Tom Metcalfe

A brick tomb from the Jurchen Jin period of northern China was discovered during the renovation of drains in Shanxi province.

Was Stonehenge an ancient solar calendar, as a 2022 study claimed? Not at all, says a new study by two scientists who specialize in ancient astronomy.

The oldest known inscription mentioning the Norse god Odin has been found on a gold pendant in Denmark from the fifth century A.D.

A metal detectorist in Poland looking for tractor parts on a farm discovered a 400-year-old coin hoard instead.

Ice skates made of bone have been unearthed from a Bronze Age tomb in western China, suggesting an ancient technological exchange between the east and west of Eurasia.

Japanese researchers have located the wreck of USS Albacore, one of the most successful U.S. submarines of World War II, off the island of Hokkaido, where the sub sank after hitting a mine in November 1944.

New evidence that bows and arrows were used by early modern humans in Europe 54,000 years ago has strengthened the idea that such projectile technology might have given early modern humans an edge over Neanderthals.

The skull of a medieval Lombard woman found in central Italy shows signs of having undergone two trepanations — surgeries to make holes in the head. But why she underwent the painful procedures is unknown.

A hole in a Late Bronze Age human skull found in northern Israel may be early evidence of trepanation; but other experts argue that the hole could have been made for ritual purposes after the man's death.

A new study investigating the unusual facedown burial of a woman from ancient Sardinia has revealed signs that she may have died from a fall during an epileptic seizure.

The cryptic Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible deliberately uses the language and verbal elements seen in Roman curse tablets, probably in an effort to reinforce its message, one researcher says.

Giraffes don't go into heat, don't have a breeding season and don't make mating calls. So how do giraffes know when it's the right time for love?

Laser scans have revealed that what was thought to be an Iron Age hillfort in northwestern Spain is, in fact, an early medieval stronghold built in the fifth century A.D. and occupied for the next 200 years.

Archaeologists have unearthed an oversized ceremonial iron sword and a bronze mirror shaped like a shield from a 1,600-year-old burial mound in Nara, Japan.

The teeth of an aristocratic French woman who lived at the turn of the 17th century were held in place with fine gold wires, a new study has found.

Two ancient clay tablets from Iraq contain details of a "lost" Canaanite language.

A fragment of a mysterious artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron has been found in Belgium.

The giant chasm on Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf has split and created a massive iceberg.

A new study of ancient silver hoards from Israel and Gaza suggests that metal was used as currency in the Bronze Age, hundreds of years earlier than previously suspected.

Satellite photos showing poop stains in the West Antarctic snow and ice have revealed a previously unknown breeding colony of emperor penguins.

Neutron imaging revealed that a medieval pendant from Germany holds fragments of bone, possibly those of a saint.

The characteristic zigzag pattern of lightning is caused by a highly conductive form of oxygen that builds up as the bolt travels toward the ground.

The remains of a "princely" tomb, possibly from a Hunnic warrior, have been found during motorway construction in Romania.

Scientists have used facial reconstruction techniques to show what the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II looked like in his prime.