The excavated royal tomb at Abydos, and (inset) the burial chamber). Source: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Mysterious Egyptian Tomb May Be From Lost “Abydos” Dynasty

It never rains but it pours when it comes to the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, said nobody ever, but the metaphor certainly seems appropriate at the moment. A month ago we reported on the first discovery of an Egyptian Royal tomb (from a period of united Egypt) in a century, then a hoped-for second

Although the empires may have survived, much of the old world of the Bronze Age was lost in the Collapse. Source: John William Waterhouse / Public Domain.

The Bronze Age Collapse: A Sudden, Violent Plunge into Darkness (Part Three)

The Bronze Age Collapse was, definitively, the end of the Bronze Age. By the time the ancient civilizations had picked up the pieces and rediscovered how to write and interact with each other again they had an entirely new and exciting discovery to work with: iron. Iron can be made into harder and more durable

My statue has no nose! How does he smell? Terrible! Source: José Luis Filpo Cabana / CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Smell of the Greco Romans: Statues were Scented, New Study Finds

For those of you who watched the recent sequel to Gladiator, imaginatively named Gladiator II, firstly you have our sympathies. Whatever that mess was, it was closer to ill-conceived fantasy than a heroic, historical epic. But amidst the pointless diversions, the weirdly cheap sets and the endless toga flapping from a poorly cast and out-of-form

Reconstruction of an early (between 37,000 and 42,000 years old) European Homo sapiens based on bones found in the cave Peştera cu Oase (Romania). Source: Daniela Hitzemann (photograph) / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Study of Ancient Genes Reveals a Dark Skinned Europe Until 3,000 Years Ago

A new study of ancient DNA has completely changed our understanding of the peoples who lived in Stone Age and Bronze Age Europe. It was only about 1000 BC, well into the Iron Age, that we first saw light skinned individuals emerge on the continent. The study, published in BiorXiv, concludes that lighter skin and

The 5,000 year old Romanian fortress structures are hidden underneath dense forest. Source: Geocad Services / Facebook.

LiDAR Reveals Neolithic Romanian Fortress Towns

Another day, another fascinating LiDAR discovery, this time in the Romanian county of Neamț. Archaeologists have used the pulsed laser technology to uncover ancient human settlements hidden in the dense forests of the area. The study, a joint collaboration between Geocad Services, Geo Edu Lab, and the National Institute for Research and Development for Earth

Nero and Poppaea have the head of Octavia brought to them. Source: Bardazzi/Museo Civico di Modena / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Julio Claudian Dynasty: First Caesars of Rome (Part Two)

It is the 24th of January, AD 41. The 28-year-old Emperor of the Roman Empire, a favorite mascot of the army who had ascended unchallenged to the throne only four years earlier has just been stabbed to death in the tunnels under his own palace, by his own guards. In the century leading up to

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