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Archaeology and palaeontology

Archaeology and palaeontology
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Archaeology and palaeontology. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Recent research suggested that ancient jar burials in China were primarily for newborns, stillborns, or miscarriages, as most infants did not survive to be breastfed. Photo: SCMP composite/Baidu/sciencedirect
Trending in China

Jar burials: a glimpse into ancient China’s compassion for infant deaths

New study indicates Neolithic cultures in China may have separated graves of perinatal infants; different treatment than older children.

Science

Why is Andy Lau’s name carved on a 600-year-old brick from the Ming dynasty?

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United States

Triceratops skeleton ‘Trey’ to hit the auction block as dinosaur market soars

Australia

Australian police recover stolen Egyptian artefacts after museum heist

The man is accused of stealing a mummy mask, collar, necklace and wooden cat from a museum in Caboolture, Queensland.

A mummy mask recovered from a theft at the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology. Photo: Queensland Police/AFP
Science

How did a prized red gemstone reach the ancient, mysterious Shu kingdom?

The presence of the warm, reddish-orange mineral in the Bronze Age archaeological site of Sanxingdui has long puzzled archaeologists.

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Indonesia

Indonesia’s 68,000-year-old handprint: the birth of human art?

Found hiding beneath a chicken sketch, the faded outline proves ancient humans were capable of reflecting on their existence, scientists say.

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Science

How old is Chinese civilisation? A scholar says it really dates back 8,000 years

Leading scholar’s argument stretches the timeline back beyond the widely accepted figure of 5,000 years.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Science

Composite tool find puts China in tech revolution up to 160,000 years ago: paper

Team says discovery of 2,600 stone tools, including hafted tools, reshapes understanding of human evolution in eastern Asia.

Indonesia

World’s oldest cave art discovered in Indonesia

A handprint dating back at least 67,800 years is over a thousand years older than hand stencils in Spain that are attributed to Neanderthals.

Italy

Italy uncovers ancient basilica designed by the ‘father of architecture’ Vitruvius

Mayor calls archeological find in the central Italian city of Fano the ‘discovery of the century’.

Excavations in Piazza Andrea Costa from which large columns emerged, remains believed of the Basilica of Vitruvius, in Fano, Italy on Monday. Photo: EPA / Regione Marche Press Office Handout
Science

Chinese team restores legendary Tang dynasty ‘golden’ armour from Tibetan tomb

Tomb’s occupant confirmed to be a Tuyuhun king and the golden armour is likely to have been among his prized possessions, conservators say.

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For centuries, the splendour of the Tang dynasty gold-plated armour lived only in poetry and imagination. Photo: Handout
Science

Could 2,000-year-old machine from tomb in China be earliest binary computer?

Silk-weaving loom dating to Western Han is world’s oldest known ‘computer hardware’ with corresponding ‘software’, China science body says.

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Science

Bronze Age cemetery offers clues on how ancient Chinese brewed red rice wine

Vessels found in tombs at Mogou in modern-day Gansu contain traces of a fermentation starter of the type still used to make sake today.

Science

In eastern China, ancient ruins push back the date of Yangtze delta’s earliest cities

Excavations at the Doushan site near Wuxi suggest water may have spurred the development of the oldest centres in the area.

The prehistoric Doushan site in Wuxi is believed to date back about 6,000 years. Photo: Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Egypt

Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of prominent pharaoh in Luxor

The giant statues, toppled by an earthquake in about 1200 BC, were meticulously pieced back together in a project that lasted about two decades.

A man takes selfie in front of the two colossal statues. Photo: EPA
Britain

UK police hunt suspects after 600 British Empire artefacts stolen from museum

Police release images of four men after many items with ‘significant cultural value’ were stolen in Bristol on September 25.

Science

Oldest evidence of humans making fire discovered in UK, dating back 400,000 years

Scientists found an ancient fireplace in Suffolk, providing crucial evidence that humans mastered fire far earlier than previously believed.

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France

Paris Louvre faces strike after major leak and robbery

Louvre staff warn of ‘collapse’ as they protest work conditions at the world’s most visited museum.

The Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Photo: AFP
France

Water leak at Paris Louvre damages books at Egyptian antiquities department

The leak underscores the deteriorating state of the world’s most visited museum just weeks after a jewel heist exposed security flaws.

Egypt

This man has gone viral for his resemblance to an ancient Egyptian king

Egyptian influencer Youssef Mohamed hopes his resemblance to Pharaoh Akhenaten fuels further interest in ancient Egyptian history.

Trending in China

China brothers shocked that rock stepping stones are 190-million-year-old dinosaur fossils

Scientists conduct study in ‘home of Chinese dinosaurs’, discover that flat rocks with ‘chicken claw’ prints are from Jurassic period.

Two brothers in China discover that flat rocks they had used as stepping stones for nearly 20 years are, in fact, 190 million-year-old dinosaur footprint fossils. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/QQ.com
Hong Kong environmental issues

Hong Kong’s whale of a tale: famous skeleton at Shek O gets new lease of life

Damaged skeleton of infant mammal that wandered into Victoria Harbour in 1955 meticulously recreated and displayed at original resting spot in Cape D’Aguilar.

Marine researchers and staff of the Swire Institute of Marine Science with the new replica at Cape D’Aguilar. Photo: Sam Tsang
Louvre

France’s Louvre Museum closes gallery due to structural weakness

The Campana Gallery was shuttered as a precaution after an audit revealed beam issues in the floor above.

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Egypt

Grand Egyptian Museum introduces time slots to cope with crowds

The new museum, which has been averaging 19,000 daily visitors, will require online bookings starting December to regulate the rush.

Crime

UK seizes US$15 million in dinosaur bones from Chinese money-laundering suspect

The Chinese businessman was previously wanted for involvement in Singapore’s biggest money-laundering case but has since struck a deal.

Dinosaur fossils are displayed at auction house Christie’s in London, Britain. Photo: Christie’s via Reuters
Art

After delays, mammoth Grand Egyptian Museum by the Pyramids is finally opening

The US$1 billion ‘GEM’, poised to be the world’s largest museum dedicated to one civilisation, houses King Tut’s treasures and 50,000 artefacts.

Tourists pose at the main staircase at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Photo: AP
History

Where do witch hats come from? China’s Tarim mummies may hold the answer

The ‘witch hat’-wearing mummies have long caused debate among historians. Could they suggest Europeans reached Asia earlier than we thought?

United States

Rare duck-billed dinosaur ‘mummies’ reveal a surprise: hoofed feet

Edmontosaurus fossils had large areas of preserved external skin surface, providing the most fleshed-out view of a large dinosaur to date.

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