Archaeology News Online

Peruvian authorities have revealed the reconstructed face of the Lord of Sipan, a pre-Columbian ruler whose remains were discovered in 1987 and hailed as one of the country's most stunning archaeological finds. The Lord of Sipan was likely between the ages of 45 and 55 when he was buried around 250 AD  [Credit: © Peruvian Ministry of Culture/AFP] A full body representation of the ancient ruler, believed to have died around the year 250, was unveiled Thursday at the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan in the northern city of Chiclayo. Peruvian Culture Minister Salvador del Solar traveled to Chiclayo for the unveiling, which marks the 30th anniversary of the tomb's discovery. The Moche culture ruler's face was reconstructed by anthropologists based on the skull and facial bones of the man's mummy, archaeologist Walter Alva told AFP, speaking by phone from Chiclayo. "The skull was quite damaged by the pressure of the earth and the burial jewels," but the anthropol...

In 1986, a long cist burial was dug up in Bridge of Tilt near Blair Atholl, where excavators discovered the skeleton of a man in his forties. Analysis at the time found the man was used to hard work, and lived around 340 to 615 AD, making this one of the earliest Pictish graves ever discovered. The digitally re-created Pictish man [Credit: GUARD Archaeology] Now, GUARD Archaeology in Glasgow and forensic artist Hayley Fisher have managed to digitally recreate the face of the Bridge of Tilt Pict which is now on display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery as part of their Picts and Pixels exhibition. Bob Will, the archaeologist leading this project, said: “The actual burial was found in the 1980s and a certain amount of work was done then. But various members of the local community and groups wanted to do more, so they got in touch to take the project forward and one thing they wanted was a facial reconstruction. That is what got the ball rolling on that one. “We then approached Historic Env...

More than 2,500 years ago, an Athenian nobleman named Cylon -- the first recorded Olympic champion -- tried to take over the city of Athens and install himself as its sole ruler. A conservator of archaeological works on a human skull in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] According to Thucydides and Herodotus, Athenian and Greek historians who wrote about the coup, Cylon enticed an army of followers to enter the city and lay siege to the Acropolis. They were defeated, but Cylon managed to escape. Now archaeologists in Athens believe they may have found some of the remains of Cylon's army in a mass grave in Phaleron, four miles (6 kilometres) south of downtown Athens. Bio-archaeologist Eleanna Prevedorou poses in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] The discovery of the 80 skeletons of men is "unequalled" in Greece, said site project director Stella ...

There was a lot of excitement when scientists reported the discovery of an entirely new hominin species, Homo naledi , in 2015. Since then, we are gradually learning more about them. For example, earlier this year, researchers found that they lived sometime between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago. Teeth don’t lie [Credit: Ian Towle] Now my colleagues and I have reported among the first evidence on the diet and behaviour of this fascinating new addition to the human family tree. Our research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology , suggests they probably ate a substantially different diet from other South African hominins. The young age of Homo naledi suggests they may have shared their environment with humans, raising an intriguing discussion about the ecological niche they would have filled . The preservation of their skeletons is also interesting – the research team that first described it concluded they may have deliberately placed their dead in the cave. Mapping...

Women whose skeletons were found in a 1200 years old pre-Inca tomb in Peru could have been aristocrats: daughters or granddaughters of immigrants from different parts of the Wari empire - according to chemical analyses. The tomb was discovered by Polish archaeologists in 2012. With her hair still intact, the skull of a woman from the Wari elite brings new clues about the life of the ruling class  of El Castillo. Before burying her, her maids painted her face with red pigment, still visible over the eye socket  [Credit: National Geographic] The tomb containing 64 skeletons - mostly women - and more than 1200 precious objects made of silver, gold, bronze and other materials was discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Miłosz Giersz from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in 2012. The discovery was made in central Peru in Huarmey, 300 km north of the country's capital Lima. Scientists have established that the tomb belongs to the representatives of ...

Peruvian authorities have revealed the reconstructed face of the Lord of Sipan, a pre-Columbian ruler whose remains were discovered in 1987 and hailed as one of the country's most stunning archaeological finds. The Lord of Sipan was likely between the ages of 45 and 55 when he was buried around 250 AD  [Credit: © Peruvian Ministry of Culture/AFP] A full body representation of the ancient ruler, believed to have died around the year 250, was unveiled Thursday at the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan in the northern city of Chiclayo. Peruvian Culture Minister Salvador del Solar traveled to Chiclayo for the unveiling, which marks the 30th anniversary of the tomb's discovery. The Moche culture ruler's face was reconstructed by anthropologists based on the skull and facial bones of the man's mummy, archaeologist Walter Alva told AFP, speaking by phone from Chiclayo. "The skull was quite damaged by the pressure of the earth and the burial jewels," but the anthropol...

In 1986, a long cist burial was dug up in Bridge of Tilt near Blair Atholl, where excavators discovered the skeleton of a man in his forties. Analysis at the time found the man was used to hard work, and lived around 340 to 615 AD, making this one of the earliest Pictish graves ever discovered. The digitally re-created Pictish man [Credit: GUARD Archaeology] Now, GUARD Archaeology in Glasgow and forensic artist Hayley Fisher have managed to digitally recreate the face of the Bridge of Tilt Pict which is now on display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery as part of their Picts and Pixels exhibition. Bob Will, the archaeologist leading this project, said: “The actual burial was found in the 1980s and a certain amount of work was done then. But various members of the local community and groups wanted to do more, so they got in touch to take the project forward and one thing they wanted was a facial reconstruction. That is what got the ball rolling on that one. “We then approached Historic Env...

More than 2,500 years ago, an Athenian nobleman named Cylon -- the first recorded Olympic champion -- tried to take over the city of Athens and install himself as its sole ruler. A conservator of archaeological works on a human skull in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] According to Thucydides and Herodotus, Athenian and Greek historians who wrote about the coup, Cylon enticed an army of followers to enter the city and lay siege to the Acropolis. They were defeated, but Cylon managed to escape. Now archaeologists in Athens believe they may have found some of the remains of Cylon's army in a mass grave in Phaleron, four miles (6 kilometres) south of downtown Athens. Bio-archaeologist Eleanna Prevedorou poses in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] The discovery of the 80 skeletons of men is "unequalled" in Greece, said site project director Stella ...

There was a lot of excitement when scientists reported the discovery of an entirely new hominin species, Homo naledi , in 2015. Since then, we are gradually learning more about them. For example, earlier this year, researchers found that they lived sometime between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago. Teeth don’t lie [Credit: Ian Towle] Now my colleagues and I have reported among the first evidence on the diet and behaviour of this fascinating new addition to the human family tree. Our research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology , suggests they probably ate a substantially different diet from other South African hominins. The young age of Homo naledi suggests they may have shared their environment with humans, raising an intriguing discussion about the ecological niche they would have filled . The preservation of their skeletons is also interesting – the research team that first described it concluded they may have deliberately placed their dead in the cave. Mapping...

Women whose skeletons were found in a 1200 years old pre-Inca tomb in Peru could have been aristocrats: daughters or granddaughters of immigrants from different parts of the Wari empire - according to chemical analyses. The tomb was discovered by Polish archaeologists in 2012. With her hair still intact, the skull of a woman from the Wari elite brings new clues about the life of the ruling class  of El Castillo. Before burying her, her maids painted her face with red pigment, still visible over the eye socket  [Credit: National Geographic] The tomb containing 64 skeletons - mostly women - and more than 1200 precious objects made of silver, gold, bronze and other materials was discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Miłosz Giersz from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in 2012. The discovery was made in central Peru in Huarmey, 300 km north of the country's capital Lima. Scientists have established that the tomb belongs to the representatives of ...