The passage of carts over decades could cause ruts (like the one shown here), particularly in high-traffic areas of Pompeii.Credit: Eric PoehlerAncient workers used molten iron to repair Pompeii's streets before the historic and devastating eruption of Mo
Trimontium Stone Monument - marking the site of Trimonitum, the Roman fort at Newstead, Scotland. by HeritageDaily
13th century travelers on the Silk RoadThe 13th century is a period when Silk Road accounts from European travellers starts to become much more common than before. Still, they only make up a fraction of all the written accounts, as the vast majority of th
Here are a few examples of people who travelled along the Silk Road prior to the year 1000 AD (CE). Most, but not all, of them are individuals who wrote about their journey and whose texts are considered to contain valuable historical and cultural informa
The Crescent Moon Lake appears like a mirage in Dunhuang's Singing Sand Dunes.The Silk Road city of Dunhuang is an oasis shaped by the sands of time that has survived and thrived in the desert for millennia. The ancient refuge in one of the planet's tough
A new study found evidence that climate change likely drove the Harappans to resettle far away from the floodplains of the Indus.
Archaeological excavation has, historically, operated in a very hierarchical structure, according to archaeologist. The history of the enterprise is deeply entangled with Western colonial and imperial pursuits, she says. Excavations have been, and often s
The Nebra Sky DiscWhen the Nebra Sky Discwas buried, it had already been in use for 200 years. While its raw materials were imported from as far away as Cornwall, the knowledge required to create the object was entirely local, drawn from observing the hea
Research destroys theory that Chinese armourers used applications not discovered in the West until millennia later. Andrew Masterson reports.Chinese craftspeople did not – that’s did not – invent a sophisticated and highly effective anti-rust treatment mo
In Aristophanes’ comedyTheFrogs, a nosy slave listens to his master’s conversations and spreads them around town, resulting in his master’s horrible misfortunes.The Aristophanes character, however, was not put there just for laughs. Gossip was a real tool
Qingbai ceramics from the Field Museum's Java Sea Shipwreck collection.Credit: Copyright The Field Museum. Photo by Kate GolembiewskiScientists just blasted pottery from an ancient shipwreck with a "ray gun." Besides being totally sci-fi, the X-
Roman historians accused Nero of deliberately setting the Great Fire of Rome so that he could rebuild the city in a more pleasing style.Credit: Photographer Helmut Wimmer/Copyright Interspot Film GmbHWas the infamously cruelNeroreally as terrible an emper
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the volcano's molten rock, scorching debris and poisonous gases killed nearly 2,000 people in the nearby ancient Italian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.But not everyone died. So, where did the refugees, who could
Climate change trashed the Byzantine Empire, ancient garbage mounds revealed.Credit: ShutterstockAbout a century before the fall of the Byzantine Empire — the eastern portion of the vast Roman Empire — signs of its impending doom were written in garbage.A
The face of the Egyptian pharaoh Senwosret III, circa 1878–1840 B.C. Most Egyptian rulers chose to have their likenesses appear youthful and strong, but Senwosret III opted to show a more realistic countenance, showing his heavy-lidded eyes, thin lips and
