History & Archaeology

Stone Age people: wisely bedded early

Around 200,000 years ago, people apparently camped on grass in the Border Cave in South Africa's Lebombo Mountains. (Image: A. Kruger) Even more than...

Medieval poet: “rounded” anniversary

Walther von der Vogelweide (left) and Wolfram von Eschenbach (right) were both born around 1170. (Image: Excerpts from the Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse),...

Investigated sunken submarine from the First World War

High-resolution sonar image of the UC-47 submarine. (Image: Tolmount Development) In November 1917, the long streak of luck of the German submarine UC-47 ended:...

Medieval mine tunnel discovered

Scientists in the newly discovered Johannes tunnel. (Image: Eike Bruns / LBEG) In the Upper Harz mining area, while renovating an old shaft, workers...

Hyksos: powerful migrants instead of conquerors?

Seal amulet with the name of the Hyksos ruler Apophis. (Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)) They ruled ancient Egypt for about a...

Stonehenge: On the trail of stone giants

Where did the big building blocks come from? (Image: Andre Pattenden, English Heritage) Towering giants - the so-called sarsen stones are the most impressive...

Spot typhus: How the Warsaw Ghetto defeated the plague

Warsaw Ghetto Memorial. (Image: slowcentury / iStock) The Warsaw Ghetto in 1941 was characterized by hunger, tightness and a deadly plague: typhus. The...

People lived in America 30,000 years ago

Stone tools from the Chiquihuite cave, around 30,000 years old. (Image: Ciprian Ardelean) America is the last continent that humans settled. But when...

Mammoth ivory chisels

The mammoth ivory “chisels” were probably used for various purposes around 38,000 years ago. (Photo: Maria Malina, University of Tübingen) In use 38,000 years...

Glacier decline reveals Viking mountain pass

Archaeological finds from the Lendbreen: Preserved cattle feed, stake and spider-rock. (Image: Glacier Archeology Program / J. Wildhagen) Mountain passes were of great importance thousands...

News from the oldest temple in the world

Aerial view of one of the circular structures on the Göbekli Tepe. (Image: Gil Haklay / AFTAU) Even hunters and gatherers were amazingly sophisticated architects,...

Oldest finds of Homo sapiens in Europe

Excavations in the Bacho-Kiro cave in Bulgaria. (Image: Tsenka Tsanova, CC-BY-SA 2.0) When did the first representatives of Homo sapiens reach Europe? Finds from a...

English longbows had enormous impact

Replica of a medieval longbow in use. (Image: Emilija Randjelovic / iStock) The English longbow archers were feared in the Middle Ages - and rightly...

Mysterious finds in Lake Constance

A Bronze Age skull find in Lake Constance. (Image: Tobias Pflederer, Bavarian Society for Underwater Archeology e.V.) Was there a hitherto unknown settlement on the...

A trace of colonial failure

View of Mound Key, where Calusa's capital was once. The Spanish fort stood on Mound 2. (Image: Victor Thompson) A base with an exciting history:...

How to counter epidemics in past centuries

"Closing schools!": Newspaper article in The Morning of October 7, 1918 (Image: Austrian National Library Vienna, ANNO | www.anno.onb.ac.at) Measures such as social distancing, school...

Who left this business?

Koprolite (fecal stones) from a locality in China. (Image: Jada Ko, courtesy of the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology) Archaeological treasures of...

Throwing stick of Homo heidelbergensis discovered

Homo heidelbergensis hunting with a throwing stick. (Image: Benoit Clarys) Hand axes and other stone tools from our ancestors are often found in archaeological excavations....

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