Thursday, October 8, 2026

Two 1,500-Year-Old Brick Tombs Explored in Vietnam

HANOI, VIETNAM—Vietnam News reports that rescue excavations in north-central Vietnam’s Lam River basin have recovered artifacts from two vaulted tombs at the Ru But brick tomb site. The site was discovered when a local resident started to plant trees in the area last spring. According to Nguyen Van Anh of Vietnam National University, both of…

Possible Zoroastrian Fire Altar Unearthed in Uzbekistan
Ancient Engineering

Possible Zoroastrian Fire Altar Unearthed in Uzbekistan

Ossuary, Odirmon, Uzbekistan SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN—According to a Greek Reporter article, an excavation at the site of the ancient city of Odirmon in southern Uzbekistan has uncovered an altar and an ossuary. Odirmon, which features defensive walls, roads, and a rectangular citadel, was occupied from the third century B.C. to the third century A.D. Researchers led…

Medieval Serpentine Pendant Uncovered in Russia
Ancient Engineering

Medieval Serpentine Pendant Uncovered in Russia

Serpentine pendant VELIKY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA—A copper-alloy pendant dated to the eleventh century was unearthed in northwestern Russia’s town of Staraya Russa, Live Science reports. The pendant bears the image of a possible Christian warrior-saint carrying a spear and shield on one side, and a Medusa-like figure with snakes on the other. Four similar pendants dated…

Soviet Gulag Site in Kazakhstan Examined
Ancient Engineering

Soviet Gulag Site in Kazakhstan Examined

Artifacts recovered from a Soviet gulag in Kazakhstan include a uniform button, a bullet casing, and a label dating to 1951 from a lamp used to illuminate the fenced perimeter. PILSEN, CZECH REPUBLIC—Radio Prague International reports that archaeologists from the University of West Bohemia and the group Gulag.cz have examined the site of a Soviet…

3,000-Year-Old Fortress Excavated in Northern Egypt
Ancient Engineering

3,000-Year-Old Fortress Excavated in Northern Egypt

Stele BEHEIRA GOVERNORATE, EGYPT—CBS News reports that excavations at Tell Al-Abqain, the site of a New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 B.C.) fortress in the Nile Delta, have uncovered mudbrick residential structures, planned streets, grain storage silos, pottery ovens, and the remains of a horse thought to have been given a deliberate burial. Mohamed Abdel-Badie of the…

Engraved Sandstone Die Found in Peru
Ancient Engineering

Engraved Sandstone Die Found in Peru

AMAZONAS, PERU—According to an Andina Agency report, a possible die has been discovered in northern Peru at Ollape, a Chachapoya ceremonial site in use between A.D. 1100 and 1350. Researchers from the Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza National University of Amazonas said that the piece of sandstone has an elongated, prismatic shape with incisions on its…

A 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline

A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from South America, linking fossil deposits on the two continents. That connection suggests Tanzania’s supposed oldest dinosaur fossils may actually be millions of years younger than previously thought.

Phoenicians Brought First Cultivated Grapevines to Iberia
Ancient Engineering

Phoenicians Brought First Cultivated Grapevines to Iberia

Grape seeds VALENCIA, SPAIN—Researchers had long suspected that Iberia’s thriving wine industry had its historical roots in the Roman conquest of Iberia beginning in the third century b.c. The importance of viticulture to the Romans is well established—wherever they went, vines seemed to have followed. However, according to a statement released by the University of…

Humans and Tasmanian Devils Coexisted Millennia Ago in Western Australia
Ancient Engineering

Humans and Tasmanian Devils Coexisted Millennia Ago in Western Australia

Tasmanian devil teeth NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA—One of Australia’s most distinctive animals, the Tasmanian devil, is today found only on the island of Tasmania off the country’s southeastern coast. This was not always the case, however, ABC News Australia reports. Thousands of years ago, these famously powerful and noisy marsupials roamed across the continent including…