New research brings together 7,000 years of history in South Arabia to show how ancient pastoralists changed placement and construction of monuments over time in the face of environmental and cultural forces.

Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a study conducted by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University of British Columbia. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable insight into the marine ecology of the time. 

New study reveals that the Gobi Wall—an extensive, little-understood structure in the Mongolian desert—was not merely a defensive barrier but a sophisticated tool of imperial strategy during the Xi Xia dynasty (1038–1227 CE). Constructed primarily from rammed earth, stone, and wood, the wall and its associated garrisons were deliberately placed to manage frontier movement, regulate trade, and assert territorial control, all while adapting to the harsh ecological and geographic realities of the region. This research reframes the Gobi Wall as a multifunctional infrastructure that played a central role in the geopolitical and environmental landscape of medieval Inner Asia.

A new study by archaeologists at Bournemouth University has revealed that bodies recovered from a ‘war-cemetery’, previously attributed to the Roman Conquest of Britain at Maiden Castle Iron Age hillfort in Dorset, did not die in a single dramatic event. 

A new study uses metabolic profiling to uncover ancient knowledge systems behind therapeutic and psychoactive plant use in ancient Arabia.

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 decentralised network of ports, located on islands and peninsulas, which probably played a central role in trade and travel in the Viking era.  

A University of Cincinnati expert in ancient Greek wants to produce the most authentic performance of the play “Antigone” that audiences have heard in nearly 2,500 years.