Intricate designs engraved across the surface of 18,000-year-old female figurines carved from mammoth ivory were inspired by the distinctive growth patterns visible in the tusks, a new study has revealed.

Bear baiting in England became more popular after the Norman Conquest in 1066, new research shows.  

The study by Cardiff University and the University of Nottingham brings together archaeological analysis of bear bones and archival records to show the prevalence of the animals in England and northern France during medieval times.

Analysis of fossilized remains from dinosaurs known as troodontids reveals how one species’ hip and leg bones may have developed over its lifespan, from embryo to adult—with potential implications for resolving longstanding taxonomic challenges. David Varricchio of Montana State University, US, and Heath Caldwell of North Carolina State University, US, present their findings in the open access journal PLOS One on September 9, 2026.

A new study published in Science Advances reveals how Bronze Age communities in Central Europe adapted to changing environmental and social conditions by adopting broomcorn millet, a fast-growing and climate-resilient crop. Using multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence, researchers found that millet was already being consumed in southeastern Poland around 1590 BCE – more than a century earlier than previously estimated – and was initially adopted gradually by a small number of individuals. The findings suggest that millet cultivation enabled communities to expand agriculture into previously marginal areas with poorer soils and drier conditions, reshaping how people used the landscape and strengthening food security.

Researchers have shed new light on a series of prehistoric stones in Yorkshire, revealing the 25-tonne structures were hauled 11 miles across land by Neolithic builders.

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals newly discovered aspects of melons’ ancient history. Based on an analysis of the ancient DNA of seeds from a Song imperial dynasty archaeological site in southeastern China (circa 960-1279), scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have determined those ancient melons belong to the East Asian ‘agrestis’ lineage likely arrived from South Asia originally, although an independent Chinese domestication event cannot be ruled out. Those ancient melons lacked the sweetness of modern dessert melons, indicating a distinct East Asian culinary tradition.

A new study suggests that a period of intense fires and landscape upheaval in the ancient southern Levant may have helped create the conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how fire could transform clay.