STONES, BONES, AND WRECKS

Three Viking Boat Burials Discovered in Three Days in Iceland

On day one, the archaeologists excitedly announced the discovery of a ship. And then came days two and three.

4 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries Spotted by Satellite

The view from above—sometimes way above—has revealed lost cities, forgotten pyramids, and ancient trading routes.

100 Years After It Sank, This Coast Guard Ship Will Remain in Its Watery Grave

The USCGC McCulloch was part of the Asiatic Squadron, a group of U.S. Navy warships that fought in the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay.

The front (left) and back (right) of a 3000-year-old copper mask. Small holes near the edges suggest the mask could have been attached with threads. Someone tried to repair the fracture near the left eye—note the holes near it.

Rainy Season in the Andes Reveals the Oldest Known Copper Death Mask

Its discovery complicates the long-standing idea that metalworking began on the continent in Peru.

Watanabe. 2017. The Auk: Ornithological Advances.

A New Way to Tell If a Dead Duck Could Fly

One fossil expert developed a new system for classifying extinct ducks and geese.

The Enduring Mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism

A strange calculation machine from an ancient Roman shipwreck is still unlocking its secrets.

Two views of an adult Homo naledi cranium found in the Lesedi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, where the remains of 15 individuals were discovered in a different cave in 2013.

Puzzling Human Relative Homo Naledi May Have Lived at the Same Time as Our Ancestors

Scientists date the intriguing hominin remains to 335,000–236,000 years ago—and find three more bodies.

Up to 7000 Former Mental Institution Patients are Buried Beneath a Mississippi Medical Center

Academics at the University of Mississippi want to construct a new lab to study the remains and build a visitor's center and a memorial.

Archaeologists Need Your Help to Study 100+ Graves in Philadelphia

With enough funding, they will analyze—and then reinter—the remains of people buried between 1707 and 1859 in a Baptist cemetery—and mental_floss will be in the lab with them.

Archaeologists Need Your Help to Study 100+ Graves in Philadelphia

With enough funding, they will analyze—and then reinter—the remains of people buried between 1707 and 1859 in a Baptist cemetery—and mental_floss will be in the lab with them.

18 Mummies From Peru and Egypt Come to the American Museum of Natural History

Opening March 20, "Mummies" lets visitors peer inside remains thousands of years old—all without disturbing or unwrapping them.

Despite its fame, Stonehenge remains one of the world's most mysterious megalithic sites.

6 of the World’s Most Mysterious Standing Stones

Perhaps even more puzzling than the meaning of their creation is how they were built in the first place.

St. Nick's Real Hometown Is an Ancient City in Turkey Entombed in Mud

Welcome to Myra, where a Greek bishop became a power player in early Christianity.

The Antikythera Mechanism is in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

15 Intriguing Facts About the Antikythera Mechanism

The mysterious Antikythera mechanism—sometimes called 'the world's first computer'—has fascinated scholars for decades.

Reproduction of woodcut, 1483. Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 4.0

Just How Old Is C-Section Birth?

And when did women and babies start surviving it?

UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

This Dress Is at Least 5100 Years Old

Though it came from an Egyptian tomb, it was originally created for the living, not the dead.

Archaeologists Unearth More of a Massive Underground City

We spoke to archaeologist Murat Gülyaz about the phenomenal dig.

7 Antique Forgeries Made in Antiquity

Forgery of art and antiquities is far from a modern phenomenon.

10 Amazing Archaeological Finds Discovered by Ordinary People (and One Badger)

Regular folks have found amazing treasures.

Tracing the Evolution of the Human Brain Through Casts of the Inner Skull

The brain imprints itself on the inside of the skull. These impressions have been key to the study of the evolution of the human brain.

Peter Schmid and William Harcourt-Smith / Wits University

Homo Naledi's Bones Were Made For Walking … and Climbing

The small-brained creature's feet and hands show an intriguing mix of modern and primitive.

Archaeologists Discovered Fully Dressed 350-Year-Old Body

Noblewoman Louise de Quengo was still fully clothed in a wool dress, cape, bonnet, and shoes.

Photo courtesy of G. Cole, C. Rando, L. Sibun, and T. Waldron; UCL Institute of Archaeology

Archaeologists Discover 7-lb. Calcified Uterus in British Cemetery

"I've never seen anything quite like that before, nor have my colleagues, and we were very excited."

Kennewick Man's genome was sequenced at the GeoGenetics lab at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

Kennewick Man's DNA Solves Scientific Controversy

Scientists have cracked the genome of a man who died in the Pacific Northwest 8500 years ago—and his descendants still live nearby.

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