Latest articles by Kristina Killgrove
2,000-year-old RSVP: A birthday invitation from the Roman frontier that has the earliest known Latin written by a woman
This wafer-thin wooden tablet from a first-century Roman fort in the U.K. includes a heartfelt birthday party invitation.
Early human ancestor 'Lucy' was a bad runner, and this one tendon could explain why
By digitally modeling muscles and tendons for the skeleton of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), researchers determined that our hominin ancestors could run well but topped out around 11 mph.
What do you know about Jesus Christ, the man? Test your knowledge of biblical archaeology
How much do you know about the archaeology of early Christianity? Take our quiz to find out.
1,500-year-old tomb in Peru holds human sacrifices, including strangled son next to father's remains, genetic analysis reveals
A genetic analysis of six people buried in a Moche tomb around A.D. 500 revealed that two teenagers were sacrificed to their close relatives.
Queen Puabi's lyre: A bull-headed music maker played for Mesopotamian royalty 4,500 years ago
A lyre in a treasure-laden royal tomb discovered in Mesopotamia is the earliest stringed instrument ever found.
Syphilis originated in the Americas, ancient DNA shows, but European colonialism spread it widely
Paleogenomics has finally solved a question that has puzzled researchers for decades: Where did syphilis come from?
1,800-year-old silver amulet could rewrite history of Christianity in the early Roman Empire
A silver amulet found next to a skeleton in a 1,800-year-old grave in Germany speaks to the importance — and the risk — of being Christian in Roman times.
10 fascinating discoveries about Neanderthals in 2024, from 'Thorin' the last Neanderthal to an ancient glue factory
This year, we learned that our Neanderthal cousins were a lot like us, despite treading their own path that ended in extinction.
Archaeologists have found dozens more sacrificed horses in 2,800-year-old burial in Siberia that's eerily similar to Scythian graves
The sacrifices could be an early form of a Scythian burial tradition that lasted for hundreds of years.
Centuries-old floor patched with sliced bones discovered in the Netherlands
DIY-ers in northern Holland filled a large gap in a tile floor with precisely sliced cow bones several centuries ago.
9 of the most 'genetically isolated' human populations in the world
Geographical barriers and cultural differences can prevent people from mingling with their neighbors, leading to genetic isolation — and the phenomenon is more common than most people think.
4,000-year-old bones reveal 'unprecedented' violence — tongue removal, cannibalism and evisceration in Bronze Age Britain
The extremely violent treatment of the corpses of at least 37 Bronze Age people is rewriting the history of prehistoric Britain.
Sutton Hoo helmet: A gold- and jewel-encrusted relic with ties to Beowulf and a lost Anglo-Saxon king
Fragments of a helmet recovered from the Sutton Hoo ship burial show that early-medieval metalwork could be decorative and functional.
Burials of 28 people Andrew Jackson enslaved found at his Hermitage plantation in Tennessee
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, enslaved hundreds of people. Archaeologists have discovered where 28 of them were buried.
Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000-year-long 'pulse,' 2 new studies reveal
An analysis of genomes from some of the earliest modern humans to live in Europe reveals their ancestors interbred with Neanderthals in one period between 43,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Stone Age 'CSI': Archaeologists identify a family killed in a house fire nearly 6 millennia ago
Human bones discovered in a house that burned down 5,700 years ago are providing archaeologists "CSI"-style clues about the deaths of seven people in prehistoric Ukraine.
1,500-year-old Anglo-Saxon burial holds a 'unique' mystery — a Roman goblet once filled with pig fat
The sixth-century burial of an Anglo-Saxon teenage girl surprised archaeologists when they discovered a small third-century Roman goblet full of pig fat near her head.
Roman scutum: An 1,800-year-old shield dropped by a Roman soldier who likely died in battle
A wood and leather shield dating to around A.D. 250 is one of only a few complete Roman scuta ever found.
Tiny spoons could have measured out ancient Roman drugs, researchers suggest — but evidence is sparse
Spoon-like metal objects attached to Roman-era belts may represent drug dosing equipment, researchers suggest.
Rare gold 'Brutus' coin minted after Julius Caesar's murder is up for auction
An extremely rare gold coin featuring Brutus, who helped spearhead Julius Caesar's assassination, is up for auction in December.
Strange pile of Stone Age skulls unearthed in Italian village baffles archaeologists
At least 15 human skulls at a Neolithic site in Italy may represent the group's collective ancestors, although archaeologists aren't certain.
New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis?
Researchers have named a new species in the Homo genus. What do we know about these "big headed" people?
Babylonian tablet preserves student's 4,000-year-old geometry mistake
A small clay tablet from the site of Kish in Iraq reveals a student calculated the area of a triangle incorrectly 4,000 years ago.
1.5 million-year-old footprints reveal our Homo erectus ancestors lived with a 2nd proto-human species
A set of footprints found at the site of Koobi Fora in Kenya reveals that our ancestor Homo erectus coexisted with a now-extinct bipedal hominin, Paranthropus boisei, 1.5 million years ago.
