This 2,700-year-old seal impression contains the Hebrew name for "Isaiah" and may refer to the biblical prophet who lived at the same time.Credit: Ouria Tadmor/copyrightEilat MazarSome 2,700 years ago, someone pressed a seal bearing the name Isa
Scholars have deciphered a Dead Sea Scroll written in a Hebrew code, finding that it contains part of a 364-day calendar of holy days.
Excavations have begun in an area of the Valley of the Kings where the tomb of Tutankhamun's wife may be located, archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced today (Jan. 16). Archaeologists are digging in
Using cosmic particles called muons, and possibly tiny robots, scientists hope to figure out what created two mysterious voids inside the Great Pyramid. Possibilities range from a new burial chambe
The Dead Sea Scrolls on display at Qumran in 2010.Credit: ShutterstockThe burial of a warrior who lived and (literally) died by the sword, a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings and a cave that may have held Dead Sea Scrolls — these are just some of the bi
Soup dishCredit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural RelicsA 3,100-year-old tomb filled with bronze food vessels that have incredible designs has been discovered in Baoji City in China. This photo shows a "tureen," a vessel that is often used to ser
The castle found beneath the surface of Lake Van in Turkey may have been built 3,000 years ago by ancient people called the Urartians, but archaeologists can't say for certain.Credit: Photo by Tahsin CeylanLast week, a story about a 3,000-year-old castle
Cremated human remains were found inside this ceramic box. An inscription found nearby says that they were buried Jun. 22, 1013 and belong to the Buddha. It is not certain if the statues were buried along with the remains.Credit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cu
The north entrance of the Palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete.Credit:Andrei Nekrassov|ShutterstockThe Palace of Knossos is located just south of modern-day Heraklion near the north coast of Crete. Built by a civilization that we call theMinoans
The hull of the ship was cracked, suggesting it was hit and took on water, leading to it being wrecked some 700 years ago.Credit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural RelicsArchaeologists have uncovered a shipwreck buried under silt and mud that dates back aro
This 2,000-year-old wooden chariot was buried alongside the remains of two horses and a dog, as well as the remains of a nobleman from Thrace, in what is now Bulgaria.Credit: UBB/Veselin IgnatovThe photo of an ancient Thracian chariot alongside the bones
According to the inscription, a kingdom called Mira controlled Troy 3,200 years ago and a prince from Troy, named Muksus, led Mira's forces in a series of military campaigns. (Alex Khripunov/Shutterstock)A 3,200-year-old stone slab with an inscription tha
A statue of Leonidas was erected in 1968 in Sparta, Greece.Credit:Anastasios71|ShutterstockSparta is a city in Laconia, on the Peloponnese in Greece. In antiquity, it was a powerful city-state with a famous martial tradition. Ancient writers sometimes ref
According to legend, 6th-century Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had a colossal maze of waterfalls and dense vegetation planted across his palace for a wife, who missed her lush homeland. Archaeologists still debate the garden's existence.Credit: Photo Cre
This sculpture of an Egyptian pharaoh was found in the ancient city of Hazor in Israel. It was constructed around 4,300 years ago, at a time when pyramids were being built in Egypt, and was smashed apart when Hazor was destroyed around 3,300 years ago. (G
A series of Egyptian tombs dating back about 2,000 years, to the time when the Romans controlled Egypt, have been discovered at Bir esh-Shaghala in the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt.Credit: Egypt Ministry of AntiquitiesA series of tombs dating back about 2,000 ye
The name Troy refers both to a place in legend and a real-life archaeological site. In legend, Troy is a city that was besieged for 10 years and eventually conquered by a Greek army led by King Agamemnon. The reason for this "Trojan War" was, ac
From prehistory to the 21st century, human sacrifice has been practiced around the world by numerous cultures. Live Science takes a look at 25 cultures that practiced, or still practice, human sacrifice.
A tomb dating back around 3,400 years has been discovered on Sai Island, on the Nile River in Sudan.
Archaeologists discovered the tomb in 2015, though it wasn't until 2017 that a team with the AcrossBorders archaeological research project fully excavated the site.
The ancient catacombs of St. Domitilla sprawl for more than 10 miles (17 kilometers) in a labyrinth of tunnels beneath Rome and contain numerous tombs, many belonging to the city's elite.
The remains of at least four female heads, made out of ceramic, have been discovered at the ancient town of Porphyreon, located in modern-day Jiyeh, Lebanon.
A mongoose on a leash, a colorful pelican and various bats are just a few of the rare animal drawings revealed in a new survey of a group of 4,000-year-old tombs in Egypt.
Archaeologists have discovered an underground catacomb containing numerous mummy-filled corridors at an ancient cemetery at the site of Tuna el-Gebel in Egypt.
This monster-like creature, as archaeologists call it, was found on the vaulted ceiling of the tomb's corridor. Archaeologists say that it has four outstretched limbs and appears to be "dashing down from above." This mural was found in a tomb in
A silk-covered body inside a coffin and a silver bowl depicting Greek goddesses are among the discoveries at a 1,500-year-old cemetery in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in China.
A 3,800-year-old pyramid found with an alabaster block bearing the name of pharaoh Ameny Qemau has been discovered at the site of Dahshur in Egypt.
Construction workers accidentally discovered a vaulted tomb dating back to the time of the Assyrian Empire in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Ten skeletons were also found at the site.
Mural tombArchaeologists in Datong City, in northern China, have discovered a tomb with colorful murals on the walls dating back around 1,000 years. The murals depict servants, cranes and a vast amount of clothing. The colors on the murals are vibrantly p
A 1,000-year-old circular tomb, whose walls are decorated with colorful murals, has been discovered in Datong City, in northern China.
A house dating back around 1,900 years, which is decorated with frescoes showing scenes of nature, has been discovered at the archaeological site of Omrit in northern Israel. Phallic amulets were also found at the site.
A group of archaeologists has said the tomb of Tutankhamun may hold a hidden chamber containing the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. So far, radar scans have failed to confirm such a chamber.
They battled the Romans, ruled Egypt as pharaohs and constructed vast fields of pyramids. They are the Nubians, and they are not a "lost civilization" but rather a people who are with us today, based in what is now Sudan and southern Egypt.
The site of Khirbet Qumran (a modern Arabic name) is located in the West Bank, near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, and is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in nearby caves 70 years ago.
The tomb of a general and his princess wife buried on March 18, in the year 564, has been discovered in China.
A medieval building that may have been used as a synagogue has been uncovered at the site of Huqoq, a village near the Sea of Galilee in Israel.
Part of a graveyard dating back around 3,400 years has been unearthed in southern Egypt at the site of Gebel el Silsila, Egypt's antiquities ministry has announced.
A 2,400-year-old tomb filled with the skeletons of at least six people has been discovered in northern Iraq. Among the artifacts found in the tomb is a bracelet decorated with images of two snake heads peering at each other.
Archaeologists will continue to dig up the past in 2017. But what can we expect them to uncover? Four out of the five predictionsthat Live Science made at the end of 2015 about major discoveries in 2016 came true. Read on to see whose bones and which majo
More than 400 texts, dating between the middle ages and modern times, have been saved at the Mar Behnam monastery, a place that the Islamic State group (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) had occupied for more than two years, until November.
As a combined Iraqi-Kurdish force fights its way into Mosul, the last major Iraqi city held by the Islamic State group (also known as Daesh, ISIS or ISIL), there have been reports that some ISIS fighters have chosen to surrender rather than fight to the d
A number of artifacts with inscriptions survived in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, after the terrorist group ISIL (also known as ISIS or Daesh) destroyed the site.
A military offensive to take back the city of Mosul, Iraq, from the terrorist group ISIL (also called ISIS) has also resulted in the retaking of several historic sites that ISIL destroyed and looted.
Chinese workers digging a well in 1974 made a startling discovery: thousands of life-size terracotta figures of an army prepared for battle.
Thousands of inscriptions and petroglyphs dating back around 2,000 years have been discovered in the Jebel Qurma region of Jordan's Black Desert. They tell of a time when the now-desolate landscape was teeming with life.
A massive, 1,500-year-old stone complex that may have been built by nomad tribes has been discovered near the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan.
More than 120 images of ancient Egyptian boats have been discovered adorning the inside of a building in Abydos, Egypt. The building dates back more than 3,800 years and was built near the tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III, archaeologists reported.
The Assyrians are a people who have lived in the Middle East since ancient times and today can be found all over the world.
A rare, 2,700-year-old papyrus with Hebrew script that had been looted from a cave in the Judean Desert has been seized in an elaborate operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, archaeologists announced today (Oct. 26).
A group of scientists has just claimed to have discovered two unknown voids or cavities within the Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest pyramid ever constructed in Egypt.
If you believe what has been touted by several news outlets over the past week, UNESCO seems to have given short shrift to the Temple Mount, the most holy site in Jerusalem.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are about 2,000 years old and hold text from the Hebrew Bible. Hundreds of fragments of the scrolls were first found between 1947 and 1956 in caves in Qumran in the Judean Desert.
More than 25 previously unpublished "Dead Sea Scroll" fragments, dating back 2,000 years and holding text from the Hebrew Bible, have been brought to light, their contents detailed in two new books.
The Canaanites were people who lived in the land of Canaan, an area which according to ancient texts may have included parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Around 1,500 years ago, at a time when China was divided, a woman named Farong was laid to rest wearing fantastic jewelry, which included a necklace of 5,000 beads and "exquisite" earrings, archaeologists report.
When scholars refer to "ancient Israel," they often refer to the tribes, kingdoms and dynasties formed by the ancient Jewish people in the Levant (an area that encompasses modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria).
A logbook that contains records detailing the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza has been put on public display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
