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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.
Dr Natalia Jagielska, a postdoctoral researcher in palaeontology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: Edmond So
Art

From Jurassic Park kid to dinosaur expert in what was ‘a gentleman’s science’

Natalia Jagielska, dinosaur researcher, illustrator and scientific consultant, explains how women are under-represented in her field.

Trending in China

Celestial craftsmanship: secrets of meteorite axe from China Sanxingdui unveiled

Trending in China

Unearthing peace: ancient China gravesite reveals significance of broken weapons

The Netherlands

Lost remains of French musketeer d’Artagnan may have been found in Dutch church

DNA testing is under way to verify ⁠the skeleton. D’Artagnan, fictionalised in Alexandre ⁠Dumas’ novel The ⁠Three Musketeers, died in 1673.

An excavation pit opened in the floor at the Peter and Paul Church in Maastricht, Netherlands, where archaeologists believe they may have uncovered the skeletal remains of musketeer d’Artagnan. Photo: Reuters
Trending in China

How climate change led to demise of an advanced Chinese civilisation 4,500 years ago

New research paints a picture of a culture that struggled to navigate a significant increase in rainfall and slowly disappeared from history.

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.

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Science

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

The inscription – identical to the Hong Kong star’s name – reveals ancient quality-control system and early use of simplified characters.

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Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau appears to have shared a name with a Ming dynasty brickmaker. Photo: Sam Tsang
United States

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

The 66-million-year-old fossil, for sale on musician Pharrell Williams’ auction platform Joopiter, is expected to fetch up to US$5.5 million.

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.

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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A visitor views the “Ancient Shu Civilisation of the Sanxingdui and Jinsha Sites” exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing on January 18. A Chinese team says it has solved some mysteries related to crimson beads found in Sanxingdui. Photo: Xinhua
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.

Handprints with sharpened fingertips on a cave wall in the Maros region of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Ahdi Agus Oktaviana/Maxime Aubert/AP
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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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.

Handprints with sharpened fingertips are seen in the Maros region of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Ahdi Agus Oktaviana/Maxime Aubert via AP
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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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.

Processes similar to Bronze Age brewing techniques are still used today. Photo: Shutterstock
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.

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.

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.

This image of CCTV footage shows men carrying bags outside a building which housed items from the Bristol Museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection. Photo: Avon and Somerset Police via AFP
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.

An artist’s impression shows sparks being produced with flint and pyrite. Image: Craig Williams/The Trustees of the British Museum via Reuters
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.

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.

Egyptian influencer Youssef Mohamed has gone viral for a photo he posted showing his resemblance to a pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Photo: Christoph Meyer/dpa
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.

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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