Sometimes discoveries do not begin with certainty, but with confusion. That was exactly the case when US astronomer James Christy was reviewing photographic plates of Pluto at the US Naval Observatory. He was not actively searching for anything new at the time and was reportedly preparing for personal plans, which makes what followed feel almost…
What began as an ordinary walk with a dog through the countryside of southern France turned into one of the country’s most remarkable dinosaur discoveries in recent years. In 2022, French palaeontology enthusiast Damien Boschetto was walking near the village of Montouliers in the Hérault region when he noticed strange bones protruding from a cliffside…
When people imagine the earliest human tools, they usually picture weapons. Stone handaxes, sharpened spears and heavy clubs have long dominated both archaeology textbooks and popular culture, reinforcing the idea that survival in prehistoric life depended mainly on hunting and violence. But some researchers now believe one of humanity’s most transformative early inventions may have…
Archaeological excavations at Hisarlik in Turkey reveal that Troy was not a single city but a series of nine distinct settlements built over millennia. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons The idea of Troy brings to mind only one thing: massive limestone walls, an extended war period of ten years, and an immense horse abandoned outside the…
Miners in Germany’s Neander Valley unearthed peculiar bones in 1856, revealing evidence of a distinct human type. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons Picture a cave made up of limestone, wet, and dark, situated in the valley of Neander in Germany. The year is 1856, and there are people excavating through the sediment layer in the cave…
For centuries, ships carrying merchants, soldiers and explorers passed through the narrow waters linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Many never made it out. Now, archaeologists working in southern Spain have uncovered what may be one of the largest underwater archaeological concentrations in the western Mediterranean: a vast ship graveyard hidden beneath the…
Eight-year-old Dor Wolynitz with the over 1,700-year-old statuette fragment he found in the Ramon Crater area, May 11, 2026. Image Credit: Akiva Goldenhersch/Israel Antiquities Authority An excursion with the family through the rugged beauty of Ramon Crater is usually about amazing views and the quiet of the desert. For 8-year-old Dor Wolynitz, the experience turned…
Hidden crystals inside ancient Canadian rocks are rewriting Earth’s early history. Image credit – Wikimedia In the northernmost part of Canada’s Northwest Territories, an area composed of old rock is recognised by scientists to be among the most significant geological formations in the world. The Acasta Gneiss, which comprises some of the oldest rocks on…
Scientists drilled into seafloor rubble and uncovered a hidden climate clue. Image credit – Gemini In the deep parts of the South Atlantic Ocean, researchers have uncovered a surprising geological feature embedded in fractured and broken volcanic rocks located below the seafloor. Far from looking like common debris, the rocks appear to hide geological sponges…
Oman’s mountains hide one of the strangest geological discoveries on Earth. Image credit – Wikimedia In Oman, geologists get to do something almost impossible anywhere else. They can walk straight across rock formations usually found kilometres below the ocean bed. According to researchers, the area, named the Oman ophiolite, provides the most extensive and well-exposed…