Ancient Underground City Found

Archaeologists have discovered a previously unknown ancient underground city in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey, a massive complex dating back to the Byzantine Empire dug into the volcanic rock estimated at 5 million square feet and possibly once housing 20,000 people.

Unknown Egyptian Queen

Archaeologists working in Abu-Sir southwest of Cairo have discovered the tomb of a previously unknown Egyptian queen, named Khentakawess III after wall inscriptions, believed to be the wife or mother of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled about 4500 years ago.

New Teotihuacan Chambers Found

Archaeologists have found three previously unknown chambers at the end of a tunnel discovered in 2003 under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan, with the new rooms filled with thousands of artifacts such as small statues, rubber balls, gemstone objects and seashells.

New Timeline for Ancient Egypt

Using radiocarbon dating of excavated hair, bones and plant materials along with established archaeological evidence and computer models, scientists have pinpointed a revised timeline for the rise of Egypt's first state dynasty with King Aha about 3100 B.C.

Tomb of Moche Priestess-Queen

Archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a previously unknown Moche priestess-queen who was buried about A.D. 750 at San José de Moro in the Jequetepeque River valley of northern Peru, the eighth such elite female burial found at the site since 1991 and supporting the theory of an ancient female-ruled society.

Lost Mayan City Discovered

Archaeologists have discovered the lost Mayan city of Chactun hidden in the thick jungle of the Yucatan, a 22-hectare site that includes 15 pyramids and ball game courts and may have been home to as many as 40,000 people before being abandoned around 1000 A.D.

Lost Cambodian City Revealed

Using LIDAR technology on board a helicopter, archaeologists have revealed the lost city of Mahendraparvata in Cambodia, a planned urban network of roadways and canals linking the 1200-year-old temples of the Angkor Wat complex hidden under dense vegetation.

Rickets in Medici Children

Examination of recently discovered skeletons of nine Medici children ranging from newborn to five years old born in the sixteenth century reveals they suffered from rickets, a disease caused by Vitamin D deficiency and commonly associated with poverty and malnutrition but most likely brought about by the privileged family living most of their lives indoors.

Cave Paintings in Mexico

Archaeologists have discovered almost 5000 ancient cave paintings yet to be accurately dated at 11 sites in the northeastern Burgos region of Mexico, an area previously thought uninhabited from pre-Hispanic times.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

After decades of research, an Oxford professor has uncovered historical evidence of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, located not in Hillah as traditionally believed but 300 miles away in Nineveh and built not by Nebuchadnezzar but by the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib.

Cannibalism at Jamestown

New analysis of the bones of a 14-year-old girl show the first direct archaeological evidence of cannibalism by the early American colonists at the Jamestown settlement in Virginia during the harsh winter "starving time" of 1609-1610.

Ancient Chinese Coin in Africa

An expedition has unearthed a 600-year-old Chinese "Yongle Tongbao" coin on the Kenyan coastal island of Manda dating from Emperor Yongle's reign from 1403 to 1425 A.D., providing evidence of overseas trade between China and East Africa decades before European exploration began.

Ancient Heart Disease

Modern CT scans of a variety of mummies from Egypt, Peru, the southwestern United States and the Aleutian Islands revealed about a third suffered from calcification of carotid arteries, demonstrating that age-related heart disease may have been common in ancient peoples even without the modern diet and lifestyle often cited as a contributing factor.

New Calibration for Carbon Dating

Having two distinct sediment layers that form annually, scientists have used core samples from Lake Suigetsu west of Tokyo to painstakingly account for an atmospheric carbon-14 record stretching back 52,000 years, extending calibration references for a new, more accurate standard for radiocarbon dating.

Enormous Roman Bath Mosaic

A "pristine" open-air Roman poolside mosaic of some 1600 square feet has been unearthed in a freshly plowed farmer's field in the city of Antiochia ad Cragum in southern Turkey, likely dating back to the third or fourth century A.D.

Roman Military Camp Found

The oldest known Roman military fortification in Germany has been found southeast of the city of Trier in the Hunsrueck region, presumably built during Julius Caesar's Gallic War in the late 50s B.C. and providing a rich repository of soldiers' artifacts from this historically significant period.

Lost Medieval Church Found

Archaeologists have found evidence beneath a parking lot for the Leicester, England, city council offices that is believed to be the lost Greyfriars church, the final resting place of King Richard III, who was buried here in 1485 after his death in the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Large Human Sculptures

Archaeologists have discovered large human sculptures in the Tayinat Archaeological Project of southern Turkey including one figure that would have stood 4 meters tall when intact, part of a larger gate complex to the Neo-Hittite city of Kunulua dating to about 1000 B.C.

New Mayan Temple Found

Archaeologists have uncovered a "dramatic" new Mayan temple in the Guatemalan jungle, a once blood-red Temple of the Night Sun decorated with five-foot-tall stucco masks that reveals some of the rivalries of the local Mayan kingdoms dating from AD 350 to 400.

"Frankenstein" Bog Mummies

Two bog bodies discovered in Cladh Hallan, a prehistoric village on an island off the coast of Scotland, present an archaeological mystery as DNA analysis has revealed the 3000-year-old mummified remains (male and female) are composed of parts from six other bodies buried about 300 to 600 years after death.