Hacker News with Generative AI: Archaeology

The mysterious Gobi wall uncovered (phys.org)
A new study sheds new light on one of the least understood segments of medieval Inner Asian infrastructure: the Gobi Wall.

History, Archaeology, China, Inner Asia

70 points by bikenaga 30 days ago | 20 comments

Neolithic 'sun stones' sacrificed in Denmark revives sun after volcanic eruption (archaeologymag.com)
Around 4,900 years ago, Neolithic communities on the Danish island of Bornholm ritually buried hundreds of engraved stones, so-called “sun stones,” in a remarkable act to counter drastic climate changes caused by a massive volcanic eruption.

Archaeology, Climate Change, History, Volcanoes, Rituals

10 points by bryanrasmussen 31 days ago | 9 comments

Homo erectus from the seabed, new archaeological discoveries in Indonesia (universiteitleiden.nl)
Archaeological finds off the coast of Java, Indonesia provide insight into the world of Homo erectus, 140,000 years ago. Skull fragments and other fossil remains provide a unique picture of how and where these early humans lived, says Leiden archaeologist Harold Berghuis.

Archaeology, Homo Erectus, Indonesia, Fossils

37 points by palmfacehn 33 days ago | 7 comments

Largest-ever ancient DNA study on a medieval cemetery reveals genetic history (kuleuven.be)
Geneticists from KU Leuven and international colleagues have conducted the largest ancient DNA study ever performed on human remains from a single medieval burial site.

Genetics, Archaeology, History, Medieval Period, DNA

4 points by isaacfrond 36 days ago | 0 comments

Only elites used hallucinogens in ancient Andes society (arstechnica.com)
In 2022, we told you about a study reporting evidence that an ancient Peruvian people called the Wari laced the beer served at their feasts with hallucinogens—particularly a substance derived from the seeds of the vilca tree, which was common in the region during the Middle Horizon period (circa 850 CE) when the Wari empire thrived. This may have helped the Wari forge political alliances and expand their empire.

Ancient History, Archaeology, Anthropology, South America, History

5 points by PaulHoule 36 days ago | 0 comments

Archaeologist sailing like a Viking makes unexpected discoveries (phys.org)
Archaeologist Greer Jarrett at Lund University in Sweden has been sailing in the footsteps of Vikings for three years. He can now show that the Vikings sailed farther away from Scandinavia and took routes farther from land than was previously believed to have been possible. In his latest study, he has found evidence of a decentralized network of ports, located on islands and peninsulas, which probably played a central role in trade and travel in the Viking era.

Archaeology, Vikings, History, Travel, Scandinavia

14 points by Brajeshwar 36 days ago | 0 comments

Solving the mystery of a dinosaur mass grave at the 'River of Death' (bbc.com)
Hidden beneath the slopes of a lush forest in Alberta, Canada, is a mass grave on a monumental scale.

Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Archaeology, Canada

24 points by bookofjoe 37 days ago | 5 comments

Research Uncovers Parthenon Spectacular Lighting Effects for Athena in Antiquity (arkeonews.net)
A four-year multidisciplinary study led by Oxford University Archaeologist Professor Juan de Lara has shed new light on a millennia-old mystery: how the iconic Parthenon temple on the Acropolis was illuminated in ancient Greece.

History, Archaeology, Greece, Architecture, Lighting

30 points by bookofjoe 39 days ago | 3 comments

Visualizing 100k Years of Earth in WebGL (technistuff.com)
What did Earth look like when humans migrated to the Americas? Changing sea levels and large ice sheets during the last ice age played a key role in human migration and explain many archaeological sites now buried under the sea.

WebGL, Earth History, Climate Change, Archaeology, Visualization

83 points by agnosis 39 days ago | 20 comments

The Joys of Discovering the Roman Underground (smithsonianmag.com)
Tourism is surging in many places around the world—swarmed national parks, throngs of visitors amassing in churches and museums, and sidewalk cafes overburdened with diners. In this episode, we’d like to offer a less crowded way to be a tourist: consider going underground.

Tourism, Archaeology, History, Italy

30 points by ulrischa 43 days ago | 18 comments

Map of Palaeohispanic Coins and Inscriptions (hesperia.ucm.es)
<h1>Mapas Hesperia</h1>

Archaeology, History, Ancient History, Spain

23 points by brendanashworth 45 days ago | 1 comments

Discovery by Norfolk metal detectorist baffles experts (edp24.co.uk)
A metal detectorist has unearthed a medieval mystery after discovering a precious object on the opposite side of the county to its original owner.

History, Archaeology, Metal Detecting, Mysteries

5 points by austinallegro 47 days ago | 1 comments

Title of work deciphered in sealed Herculaneum scroll via digital unwrapping (finebooksmagazine.com)
The Bodleian Libraries and the Vesuvius Challenge have announced that for the first time researchers have found the title and author inside of a sealed scroll from Herculaneum.

Ancient History, Archaeology, Technology, Digital Humanities

237 points by namanyayg 47 days ago | 118 comments

Egyptologist uncovers hidden messages on Paris’s iconic obelisk (artnet.com)

Egypt, Archaeology, History, Secret Messages

125 points by isaacfrond 51 days ago | 105 comments

Spanish Shipwreck Reveals Evidence of Earliest Known Pet Cats to Arrive in US (smithsonianmag.com)
Cats are beloved members of many families, with 73.8 million of them prowling and purring their way around 42 million American households. But it wasn’t always this way: Domestic cats are relative newcomers to the Americas, having only arrived roughly 500 years ago with European explorers.

History, Archaeology, Animals, Pets

55 points by wallflower 51 days ago | 51 comments

Phoenician culture spread mainly through cultural exchange (mpg.de)
Study challenges long-held assumptions about the Mediterranean Phoenician-Punic civilization, one of the most influential maritime cultures in history

History, Archaeology, Culture, Mediterranean

85 points by gmays 53 days ago | 37 comments

The Inchtuthil Nail Hoard (scottishhistory.org)
In 1959 during excavation of the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil near Dunkeld headed by Sir Ian Richmond, archaeologists uncovered a singularly remarkable haul of a single kind of artefact.

Archaeology, History, Scotland

80 points by Luc 53 days ago | 27 comments

Ancient DNA from the green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage (nature.com)
Although it is one of the most arid regions today, the Sahara Desert was a green savannah during the African Humid Period (AHP) between 14,500 and 5,000 years before present, with water bodies promoting human occupation and the spread of pastoralism in the middle Holocene epoch1.

Ancient History, Genetics, Africa, Climate Change, Archaeology

53 points by gnabgib 54 days ago | 6 comments

Ancient DNA unearths a new race from a verdant North African interlude (razibkhan.com)
These 7000-year-old humans are neither Eurasian nor sub-Saharan African

Genetics, Archaeology, Africa

12 points by pseudolus 54 days ago | 0 comments

El Cono: The mysterious sacred 'pyramid' hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest (livescience.com)

Amazon Rainforest, Archaeology, History, Mysteries

57 points by Brajeshwar 54 days ago | 20 comments

Jewels linked to Buddha remains go to auction, sparking ethical debate (bbc.com)
On Wednesday, a cache of dazzling jewels linked to the Buddha's mortal remains, which have been hailed as one of the most astonishing archaeological finds of the modern era, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.

Archaeology, Buddhism, Auctions, Ethics

19 points by akbarnama 55 days ago | 7 comments

Ancient DNA Unveils the Cosmopolitan Heart of the Phoenician-Punic Civilization (allthathistory.com)
Imagine a bustling port in ancient Carthage, circa 600 BCE, where Phoenician sailors unload fragrant cedarwood from Lebanon, North African potters shape intricate ostrich-egg urns, and Sicilian merchants barter for shimmering Aegean textiles. This was the Punic world—a dazzling crossroads of cultures, united not by conquest but by the restless tides of trade and human connection.

Ancient History, Archaeology, Mediterranean History, Phoenicians, Genetics

25 points by speckx 57 days ago | 3 comments

New study reveals wealth inequality was never inevitable (archaeologymag.com)
A groundbreaking study published in the journal PNAS is overturning traditional wisdom regarding the origins and inevitability of wealth inequality.

Social Inequality, Archaeology, Wealth Distribution

51 points by nickcotter 62 days ago | 84 comments

Catastrophic fires and soil degradation: possible link with Neolithic revolution (springer.com)
The agricultural revolution of the Neolithic period in the Levant has puzzled researchers trying to resolve climatic vs. anthropogenic chain of events.

Agriculture, Climate Change, History, Environmental Science, Archaeology

12 points by Hooke 63 days ago | 1 comments

A 2k-year-old battle ended in fire, and a tree species never recovered (arstechnica.com)
The buried roots and stumps of an ancient forest in southern China are the charred remains of an ancient war and the burning of a capital city, according to a recent study from researchers who carbon-dated the stumps and measured charcoal and pollen in the layers of peat surrounding them.

Ancient History, Archaeology, Climate Change, Environmental Science

7 points by pseudolus 63 days ago | 0 comments

Egyptologist in Paris Discovers Secret Messages on the Luxor Obelisk (gizmodo.com)
In 1830, the viceroy of Egypt gifted France a 3,300-year-old Egyptian obelisk—a carved stone pillar with a pyramidal top.

Egyptology, History, Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Paris

21 points by rntn 64 days ago | 0 comments

A Roman Gladiator and a Lion Met in Combat. Only One Walked Away (nytimes.com)
A discovery in an English garden led to the first direct evidence that man fought beast to entertain the subjects of the Roman Empire.

History, Archaeology, Ancient Rome, Gladiators

33 points by diodorus 65 days ago | 51 comments

A Gladiator's Marble-Etched Epitaph Is Found in an Ancient Roman Necropolis (smithsonianmag.com)
Over 2,200 years ago, the Republic of Rome founded a colony called Liternum on Italy’s west coast, just north of present-day Naples.

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Italy

11 points by bryanrasmussen 68 days ago | 0 comments

The Indian explorer who uncovered an ancient civilisation (bbc.com)
An Indian archaeologist, whose career was marked by brilliance and controversy, made one of the world's greatest historical discoveries. Yet he remains largely forgotten today.

History, Archaeology, India, Ancient Civilizations

8 points by ViktorRay 69 days ago | 0 comments

More details for London's new Roman Basilica museum revealed (ianvisits.co.uk)
Following the recent discovery of Roman ruins in the City of London, more details have been revealed about the plans for a new museum of Roman London’s history.

London, Museums, Archaeology, Roman History

51 points by zeristor 70 days ago | 4 comments