News by Subject Archaeology

Rabbits were raised for over a thousand years in Mexico without becoming domesticated. A new study finds that their solitary lifestyle and greater species diversity made domestication unlikely.

A new study finds forensics researchers use terms related to ancestry and race in inconsistent ways, and calls for the discipline to adopt a new approach to better account for both the fluidity of populations and how historical events have shaped our skeletal characteristics.

A team of geneticists and archaeologists from Ireland, France, Iran, Germany, and Austria has sequenced the DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy from an ancient Iranian salt mine, Chehrābād. This remarkable specimen has revealed sheep husbandry practices of the ancient Near East, as well as underlining how natural mummification can affect DNA degradation.

Evidence from an ancient eggshell has revealed important new information about the extreme climate change faced by human early ancestors.

Proteins from frozen canine faeces have been successfully extracted for the first time to reveal more about the diets of Arctic sled dogs.

Researchers have documented 21 generations of Leonardo Da Vinci's family covering 690 years and identified 14 living male family descendants. The family tree is now longer (21 generations vs. 19 in 2016), broader (5 branches vs. 1), larger (14 living male direct descendants vs. 2), far more detailed and fully documented for the first time. The publication opens a scientific door to next steps in NY-based Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project.

Microscopic scales covering a shark's body--dermal denticles--from fossil and modern reefs show how shark communities have changed since humans arrived on the scene.

Archaeologists have unearthed a rare trove of more than 80 metal objects in Mississippi thought to be from Hernando de Soto's 16th-century expedition through the Southeast. Many of the objects were repurposed by the resident Chickasaws as household tools and ornaments, an unusual practice at a time when European goods in North America were few and often reserved for leaders.