A study led by Professor Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds new light on one of humanity’s most significant turning points: the Neolithic Revolution. Published in the Journal of Soils and Sediments, the research presents compelling evidence that catastrophic wildfires and soil erosion, driven by natural climate changes, may have triggered the […]
Agriculture
Posted inIron Age Archaeology
Archaeologists Discover a Network of More Than 4,000 Canals and 700 Farms in Eridu, the First City in History According to Mesopotamian Sources
In the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, a group of researchers has achieved a significant archaeological milestone: the identification and mapping of a vast network of irrigation canals in the region of Eridu, in southern Iraq, the southernmost of all the great Mesopotamian cities and, according to the Sumerian King List, the oldest city in history. […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
Archaeologists Discover Why Early European Farmers Ritually Buried Their Grinding Tools
A recent study conducted by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has revealed the profound symbolic significance of grinding tools used by the first Neolithic societies of Europe. These tools, buried in ritual deposits, were closely linked to time and the cycles of human life, nature, and the evolution of settlements. The study, […]
Posted inArchaeology, Pre-Columbian Era
The Pre-Hispanic Casarabe Civilization Developed an Engineering System to Cultivate Maize Year-Round in the Amazon Between 500 and 1400 AD
A recent archaeological discovery has revealed that an ancient pre-Columbian society in the Amazon region successfully developed a sophisticated agricultural engineering system that allowed them to cultivate maize continuously throughout the year. This discovery, made by a team of researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and the Department of Prehistory at […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
Neither Bread Nor Beer: What Did Early Farmers in Northern Europe Actually Eat?
An international team of researchers has shed new light on the use of grinding stones in early Neolithic Scandinavia. These stones, discovered at a settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture on the island of Funen, Denmark, have undergone exhaustive analysis that reshapes our understanding of the dietary habits of the first farmers in Northern Europe. […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
A Roman Villa with an Ancient Cereal Mill and Drainage Systems Built with Amphoras, Found in Aquileia
The historic city of Aquileia, located in northeastern Italy, has witnessed an intriguing archaeological discovery near the town of Monastero. During the construction work for a new bike path along the Via Gemina, as part of the European Union’s Next Generation EU program and the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), residential and production […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
A House from 8,000 Years Ago Found in Serbia Belonged to the First Sedentary Farmers of Europe
Did the first agricultural societies in Europe live nomadically, or were they (seasonally) sedentary? How did sedentarism spread between Anatolia and Europe, and how did the first sedentary people influence agricultural techniques on our continent? An Austro-Serbian team of archaeologists, under the direction of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), discovered the remains of a […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
Fields of Artichokes and Vegetables Preserved Under the Ashes of the 79 AD Eruption and a Pre-Roman Necropolis with Punic Amphorae, Discovered in Pompeii
Modernization work on the railway line in the Municipality of Pompeii and the construction of an underground parking lot on Via Fucci, behind the Pompei Santuario station, have brought to light occupation levels predating Roman colonization, in an area located about 400 meters east of the Porta Sarno in the Pompeii Archaeological Park. The most […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
Archaeologists Discover Threshing Sledges were already Used in Neolithic Greece in 6500 B.C., about 3000 Years Earlier than Previously Thought
Used until a few decades ago to separate straw from grain in many Mediterranean countries, from Turkey to Spain, the threshing sledge may have appeared in Greece as early as 6500 B.C. This is affirmed by a recent study conducted by an international team of researchers, led by the University of Pisa, which, by applying […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
Europe’s Oldest Plough Marks Discovered, Testifying the Use of Animals in Agriculture 7000 Years Ago
Researchers have made an archaeological discovery that changes our understanding of prehistoric agriculture in Europe. Excavations at the Anciens Arsenaux site in Sion, Switzerland, have revealed evidence that Neolithic farmers were using animal traction to pull plows from 5,100 to 4,700 years ago. This discovery predates by nearly a millennium what were previously the oldest […]
