of Ennor. #StandingStoneSunday #megaliths #Neolithic #BronzeAge #Archaeology

Scientists Found 7,000-Year-Old Mummies in the Desert That Don’t Share DNA With Modern Humans This ancient people lived in the Sahara when it was a much more welcoming environment.

7,000 year old mummies from Libya of previously unknown lineage show not as much genetic exchange in the Green Sahara as we had once thought and suggests that farming spread through cultural exchange rather than migration and intermixing.
#AncientBlueSky

www.popularmechanics.com/science/a679...

How to Write in Cuneiform, the Oldest Writing System in the World: A Short Introduction Teaching child visitors how to write their names using an unfamiliar or antique alphabet is a favorite activity of museum educators, but Dr. Irving Finkel, a cuneiform expert who specializes in ancien...

How to write in Cuneiform, the world's oldest writing system
#AncientBlueSky
www.openculture.com/2025/09/how-...

Medieval Toy Workshop Unearthed in Freiburg: Archaeologists Discover Forgotten Childhood Treasures - Arkeonews Archaeologists in Freiburg, a historic city in Germany, have uncovered a medieval pottery workshop where clay toys were once crafted.

What did kids play with in the middle ages? Excavations of this medieval toy workshop reveal clay figurines described as "simple" but "unmistakably toys."
#AncientBlueSky #Archaeology

arkeonews.net/medieval-toy...

The Advanced Technology of Ancient Rome: Automatic Doors, Water Clocks, Vending Machines & More Ancient Rome never had an industrial revolution. Granted, certain historians have objected now and again to that once-settled claim, gesturing toward large heaps of pottery discovered in garbage dumps...

A peek at the advanced technology of ancient Rome.
www.openculture.com/2025/09/the-...

Ancient burial upends what we know about Stone Age women and children Researchers say findings overturn old stereotype of ‘man the hunter’

Excavations of a stone age cemetery in Latvia upend what we thought we knew about ancient gender and societal roles.
#ancientbluesky #archaeology
www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

1,900-year-old 'treasure' found in Roman-era family's scorched house in Romania A discovery in Romania shows the remains of an elite family's treasures from the Roman era that were scorched in a fire.

Cache of nearly 2000 year old coins and ornaments found in Romania from an Roman-era family home destroyed by fire.
#archaeology #ancientbluesky
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

historic facepalm

News - Ancient DNA Pinpoints Culprit Responsible for World's First Pandemic - Archaeology Magazine JERASH, JORDAN—The world’s first pandemic, known as the Plague of Justinian after the sitting Byzantine […]

Discovery of "direct genomic evidence" of the cause of the Plague of Justinian, a pandemic that killed 25-100 million people from 541 to 750 CE.

archaeology.org/news/2025/09...

Roman Bear Fights Confirmed by Archaeological Discovery in Serbia - Archaeologs Archaeologists in Serbia have uncovered the first physical proof that brown bears were forced into combat during Roman arena games. At Viminacium, once a bustling military camp and provincial capital ...

Roman Bear Fights Confirmed by Archaeological Discovery in Serbia

#archaeology #roman #serbia #gladiators #news

www.archaeologs.com/n/roman-bear...

Archaelogists Found 300,000-Year-Old Human Footprints That Rewrite Part of Our Story They’re an incredible snapshot of the ancient past.

300,000 year old footprints show early humans living alongside early species of elephants and rhinoceroses in what is now Germany.
#AncientBlueSky
www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

Mónica’s story: the woman shipped from Ghana to Portugal in 1556 to stand trial for using traditional medicine Colonialism criminalised local knowledge systems.

When culture becomes a crime: the story of Mónica Fernandes and how she was put to trial during the Inquisition for using traditional medicine to treat a cat bite.

theconversation.com/monicas-stor...

The photo shows four images of the same Roman iron stylus pen, one below the other. The knib to the left. It has an inscription which runs along its length on four sides. The four images show the four lines of inscribed text which read: ‘ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf(e)ro
acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna dar[e]t quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus’ ‘I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give) as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.’ The pen was used to write on wax-filled wooden writing tablets. Found in London (Roman ‘Londinium’) by MOLA. Photo by Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA

Timeless humour!

A 2,000 year-old Roman souvenir pen with a joke inscription roughly equivalent to:

“I went to Rome and all I got you was this cheap pen!" 😂

Dated circa 70 AD, this iron stylus pen was recovered in London during excavations by MOLA.
📷 Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA

#Archaeology

Neat! I have similar books (different publisher, but looks like a similar concept from around the same time). I haven't given much thought to preservation, though I should!

Archaeologists Uncovered a Mysterious Ancient Tablet With Major Historical Implications This tiny 4,000-year-old cuneiform tells a big story about past civilizations.

4000 year old clay tablet furniture receipt found in Turkey. And I thought it was bad my wallet was stuffed with old Ikea receipts.
#AncientBlueSky

www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

Million-Year-Old Mammoth Tooth Carries Oldest Host-Associated Bacteria DNA Ever Found Ancient bacterial DNA offers rare insights into how microbes evolved alongside their hosts and how they connect to species living today.

Oldest host-associated bacteria found in a mammoth tooth.

www.discovermagazine.com/million-year...

Archaeologists Found 317 Skeletons Buried Under a Department Store And it’s not the first batch they’ve discovered in the area.

317 medieval skeletons found under a Debenhams department store. Their sales were to die for?
#AncientBlueSky

www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...

Archaeologists in Peru discover 3D mural that could date back 4,000 years The unprecedented find has shifted archaeological understanding about the first civilisations in the Americas

Recent discovery of a 4,000 year old mural in Peru shed light on the beginnings of early civilizations.
#AncientBlueSky

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Photo of an Ancient Egyptian artists’s small, naturalistic painting of a standing hippopotamus on a flake of white limestone, dated c. 1479–1425. The hippo is painted in profile with head lowered and to the right. The body is outlined with black paint and painted brown. The belly, eyes, and ears are painted red. Although the ancient Egyptians were well aware of the danger and destructive power of hippos, this painted hippo has rather a friendly face! Dimensions: H. 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in); W. 12 cm (4 3/4 in); Th. 1.7 cm (11/16 in) Egyptian artists made practice sketches on flakes of limestone, sometimes for use as templates when transferring an image to the wall of a tomb or a temple. Limestone flakes were readily available because of the constant construction of temples and rock-cut tombs. A number of such sketches were recovered at Deir el-Bahri during the 1922-23 MMA excavations. This painting was acquired by the museum in the division of finds.

Artist’s painting of a hippo on a flake of limestone 🦛❤️

Perhaps a practice sketch, or just for the joy of painting 3,500 years ago!

From Deir el-Bahri, Thebes, Egypt, c. 1479–1425 BC. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

Escaped slaves on St. Croix hid their settlements so well, they still haven’t been found – archaeologists using new mapping technology are on the hunt As many as 10% of enslaved people on St. Croix escaped. Where they went has remained a mystery, but scientists are using new mapping technology to find answers.

Using archaeology to find hidden maroon settlements. theconversation.com/escaped-slav...

Lost, ancient cult site unearthed near a Norwegian highway A mudslide buried the ceremonial location around 800 CE.

3000 year old cult site discovered by Norwegian highway. #AncientBlueSky

www.popsci.com/science/anci...

Scientists Found an Undersea Metropolis That Dwarfs the Atlantic’s ‘Lost City’ The newly-discovered ecosystem surrounding a hydrothermal vent could give scientists clues as to how life began on Earth.

Discovery of hydrothermal system gives scientists "the perfect natural laboratory to research what that precise recipe for life."

www.popularmechanics.com/science/envi...

Animals Keep Evolving Into Crabs, Which Is Somewhat Disturbing It’s okay if this weirds you out.

Animals have evolved into crabs 5 times.

www.popularmechanics.com/science/anim...