A 3000-year old earthenware restored to its original glory gave up a few fascinating secrets from the Iron Age era. The chief among them was the name inscribed on the jar which read - Eshba’al Ben Bada. Initially found at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, in the Valley of Elah west of Jerusalem (the very…
2015 has surely been a good year for finding treasures - be it the Fatimid gold coins or the silver decadrachms from Alexander's era. However, this time around, archaeologists may have very well come across the 'mother lode' in terms of sheer value - with researchers pinpointing the location of a shipwreck of a 15th…
Last year in October, we had covered the so-called witch burial of a 13-year old girl in Northern Italy. The terminology of a 'witch' was extensively used due to the downward way she was buried - which was believed (by people during the medieval times) to stop the cursed soul from leaving the body through…
The grid plan from urban planning has had its historical roots that are at least 4,600 years old. To that end, the first specimens of such advanced grid-based planning was found in both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the burgeoning settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization (circa 2600 BC) of the Indian subcontinent. The pattern was followed…
The Baltic Sea region has surely played its part in the realm of recent archaeological news, especially with its fair share of early 19th century beer and champagne specimens. But this time around, archaeologists were unearthing a far older Iron Age settlement on the Baltic island of Bornholm (belonging to Denmark) - and they surprisingly…
It is not everyday you discover an array of Roman artifacts and grave goods by just the aid of your metal detector. But that is exactly what happened with one Phil Kirk, who came across an entire Roman grave in last year's October, and that too inside a small village named Kelshall that is situated between…
For the uninitiated, the 'Landscapes of the Dead Research Project' is an ongoing endeavor for detailed analysis of the Early Bronze Age archaeological scope (from 3500-2000 BC) at numerous sites, including an important one at Fifa, Jordan. To that end, the Fifa site has revealed over thousands of tombs (estimated to be over 10,000) that…
Peru's ruggedly scenic Cotahuasi Valley has some secrets of its own, as is evident from more than 171 mummies found in seven tombs perched atop the hills. These slightly 'towering' burial grounds surround a 1200-year old site known as Tenahaha, which largely consisted of open-air enclosures and storerooms that were tailored to mass scale feasting…
Tel Aviv might have been a beer-making hub for Egyptians in the early Bronze Age, as is attested by some newly found archaeological evidences from the coastal city. These finds pertain to a whopping 17 pits in a site (along Hamasger Street) that is all about to have new office buildings. So the researchers from…
How would you like 250-year old pretzels to go along with your 170-year old beer? Well, German archaeologists (from Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites) can surely fulfill your first demand, as is evident from their recent discovery of what is touted as the world's oldest two pretzels. Found at the site of Donaumarkt,…