Ancient History (3500 BC – 499 AD)

[firestar464]

Archaeologists unveil 3,500-year-old city in Peru

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07dmx38kyeo

[caltrek]

Tomb of First King of Ancient Maya City Discovered in Belize
By Benjamin Taub
July 11, 2025

Introduction:

(IFL Science) After more than 40 years of exploration and excavations at the ancient Maya city of Caracol, researchers have finally unearthed a tomb belonging to one of its rulers. Even more significantly, the burial happens to contain the remains of Te K’ab Chaak, the very first king of this pre-Hispanic powerhouse and founder of its royal dynasty.

“We found the first person in the dynasty so that, in itself, in terms of the history of Caracol is huge,” said Diane Z. Chase from the University of Houston, who has been leading excavations at the site in Belize along with her husband Arlen since 1985. “We’ve found numerous tombs with really impressive artifacts inside that were clearly members of the royal family, but this is the first one where it matches with hieroglyphic records to be a ruler and beyond that, the first dynastic ruler,” she explained.

In its heyday around 650 CE, Caracol housed a population of roughly 100,000 people and was the dominant polity in the Maya realm. Almost a century earlier, in 562 CE, warriors from Caracol had defeated the mighty forces of Tikal in Guatemala, confirming the city’s regional supremacy.

Yet none of this would have been possible without Te K’ab Chaak, who ascended the throne in 331 CE and got the ball rolling. The Chases found his tomb at the base of a royal family shrine, noting that he appears to have died at an advanced age and without any teeth.

Alongside the body, the archaeologists found a wealth of grave goods, including a jadeite death mask, three sets of jadeite earflares, a jadeite pendant, two pacific thorny oyster shells, and two turtle shells. Dated to around 350 CE, the tomb is one of three contemporaneous burials that provide new insights into the geopolitical dynamics of ancient Mesoamerica.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/tomb-of-fir ... ze-79968

[weatheriscool]

Hidden for centuries: Archaeologists unearth ancient Roman water basin
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-hidden-ce ... cient.html
by Eric Stann, University of Missouri

In the heart of the ancient Roman city of Gabii, located just 11 miles east of Rome, a team of archaeologists led by University of Missouri professor Marcello Mogetta has made a remarkable discovery: the remains of a massive stone-lined basin, partly carved directly into the bedrock.

Built around 250 B.C., with evidence that some parts may be even older, this man-made structure may be one of the earliest examples of Roman monumental architecture other than temples and city walls.

Mogetta, the chair of Mizzou's Department of Classics, Archaeology and Religion, said monumental architecture is about more than realism—it's also a powerful tool for political expression.

[firestar464]

Oldest and biggest Maya temple was built to depict the cosmos

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/science/ ... ict-cosmos

[caltrek]

Massive New Map Reveals 300,000 Km of Ancient Roman Roads
By Michele Starr
November 6, 2025

Introduction:

(Science Alert) It turns out that not all roads lead to Rome, after all – at least, not in a literal sense.

A new map of the empire's ancient land routes has nearly doubled the length of the confirmed ancient Roman road network, from 190,000 to 300,000 kilometers (118,000 to 186,000 miles) – with the major hubs located far from Rome itself.

And yet, the map – named Itiner-e, and made publicly available – represents, at most, just 3 percent of the entire Roman road network, says a team led by archaeologist Tom Brughmans of Aarhus University.

"This was a huge surprise and a sobering realization: Roads are one of the most enigmatic topics in Roman archaeology and history, they were all over the place, we have proverbs like 'all roads lead to Rome'. How can it be that we only know the location of 3 percent with certainty?" Brughmans told ScienceAlert.

"This is in fact a hugely constructive finding. Thanks to our work, we know that localizing Roman roads precisely requires more research attention."

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/massive-n ... an-roads

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

‘Amazing’ figurines find in Egyptian tomb solves mystery

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/article ... s-mystery/

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

Fingerprint of ancient seaborne raider found on Scandinavia's oldest plank boat

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology ... plank-boat

[firestar464]

Ancient Egyptian valley temple excavated — and it's connected to a massive upper temple dedicated to the sun god, Ra

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology ... sun-god-ra

[caltrek]

I hesitate to cite any articles about the birth of Christ in an historic thread. Mostly because I see that whole story as most likely being a purely fictional construct that somehow came to be accepted as historical fact. There is such a thing as historical fiction - stories about fictional characters set in the context of historical circumstances as we now understand them. The cited article does a good job of describing historical circumstances that Jesus was supposed to have been born into. In doing that, it even gives some hints as to why that story took such a powerful hold onto the imagination of so many generations that followed.

https://theconversation.com/what-world- ... ty-268080

[firestar464]

Scientists have uncovered evidence of Ireland's largest prehistoric hillfort settlement

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientist ... rgest.html

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[wjfox]