The lore surrounding medieval executioners is fairly off base.(Image: © Shutterstock)One afternoon in May 1573, a 19-year-old man named Frantz Schmidt stood in the backyard of his father's house in the German state of Bavaria, preparing tobehead a st
(Image: © STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)Archaeologist describes horrors of watching Syria burn.I used to be a Near Eastern archaeologist working in Syria. Nowadays, I am stuck in academic purgatory, observing from a great distance as the country burns, u
This rural mosque likely served nearby farmers sometime between A.D. 600 and 700.Credit: Israel Antiquities AuthorityThe remains of a humble house of worship have been discovered in Rahat, Israel.While surveying the site before the construction of a new n
This ancient Roman stylus may have been the equivalent of today's joke souvenir.Credit: MOLAThe tradition of buying cheap, joke souvenirs for your loved ones while traveling dates back at least two millennia.During an archaeological excavation at a Roman-
An unknown structure in the northwestern part of the fortress of Naryn-Kala could be one of the world's oldest churches.Credit: MISIS National University of Science and TechnologyUsing a celestial phenomenon, archaeologists are probing a mysterious struct
Scientists have recently expressed concern regarding the impact of climate change on ancient Greek monuments, including the Acropolis.The extreme weather phenomena seen in recent years, as well as air pollution and acid rain, have created structural probl
The islet ‘mini-mountain’ of Dhaskalio, off the Cycladic island of Keros (Cambridge Keros Project)Archaeologists have found the earliest monumental complex of buildings ever unearthed anywhere in the Greek WorldIt is evidence of a rich cultural and monume
A mural in Cave 158 at the Mogao Grottoes from the Tubo period, located in Dunhuang, Gansu province, shows princes of different countries mourning for nirvana of the Buddha.A major exhibition examining the pivotal role played by the Tibetan Tubo regime in
Visitors look at a replica of the Mogao Grottoes at an exhibition in Shanghai Tower in May 2018. The head of Lanzhou University's Dunhuang studies program has spent years building up a global reference resource for academics.The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang
Credit: ShutterstockOne thousand years before the first Fourth of July, the first fireworks exploded. It didn't rain twinkling stars or light up the night sky — but to the complete surprise and misfortune of one Chinese chemist, it did go "bang."
A geomagnetic look at Reccopolis in 2015.Credit: Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd; Photograph by J. Henning and E. Fikrit Eyub; Henning, J. et al. Antiquity 2019.Archaeologists have detected long-hidden features of a Visigothic city in Spain, includin
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Getting high on marijuana may not be a modern pastime, as archaeologists have found the earliest clear evidence to date that people were smoking cannabis for its psychoactive properties some 2,500 years ago.They found evidence of burned cannabis with high
An archaeologist carefully excavates the Prittlewell burial chamber. The chamber was discovered in 2003; it has taken researchers 16 years to carefully remove, clean and analyze the artifacts. Many will now be on permanent display at the Southend Central
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
