Latest Archaeology News

Gone in 9 minutes: How Celtic gold heist unfolded in Germany
BERLIN (AP) — Thieves who broke into a southern German museum and stole hundreds of ancient gold coins got in and out in nine minutes without raising the alarm, officials said Wednesday, in a further sign that the heist was the work of organized criminals. Police have launched an...

How cooking food and gathering for feasts made us human
NEW YORK (AP) — If you’re cooking a meal for Thanksgiving or just showing up to feast, you’re part of a long human history — one that's older than our own species. Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million...

Words on bronze hand may rewrite past of Basque language
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The discovery of five words inscribed on a 2,000-year-old bronze hand may help rewrite the history of the Basque language, one of Europe's most mysterious tongues. Investigators in northern Spain said this week they discovered what they believe to be the...

Guatemala expat community roiled by relic smuggling charges
ANTIGUA, Guatemala (AP) — Two Americans, one a photographer and the other a connoisseur of Mayan folk art, are facing charges of smuggling pre-Hispanic artifacts in Guatemala Tuesday in a case that has roiled the normally tranquil tourist-magnet town of Antigua. Antigua, just...

Israel archaeologists find ancient comb with 'full sentence'
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists have found an ancient comb dating back some 3,700 years ago and bearing what is likely the oldest known full sentence in Canaanite alphabetical script, according to an article published Wednesday. The inscription encourages people to comb...

University returning 1,500 artifacts to Oneida Indian Nation
Colgate University is returning to the Oneida Indian Nation more than 1,500 items once buried with ancestral remains — a collection of culturally significant items that includes pendants, pots, bells and turtle shell rattles, some dating back 400 years. The “funerary objects”...

Discovery of bronzes rewrites Italy's Etruscan-Roman history
ROME (AP) — Italian authorities on Tuesday announced the extraordinary discovery of 2,000-year-old bronze statues in an ancient Tuscan thermal spring and said the find will “rewrite history” about the transition from the Etruscan civilization to the Roman Empire. The discovery,...
