Tom Metcalfe
Tom Metcalfe is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom writes mainly about science, space, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has also written for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & Space, and many others.
Latest articles by Tom Metcalfe

500-year-old lion drawing in Puerto Rican cave may have been made by an enslaved African
By Tom Metcalfe published
There were no lions in 16th-century Puerto Rico — so was the cave drawing made by someone who'd actually seen one?

Dozens of centuries-old stone grenades from Ming dynasty discovered at Great Wall of China
By Tom Metcalfe published
The weapons are among a variety of explosive devices used in China during the Ming dynasty.

'World-class aquifer' enabled ancient African kingdom to thrive in the Sahara for hundreds of years
By Tom Metcalfe published
The rise and fall of the Garamantes in what is now Libya is a cautionary tale for regions that rely on ancient groundwater.

Cannibalism was a common funerary rite in northwest Europe near end of last ice age
By Tom Metcalfe published
Research suggests cannibalism was a funerary rite for the Magdalenian people in northwest Europe, but others preferred to bury their dead.

2nd-century Alexander the Great statue with lion's-mane hairstyle unearthed in Turkey
By Tom Metcalfe published
The discovery shows the popularity of the ancient ruler hundreds of years after his death.

Norwegian family finds 1,200-year-old Viking treasure while searching for a lost earring in their yard
By Tom Metcalfe published
The discovery includes two roughly 1,200-year-old brooches, made from bronze and once gilded with gold, that may have belonged to an aristocratic woman.

1,400-year-old tomb of emperor in China reveals evidence of royal power struggle among brothers and a warlord
By Tom Metcalfe published
An inscription on the 1,400-year-old tomb shows the dead man, who was posthumously declared emperor, was buried as a duke.

'Ritual text' from lost Indo-European language discovered on ancient clay tablet in Turkey
By Tom Metcalfe published
Researchers are still studying the ancient text of an unknown language, written in cuneiform on a clay tablet.

Cup crafted from prehistoric human skull discovered in cave in Spain
By Tom Metcalfe published
A new study suggests that Spain's ancient peoples shared complex beliefs about death and the afterlife.

Early medieval warrior found buried with his weapons in Germany
By Tom Metcalfe published
Archaeologists think the man died during the Merovingian period, an early stage of the Germanic-speaking empire of the Franks.

14th-century shipboard cannon that fired 'stone shots' may be Europe's oldest on record
By Tom Metcalfe published
An analysis of cloth found inside the cannon suggests that it dates to the 14th century and that the weapon was charged with gunpowder and ready to fire.

Early human relatives purposefully crafted stones into spheres 1.4 million years ago, study claims
By Tom Metcalfe published
The stone spheres were crafted by early hominins who were trying to create symmetry in the objects, a new study suggests.

Who were the first farmers?
By Tom Metcalfe published
Farming fundamentally altered the way humans live, eventually changing people from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary city-dwellers.

Divers recover US airman's remains from WWII bomber wreck near Malta
By Tom Metcalfe published
The remains have been identified as those of a gunner killed when the badly damaged aircraft crashed into the sea in 1943.

Mysterious 17th-century 'cauldron' may be primitive submarine used to salvage treasure from a sunken galleon
By Tom Metcalfe published
The object was found on the seafloor off Florida, near the wreck of a Spanish treasure galleon.

Wreckage from Tuskegee airman's warplane recovered from Lake Huron
By Tom Metcalfe published
The recovered wreck will help tell the full story of America's first Black military pilots.

See the likeness of Bonnie Prince Charlie, who led Scottish clan uprising against the British crown
By Tom Metcalfe published
The new look of Charles Edward Stuart as a young man is based on forensic studies of his death masks.

Synagogue unearthed in Russia may be one of the oldest outside Israel. But not everyone is convinced.
By Tom Metcalfe published
Archaeologists think the temple dates to the first century B.C., before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Europe's oldest known village teetered on stilts over a Balkan lake 8,000 years ago
By Tom Metcalfe published
The village likely dates to the time of Europe's first farmers, who arrived from Anatolia about 8,000 years ago.

Ötzi the Iceman may have been bald and getting fat before his murder 5,300 years ago
By Tom Metcalfe published
A new DNA analysis reveals that Ötzi the Iceman was genetically predisposed to male-pattern baldness, diabetes and obesity.

Europe's 1st humans were likely wiped out by a sudden freeze 1.1 million years ago
By Tom Metcalfe published
Europe underwent "extreme cooling" about 1.1 million years ago, which coincides with a gap in hominin habitation, a new study finds.

400-year-old 'vampire child' found buried with its foot padlocked to stop it rising from the grave
By Tom Metcalfe published
The child was buried face-down and with an iron padlock on its foot.

29 lost burials archaeologists have yet to find (and 1 they did)
By Tom Metcalfe published
The burials of famous people provide enduring archaeological mysteries. Here are 30 of the most acclaimed "lost" tombs.
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