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When Mount Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii in the year 79, it preserved the city in ash. Archaeologists continue to study the city’s ruins and its inhabitants nearly 2000 years later. They recently uncovered an unusual skeleton. He escaped the early eruptions, but was killed by a 661 pound rock landing on him. Talk about bad luck!
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The Longobards, also known as Lombards, were medieval Germanic warriors that came to Northern Italy in the year 568. Archaeologists studying skeletons in a Longobard necropolis were fascinated by one man in particular. This warrior had lost his hand at some point, and replaced it with a knife! I wouldn’t want to give him a high-five!
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Archaeologists in Spain just found some old tools- 90,000 years old! The wooden tools were used for digging by Neanderthals in the Middle Paleolithic period. Wood usually decomposes, but the tools were preserved in waterlogged sediments on the Iberian Peninsula. The charred and worn tips suggest the tools were used for digging roots, clams, and fire pits.
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Archaeologists are excavating an exciting site in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. It appears to be the remains of a massive party thrown 1700 years ago during the Iron Age! They have discovered 11,000 animal bone fragments and broken beverage pots from a huge feast, and bronze pins and brooches used as party favors!
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Nazca lines are massive drawings in the desert in Peru. The geoglyphs are so huge that you can only properly see the patterns from the air, but they were made 13 to 18 hundred years ago. Now archaeologists have discovered even older geoglyphs nearby! The Paracas and Topara people created giant pictures on hillsides more than 2200 years ago!
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Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,900 year-old home in Italy, 40 feet underground. While expanding Rome’s subway system, multiple fountains, pools, and 14 rooms were revealed. It was a military commander’s residence built during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. The house has plaster paintings on the walls, floors covered in mosaics, and even a heating system!
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Archaeologists working in the English Channel uncovered a grave with the ancient remains of a porpoise inside. They’d believed the grave would hold a human skeleton since the island of Chapelle Dom Hue was a religious retreat for medieval monks. The porpoise was entombed next to 14th century monks’ graves. Maybe he was their pet!
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Archaeologists have discovered a cemetery in Egypt that’s been untouched for 2000 years. The necropolis dates to the Ptolemaic dynasty and contains at least 8 tombs. One tomb belongs to a high priest of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, writing, and the moon. 1000 figurines and 40 sarcophogi containing mummies have been unearthed so far!
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The Egyptian pyramids have impressed people for 4500 years. How they were built with nearly perfect alignment along the north-south-east-west cardinal points was a mystery. After experimenting, archaeologist Glen Dash believes they might have used a rod called a gnomon to cast shadows on the Autumnal Equinox. We’ll never know for sure!
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As the planet warms and glaciers recede, more ancient artifacts are becoming exposed. Archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of more than 2000 objects on ice sheets in Norway. The relics include skis, weapons, bones and clothes, some dating back to 4000 BC. They’re doing their best to preserve artifacts as the ice melts.
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