Archaeologists excavating what they thought was a tomb in northern Guatemala have come to a new conclusion: the site was an ancient steam bath complex used 2,500 years ago. It is an amazing example of advanced Mayan engineering, many centuries before the peak of that civilization. Live Science reports: “In the Maya beliefs, caves and baths […]
Category: Archaeology
A recent study by academics at Oxford and elsewhere has concluded that grisly stories of ancient Phoenician child sacrifice were true: Children – both male and female, and mostly a few weeks old – were sacrificed by the Carthaginians at locations known as tophets. The practice was also carried out by their neighbours at other Phoenician […]
An ancient Chinese shipwreck in the Java Sea has been found to be much older than previously thought. The new dating places it within a vast and intricate trading network that spanned from southern China to Egypt. The story of this ship and its cargo adds color to an already fascinating world. A Major Haul The […]
An exciting new discovery has been made in England. A man tromping through his fields stumbled into a rabbit hole that concealed a secret. The hole was in fact a narrow tunnel leading to a door. Behind it was a small series of caves, hollowed out by the medieval military order called the Templars. This […]
Part 1 of our Swahili Coast articles mainly discussed the role of Arab and Persian merchants in East African commerce. But the Indian Ocean was an integrated whole, with extensive trade among all peoples on the coasts. Objects from India appear in the archaeological record from as early as the 7th century AD, and trade colonies […]
Archaeologists in Vietnam have discovered a 4,500-year-old trading network. The network stretched hundreds of miles across several river systems, down to the Mekong Delta. Several stone tools quarried in the Southeast Asian highlands were found at the site in southern Vietnam, where such stone is completely absent. Long-distance trade in the ancient world was usually associated […]
There is a recent New York Times article describing a fascinating series of discoveries off the coast of Bulgaria. These Black Sea shipwrecks have shed incredible light on ancient and medieval navigation: (more…)