Metalworkers on Elephantine Island near Aswan were deliberately producing arsenical bronze nearly 4,000 years ago using sophisticated alloying techniques, according to new research published in Archaeometry. The discovery overturns long-held assumptions about ancient Egyptian metallurgy and reveals technological innovation far ahead of what scholars previously credited to Middle Kingdom craftsmen. The study, led by Ing.
Ancient humans and their extinct relatives were exposed to toxic lead for nearly two million years, and this environmental stressor may have shaped the evolution of language and brain development in ways that gave modern humans a decisive advantage. A new study published October 15, 2025, in Science Advances reveals that a single genetic mutation
A fragment of pottery no bigger than a coin has revealed something Jerusalem has never seen before. The 2.5-centimeter shard bears Akkadian cuneiform script—an Assyrian inscription from roughly 2,700 years ago, marking the first discovery of its kind within the ancient city. The Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation pulled the fragment
Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Troy in northwestern Turkey have unearthed a 4,500-year-old gold brooch, a jade stone, and a bronze pin, findings that push the city’s known history several centuries further into the past. The discovery, made near the “6M Palace” structure in the Troy II layer, is considered one of the
Maya children as young as seven years old received elaborate jade dental inlays centuries ago, marking what researchers believe was a significant social milestone or coming-of-age ceremony. The discovery challenges previous assumptions about when these ornamental dental modifications began in Maya society. Archaeologists have long documented tooth inlays among adult Maya populations, but new research
A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet belonging to an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been stolen from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, sold for less than $4,000, and melted down by a gold smelter. Egyptian authorities have arrested four suspects in connection with the theft of the artifact once owned by Pharaoh Amenemope. Museum staff discovered the bracelet missing during