A structure in southwest England that’s associated with King Arthur isn’t medieval as scientists had long thought. Instead, it dates back more than 5,000 years, to the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, archaeologists say — thousands of years before the mythical king and his knights are said to have lived. The scientists who were involved … Read more
Earth’s surface is a turbulent place. Mountains rise, continents merge and split, and earthquakes shake the ground. All of these processes result from plate tectonics, the movement of enormous chunks of Earth’s crust. This movement may be why life exists here. Earth is the only known planet with plate tectonics and the only known planet … Read more
Even though the invention of the wheel around 6,000 years ago revolutionized everything from transportation to pottery making, its exact origins are still a mystery to archaeologists. But a new study using techniques from structural mechanics suggests that Eastern European copper miners may have been the driving force behind three major innovations in wheel technology … Read more
Scientists have revived a mysterious, 1,000-year-old seed discovered in the Judaean Desert — and the tree that has grown from it could belong to a lost lineage mentioned in the Bible, they say. It has taken researchers almost 14 years to grow a tree from the ancient seed, which archaeologists excavated from a cave in … Read more
Popular media, such as the 2000 film “Gladiator,” often depict Roman gladiators in gory battles that don’t end until at least one of the fighters is slain. But in real life, did gladiators really fight to the death? In fact, sometimes they did, but not always, experts told Live Science. Alfonso Manas, a researcher at … Read more
Earth may have had a giant ring of space rocks surrounding it, similar to those around Saturn, which could have led to chaotic meteorite strikes on our planet’s surface, new research suggests. The hypothesized ring may have formed roughly 466 million years ago and was the remains of a gigantic asteroid tugged apart by Earth’s … Read more
Archaeologists in Norway have discovered a Viking Age treasure that had remained “untouched” for more than 1,000 years. The four silver bracelets had been buried nearly 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the ground on a mountainside in Årdal, a village in southwestern Norway, according to a translated statement from the University of Stavanger. “This is … Read more
Earth’s days once got more than two hours longer, thanks to the moon drifting thousands of miles farther away in its orbit over two periods, researchers have discovered. The extra hours of sunlight, in turn, may have led to oxygenation events that ushered in a period when life’s complexity exploded, the study researchers say. “Daylength … Read more
Scholars have finally deciphered 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets found more than 100 years ago in what is now Iraq. The tablets describe how some lunar eclipses are omens of death, destruction and pestilence. The four clay tablets “represent the oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered” Andrew George, an emeritus professor of Babylonian at … Read more
The Antikythera mechanism — an ancient shoebox-sized device that was used to track the motions of the sun, moon and planets — followed the Greek lunar calendar, not the solar one used by the Egyptians, as was previously thought, new research reveals. The Antikythera mechanism, found by sponge divers off the Greek island of Antikythera … Read more
