Could ancient humans really have built the pyramids without extraterrestrial help? Or do such questions reveal more about modern anxieties than the past itself?

Study shows how ancient Andean people faced hardships using kinship networks to survive environmental change, disease and ...

In ancient China there was a unique and quirky profession: if someone committed a crime and was sentenced to flogging, they could hire another person to take the punishment on their behalf. During the ...

Present-day speakers of Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian have substantial Siberian ancestry, a new study of ancient genomes finds. These roots likely spread westward from a group of people living in ...

Ancient bones, artifacts and texts offer numerous insights into the past, as does the chewing gum that Neolithic people chewed on and spat out long ago. Analysis of lumps of birch bark tar from ...

Cleanliness in ancient societies was never just about comfort. It signaled status, health, and the everyday discipline of life in dusty cities and river valleys. Without modern plumbing or packaged ...

When archaeologists study how ancient civilizations traveled, they can use evidence like wagons and stables and roads to understand how goods and people moved on land. But when they want to learn ...

The Archimedes screw, an ancient Greek invention for lifting water. Learn about its origins, how it works, and its modern applications.

Italian centenarians have a higher proportion of DNA inherited from ancient hunter-gatherers compared to the general population, according to a new study that could lead to better understanding of ...