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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.

Articles by: Tom Metcalfe

In Photos: Discoveries at the Site of the Pequot War in Connecticut

By Tom Metcalfe published 3 April 19

The Polish diving team spent a month working with Guatemalan archaeologists at Lake Petén Itzá.

Mayan Artifacts Used in Ritual Sacrifices Discovered at the Bottom of Sacred Lake

By Tom Metcalfe published 28 February 19

The sunken artifacts include ceremonial bowls and obsidian blades that may have been used in ancient animal sacrifices.

Tropical islands and atolls in Maldives from aerial view.

Ocean Microphones May Have Recorded Lost Malaysian Jet's Crash … Thousands of Miles from Search Sites

By Tom Metcalfe published 26 February 19

Ruins from the ancient city of Shivta in the Negev Desert in Israel.

Customs Letter About a Long-Lost Suitcase Leads to Artifacts from Desert with Early 'Jesus' Painting

By Tom Metcalfe published 19 February 19

The expedition to find Ernest Shackleton's lost wreck in Antarctica's Weddell Sea has turned back due to worsening weather and ice.

Search for Shackleton's Antarctic Shipwreck Turns Back to Avoid Deadly Ice Trap

By Tom Metcalfe published 14 February 19

The wreck may be lying on the seafloor near the Larsen C Ice Shelf.

Historian Collects 'Forgotten' Relics from One of the Most Poignant Symbols of the Cold War

By Tom Metcalfe published 5 February 19

A German historian is collecting and preserving artifacts from the Berlin Wall, before the physical and ideological barrier that divided the city for almost 60 years fades from living memory.

Photos: The Berlin Wall Through Time

By Tom Metcalfe published 5 February 19

Shackleton's Lost Ship May Lie at the Bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea

By Tom Metcalfe published 28 January 19

Polar explorer Shackleton abandoned the ship Endurance in 1915, after the vessel was crushed by sea ice.

Researchers say these chalk cylinders, carved more than 4,000 years ago, give the exact length measurements used to lay out Neolithic monuments like Stonehenge.

Ancient Carved 'Drums' Give Exact Stonehenge Measurements, Say Archaeologists

By Tom Metcalfe published 28 January 19

Highly decorated chalk cylinders, carved in Britain more than 4,000 years ago, could be ancient replicas of measuring devices used for laying out Stonehenge.

Archaeologists thought this stone circle in Scotland's Aberdeenshire was more than 3,500 years old. But it is now known to have been built by a farmer in the 1990s.

'Ancient' Stone Circle Actually Built in 1990s by Scottish Farmer

By Tom Metcalfe published 21 January 19

A stone circle in northeast Scotland that archaeologists thought was built thousands of years ago has turned out to be just a few decades old.

A simulated image of the stratospheric winds over the North Pole Jan. 18, 2019, showing how the northern polar vortex has split into two major parts – one over Canada and one over Russia.

The Polar Vortex Is Collapsing — Here's What That Means for Your Winter Weather

By Tom Metcalfe published 18 January 19

Here's what's behind the severe winter weather.

Here, the view down the borehole at about 3,500 feet (1,070 meters) below the ice, just above the surface of the subglacial lake in Antarctica.

Hidden Beneath a Half Mile of Ice, Antarctic Lake Teems with Life

By Tom Metcalfe published 15 January 19

It's one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

Photos: Drilling into Antarctic Subglacial Lake Mercer

By Tom Metcalfe published 15 January 19

Scientists drilled through some 3,500 feet of ice to study this hidden Antarctic lake. They found it is teeming with life.

The ancient stone circle near the village of Alford, west of Aberdeen, was unknown to archaeologists until recently – but well-known to local people.

Rare Stonehenge-Like Monument in Scotland Has Single 'Recumbent' Stone

By Tom Metcalfe published 9 January 19

The exquisite stone circle may be 4,500 years old and is located in a remote patch of farmland in a Scottish village.

In Photos: Stone Monument Discovered in Scotland

By Tom Metcalfe published 9 January 19

This stone circle near the village of Alford, west of Aberdeen, may turn out to be one of the last such monumental structures to be found in Scotland.

The grenade consisted of a hollow iron shell filled with gunpowder, which would have been lit by a fuse that passed through the shell.

Sunken 17th-Century 'Pirate Ship' Discovered, Alongside Gunpowder-Packed Grenades

By Tom Metcalfe published 2 January 19

The ship, holding military stores, sank in a storm near Dollar Cove in April of 1684.

In Photos: Pirate Ship Discovered in the UK

By Tom Metcalfe published 2 January 19

The ship sank in a storm in 1684 off Dollar Cove in the Gunwalloe district of Cornwall's Lizard Peninsula.

Attic amphora by Exekias depicting Achilles and Ajax playing a game during the Trojan War.

16 of the Most Interesting Ancient Board and Dice Games

By Tom Metcalfe published 10 December 18

From the forerunner to backgammon to a Norse strategy game called Viking chess, here's a look at the fascinating games played in our very distant past.

A distinctive pattern of holes scored into the rock of an ancient shelter in Azerbaijan are the remains of a board for one of the world's oldest games.

4,000-Year-Old Game Board Carved into the Earth Shows How Nomads Had Fun

By Tom Metcalfe published 10 December 18

It's one of the world's oldest board games.

Doggerland, named for Dogger Bank, is now beneath the North Sea off the east coast of England.

Thriving Plateau Region That Slipped Beneath North Sea 8,000 Years Ago Reveals Its Secrets

By Tom Metcalfe published 3 December 18

Archaeologists are finding out what the vast landscape looked like before it slipped beneath the salty water so long ago.

The human remains, but no hands, were found a few weeks ago on a rocky islet off the British Channel Island of Guernsey.

Bones of Handless Man Found Near Mysterious Medieval Dolphin Burial

By Tom Metcalfe published 3 December 18

The body was found just a few feet from the burial of a mysterious medieval skeleton of a dolphin.

Photos: The Ancient Ruins of Shivta in Southern Israel

By Tom Metcalfe published 27 November 18

Ancient Shivta in southern Israel was once part of a thriving group of desert cities on a trade route between the Mediterranean coast and the east of Arabia.

The ruined baptistery (right) of the northern church in the ancient desert city of Shivta, where the portrait of Jesus Christ was found.

Earliest Depiction of Jesus Christ in Israel Discovered. Here's What It Shows.

By Tom Metcalfe published 27 November 18

Emma Maayan-Fanar was looking for shade from the desert sun when she saw the face of Jesus.

Rocks found at Isua in Greenland may contain the oldest fossils of life on Earth, but not everyone agrees.

Are These Earth's Oldest Fossils of Life? Dispute Has E.T. Implications

By Tom Metcalfe published 19 November 18

Rocks found at Isua in Greenland may contain the oldest fossils of life on Earth, but not everyone agrees.

Did a Conspiracy Rob These Treasure Hunters of Millions of Dollars' Worth of Florida Shipwreck Artifacts?

By Tom Metcalfe published 6 November 18

A legal battle between a maritime salvage company and the state of Florida could have implications for some of the oldest European artifacts in the U.S.

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