Archaeology news

• Archaeologists reveal reconstructed face of 75,000yo Neanderthal woman

  03-05-2024 05:03 via abc.net.au
  
  The Neanderthal woman's skull was discovered in 2018 in a cave in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq.
  
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• Shirley the giant prehistoric wombat-like marsupial now has an age. And she's old

  08-05-2024 22:36 via abc.net.au
  
  Just over a decade ago, an outback cattle station worker in the NT stumbled across a rare diprotodon fossil sticking out of the red soil. Now fondly known as Shirley, scientists have discovered how old the marsupial is.
  
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• Why this sunken island is changing the way we think about myths

  07-05-2024 20:57 via abc.net.au
  
  Legend has it a jealous husband used a wave curse to sink Teonimenu into the ocean forever. Scientists have worked out what really happened.
  
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• 'Islands form and disappear': The story of Teonimenu, a lost island of the Pacific

  07-05-2024 20:57 via abc.net.au
  
  Legend has it a jealous husband used a wave curse to sink Teonimenu into the ocean forever. Scientists have worked out what really happened.
  
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• Exhumation of old graves begins at Hobart private boys' school, amid measures to protect students from 'confronting scenes'

  29-04-2024 21:30 via abc.net.au
  
  As work begins to find an unknown amount of old graves at a private boys' school built over an old cemetery, students and staff will be "protected from confronting scenes", the principal says.
  
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• Search for known shipwrecks off WA coast finds some just aren't where they're supposed to be

  28-04-2024 02:03 via abc.net.au
  
  A Perth archaeologist and anthropologist has made an unexpected discovery — some of the known shipwrecks off the WA coast aren't where they're supposed to be.
  
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• Gigantic marine reptile identified from fossil found by 11-year-old girl and father

  18-04-2024 06:41 via abc.net.au
  
  A fossil jawbone found by a young girl and her father on a beach in England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating back to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. 
  
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• Why this Tassie devil tooth unearthed in a far corner of Australia could rewrite history

  17-04-2024 01:51 via abc.net.au
  
  The tooth could provide further historical evidence of inter-community trading in Western Australia and was unearthed in Juukan Gorge, which made headlines in 2020 when its rock shelters were damaged by Rio Tinto blasts.
  
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• Tasmanian devil tooth found during archaeological dig 1,000 kilometres north of Perth

  17-04-2024 01:51 via abc.net.au
  
  The tooth could provide further historical evidence of inter-community trading in Western Australia and was unearthed in Juukan Gorge, which made headlines in 2020 when its rock shelters were damaged by Rio Tinto blasts.
  
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• Researchers seek help from local beachcombers for clues about Dutch ship 'beaten to matchsticks'

  12-04-2024 05:39 via abc.net.au
  
  Residents of a town in South Australia's south-east are being enlisted in research into a shipwreck that killed 16 Dutch sailors in 1857 soon after offloading 400 gold miners from China.
  
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• 'Nobody thought that Aboriginal people made pottery': The holiday stroll that may upend First Nations history

  09-04-2024 22:00 via abc.net.au
  
  Ancient pottery fragments have been discovered on a Great Barrier Reef island that could change our understanding of Aboriginal history. 
  
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• How a piece of pottery found on a beach stroll led to a discovery that could make us rethink First Nations history

  09-04-2024 22:00 via abc.net.au
  
  Ancient pottery fragments have been discovered on a Great Barrier Reef island that could change our understanding of Aboriginal history. 
  
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• 'A very big question in human evolution': Where did our ancestors go after leaving Africa?

  25-03-2024 19:30 via abc.net.au
  
  Our ancestors left Africa some 70,000 years ago, but it took them thousands of years to make it to Europe or Asia. A DNA study may shed light on where they ended up during this 'long pause'.
  
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• How a chance discovery helped solve the 120-year-old mystery of the SS Nemesis

  15-03-2024 22:37 via abc.net.au
  
  A technician looking for lost shipping containers off the New South Wales coast noticed an anomaly on his screen. It turned out to be the wreck of the SS Nemesis, which disappeared in a storm 120 years ago.
  
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• The complicated legacy of the 50-year-old discovery that rewrote Australian history

  10-03-2024 02:50 via abc.net.au
  
  Five decades ago, when geologist Jim Bowler brushed sand away from the dome of an ancient human cranium, it changed the way we thought about Australia's past.
  
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• Researchers discover Earth's earliest fossilised forest in UK

  07-03-2024 23:59 via abc.net.au
  
  Scientists discover the oldest fossilised forest known on Earth, dating back 390 million years, according to a new study.
  
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• Pompeii fresco depicting Greek myth uncovered in ancient ruins

  02-03-2024 01:43 via abc.net.au
  
  The paintings were found during excavation operations to restore part of the ruins called Leda's House.
  
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• Colombia to start recovering bounty from 18th-century shipwreck

  24-02-2024 05:39 via abc.net.au
  
  Colombia's government says it will remove items of "incalculable value" from the San Jose galleon, which was laden with gold, silver and emeralds when it sank in 1708.
  
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• Scientists race against tides to discover why 90,000-year-old footprints were made

  02-02-2024 03:35 via abc.net.au
  
  Scientists believe footprints that were accidentally found on a Moroccan beach were made by five modern humans 90,000 years ago. 
  
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• Could the Amelia Earhart mystery be solved?

  31-01-2024 09:55 via abc.net.au
  
  An American company believes it's found the wreckage of Earhart's plane, which went missing in the Pacific Ocean in 1937.
  
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• Human remains found in south-west Victoria identified as belonging to Indigenous ancestor

  26-01-2024 02:44 via abc.net.au
  
  Construction workers have discovered Indigenous remains at what is suspected to be a burial site in Warrnambool.
  
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• Laser-sensor technology reveals ancient cities in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest

  12-01-2024 23:29 via abc.net.au
  
  The settlements were occupied around 500 BC and 300 to 600 AD — a period roughly contemporaneous with the Roman Empire in Europe.
  
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• Were you paying attention to science in 2023? Let's test your knowledge

  27-12-2023 20:30 via abc.net.au
  
  Test your knowledge of the fascinating, hilarious and ground-breaking science discoveries from 2023. We promise it's more fun than a science test.
  
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• 'So special': 3,000 years of pharaohs, rulers, and everyday life on display in Canberra

  13-12-2023 20:36 via abc.net.au
  
  Have you ever wondered what the hook used to pull a brain through the nostrils of a person being mummified looks like? Or an actual mummified body, itself? Now's your chance to see both those things — and over 200 other ancient Egyptian artefacts, right here in Australia.
  
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• Do you know what to do if you come across a fossil or Indigenous artefact?

  24-11-2023 21:00 via abc.net.au
  
  The rules meant to protect Australia's natural history can be tricky to comprehend. Here's what you should do if you ever come across a fossil or an artefact.
  
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• 'New evidence' found on the resting place of Captain Cook's Endeavour, scientists say

  23-11-2023 06:40 via abc.net.au
  
  Australian maritime scientists say "two significant discoveries" provide more evidence that a shipwreck off the US coast is Captain Cook's Endeavour.
  
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• Primitive, heavy-boned and reliant on megafauna, the sad story of Australia's only vulture

  18-11-2023 00:23 via abc.net.au
  
  Vultures are found everywhere in the world today, except Australia and Antarctica. But that hasn't always been the case.
  
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• Aboriginal ancestral remains found at SA housing project

  14-11-2023 10:12 via abc.net.au
  
  Construction of a multi-billion-dollar estate in South Australia is also the site of one of state's most significant Indigenous burial grounds.
  
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• Ancient coins found in Italy could be the spoils of a shipwreck

  06-11-2023 00:17 via abc.net.au
  
  It's believed there are as many as 50,000 coins which were first spotted by a diver, who saw something metallic out of the corner of their eye.
  
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• Ancient statue among discovery in new ruins unearthed at Chellah, Morocco

  04-11-2023 04:44 via abc.net.au
  
  Thermal baths, working class neighbourhoods and a headless statue are some gems archaeologists have uncovered in Rabat as excavation work continues.
  
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