All That History

~30 ancient #petroglyphs discovered in Ecuador's #Amazon! The rock carvings in Méndez show striking similarities to nearby sites, revealing shared cultural traditions across Morona Santiago province. Another piece of #Ecuador's prehispanic past emerges. 🪨🇪🇨

Nomadic hunter-gatherers painted monumental murals in Texas-Mexico canyonlands for over 4,000 years, creating an "ancient library" that preserved their cosmology across 175 generations. Some murals stretch 100 feet long and still hold meaning for Indigenous communities today.

Here's what archaeologists uncovered this week.

New archaeological evidence from Peru shows how the Americas' oldest civilization survived a devastating 130-year drought 4,000 years ago, without warfare. The discovery of Peñico reveals the peaceful adaptation strategies of the ancient Caral people.

Bernini carved The Rape of Proserpina between 1621 and 1622, when he was just 23. The pressure of Pluto’s fingers on Proserpina’s thigh still challenges the limits of marble and the perception of realism. Four centuries later, can any sculptor rival that illusion of living flesh?

After nearly a century of speculation, researchers may have solved Peru's "Band of Holes" mystery. The 5,200+ holes at Monte Sierpe were likely an ancient marketplace that became an Inca accounting system—its layout mirrors a khipu found in the same valley! Drone tech revealed what was invisible from the ground.

Washington Irving's Headless Horseman wasn't authentic folklore—it was literary invention. Yet the motif itself stretches back centuries across European, Asian, and indigenous traditions. From the Irish Dullahan driving its death coach to Chinese legends of Chi You fighting headless with nipple-eyes, decapitated figures haunt global folklore. New research explores how Irving synthesized genuine traditions into his 1820 tale, why beheading creates restless spirits, and what cephalophore saints reveal about Christian transformations of pagan beliefs.

Archaeologists working near Jerusalem's Western Wall just found something the city has never produced before—a 2,700-year-old Assyrian inscription in Akkadian cuneiform. The tiny pottery fragment, barely larger than a quarter, appears to be part of an official dispatch sent from the Assyrian royal court to the Kingdom of Judah. Lab tests confirmed the clay came from the Tigris Basin, meaning it was made in Assyria and shipped to Jerusalem. Scholars think it might reference delayed tribute payments during King Hezekiah's rebellion. It's the first direct physical evidence of correspondence between these ancient powers, and it goes on display October 23.

Stone Age craftspeople spent hours drilling through stone with deer bone and sand. Troy's newest find is a 4,500-year-old gold brooch (one of only 3 known). And at Göbekli Tepe, a human statue was embedded in a wall 12,000 years ago. Your weekly archaeology roundup is here. 

Archaeologists discover that Maya children as young as 7 had elaborate jade "tooth gems" - challenging what we knew about ancient coming-of-age rituals in pre-Hispanic Central America.

A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet belonging to Pharaoh Amenemope was stolen by a museum employee and sold for less than $4,000 before being melted down for scrap gold. Four suspects arrested in the destruction of this irreplaceable piece of ancient Egyptian history.

Spanish researchers just created an incredible 3D digital map of La Pileta Cave using smartphone LiDAR! This 100,000-year-old site contains amazing prehistoric art that's now preserved forever digitally.

New study reveals the Thames contains evidence of Bronze Age human sacrifices spanning 4,000 years. Those "random" bones? Actually ritualistic killings.

Archaeologists found 10,000-year-old smoke-dried mummies across Asia that are older than Egyptian mummies! Ancient communities in China and Southeast Asia used fire and smoke to preserve their dead. Fascinating how some Indonesian tribes still do this today.

Archaeologists in Egypt just unearthed something incredible. A massive 4-foot sandstone tablet covered in ancient hieroglyphs turned up at Tell el-Pharaeen. It's the complete Canopus Decree from 238 BC, the first intact copy found in over 150 years. This thing is being called second only to the Rosetta Stone for understanding Egyptian writing.

The Zapotec built Mexico's first major city at Monte Alban around 500 BC, housing 115,000 people on a carved mountaintop. They created Mesoamerica's earliest writing system and influenced every civilization that followed. Yet most people have never heard of the "Cloud People" who pioneered urban life in ancient Mexico.

Drought in northern Iraq uncovers 40 ancient tombs dating back more than 2,300 years! Archaeologists are racing to study and preserve these Hellenistic-era sites before water levels rise again.