A recent study led by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of New Mexico has revealed that humans arrived on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca about 5,600 years ago. This finding, based on the dating of an ancient submerged bridge in a cave on the island, suggests […]
Caves
Posted inMedieval Archaeology
A Violent Community Lived in Isolation for Five Centuries in Caves on the Border Between Al-Andalus and the Christian Kingdoms
Researchers from Sweden and Spain have conducted a comprehensive archaeogenetic study of a community that lived in isolation on the border between the Christian kingdoms of the north and Al-Andalus during the Early Medieval period. This dynamic era, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, was characterized by religious competition, power struggles, and significant human mobility, shaping […]
Posted inScience
Paleoclimatic Paradox of Exceptional Global Warming 400,000 Years Ago Resolved
In Europe, there were pre-Neanderthals, the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth had less ice than today, and sea levels were approximately 10 meters higher. We are in the Lower Paleolithic, 400,000 years ago, a period called MIS 11c, the warmest on our planet in the last few million years. According to a newly published study […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
The Altamura Man, the Best-Preserved Neanderthal Fossil, Is So Ancient That It Was Found Embedded Among Stalactites and Stalagmites
In 1993, in the Lamalunga karst system near the town of Altamura in southern Italy, an extraordinary archaeological discovery was made: a Neanderthal skeleton, nicknamed the Altamura Man, which is estimated to be between 130,000 and 172,000 years old, was found. The discovery was not only significant due to its age but also because of […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
A Cave in the Pyrenees was Used as a Refuge During the Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Archaeologists from the High Mountain Archaeology Group (GAAM), composed of researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), who are excavating in the Dead Man’s Cave (Cova de l’Home Mort) in the town of Soriguera, Pallars Sobirà county in the north of the province of Lleida in the […]
Posted inAncient Greece
The Legendary Tomb of King Minos in Sicily Is the Highest Tholos in the Mediterranean
When discussing the death of the famous King Minos of Crete, who had imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, Diodorus Siculus relates that after their escape (and Icarus’s tragic death), Minos pursued them across all the cities of the Mediterranean. To find Daedalus, he proposed a riddle to the […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
People have been Living in Lava Tube Caves in Saudi Arabia for Millennia
Recent archaeological research in Arabia has uncovered interesting insights into the ancient history of the region. This interdisciplinary study sheds light on how people lived, migrated, and adapted to their surroundings over thousands of years, despite the challenges of migration and adaptation in arid environments. One breakthrough comes from exploring underground environments like caves and […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
Fragments of Sculptural Decoration from Roman Imperial Nymphaeum of the Grotta Azzurra on Capri recovered
The Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of the Metropolitan Area of Naples, in close collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Museums of Campania, the Command of Cultural Heritage Protection of the Carabinieri Corps of Naples, and the Command of the Underwater Carabinieri Corps of Naples, recovered valuable archaeological evidence from the sea at […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
Prehistoric Subterranean Stilt Village in Italy Investigated, the Only One Known in Europe
The Pertosa-Auletta Caves, a karstic complex located at the foothills of the Alburni Mountains in southern Italy, have recently been the subject of a significant archaeological research project. Thanks to collaboration between local authorities and several scientific organizations, it became possible in January 2024 to temporarily drain a dam obstructing the entrance to the caves, […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
The Cave Monastery of Vardzia Has More than 500 Rooms on 19 Levels
Nestled on the rugged cliffs along the Kura River Valley in southern Georgia is one of the most unusual and astonishing medieval monasteries in the world: Vardzia. Carved entirely into the rock of Mount Erusheti for over 500 meters, Vardzia is an architectural marvel with up to 19 levels of chambers. The site has a […]