Explore 1250 Archaeology Collections - Atlas Obscura
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Life in the trenches was crowded, when you factor in all the humans, rats, and lice.
wwi

Found: Cases of ‘Trench Fever’ in Ancient Rome

The five-day fever was made famous during World War I, but has been a constant companion of poor hygiene.
Isaac Schultz December 2, 2020
Ancient artwork, such as this relief in the Israel Beer Breweries museum in Ashkelon, Israel, offers clues to past beer production.
beer

Why Archaeologists Are Brewing Ancient Beers

Scientists are partnering with brewers to taste test ancient recipes and sip a long-lost past.
Sara Toth Stub December 1, 2020
This artist's rendition shows an ancient huntresses in action.
hunting

Reintroducing the Big-Game Huntresses of the Ancient World

Men hunted, women gathered, right? It's a lot more complicated.
Luke Fater November 30, 2020
With driveway
Athens, Greece

Ancient Ruins on Selley Street

These ancient ruins hide in plain sight next to a dessert shop.
A painting from around 1620 depicts the tiltyard towers, right, where the lawn of the Queen's House lies today.
sports

Found: The Jousting Yard Where Henry VIII Took a Nasty Tumble

Researchers have located the site of an accident that rattled England’s many-wived widower.
Isaac Schultz November 20, 2020
The Yanghai Tombs are in the arid Turpan basin, and thousands of graves remain unexcavated.
cemeteries

Leather Balls and 3,000-Year-Old Pants Hint at an Ancient Asian Sport

They were found in the Yanghai Tombs in modern-day Northern China.
Isaac Schultz November 17, 2020
Sutri Amphitheatre
Sutri, Italy

Sutri Amphitheatre

This Roman theater was crafted into the local tuff rock and was rediscovered during the 19th-century.
Don't take stuff from Pompeii, or anywhere else. But if you already have, kindly give it back.
collections

How to Give Stolen Artifacts Back to Historic Sites

Penitent pilferers can—and should—return their finds.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 22, 2020
Courtesty of Uldis Kalejs
science

What Ancient Toilets Reveal About the History of the Human Gut

Scientists are learning loads from medieval latrines.
Luke Fater October 20, 2020
The First Baptist Church was torn down in 1957 and replaced by a parking lot.
churches

One of America’s First Black Churches is Being Excavated in Virginia

The First Baptist Church was a spiritual home for free and enslaved African Americans.
Isaac Schultz October 15, 2020
These muskrat bones were found among hundreds of other bones on the Bayly property. Muskrat remains popular in Dorchester County.
food

A Historical Dig Sheds Light on the Food of the Underground Railroad

Archaeologists found muskrat, turtle, and other edible remains in Harriet Tubman Country.
Reina Gattuso October 14, 2020
A digital reconstruction of what the godhouse may have looked like.
architecture

Found: An Old Norse 'Godhouse' Fit for Thor and Odin

The site reflects how the rise of Christianity to the south affected the worship of the Norse pantheon.
Matthew Taub October 14, 2020
An aerial view of a portion of the site that a drone surveyed in Kansas.
earthworks

How Drones Help Archaeologists Peer Into the Earth

A late-night drone flight spotted a large, circular earthwork beneath a field in Kansas.
Karen Chernick October 9, 2020
1960s-era photos show the structure being swallowed by dunes.
deserts

The Art of Digging a Buried Building Out of Maine's Desert Dunes

The Spring House had been hidden for decades.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 8, 2020
Construction crews are cooperating with expert paleontologists as the site is developed and more bones are uncovered.
museums

What Will Mexico City Do With 2,000 Mammoth Bones?

The fate of an enormous trove of fossils hangs in the balance.
Luke Fater September 30, 2020
All indications are that the coast was mapped from the sea, in secret.
objects of intrigue

How a Secret Map Brought Down a Pirate Alliance on the Irish Coast

Now archaeologists are using it to search for evidence of clandestine activity.
Erin Mullally September 29, 2020
These images, collected in 2013, show the contrast between restricted (left) and unrestricted (right) satellite imagery.
maps

The Archaeologists Who Unlocked Cold War Spy Photos of Israel

Their efforts convinced the U.S. to declassify CIA images from America's first satellite program.
Karen Chernick September 28, 2020
The bull and elephant illusion at Airavatesvara Temple.
Kumbakonam, India

Airavatesvara Temple’s Optical Illusion

This temple contains what might be the world's oldest optical illusion.