EurekAlert! News by Subject: Archaeology - News by Subject: Archaeology

Archaeology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Sep-2025 13:11 ET (8-Sep-2025 17:11 GMT/UTC)

Archaeologists combine cutting edge research techniques to shed light on the treatment of individuals with disabilities in the late Middle Ages

De Gruyter
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The skeleton of a man with a severe dislocated fracture of the knee, found in a cemetery in Lund, southern Sweden, is helping to unravel the complexities of social attitudes towards individuals with disabilities in the late medieval period. The research combines traditional osteological methods and 3D modelling - a cutting-edge technique for viewing and studying traumatic injury and related skeletal changes - with contextual information from historical texts and digitized excavation records to build a more nuanced understanding of disability and care in the past.

Journal: Open Archaeology

New special issue in "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B" reframes the origins of domestication

Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

International researchers from a range of disciplines challenge long-held assumptions about one of the most transformative processes in human history

Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Different ways of ‘getting a grip’

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have found new evidence for how our fossil human relatives in South Africa may have used their hands. Research led by Samar Syeda, postdoctoral researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, together with scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Kent, Duke University and the National Geographic Society, investigated variation in finger bone morphology to determine that South African hominins not only may have had different levels of dexterity, but also different climbing abilities.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: H2020 European Research Council

Study reveals vast Aztec trade networks behind ancient obsidian artifacts

Tulane University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Tulane University and the Proyecto Templo Mayor analyzed 788 obsidian artifacts from Tenochtitlan, revealing that the Mexica (Aztec) Empire sourced this important material from at least eight different locations, including regions outside their political control. While 90% of artifacts were made from green obsidian from Sierra de Pachuca (especially for ceremonial purposes), the diversity of obsidian sources suggests sophisticated trade networks rather than just conquest-based acquisition. The study tracked changes in obsidian use from 1375-1520 CE, showing how the Mexica standardized ritual obsidian sources after consolidating power around 1430 CE, providing insights into the empire's economic networks and political influence.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Tulane’s Supporting Impactful Publications (SIP) Program

Name diversity sheds light on ancient societies

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study has uncovered hidden social patterns in ancient Hebrew kingdoms by analyzing personal names from archaeological findings. Applying diversity statistics typically used in ecological studies, the researchers found that the Kingdom of Israel had a far more diverse onomastic (naming) landscape than Judah—indicating a more open, cosmopolitan society. Over time, name diversity in Judah declined, likely reflecting increasing religious centralization and sociopolitical control. This interdisciplinary approach opens new possibilities for studying ancient cultures using statistical methods usually reserved for the natural sciences.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

World-famous Schöningen spears are 100,000 years younger than previously claimed, new research suggests

University of York
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to an international study, the world-famous Schöningen spears, unearthed in Schöningen, Germany, are 100,000 years younger than previously thought and have now been revised to around 200,000 years-old.

Journal: Science Advances

Deciphering the mechanisms of environmental change from traces of extinction-level celestial impacts

Kyushu University

What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? The first thing that might come to mind is a meteorite crashing into the Earth. Assistant Professor Honami Sato, a geology researcher at the Faculty of Science, searches for traces of celestial impacts in geological strata to decipher the mechanisms of environmental changes on the planet. We spoke with Sato about her methods of stratigraphic surveying and her fascination with geology.

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