Thursday, October 15, 2026
Tiny Paleolithic Bird Carvings Unearthed in Germany
Ancient Engineering

Tiny Paleolithic Bird Carvings Unearthed in Germany

Ivory bird figurines TÜBINGEN, GERMANY—Two tiny bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory have been discovered in southwestern Germany’s Hohle Fels Cave, according to a SciNews report. The two artifacts were uncovered in the same layer of the cave, about five feet apart from each other. Each 40,000-year-old bird sculpture is less than one inch long.…

Latin Graffiti Recorded in Underground Cave
Ancient Engineering

Latin Graffiti Recorded in Underground Cave

Inscription reading "Domina Votum," Cova Dones, Spain VALENCIA, SPAIN—Some 120 Latin inscriptions on the walls and ceiling of Cova Dones, an underground cave in southeastern Spain, have been recorded by Virginia Barciela of the University of Alicante and Aitor Ruiz-Redondo of the University of Zaragoza, according to a report in La Brújula Verde. The cave…

Hundreds of Geoglyphs Discovered in Amazon Rainforest
Ancient Engineering

Hundreds of Geoglyphs Discovered in Amazon Rainforest

Lidar image of earthworks at the site of Fazenda Atlântican, Brazil HELSINKI, FINLAND—Live Science reports that a lidar survey of more than 1,700 square miles of the Amazon rainforest in western Brazil has detected nearly 400 earthworks dated to between 600 B.C. and A.D. 850. The geoglyphs were constructed by the Aquiry, a multicultural group…

High-Tech Tools Reveal Early Maya Calendrical Writing

CAMPECHE, MEXICO—Mexico News Daily reports that a digital reconstruction of a charcoal mural discovered inside a cave-like, arched vault at the Maya site of Calakmul has revealed early examples of calendrical writing. Daniel Salazar Lama of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said that the mural shows Juun Ajaw, one of the mythical…

Hippocampus Mosaic Uncovered in Turkey

AYDIN PROVINCE, TURKEY—Türkiye Today reports that an excavation conducted by Murat Cekilmez of Adnan Menderes University has uncovered a 2,000-year-old mosaic floor in a bath-gymnasium complex in western Turkey’s ancient city of Tralles. Found under the remnants of a Byzantine workshop, the floor features an image of a hippocampus, a mythical sea creature associated with…

Possible Marks of Cannibalism Detected on Adult Homo Antecessor Fossils
Ancient Engineering

Possible Marks of Cannibalism Detected on Adult Homo Antecessor Fossils

TARRAGONA, SPAIN—Gizmodo reports that analysis of the remains of 24 Homo antecessor fossils recently discovered at the Gran Dolina site in Spain revealed cut marks associated with cannibalism. It had been previously suggested that H. antecessor limited cannibalism to younger individuals, primarily due to the large number of infant and juvenile skeletons uncovered at Gran…

Copper Bells Uncovered in Bolivia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA—A set of six pyramid-shaped copper bells has been discovered at Yoroma, a Yampara settlement in southern Bolivia’s Oroncota Valley, according to a Greek Reporter article. Sonia Alconini of the University of Virginia and Walter Sánchez-Canedo of the Higher University of San Simón said that the bundle of bells, found inside a circular stone…