Tom Metcalfe

A Yule log is a Christmas tradition in which a log of wood is progressively burned in a fireplace over several nights.

Stone tools found in a 4,000-year-old grave near Stonehenge have traces of gold on their surfaces that indicate they were used to fashion gold ornaments.

The bones of a possible ancient human sacrifice victim have been found in a bog in Denmark.

Researchers have discovered secret scribbles and sketches that were likely scratched by an elite woman into a medieval manuscript more than 1,200 years ago.

A rare look at ancient DNA from the teeth of medieval Ashkenazi Jews reveals that this group had more genetic diversity 800 years ago than it does today.

The discovery, known as the 'Dunscore hoard,' is made up of more than 8,400 silver coins that date from the 13th and 14th centuries.

What could be one of Norway's oldest shipwrecks has been found on the bottom of a lake near Oslo, during an effort to locate the tons of unexploded ammunition dumped there since World War II.

A new study of the mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman questions the prevailing story of his death in the high Alps more than 5,000 years ago.

An uneven distribution of stars in several nearby clusters may offer evidence of MOND – a controversial theory of gravity that disputes Newton and rejects the existence of dark matter.

Small branding irons from ancient Egypt were likely used to mark the skin of human slaves, a new study suggests.

Another 24 unmarked graves — possibly victims of a race massacre in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma — have been discovered in a cemetery in the city.

A 1,000-year-old amulet of Thor's Hammer found in Sweden shows the lasting popularity of the ancient Norse deity, who has now won a new audience with Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of the Viking god of war in Marvel movies.

The wreck of a 17th-century Swedish warship — a sister ship of the famous Vasa, which sank only an hour into its maiden voyage in 1628 — has been discovered near Stockholm.

Archaeologists have unearthed a silver medallion depicting the Greek goddess Aphrodite in a 2,100-year-old grave on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea.

A Nazi shipwreck that sank in the North Sea in 1942 is still polluting the seafloor around it, but there are signs of sea life adapting to the wreck.

Archaeologists in northern Germany have unearthed 10,000-year-old cremated bones at a Stone Age lakeside campsite that was used for spearing fish and roasting hazelnuts.

An excavation has revealed an elaborate hall in the east of England of early Anglo-Saxon kings, which was used for feasting by monarchs and their warriors roughly 1,400 years ago.

A manuscript attributed to Galileo Galilei found to be a forgery in August has led to the discovery that a different, controversial book was authored by the celebrated Italian astronomer.

The wreck of a WWI German U-boat sunk by the U.S. Navy in 1922 has been discovered off the East Coast of the United States, about 40 miles off Virginia and at a depth of about 400 feet.

The mass burial had about 35 decapitated skeletons.

Copper mines in southern Israel that may have inspired the legend of King Solomon's mines of gold were abandoned 3,000 years ago. Now we may know why.

Archaeologists exploring the wreck of a 15th-century royal warship off the coast of Sweden have revealed how it functioned as a "floating castle."

A gold 'funeral mask' thought to be more than 3,000 years old has been discovered in the tomb of an ancient noble in the city of Zhengzhou, central China.

Archaeologists excavating a site north of Lima have unearthed a 1,300-year-old ornate tomb from the Wari era of Peru.