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Tag: Archaeologist

  • Mystery owner of 3-million-year-old foot found in Africa identified, scientists say

    Newly discovered fossils prove that a mysterious foot found in Ethiopia belongs to a little-known, recently named ancient human relative who lived alongside the species of the famous Lucy, scientists said Wednesday.

    The discovery is the latest twist in the tale of human evolution and could even cast some doubt on the status of Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, as the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens.

    Until the foot was discovered in Burtele in northeastern Ethiopia in 2009, Lucy’s species was thought to be the only human relative living in the area more than three million years ago.

    But the appendage clearly does not belong to Lucy’s species because it has an opposable toe — similar to a thumb — allowing its owner to grab onto tree branches like apes.

    The team of scientists who found the mystery foot went on to name a new species, Australopithecus deyiremeda, in 2015 based on some roughly 3.4-million-year-old jaw bones found in Burtele.

    The announcement was met with some skepticism in scientific circles. Due to the scarcity of fossils, attempts to add a new branch to the human family tree usually provoke fierce debate.

    The team was also unable to say that the foot bones — dubbed the Burtele foot — belonged to their new species.

    Now, in a study published Tuesday called “Mystery owner of African hominin foot identified,” the scientists announced that new fossils including a jawbone with 12 teeth found at the site show that the foot was that of A. deyiremeda.

    “We have no doubt about the Burtele foot belonging to the same species as these teeth and the jaw,” lead study author, Yohannes Haile-Selassie of Arizona State University, told AFP.

    This undated picture released by Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University shows the Burtele foot, which had been a mystery since being discovered in Afar Region in Ethiopia, in 2009, with its elements in the anatomical position. 

    Yohannes HAILE-SELASSIE / Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University /AFP via Getty Images


    The research also revealed more details about this species, offering further clues about who could have been the true ancestor of us Homo sapiens.

    “Co-existence is deep in our ancestry”

    A CT scan of the teeth suggested that A. deyiremeda was more primitive than its cousin Lucy, the study said.

    Isotope analysis of the teeth meanwhile showed that its diet consisted mainly of leaves, fruit and nuts of trees.

    The grasping big toe also suggested this human relative spent more time in the trees. Big toes played an important role in human evolution, allowing our ancestors to leave the trees behind and walk on two legs.

    A lingering question about A. deyiremeda was how it could have co-existed with Lucy’s species at the same place and time, Haile-Selassie said.

    The new research suggests that the former spent its time in the forest, more likely eating from trees, while the latter spent more time on the ground, a difference that allowed them to live together.

    It also demonstrates that “co-existence is deep in our ancestry”, Haile-Selassie emphasised.

    Earlier this year, in the same region where was Lucy was discovered, archaeologists found 3,000-million-year-old knives that are believed to be some of the first tools ever used on Earth.  Rick Potts, the director of the Smithsonian’s human origins program and the leader of research on the peninsula, told CBS News that discovery can help frame humans’ existence on the planet.

    “We are the last biped standing, as I call it,” Potts said. “All of those other ways of life became extinct. And so that gives us a lot to think about, and it draws attention to the fragility of life, even in our own journey through time.” 

    New technologies have made the sites easier to date, and new discoveries across eastern Africa have refined researchers’ understanding of human roots. Researchers knew that modern homo sapiens emerged in Africa about 300,000 years ago, but it wasn’t until recently that they understood that their hominin ancestors began walking on two legs at least 6 million years ago. 

    Search for the identity of our true ancestor

    John McNabb, a paleolithic archaeologist at the UK’s University of Southampton not involved in the study, praised the new research.

    “There will always be sceptics, but I think these new finds, and their validation of older ones, will help many researchers to be more accepting of A. deyiremeda,” he told AFP.

    It also “adds a new player into the mix” in the search for the identity of our true ancestor, McNabb added.

    Because A. deyiremeda was more primitive and had a less human-like foot than Lucy, it is unlikely to dethrone her as the prime suspect in this search, both scientists agreed.

    But the discovery “opens this possibility that we might still find more species within that time period because it looks like the Australopiths were experimenting with bipedality,” or walking on two legs, Haile-Selassie said.

    CZECH-ETHIOPIA-SCIENCE-HISTORY-LUCY

    The hyperrealistic artistic reconstruction of the female Austrolopithecus afarensis (Lucy), based on finds from Hadar, Ethiopia, in the National Museum of Prague on February 4, 2025 in Prague, is pictured.

    MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images


    “Could there be another species which could be a better candidate to be the ancestor of the genus Homo?” he asked.

    “We don’t know — it depends on what we find.”

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  • 1,700-year-old Roman sarcophagus unearthed, revealing treasures buried with woman of

    A remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus has been unearthed in Hungary’s capital, offering a rare window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she inhabited around 1,700 years ago.

    The sarcophagus was untouched by looters and sealed for centuries. It was found with its stone lid fixed in place, secured by metal clamps and molten lead. When researchers carefully lifted the lid, they uncovered a complete skeleton surrounded by dozens of artifacts.

    “The peculiarity of the finding is that it was a hermetically sealed sarcophagus. It was not disturbed previously, so it was intact,” said Gabriella Fényes, the excavation’s lead archaeologist.

    Archaeologists with the Budapest History Museum discovered the limestone coffin during a large-scale excavation in Óbuda, a northern district of the city that once formed part of Aquincum, a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier.  

    The coffin lay among the ruins of abandoned houses in a quarter of Aquincum vacated in the 3rd century and later repurposed as a burial ground. Nearby, researchers uncovered a Roman aqueduct and eight simpler graves, but none approaching the richness or pristine condition of the sealed tomb.

    This photo released by Budapest History Museum shows an intact Roman sarcophagus after its lid was lifted at an archeological site in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 30, 2025.

    Gabor Lakos, Budapest History Museum via AP


    Keeping with Roman funerary customs, the sarcophagus held an array of objects: two completely intact glass vessels, bronze figures and 140 coins. A bone hair pin, a piece of amber jewelry and traces of gold-threaded fabric, along with the size of the skeleton, point to the grave belonging to a young woman.

    The objects, Fényes said, were “items given to the deceased by her relatives for her eternal journey.”

    “The deceased was buried very carefully by her relatives. They must have really loved who they buried here,” she said.

    Anthropologists are now examining the young woman’s remains, which is expected to reveal more about her age, health and origins. But even now, the grave’s placement and abundance of artifacts offer strong clues.

    The sarcophagus and its contents “definitely make it stand out,” said Gergely Kostyál, a Roman-period specialist and coleader of the project. “This probably means that the deceased was well-to-do or of a higher social status.”

    Hungary Roman Sarcophagus

    This photo released by Budapest History Museum shows researchers removing clay from an intact Roman sarcophagus at an archeological site in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 30, 2025.

    Gabor Lakos, Budapest History Museum via AP


    “It is truly rare to find a sarcophagus like this, untouched and never used before, because in the fourth century it was common to reuse earlier sarcophagi,” he added. “It is quite clear that this sarcophagus was made specifically for the deceased.”

    Excavators also removed a layer of mud roughly 4 centimeters, or 1.5 inches, thick from inside the coffin that Fényes hoped could contain more treasures. 

    Pictures showed golden jewelry found at the site, as well as a glass flask, a glass jar and other intact items after they were collected. Images also showed archaeologists examining the skull of the woman, alongside other remains. Other pictures showed workers lifting the lid of the sarcophagus using heavy machinery, after securing it.  

    Hungary Roman Sarcophagus

    This photo released by Budapest History Museum shows workers lifting the lid of intact Roman sarcophagus for lift at an archeological site in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 30, 2025. 

    Gabor Lakos, Budapest History Museum via AP


    For Fényes, the discovery of the Roman sarcophagus is not only of scientific significance, but an emotionally resonant insight into the devotion displayed by people in an ancient time.

    “I was very touched by the care and expression of love that we were able to get a glimpse of,” she said. “Even now, I shudder to think how painful it must have been for the people at that time to bury this young lady.”

    Hungary Roman Sarcophagus

    An archaeologist shows golden jewelry found at an archeological site where an intact Roman sarcophagus was unearthed, Nov. 19, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.

    Bela Szandelszky/AP


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  • Ancient canoes found in Wisconsin lake were like modern-day e-bike rack, archaeologists say

    Archaeologists have discovered 16 ancient canoes left behind by Indigenous people along the shore of a Wisconsin lake, in what they described as the prehistoric version of a modern-day docking station for shared electric bicycles.

    The locations of the canoes were carefully mapped as archaeologists identified each of them, submerged in Lake Mendota in Wisconsin’s capital city, over a period of several years, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced Wednesday.

    Tamara Thomsen, the state’s maritime archaeologist, discovered the first 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota in 2021 and has been studying the site ever since, according to the historical society.

    Thomsen said that the site lies near a network of what were once indigenous trails. They were likely not owned by individuals but shared among a community and left in those locations so that people could pick them up and use them as they traveled, the historical society said, likening the practice to community bike sharing programs that “utilize docking stations for users to store bikes between riders.”

    “It’s a parking spot that’s been used for millennia, over and over,” Thomsen said.

    Lake Mendota is a sprawling, 15-square-mile body of water on Madison’s west side. The state Capitol building and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are located on an isthmus that runs between it and Lake Monona, a 5-square-mile lake to the east.

    After the first canoe was found 24 feet below the surface of Lake Mendota in 2021, archaeologists went on to uncover the remains of a 3,000-year-old canoe, a 4,500-year-old canoe, and a 2,000-year-old canoe during their explorations the following year. Those discoveries suggested to researchers that there was probably more to the site than they expected.

    Working with Sissel Schroeder, a UW-Madison professor who specializes in Native American cultures, and preservation officers with the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Thomsen has now located the remains of 12 additional canoes, Thomsen said.

    “The canoes give us insight into a sophisticated travel network and interconnected communities who used their incredible skills and knowledge to live and thrive on lands where we still live and thrive today. They reflect a deep relationship with the environment and the ingenuity of our ancestors,” said Larry Plucinski, of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in a statement. “Sharing what we learn from this project honors the innovators whose knowledge lives on and inspires new generations to feel pride for their ancestors.”

    Radiocarbon dating shows the oldest of the 16 canoes dates back to 5,200 years ago, making it the third-oldest canoe discovered in eastern North America, she said. The two oldest were found in Florida, with the oldest of them dating back 7,000 years, Thomsen said.

    Wisconsin experienced a drought beginning about 7,500 years ago and lasting to around 1000 B.C., Thomsen said. The lake in the area where the canoes were found was probably only 4 feet deep over that period, she said, making it a good place to disembark for foot travel. The canoes likely were shared among community members and stored at designated points like the Lake Mendota site. Users would typically bury the canoes in sediment in waist- to chest-deep water so they wouldn’t dry out or prevent them from freezing, Thomsen said.

    This photo made available by Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archeologist Tamara Thomsen, shows the remains of an ancient canoe sitting on the bottom of Lake Mendota, in Madison, Wis., in June 2025.

    Tamara Thomsen/Wisconsin Historical Society via AP


    Travelers may have been headed to Lake Wingra, a 321-acre lake on Madison’s south side, Dr. Amy Rosebrough, the state archaeologist, said. The Madison area is part of the ancestral homeland of the Ho-Chunk Nation, which views one of the springs that feeds Lake Wingra as a portal to the spirit world, she said.

    “The canoes remind us how long our people have lived in this region and how deeply connected we remain to these waters and lands,” Bill Quackenbush, the Ho-Chunk’s tribal preservation officer, said in a news release.

    Thomsen speculated that if the drought did begin 7,500 years and archaeologists are finding canoes beneath other canoes, they may eventually find a 7,000-year-old canoe in the lake. That could mean Indigenous people that predated many of Wisconsin’s tribes may have used the lake, she said.

    Thomsen spends most of her days uncovering Great Lakes shipwrecks and works on the canoe project only one day per week. But she called that work the most impactful she has ever done as an archaeologist because she engages with Wisconsin tribes, learns their history and tells their stories.

    “I think I’ve shed more tears over this,” she said. “Talking with the Indigenous people, sometimes I sit here and just get goose bumps. It just feels like (the work is) making a difference. Each one of these canoes gives us another clue to the story.”

    Ancient Canoes Parking Lot

    This photo made available by Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archeologist Tamara Thomsen, shows the remains of an ancient canoe sitting on the bottom of Lake Mendota, in Madison, Wis., in June 2025. 

    Tamara Thomsen / AP


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  • 5,000-year-old wine press and evidence of religious rituals unearthed during highway construction project in Israel

    Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an ancient religious practice in northern Israel in addition to a wine press dating back roughly 5,000 years — one of the oldest ever uncovered in the country, according to the the Israel Antiquities Authority.

    The wine press, which is likewise the earliest relic of wine production in Israel, was found during an excavation at the archaeological site Tel Megiddo, said the agency, which noted that the work was conducted ahead of the planned construction of a highway through the same area. 

    Officials said the wine press, which was carved from stone, was evidence that a Canaanite religious group existed at the site thousands of the years ago. The Canaanites were ancient indigenous people who inhabited the area known as Canaan, which was located in “the Levant” along the eastern Mediterranean Sea, from Greece to western Europe, according to EBSCO. They were a group of mixed ethnicities although the Hebrew Bible distinguishes them from Israelites and teaches that Israelites arrived later than they did.

    The excavation on Highway 66.

    Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority


    Dr. Amir Golani and Barak Tzin, excavation directors for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the wine press discovery was unprecedented.

     “Until now, indirect evidence indicated that wine could have been produced 5,000 years ago, but we did not have conclusive proof of this – a ‘smoking gun’ that would clearly show when this happened in our area,” they said in a statement. “This wine press finally provides new and clear evidence that early wine production actually took place here.” 

    In addition to the wine press, archaeologists found a model of a small temple and one set of ceremonial utensils, which were approximately 3,300 years old. Those were among a wider collection of items found during excavations in the region, which covered about three-fourths of a mile and “uncovered many finds from different periods,” the authority said. Their discoveries spanned the early Bronze Age, which ran from about 3300 to 3000 B.C.E., and the late Bronze Age, which ran from about 1550 to 1400 B.C.E.

    There was more evidence of early Canaanite populations in the area, the authority said. They included residential buildings uncovered around the wine press, ritual vessels and pottery imported from Cyprus, which are thought to illuminate some of the ancient peoples’ ritual ceremonies and cultures.

    The new discoveries were put on display Thursday at the annual conference on innovations and research in Israeli excavations, which was organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority an the School of Archaeology and Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa. 

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  • Skeletons found in well identified as Roman soldiers killed 1,700 years ago

    Seven fully preserved skeletons found in an ancient city in Croatia have been identified as Roman soldiers who would have lived 1,700 years ago, scientists said in a new paper.  

    The skeletal remains were found in 2011 during a dig at the Roman city of Mursa, located in modern-day Croatia, in a water well that had been repurposed as a mass grave, said the researchers, who are from a number of European archaeological institutions. The area was conquered by Romans during the first century B.C., and the city was an “important trade and craft center” that bordered an active military zone, according to the paper published this week.

    All seven skeletons were identified as belonging to taller-than-average adult men. Four are younger adults, between 18 and 25, while the other three are middle-aged, between 36 and 50, the researchers found. All were “robust” but showed “indicators of early-life stress” such as wear on the teeth.  

    The skeletons were placed in different positions and at different depths, the researchers said, but all appear to have been buried at the same time. The remains seem to have been “thrown in” shortly after death, the researchers said. The men were likely soldiers who may have participated in a 260 C.E. battle for the city or died in a skirmish afterward, according to the researchers. 

    Skeletons found by archaelogists in Croatia, at the site of the former ancient city Mursa.

    PLOS One


    Several of the skeletons had injuries, including blunt-force injuries on the facial bones of one and puncture wounds on the torsos of two others that were likely caused by weapons such as arrows or spear tips, according to the paper. The wounds and their locations were determined by analysis of the skeletal remains. 

    The researchers were also able to use carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to learn more about the soldiers’ day-to-day lives. They ate lots of grains, including wheat and millet, and vegetables, but little meat, the study found. Four of the skeletons underwent DNA analysis, which found that none appeared to be local to the area. One was likely from northern or Eastern Europe, while another was likely from the Byzantine Empire. 

    Remains of Mursa have been explored by researchers for decades. Archaeologists have found a number of water wells, small pits and other evidence of civilization. 

    Mursa was affected by a number of conflicts, the researchers said. Many occurred during the Crisis of the Third Century, an era during which Rome nearly collapsed due to civil wars, foreign invasions and economic issues, according to CBS News’ partner network BBC News. The city eventually “ceased to exist as an urban settlement” after attacks in 441 C.E., the researchers said. 

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  • 50-plus archaeological sites on Easter Island could become submerged

    Sept. 5 (UPI) — Rising sea levels could flood more than 50 archaeological sites on Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, by 2080 — including the iconic Ahu Tongariki, according to a new study from the University of Hawaii

    The research, led by Rapa Nui scientist Noah Paoa, highlights the impact of climate change on the island’s cultural and tourism heritage.

    Indigenous Polynesian inhabitants have long called the island Rapa Nui, while European explorers named it Easter Island after arriving on Easter Sunday in 1722. It is about 2,200 miles of mainland Chile and is a special territory of that nation.

    Projections show that seasonal swells, intensified by global warming, could reach ceremonial platforms, petroglyphs and burial sites. The study, published in the September-October edition of the Journal of Cultural Heritage, poses an urgent question: how to protect the remains of an ancient civilization from a threat advancing inch by inch?

    Rapa Nui’s coast, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, faces a risk that is no longer hypothetical. According to the study, waves driven by rising seas could reach Ahu Tongariki — the largest restored group of moai statues on the island — in less than 60 years.

    The research team used computer models to simulate future climate scenarios. By overlaying those projections onto geospatial maps of cultural sites, members identified the most vulnerable areas. The result: 51 archaeological sites at risk of flooding, including stone gardens, burial sites, petroglyphs and traditional homes.

    “These places are not just ancient stones. They are living spaces, essential to the cultural identity of Rapa Nui and to the economic livelihood of its people,” Paoa told local media.

    By May 2023, the Rapa Nui municipal government already had raised the alarm. A report by Chilean researchers from the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones in Coquimbo, the Esmoi Center and the Catholic University of the North warned of declining rainfall, more extreme weather events, stronger winds, rising sea surface temperatures and falling ocean oxygen levels.

    Another technical report from Chile’s Ministry of the Environment identified Rapa Nui as one of the country’s most climate-vulnerable areas.

    “The available options are to build breakwaters, reinforce platforms or relocate statues,” Rapa Nui archaeologist Ramon Tuki said. All of these involve technical, ethical and financial challenges, similar to those faced when Ahu Tongariki was repaired — a process that took about four years.”

    Ahu Tongariki is the largest ceremonial platform on Easter Island, with 15 restored moai statues. It’s on the southeastern coast, near the Rano Raraku quarry, at which most moai were carved. The statues were toppled during tribal conflicts and later swept inland by a 1960 tsunami, but were restored in the 1990s.

    On average, a Rapa Nui moai weighs between 10 and 20 tons, and most were carved from volcanic tuff in the Rano Raraku crater. Any effort to move them would require complex, large-scale engineering.

    “As serious as the threat of what will happen in the coming years is the fact that there is still no clarity on what will be done,” the archaeologist said.

    Construction of the moai on Rapa Nui began around the 13th century, though recent studies have refined that timeline. According to archaeological research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science by experts from Binghamton University and the University of Oregon, the first ahu were built shortly after the island’s initial settlement, around 1200 A.D.

    The threat endangers not only tourism, the island’s main source of income, but also the spiritual bond between the people of Rapa Nui and their ancestors. The erosion of the ceremonial landscape could mean an irreparable loss for the cultural memory of the South Pacific.

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  • “Curious” 4-year-old accidentally breaks a 3,500-year-old jar at a museum

    “Curious” 4-year-old accidentally breaks a 3,500-year-old jar at a museum

    A young child accidentally broke a centuries-old jar while visiting the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa in Israel, museum officials said Wednesday. 

    The jar is at least 3,500 years old, the museum told CBS News in a statement, and dates back to the Middle Bronze Age. 

    The 4-year-old boy “pulled the jar slightly,” his father Alex told CBS News partner BBC News. The boy was “curious about what was inside,” Alex said, and the movement caused the jar to fall, smashing into several large pieces. 

    Alex told the BBC he was “in shock,” but that he and his son spoke to the security guard immediately after the incident. 

    The jar was likely meant for the storage and transportation of supplies like wine and olive oil. The lack of damage to the jar and its size made it “an impressive find,” the museum said. Until mid-August, it was on display at the entrance to the Hecht Museum along with several similar artifacts. 

    hecht-jar3.jpg
    The broken jar

    Hecht Museum


    Despite its rarity, the jar was not protected by glass, the museum said, because the establishment’s founder believed “that there is a special charm in experiencing an archaeological find without any obstructions.” 

    The museum said that when display items are “intentionally damaged,” they respond with “great severity, including involving police,” but said such a response would not be warranted because of the accidental nature of the incident. 

    Three small jars, left, and the jar that was broken, right, before it was broken.

    Hecht Museum


    A specialist was called to restore the jar, the museum said. The repair process was expected to be short, and the jar “will be returned to its place in a short time,” the museum said. The museum will also document the conservation work and present it to the public alongside the restored artifact. Once again, the jar will not be kept behind glass, calling the accident a “rare incident.” 

    Dr. Inbal Rivlin, the general director of the museum, has invited the child and his family to visit the museum and see the jar again once it has been restored. The family will also receive a tour of the building “to sweeten together the previous experience at the museum.”

    Michal Ben-Gal contributed reporting. 

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  • Rare juvenile T. rex fossil found by children in North Dakota to go on display in Denver museum

    Rare juvenile T. rex fossil found by children in North Dakota to go on display in Denver museum

    A rare juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex fossil found by three children during a family hike in the North Dakota Badlands nearly two years ago will soon be on display at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the museum said Tuesday.

    The unlikely discovery was made in July 2022 by brothers Jessin and Liam Fisher, their father Sam Fisher, and their cousin, Kaiden Madsen. Unsure of what his family had just stumbled upon, Sam reached out to an old high school friend, paleontologist Tyler Lyson, for help.

    After obtaining an excavation permit from the Bureau of Land Management — which manages the land where the discovery was made — Lyson, the museum’s curator of paleontology, went out to North Dakota in 2023 with a crew and the children to excavate the fossil. 

    Rare juvenile T. rex fossil found by children in North Dakota to go on display in Denver museum
    A family found a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex fossil in North Dakota’s Badlands in 2022. (clockwise from upper left) Sam Fisher, Emalynn Fisher, Danielle Fisher, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen, and Jessin Fisher, pose with the field jacket after it was rolled into a helicopter net. Undated photo. 

    Tyler Lyson


    When he went into the project, Lyson thought the dino may have been something more ordinary, he said in a video interview posted by the museum. However, when he uncovered the most diagnostic part of the fossil, the teeth, he said he knew the “trio of young fossil hunters” had found something really special.

    “When we told everyone, the euphoria was amazing; just a remarkable, remarkable moment,” Lyson said. “I mean, it’s not every day that you find such an amazing dinosaur.” 

    Juvenile T. rex fossils are not an everyday find. This one, dubbed by the museum as the “Teen Rex,” is one of just four young T. rex fossils that have been found on Earth, Lyson said.

    Rare juvenile T. rex fossil found by children in North Dakota to go on display in Denver museum
    Chief fossil preparator Natalie Toth moves an Edmontosaurus annectens skull into its final place in the “Discovering Teen Rex” experience at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. May 2024. 

    Rick Wicker


    “When you’re in a national park, you see deer and elk and moose, but you don’t see the mountain lions or the wolves,” Lyson said. “You don’t see those apex predators, because there just aren’t as many of them. So to find a T. rex at all, and to find one this complete, is truly special.”

    While they haven’t completed the histology yet, Lyson said the dinosaur is estimated to have been between 12 and 14 years old. Lyson said it would have weighed about half as much as some of the most famous T. rex specimens.

    Jessin, an aspiring paleontologist, told the museum he’s pretty pleased with his find — hoping it leads him down a path like Lyson — something the experienced vertebrate paleontologist is encouraging.

    Rare juvenile T. rex fossil found by children in North Dakota to go on display in Denver museum
    The area in North Dakota’s Badlands where three young children found a juvenile T-Rex skeleton in 2022. The skeleton was taken to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Undated photo. 

    Rick Wicker


    “This is a big deal because of the story of discovery. It’s just an amazing, heartwarming story, where you have three kids out looking for fossils in the Badlands of North Dakota, and discovering the king of all, Tyrannosaurus rex,” Lyson said in his museum video. 

    The fossil will be on display starting June 21 in a temporary museum exhibit called “Discovering Teen Rex.” A documentary sharing the story of the boys’ discovery will also be shown at the museum’s Infinity Theater.

    Simrin Singh

    Simrin Singh is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

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  • Archaeologists in Panama find ancient tomb filled with gold treasure — and sacrificial victims

    Archaeologists in Panama find ancient tomb filled with gold treasure — and sacrificial victims

    Researchers have uncovered an ancient lord’s tomb filled with gold treasure —and sacrificial victims— at an archaeological park in Panama, officials revealed on Friday. The tomb, estimated to be about 1,200 years old, marks the area where an elite chief was buried along with possibly dozens of people who died to accompany him to the “beyond,” the nation’s culture ministry said in a news release.

    Inside the grave at El Caño Archaeological Park, scientists discovered an array of gold treasures, including bracelets, two belts made with gold beads, crocodile-shaped earrings, gold-covered sperm whale teeth earrings and circular gold plates. Archaeologists also unearthed earrings in the shape of a man and a woman, two bells, skirts made with dog teeth, and a set of bone flutes.

    The grave likely belonged to a high-status chief from the local Coclé culture who was in his 30s, the El Caño Foundation said in a Facebook post. The foundation also posted video of the treasures.

    Posted by Fundación El Caño-CIAI on Friday, March 1, 2024

    Dr. Julia Mayo, director of the foundation and leader of the archaeological project, said that in addition to the lord, the tomb also contains up to 31 other people who were “sacrificed to serve as companions.”

    Mayo said the excavation of the burial site was not yet complete so it could not be determined how many people were in the tomb. She said the lord had been buried face down, which was typical of this type of burial, on top of the body of a woman.  

    gold-whatsapp-image-2024-02-29-at-5-30-45-pm-1536x1024.jpg
    Inside the grave at El Caño Archaeological Park, scientists discovered an array of gold treasures,

    Panama Culture Minsitry


    Linette Montenegro, national director of heritage at the Ministry of Culture, said that excavation at the archaeological park began in 2022. Montenegro said that the gold and artifacts found in the tomb “have not only economic value, but also incalculable historical and cultural value.”

    El Caño Archaeological Park was a necropolis that was built around 700 AD and abandoned around 1000 AD, the ministry said.  It is located in Coclé province, about 100 miles southwest of Panama City.

    Stephen Smith

    Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.

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  • Trove of ancient skulls and bones found stacked on top of each other during construction project in Mexico

    Trove of ancient skulls and bones found stacked on top of each other during construction project in Mexico

    Archaeologists working on a site in Mexico found ancient skulls and bones stacked on top of each other, offering a glimpse into the practices of how some funerals might have been carried out in the region and era, officials said.

    The discovery was made in Pozo de Ibarra, a small town in the state of Jalisco. Personnel from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, a government department, were observing the construction of a sanitary sewage network, to protect any cultural artifacts that might be found during the project, the INAH said in a news release.

    As the work went on, the archaeologists discovered a funerary system, where a series of bones were carefully arranged. Long bones, like tibias and femurs, were placed in one part of the system, while skulls were in another area. Some skulls were even stacked on top of each other. 

    screen-shot-2024-02-28-at-1-03-07-pm.png
    The remains found by INAH researchers. 

    Claudia Servín Rosas, INAH


    In total, researchers found at least seven complete skulls, the INAH said, each likely belonging to a male individual. Those individuals were all of different ages, and some of the skulls show cranial modification, a social practice where the skull was shaped a certain way for aesthetic purposes, the institute said.  

    The archaeologists were able to determine that the bones were placed in these patterns after they had become skeletonized, suggesting a “complex funerary system,” according to the INAH. All of the bones were buried at the same time. 

    It’s not clear why the burial would have been conducted this way, the INAH said, noting that that there are no precedents for this type of funeral. The department suggested that the seven men might have been from one family and that the remains were buried there as part of a rite to found a settlement. 

    The practice may date back to the Amapa cultural era, which occurred from 500 AD to 800 or 850 AD. Ceramic vessels and figurines found at the site have helped researchers determine the time frame when it may have been built. 

    The remains will be protected and preserved for further research, the INAH said. 

    Kerry Breen


    Kerry Breen

    Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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  • “Aliens” found in Peru are actually dolls made of bones, forensic experts declare

    “Aliens” found in Peru are actually dolls made of bones, forensic experts declare

    Aliens have not been discovered in South America after all. The doll-like figures, photos of which went viral online last year, are just that – dolls, according to scientists.

    The controversial artifacts were seized by Peruvian customs agents in October and intended for “a Mexican citizen,” the Associated Press reported. 

    Mexican journalist and self-described “UFOlogist” Jaime Maussan brought similar unidentified fraudulent objects in front of the Mexican congress last September, claiming that they had been recovered near Peru’s ancient Nazca Lines and dated over 700 years old.

    mexican-aliens.jpg
    The Mexican congress heard testimony on Sept. 12, 2023, on UFOs and the prospect of alien life. Self-described “UFOlogist” Jaime Massan brought two caskets into the congressional chambers and revealed what he claimed to be extraterrestrial life. 

    Provided to CBS News


    Maussan went in front of the Mexican congress again in November,  with a team of doctors confirming the bodies were of once-living organisms. 

    “None of the scientists say [the study results] prove that they are extraterrestrials, but I go further,” Maussan said, per Reuters.

    Experts with Peru’s prosecutor’s office analyzed the seized dolls, and forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada presented the results of their findings at a press conference for the Peruvian Ministry of Culture on Friday.

    Flavio Estrada, a forensic archaeologist, confirms that the 'alien mummies' are dolls made from animal bones, in Lima
    Flavio Estrada, a forensic archaeologist at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Peru, speaks as he holds a tiny body of a specimen in Lima, Peru. Jan. 12, 2024.

    SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA / REUTERS


    “They are not extraterrestrials, they are not intraterrestrials, they are not a new species, they are not hybrids, they are none of those things that this group of pseudo-scientists who for six years have been presenting with these elements,” Estrada said.

    The humanoid three-fingered dolls consisted of earth-bound animal and human bones assembled with modern synthetic glue, Estrada elaborated. It isn’t the first time Maussan has had an otherworldly corpse debunked — he made similar claims in 2017.

    “Our cultures of the past made Machu Picchu, our cultures of the past made the Nazca Lines, they didn’t need any alien help to do it. Those who have promoted that have an economic interest, some other kind of interest,” Estrada said. “What we have presented here is science, not pseudo-science.”

    Rishikesh Rajagopalan

    Rishi Rajagopalan is a social media associate producer and content writer for CBS News.

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  • Viking ship remnants unearthed at burial mound where a

    Viking ship remnants unearthed at burial mound where a

    Archaeologists in Norway recently unearthed the remains of a Viking ship at a burial mound in the country’s Trøndelag region.  The discovery comes centuries after researchers found a “seated skeleton” with a sword at the same site.

    The discovery was announced on social media by Trøndelag County, and was made by researchers from the county and the nation’s NTNU Science Museum. The archaeologists were conducting a small survey at the burial mound, named Herlaugshaugen, where they found large nails that the county said confirmed it was the site of a Viking ship. 

    The ship is from the Merovingian Era, which lasted from 476 A.D. until 750 A.D., according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Gemini, a Scandinavian science and technology publication, said that the ship was built in approximately 700 A.D. and noted that the Merovingian Era precedes the Viking era. Ship burials were used reserved for individuals, because it was believed they offered safe passage to the afterlife.

    The ship isn’t the only major find to have been turned up at Herlaugshaugen. The burial mound is over 196 feet long, according to Gemini, and was excavated multiple times in the 18th century. In that era, researchers discovered iron nails, a bronze cauldron, animal bones and a “seated skeleton” with a sword. 

    screen-shot-2023-11-15-at-12-00-48-pm.png
    Herlaugshaugen.

    VisitNorway.com


    According to Gemini, Norwegian sagas suggest that Herlaugshaugen could be the burial place of King Herlaug. The skeleton was displayed at a museum as that of Herlaug, Gemini reported, but eventually disappeared.

    The other items also vanished as of the early 1920s, with Gemini reporting that the bronze cauldron was said to have been melted down into shoe buckles. 

    The area where the ship was found is now the oldest known ship trench in Scandinavia, the county said. Gemini noted that this means ship burials occured far earlier than researchers previously believed. 

    Geir Grønnesby, a researcher at the NTNU Science Museum, said that dating the ship back that far shows that people had maritime expertise and could build large ships much earlier than previously thought. 

    In 2020, a large Viking burial site was discovered by Norwegian archaeologists. That site was in the southeastern part of the country, in Gjellestad’s Jell Mound. That burial mound is one of the largest Iron Age funerary mounds in Scandinavia, CBS News reported. The mound has been used for centuries, possibly beginning in the fifth century, but the ship itself appeared to have been buried centuries later.

    Kerry Breen


    Kerry Breen

    Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.

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  • 4,000-year-old rock with mysterious markings becomes a

    4,000-year-old rock with mysterious markings becomes a

    A piece of rock with mysterious markings that lay largely unstudied for 4,000 years is now being hailed as a “treasure map” for archaeologists, who are using it to hunt for ancient sites around north-western France.

    The so-called Saint-Belec slab was found at the site of a tomb and claimed as Europe’s oldest known map by researchers in 2021 and they have been working ever since to understand its etchings — both to help them date the slab and to rediscover lost monuments.

    “Using the map to try to find archaeological sites is a great approach. We never work like that,” said Yvan Pailler, a professor at the University of Western Brittany (UBO).

    Ancient sites are more commonly uncovered by sophisticated radar equipment or aerial photography, or by accident in cities when the foundations for new buildings are being dug.

    “It’s a treasure map,” said Pailler.

    But the team is only just beginning their treasure hunt.

    The ancient map marks an area roughly 30 by 21 kilometers and Pailler’s colleague, Clement Nicolas from the CNRS research institute, said they would need to survey the entire territory and cross reference the markings on the slab. That job could take 15 years, he said.

    “Symbols that made sense right away”

    Nicolas and Pailler were part of the team that rediscovered the slab in 2014 — it was initially uncovered in 1900 by a local historian who did not understand its significance.

    At the time, more than a dozen workers were needed to move the heavy slab out of the mound where it had been used to form a wall of a large burial chest, according to the National Archeology Museum. It has been kept in the museum’s collections since 1924.

    A broken ceramic vessel characteristic of early Bronze Age pottery was also found with the slab, according to the French Prehistoric Society.

    The French experts were joined by colleagues from other institutions in France and overseas as they began to decode its mysteries.

    “There were a few engraved symbols that made sense right away,” said Pailler.  

    In the coarse bumps and lines of the slab, they could see the rivers and mountains of Roudouallec, part of the Brittany region about 500 kilometers west of Paris. The researchers scanned the slab and compared it with current maps, finding a roughly 80% match.

    “We still have to identify all the geometric symbols, the legend that goes with them,” said Nicolas.

    The slab is pocked with tiny hollows, which researchers believe could point to burial mounds, dwellings or geological deposits. Discovering their meaning could lead to a whole flood of new finds.

    But first, the archaeologists have spent the past few weeks digging at the site where the slab was initially uncovered, which Pailler said was one of the biggest Bronze Age burial sites in Brittany.

    “We are trying to better contextualize the discovery, to have a way to date the slab,” said Pailler.

    Their latest dig has already turned up a handful of previously undiscovered fragments from the slab.

    The pieces had apparently been broken off and used as a tomb wall in what Nicolas suggests could signify the shifting power dynamics of Bronze Age settlements.

    The area covered by the map probably corresponds to an ancient kingdom, perhaps one that collapsed in revolts and rebellions.

    “The engraved slab no longer made sense and was doomed by being broken up and used as building material,” said Nicolas.

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  • Scientists say 6,200-year-old shoes found in cave challenge

    Scientists say 6,200-year-old shoes found in cave challenge

    Scientists say grass sandals discovered in a cave in Spain are 6,200 years old, making them the oldest woven grass footwear ever discovered in Europe and forcing them to rethink “simplistic assumptions” about our human ancestors in the region.

    The announcement came from a team that has been studying 76 objects found many years ago in a cave in southern Spain. Researchers from the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona said the objects were the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early agrarian communities in southern Europe.

    Among the discoveries were baskets, sandals and organic tools made of reed and esparto grass. By studying the raw materials the objects were made of, the researchers were able to date them to the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 years ago.

    uevaurcielagos2.jpg
    A wooden mace and two types of sandals woven from esparto grass, found in a cave in southern Spain and said by researchers to be 6,200 years old.

    MUTERMUR Project


    “The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe,” said Francisco Martínez Sevilla, a researcher in the Prehistory Department of the University of Alcalá.

    María Herrero Otal, who co-authored the study, told CBS News the research offered “a unique opportunity to study social aspects of early human groups,” because the type of fiber-based materials discovered are not typically recovered from archeological sites.

    “It means that the use of esparto grass has started al least 9,500 years ago, and it is a tradition which is still live in Iberia [Spain and Portugal],” Otal told CBS. “It is spectacular how the techniques, the raw material and its preparation has been used for thousands of years and there are still people working in the same way.” 

    The sandals discovered in the cave represent “the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes,” according to the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances.

    uevaurcielagos3.jpg
    Interior of the Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol, Granada, Spain.

    Blas Ramos Rodríguez


    The items were first discovered during mining activities in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, which translates literally as “cave of the bats,” of Albuñol in Granada, Spain, during the 19th century. But the authors of this study concluded that the materials discovered were about 2,000 years older than previously thought.

    According to researchers, the low level of humidity combined with the cool, dry winds inside the cave helped prevent bacteria from developing, which allowed the fiber-based objects to survive through the millennia.

    The researchers said two types of footwear were discovered at the site, one with a consistent woven sole, and another with a harder “central core.” While no laces were found with the first type, “for the central core type, a small group of fibers emanating from the base of the sole may have been placed between the first and second toes. These fibers are also connected to a braid fixed to the middle of the sandal, which could be tied around the ankle.”    

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  • Family using metal detector to look for lost earring instead finds treasures from Viking-era burial

    Family using metal detector to look for lost earring instead finds treasures from Viking-era burial

    Just days after it was revealed that a man with a metal detector made the “gold find of the century” in Norway, a family in the country has made another unprecedented discovery using the same kind of device. The family was looking for a lost gold earring in their garden with a metal detector when they instead discovered artifacts dating back more than 1,000 years, local officials said.

    The Aasvik family was searching for the lost jewelry at their home in Jomfruland, but as soon as they turned on the metal detector, they stumbled upon a bowl-shaped buckle and another item that appear to be part of a Viking-era burial, according to a Facebook post this week by the Cultural Heritage of Vestfold and Telemark County Council.

    Images posted by the council show the family with a clasp and buckle with intricate engravings at the site of their discovery.

    Fantastisk vikingtidsfunn på Jomfruland!

    På Jomfruland har det vært bosetting i veldig mange år, men bevisene for det…

    Posted by Kulturarv i Vestfold og Telemark fylkeskommune on Monday, September 25, 2023

    “The discovery was made in the middle of the garden under the big tree,” officials said.

    Experts believe the two metal artifacts were used in a woman’s burial from the 9th century. The artifacts are believed to be the first Viking-era discovery in Jomfruland, an island off Norway’s south coast.

    Experts knew there had been settlements in Jomfruland dating back many hundreds of years, but the available evidence previously only extended to the early Middle Ages.

    Officials praised the family for the unprecedented discovery and for immediately contacting authorities about the rare find.

    “They did everything correctly and contacted us first,” officials said.

    Earlier this month, officials said a 51-year-old man who had only recently bought his metal detector found nine pendants, three rings and 10 gold pearls on the southern Norwegian island of Rennesoey. 

    Ole Madsen, director at the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger, called that “the gold find of the century in Norway.”

    Stephen Smith

    Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.

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  • A man bought a metal detector to get off the couch. He just made the

    A man bought a metal detector to get off the couch. He just made the

    At first, the Norwegian man thought his metal detector reacted to chocolate money buried in the soil. It turned out to be nine pendants, three rings and 10 gold pearls in what was described as the country’s gold find of the century.

    The rare find was made this summer by 51-year-old Erlend Bore on the southern island of Rennesoey, near the city of Stavanger. Bore had bought his first metal detector earlier this year to have a hobby after his doctor ordered him to get out instead of sitting on the couch.

    “At first I thought it was chocolate coins or Captain Sabertooth coins,” said 51-year-old Erlend Bore, referring to a fictional Norwegian pirate. “It was totally unreal.”

    NORWAY-ARCHAEOLOGY-TREASURE-HISTORY
    Handout photo released on September 7, 2023 by the Museum of Archaeology and the University of Stavanger, south-western Norway, shows amateur archaeologist Erlend Bore posing with a gold treasure photographed shortly after he found them in the ground with a metal detector on the island of Rennes.

    ANNIKEN CELINE BERGER/NTB/Arkeologisk museum, UiS /AFP via Getty Images


    Ole Madsen, director at the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger, said that to find “so much gold at the same time is extremely unusual.”

    “This is the gold find of the century in Norway,” Madsen said.

    The museum posted video of the treasure on Facebook and other images on social media, writing: “It will be preserved and displayed as soon as possible in our upcoming exhibition.”

    In August, Bore began walking around the mountainous island with his metal detector. A statement issued by the university said he first found some scrap, but later uncovered something that was “completely unreal” — the treasure weighing a little more than 100 grams.

    NORWAY-ARCHAEOLOGY-TREASURE-HISTORY
    Handout photo released on September 7, 2023 by the Museum of Archaeology and the University of Stavanger (UiS), south-western Norway, shows coin-like gold pendants that are part of a gold treasure found in August 2023 by an amateur archaeologist with the help of a metal detector on the island of Rennesoy in Stavanger. 

    ANNIKEN CELINE BERGER/NTB/Arkeologisk museum, UiS/AFP via Getty Images


    Under Norwegian law, objects from before 1537 and coins older than 1650 are considered state property, and must be handed in.

    Associate professor Håkon Reiersen with the museum said the gold pendants — flat, thin, single-sided gold medals called bracteates — date from around A.D. 500, the so-called Migration Period in Norway, which runs between 400 and about 550, when there were widespread migrations in Europe.

    The pendants and gold pearls were part of “a very showy necklace” that had been made by skilled jewelers and was worn by society’s most powerful, said Reiersen. He added that “in Norway, no similar discovery has been made since the 19th century, and it is also a very unusual discovery in a Scandinavian context.”

    An expert on such pendants, professor Sigmund Oehrl with the same museum, said that about 1,000 golden bracteates have so far been found in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    He said symbols on the pendants usually show the Norse god Odin healing the sick horse of his son. On the Rennesoey ones, the horse’s tongue hangs out on the gold pendants, and “its slumped posture and twisted legs show that it is injured,” Oehrl said.

    “The horse symbol represented illness and distress, but at the same time hope for healing and new life,” he added.

    The plan is to exhibit the find at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Oslo.

    The most recent comparable find in Norway dates back to the 19th century.

    “Given the location of the discovery and what we know from other similar finds, this is probably a matter of either hidden valuables or an offering to the gods during dramatic times,” professor Hakon Reiersen said.

    In line with Norwegian law, both Bore and the landowner will receive a reward, although the sum has not yet been determined.

    AFP contributed to this report.

    Handout photo released on September 7, 2023 by the Museum of Archaeology and the University of Stavanger (UiS), south-western Norway, shows coin-like gold pendants that are part of a gold treasure found in August 2023 by an amateur archaeologist with the help of a metal detector on the island of Rennesoy in Stavanger. 

    ERLEND BORE/NTB/AFP via Getty Images


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  • Archaeologists find buried mummy surrounded by coca leaves next to soccer field in Peru’s capital

    Archaeologists find buried mummy surrounded by coca leaves next to soccer field in Peru’s capital

    Archaeologists have found a pre-Hispanic mummy surrounded by coca leaves on top of a hill in Peru’s capital next to the practice field of a professional soccer club.

    A team from The Associated Press on Thursday viewed the skeleton with long black hair lying face up with its lower extremities tied with a rope braided from vines of vegetable origin. Stones surrounded the mummy buried three feet down.

    Miguel Aguilar, a professor of archaeology at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, said the mummy was buried in a ritual that included coca leaves and seashells.

    Mummy reportedly dating back 3,000 years unearthed in Peru
    The remains of a mummy, believed to be from the Manchay culture which developed in the valleys of Lima between 1,500 and 1,000 BCE, are pictured at the excavation site of a pre-Hispanic burial, in Lima, Peru June 14, 2023.

    STRINGER / REUTERS


    The person “had been left or offered (as a sacrifice) during the last phase of the construction of this temple,” Aguilar said, according to Reuters. “It is approximately 3,000 years old.”

    The burial was on top of a destroyed U-shaped clay temple, a characteristic of some pre-Hispanic buildings. The mummy has not yet been subjected to radiocarbon dating to determine its exact age, Aguilar said.

    He said old fly eggs were found next to the male skeleton, leading them to believe the body was exposed for at least several days before being covered with dirt.

    It was found in Rímac, a district separated by a river of the same name from the oldest part of Lima. Aguilar also heads the Historical and Cultural Center of the Municipality of Rímac.

    Pieter Van Dalen, a professor at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos who is an expert on archaeology of the Peruvian coast but was not involved in the project, said the rope binding the lower extremities of the mummy is an example of the pattern seen in ceremonies. He cited another mummy found in a different area of Lima whose body was also tied with vegetable ropes.

    The team of excavators worked the first months of this year collecting up to eight tons of garbage that covered the top of the hill, which is next to the training field and headquarters for the Sporting Cristal soccer club. Police also removed homeless people and drug addicts who camp out around the hill.

    The hill, which has remains of ancient mud walls, was a “huaca,” a Quechua word meaning oracle or sacred place. There are more than 400 huacas in Lima, according to the Ministry of Culture.

    Peru Mummy
    An archaeologist excavates a pre-Hispanic mummy that was discovered next to a training field for a Peruvian professional soccer team in the El Rimac neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Thursday, June 15, 2023.

    Martin Mejia / AP


    Mummies and other pre-Hispanic remains have been found in unusual places in the city. Workers installing natural gas lines or water mains have found mummies, sometimes children, inside large clay vessels.

    In April, a centuries-old mummy of a child was unearthed in a funerary bundle underground at the Cajamarquilla archaeological site, just outside Lima. In 2022, archaeologists at the same site found six mummified children. 

    Earlier this year, Peruvian police found a man with a centuries-old mummy in his cooler bag. He said the mummy was his “spiritual girlfriend.”

    There are even cases of discoveries by residents, such as Hipólito Tica, who found three pre-Hispanic mummies in a hole in the patio of his house. He kept quiet about them for a quarter century until 2022 when they were removed by archaeologists with permission from Peru’s Ministry of Culture.

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  • Scientists claim remarkable evidence that early human relatives buried their dead 240,000 years ago

    Scientists claim remarkable evidence that early human relatives buried their dead 240,000 years ago

    Johannesburg — Scientists in South Africa have claimed a discovery they believe could force us to rethink some fundamentals of what it means to be human. 

    Deep inside the Rising Star cave system, about 20 miles outside Johannesburg, a group of young scientists led by American paleoanthropologist Lee Berger claim to have found gravesites of small-brained hominids dating back between 236,000 and 335,000 years, much older than the first known human graves from a cave in Israel, which date to about 92,000 years ago.

    Paleoarchaeologists have long assumed that larger brains eventually brought our later ancestors more complex thought, allowing for the development of complicated language, the control of fire and other advanced concepts — such as burying their dead. This discovery, Berger believes, will start to turn that conventional wisdom on its head.

    Homo Naledi, New Species, Unveiled in South Africa
    The discovery of a new species of human relative, Homo naledi, was unveiled at The Cradle of Human Kind in South Africa in 2015.

    Foto24/Getty


    In 2013, Berger sent out a casting call for six “underground astronauts.” He was looking to build a team of archaeologists with caving backgrounds who could fit through the tiniest space — just 7.5 inches wide — to reach a possible hominin site.

    In 2015, the team announced the discovery of Homo naledi, a small-brained hominin species of which they had recovered some 1,500 fossils. Homo naledi was small, with a brain only about one-third the size of a human’s. They looked more like chimpanzees than modern people. 

    Humans are not believed to have evolved directly from the Homo naledi species — they were more like cousins than direct ancestors to homo sapiens.  


    Homo Naledi: Ancient human relative discovered

    02:41

    Berger and his team continued to toil in the cave system, examining sediments, soil and rock for other clues on the new species. Late last year, they announced that the creatures were able to make fire and use it as a tool, based on charcoal and burn remnants they found in the cave.

    On Monday, the team announced that homo naledi had used fire to light the way through the cave system to deliberately bury their dead, while marking their graves with artwork on the cave walls.

    Berger described to CBS News some of the challenges and questions his team has grappled with over the years.

    “It’s dark, it’s dangerous, it’s difficult. They’re (homo naledi) going hundreds of meters back in here, down chutes and into little spaces, and one of the great dilemmas has been, how? Were they just lost? Were the bodies in here because they got lost and can’t find their way out? But why only them, and why in these spaces?”

    SAFRICA-SCIENCE-PALEONTOLOGY
    Professor Lee Berger gestures as he explains the scientific relevance of discovering Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system, in May 11, 2023. Berger announced on June 5, 2023 that his team had discovered the oldest graves ever found in South Africa, pushing back the first traces of mortuary practices by some 100,000 years.

    LUCA SOLA/AFP/Getty


    Berger said these questions kept the team searching for more. They set up a miles-long system of cabling to rig up cameras and provide an intercom system, so he could speak with the cavers as they excavated in real time.

    “Those images were so grainy” he said. “It looked like the first moon landing. Even though I was only 170 meters away from them, I couldn’t see anything, and it was so tough.”

    Berger eventually put himself on a strict diet and lost 55 pounds to be able to go into the caves himself. He told CBS News it was the toughest challenge of his 30-year career. But once he sat down on a ledge deep underground, looked up and saw the telltale signs of fire all over the cave ceiling and walls, he said it was worth it.

    “Nothing beats being there,” he said. “You do need to see it. There is a very human part of exploration.”

    But with passages just inches wide to squeeze through, it’s a risky business. Berger got stuck on the way out for several hours. He said at one point, he believed he was going to die there.

    SAFRICA-SCIENCE-PALEONTOLOGY
    Professor Lee Berger walks inside the Rising Star cave system in The Cradle of Human Kind, near Johannesburg, South Africa, May 11, 2023, as he uses his light checking for the presence of fossils in the Dolomite rock which composes the cave.

    LUCA SOLA/AFP/Getty


    “It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever done in my life. And the best thing,” he said, admitting that he didn’t plan to go back down.

    The team said a number of symbols had also been found on the cave walls, some of them hashtag-like signs which they believe may have been left to mark the graves.

    In one of the graves, the scientists found what they described to CBS News as a tool-shaped rock.

    Three academic papers on Berger’s team’s findings are currently under peer review and will eventually be released by the journal eLife. In the papers, the team outlines how layers of sediment are mixed in the areas around the bodies, indicating what they say is the digging and filling of individual graves.

    They say they’ve discovered fossilized bones from at least 27 Homo naledi individuals of various ages, all of whom lived at least 240,000 years ago, and possibly as long as 500,000 years ago.

    skull-promo.jpg
    “Neo” skull of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber in South Africa’s Rising Star cave system.

    John Hawks/Wits University


    Berger said he expected his team to be accused of rushing to publish their research before a peer review was completed. He argued that, in the age of modern technology and social media, it was worth making all their findings available immediately, to be built upon by the scientists of tomorrow.

    He said his team also expected their discoveries from the Rising Star caves to challenge some of the most important aspects of what we think makes us human. 

    If the small-brain Homo naledi were capable of complex thought, that might “give us pause to think about how we as humans have placed ourselves on a pedestal,” Berger told CBS News. “If you open up any of your dictionaries — Webster, Oxford, Google — and type ‘what makes us human?’ It will say, ‘having the characteristics of people.’ How arrogant is that?”

    “There’s no definition of us,” Berger said. “I think discoveries like this are going to begin to force us to actually define what it means to be human.”

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  • Archeologists in Italy unearth ancient dolphin statuette

    Archeologists in Italy unearth ancient dolphin statuette

    Excavations in southern Italy have unearthed terracotta bull heads and a figurine of the Greek god Eros riding a dolphin, shining new light on the religious life and rituals of an ancient city, culture ministry officials said Saturday.

    It’s the first trove of artifacts identified from a sanctuary in the ancient Greek city of Paestum, which dates from the 5th century B.C. Paestum, famed for its three massive Doric-columned temples, is near the archaeological site of Pompeii, but farther down the Almalfi coast.

    This undated photo shows a terracotta figurine of Eros riding a dolphin found in a newly discovered sanctuary, which dates from the 5th century B.C., that was first identified in 2019 along the ancient city walls of Paestum, Southern Italy. 

    Paestum Velia Archeological Park via AP


    The small temple was first identified in 2019 along the ancient city walls but excavations were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian Culture Ministry said in a statement.

    Excavations yielded several small terracotta figurines in the first months of resuming work, the Ministry said. Archeologists found seven bull heads found around a temple altar as if placed there on the ground in a form of devotion.

    A dolphin statuette found in the first trove of artifacts appears to be from the Avili family of ceramists whose presence had never before been documented in Paestum, the statement said.

    Italy Ancient Discovery
    This undated photo shows the area where a newly discovered sanctuary, which dates from the 5th century B.C., was first identified in 2019 along the ancient city walls of Paestum, Southern Italy. 

    Paestum Velia Archeological Park via AP


    Limited excavations began at the temples in the 1950s, and the ministry believes more treasures can be found in the area.

    Ancient Romans controlled the city by around 275 B.C., renaming it Paestum from the Greek “Poseidonia,” in what had before been Magna Graecia.


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  • Here Comes the Sun: Actor Eva Longoria and the ruins of Pompeii, Italy

    Here Comes the Sun: Actor Eva Longoria and the ruins of Pompeii, Italy

    Here Comes the Sun: Actor Eva Longoria and the ruins of Pompeii, Italy – CBS News


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    Actor and television host Eva Longoria sits down with Lee Cowan to discuss her CNN travel show “Searching for Mexico.” Then, Seth Doane travels to Pompeii, Italy, to learn about archaeologists’ new discoveries. “Here Comes the Sun” is a closer look at some of the people, places and things we bring you every week on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

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