An international study led by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) reveals that Indigenous, African and Afro-descendant communities relied more heavily on marine resources, while communities of immigrants from Germany consumed mainly plant species and terrestrial products.

Maize was likely "nutritionally and symbolically central" to the diet of many ancient Maya peoples, per analysis of bone and teeth samples from Petén, Guatemala

A team of scientists led by researchers with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Texas A&M University recently uncovered genetic traces of ancient migration in DNA from avocados growing in Nicaragua. They found evidence that, around 5,000 years ago, people migrating north from South America carried the oversized seeds of one of their favorite fruits—avocados. As these seeds were dispersed throughout the humid lowlands of Central America, they hybridized with native varieties, producing a diversity of avocado varieties that produce the large, smooth-skinned berries that are now enjoyed around Central America. Despite resembling the avocados found in humid regions like Florida and the Caribbean, these local varieties are genetically distinct from the commercially grown fruits found in guacamole.

A major new digital mapping project could help safeguard some of the world's most important and well-known heritage sites from rising seas, flooding and coastal erosion.

Researchers have created the Global Coastal Heritage (Glo-CoH) dataset, the first comprehensive digital map of UNESCO World Heritage sites located along coastlines that are less than 20 metres above sea level.

Scientists analyzed phytoliths, silica microfossils from plants, collected from archaeological pits dug in Cloggs Cave, a special place of the GunaiKurnai First Nations people. Almost all (up to 97%) of the phytoliths came from grasses of a range of species. Up to 18% of the phytoliths were melted or burnt, which means that they were purposively carried in by people. The authors concluded that the Old Ancestors selectively brought in grasses for burning. Approximately 2,000 years ago, grasses were burnt around a small standing stone used to perform magic. Ethnographers and oral traditions have reported that such rituals using ash from burnt plants took place across GunaiKurnai Country during the 19th century.

The 2020 rediscovery of six mummies, previously thought lost, allowed scientists to re-evaluate the remains of five princesses — four sisters, Khenmet, Itaweret, Ita, and Sathathormeryt, and Princess Noub-Hotep — and King Hor. These royal women were buried with weapons like bows, arrows, and daggers, but without a modern bioarchaeological assessment scientists couldn’t be sure if these were ceremonial or if the princesses could use them. Researchers identified pronounced muscle attachments on the princesses’ bones, consistent with training and developing the muscles for archery, as well as signs of well-cared-for physical trauma. But they also found evidence of persistent infection and possible malnutrition, an indication that royal status couldn’t protect the princesses from everything. 

A collection of fossilized dinosaur bones from Wyoming feature tooth marks that provide evidence that some bites were likely created by Tyrannosaurus rex, according to a study published July 15, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Bethania C. T. Siviero from Loma Linda University, USA, and colleagues.

New study helps resolve one of South American archaeology's longest-running debates: the role of maize in precolonial societies. Evidence reveals that large villages in central Brazil were supported by polyculture maize farming while neighboring societies maintained diversified food production strategies.