A century-old case may have been closed – DNA evidence appears to show Europe’s first farmers were not related to their hunter-gatherer forebears. Teams from the University of Mainz, Cambridge University and University College London have been comparing the genetic make-up of central and northern European hunter-gatherers with ancient farmers and even today’s central Europeans. Their results show that hunter-gatherers share very little of their DNA with the farmers, and just 18 per cent with modern Europeans. Though relatively muted in comparison with other recent finds, the research provides the answer to a question that has mystified thinkers for over…
-
-
Are you a huge fan of the pyramids? Read all the books, got the t-shirt, watched The Mummy too many times to know (it had better be the original)? Contemplate running away from home because you never got any Egypt-based toys for Christmas? Well worry no more, for long-running kids’ stalwarts Playmobil have come up with their latest incarnation: the sparkling new Egypt range. Ever wondered what was between the Great Sphinx‘s legs? What about the catacombs of Khufu‘s Pyramid? Playmobil have got all these bases well and truly covered with the toys, though Dr Hawass might have something to…
-
There are only five day left if you want to see the mysteries of the mummies come to life on the big screen – Mummies: The Secrets of the Pharaohs ends its two-year run at IMAXcinemas across the world next Monday. But you won’t just want to see it for the breath-taking sights, epic storyline and endless line of experts – the film stars none other than our favourite Egyptologist, Dr Zahi Hawass! The antiquities chief gives his best Indiana Jones impression, as the illustrious movie takes viewers on a technicolour tale through in time. First they can see the…
-
It’s a sombre tale; one of death, disease and live burial. But the body of a man found in Rajasthan, India reveals much more than an ancient horror story. The disovery in the town of Balathal, 40km north-east of Udaipur, is tying together some of the mysteries surrounding the tribes of the Indus Valley, who lived in the shadows of the mighty Harappans. The unfortunate man is thought to have been aged between 25 and 45, and predates the earliest-known human leprosy case by around 2,000 years. The previous oldest was an Egyptian dating to 400-250 BC, though the Ebers…
-
An exciting new discovery is changing the way archaeologists view ancient Egypt’s first ties with the Levant. A four centimetre-long stone plaque fragment from Tel Bet Yerah features Egyptian symbols, and is believed to date back to around 3,000 BC – or the start of the country’s dynastic era. Rare enough in Egypt, Bet Yerah stands where the Jordan River meets Lake Kinneret (or the Sea of Galilee). And though links between the two areas are already known, this discovery shows ties may have been a lot stronger than previously thought. The find comes as a joint project between Tel…
-
China’s media will be scratching its collective head this week, as a cache of 100 new Terracotta Warriors it claimed to have been unearthed may be ten at best. The embarrassing shortfall comes two months into excavations of ‘pit three’ of the First Qin Emperor‘s Mausoleum in Xi’an. And while officials at the (officially named) Xi’an Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum are keeping tight-lipped about their discoveries, they admit the haul is nowhere near state-controlled Xinhua’s predictions. “It is impossible, the pit is only 200sq m,” says Chao Wei. “If you were here and saw the site you would see…
-
Egypt’s oldest church will finally reopen its doors this December, after Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass announced that a project to save it from harmful air is coming to an end. The 3rd century AD Hanging Church has been decaying sharply over the past few hundred years, with much of its ornate imagery and wooden iconography in danger of disappearing forever. The plan first involved installing security and fire alarms, and redecorating much of the famous building’s exterior. An Italian team has since been drafted in to relieve the church from the pressures of hot air with precise cooling equipment. The…
-
The first full Terracotta Warrior retained all of his vivid colours in 2004, just a year after boffins from the University of Munich discovered a way to stop the hues fading to grey- and it involves little more than a lick of superglue! The experts developed their breakthrough technique after discovering why the warriors‘ hues, which can range from blacks and browns to greens and purples, faded almost immediately after they are taken from the soil. “If you excavate them, they dry out instantly and in five minutes, the paint peels off,” the university’s Heinz Langhals told New Scientist. The…
-
The lost Inca civilization of the Andes developed a seven-bit binary code using knotted string called Khipu, a leading American anthropologist argues. If true, the relics would have invented binary language around 500 years before the invention of the computer. The coloured textiles could have provided thousands of language permutations; around the same as the Sumerian cuneiform of 1,500 to 1,000 BC, according to Harvard University professor Gary Urton. The pre-Columbian expert’s findings could shatter the long-held belief that the enigmatic Incas, who were destroyed when the Spanish conquistadors garrotted last ruler Atahualpa in 1533, are the only Bronze Age…
-
A pioneering Scots team could be the answers to saving some of the world’s greatest historical monuments. The six-strong group from Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art are making waves across the world, as they use cutting-edge laser technology to map world heritage sites across the globe. First up on the team’s list will be Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota, USA. And the group are confident they can use their American-made CyArk 500 scanner to model the carved faces of former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln to within 3mm. The subsequent models could…