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+20 +1
Caesar’s favourite herb was the Viagra of ancient Rome. Until climate change killed it off
Perfume, tonic – even love potion – silphium was prized by the ancient Romans, but in its success lay the seeds of its own downfall
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+18 +1
Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past
The long read: Archaeological discoveries are shattering scholars’ long-held beliefs about how the earliest humans organised their societies – and hint at possibilities for our own
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+17 +1
5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer is earliest person to die with the plague
Remains of man found in Latvia had DNA fragments and proteins of bacterium that causes plague
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+20 +1
Archaeologists uncover oldest human burial in Africa
‘Quite spectacular’ discovery shows three-year-old child was carefully laid to rest nearly 80,000 years ago
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+21 +1
Cartographer stumbles upon Sweden's 'most spectacular' trove of Bronze Age treasures on forest floor
Tomas Karlsson thought he saw 'metal garbage' while out updating a map. Turns out it was ancient treasure dating back 2,500 years.
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+19 +1
Ishi-no-Hoden: Japan’s Colossal Floating “Anti-epidemic” Megalith
Ishi-no-Hoden is one of Japan's most mysterious and bewildering monuments, a gigantic stone structure in the shape of an old tube TV almost 6 meters (20 ft) high and 500 tons (560 US tons) in weight that seems to float over a pond in the city of Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture.
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+4 +1
3,000-year-old ‘Lost Golden City’ found under the sands of Egypt
The buried city of Aten was built in the golden age of Ancient Egypt, and would have been used by powerful pharaohs such as Tutankhamun.
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+17 +1
Ancient hunter-gatherer seashell resonates after 17,000 years
Archaeologists have managed to get near-perfect notes out of a musical instrument that's more than 17,000 years old. It's a conch shell that was found in a hunter-gatherer cave in southern France. The artefact is the oldest known wind instrument of its type. To date, only bone flutes can claim a deeper heritage.
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+32 +1
Who Invented the Wheel? And How Did They Do It?
The wagon—and the wagon wheel—could not have been put together in stages. Either it works, or it doesn’t. And it enabled humans to spread rapidly into huge parts of the world.
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+23 +1
Stone Tools Show How Humans Survived a Supervolcano Eruption 74,000 Years Ago
Of all the volcanic eruptions to shake our planet in the last 2 million years, the Toba super-eruption in Sumatra, Indonesia, was one of the most colossal. But it may not have been the global catastrophe we once thought it was.
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+16 +1
People survived the Toba supervolcano’s global winter after all
Previous studies suggest volcanic winter caused a population bottleneck 74,000 years ago.
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+21 +1
Archaeologists unearth more evidence that when a civilization drinks together, it stays together
The Wari empire, an ancient Peruvian civilization that predated the Inca, made advances in agriculture, art, architecture, and warfare. They also drank a ton of beer.
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+21 +1
Temple Excavation in India Mysteriously Shut Down After Discovering Engraving of Strange “Foreign Face”
During an excavation of an ancient temple to Vishnu in the city of Singuali, Madhya Pradesh, Indian archaeologists found something quite strange. By Sequoyah Kennedy.
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+35 +1
Archaeologists find richest cache of ancient mind-altering drugs in South America
When José Capriles arrived in 2008 at the Cueva del Chileno rock shelter, nestled on the western slopes of Bolivia’s Andes, he didn’t know what he would find within. Sweeping aside layers of fresh and ancient llama dung, he found the remains of an ancient burial site: stone markers suggesting a body had once been interred there and a small leather bag cinched with a string. Inside was a collection of ancient drug paraphernalia—bone spatulas to crush the seeds of plants with psychoactive...
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+27 +1
See the world’s oldest trees by starlight
Beth Moon slept under ancient baobabs and waited out the clouds to photograph Earth’s arboreal beauty at night. By Catherine Zuckerman.
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+18 +1
A Possession for All Time
How should we read Thucydides? By Johanna Hanink.
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+27 +1
The Fantastically Strange Origin of Most Coal on Earth
The absence of the tiniest creature can shape the world in the biggest way. By Robert Krulwich.
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+3 +1
The Real Story Behind Game of Thrones’ Dragonglass
Shiny and sharp, obsidian is enjoying a bit of a pop culture moment. It plays a central role in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, now wrapping its final season. Called dragonglass on the show, obsidian is one of only two substances that can cut down White Walkers, malevolent otherworldly warriors. In the real world, the volcanic glass reveals the human story in a way no other material can.
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+28 +1
The Lost Empire that Ruled the Silk Road
Today, the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan is relatively remote, known mostly for its magnificent medieval ruins. But over a millennium ago, it was one of the richest cities on the infamous trade route known as the Silk Road. Back in the 600s CE, that route was called simply "the road to Samarkand." By David Aragorn.
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Yale Assyriologist decodes ‘writing of the heavens’ by ancient stargazers
What would the ancient Babylonians have made of recent celestial events like the blood moon and super moon? Just ask Yale professor Eckart Frahm. By Bess Connolly. (Feb. 22, 2019)
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