Art
A 19th-Century Photographer's Journey Through Jerusalem's Layered History
In 1854, Auguste Salzmann traveled to Jerusalem to search for the biblical history visible in the city's architecture.
Archaeology
In Brief
Explore a Digital Reconstruction of a Roman Banker's Lavish Pompeii Home
The house of a Roman banker known as Lucius Caecilius Jucundus was among the many in Pompeii ruined when Vesuvius erupted, but you can now examine the grand estate as it once stood intact.
News
Over 1,200 Archaeologists and Museum Staff Condemn Destruction Wrought by Dakota Pipeline
In a letter released today, 1,281 archaeologists, museum directors and staff, anthropologists, and historians expressed their solidarity against the destruction at Standing Rock by the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
News
Archaeologists in Turkey Find Neolithic Female Statuette Intact
The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, consists of two settlement mounds — the remains of houses continually built over old ones — that have yielded many treasures since archaeologists began excavations in the 1960s.
In Brief
A Maya Codex Found in a Cave Is Authentic, Researchers Say
In the 1960s, looters searching a cave in Chiapas, Mexico, came across a rare, ancient codex rich with illustrations of weapon-wielding deities.
In Brief
Newly Discovered Ancient Mosaic of Chariot Race Is Most Complete of Its Kind
Archaeologists with Cyprus's Department of Antiquities recently came across a rare, sweeping mosaic floor that depicts the ancient sport of chariot racing held in a Roman hippodrome.
In Brief
Egypt's Oldest Written Papyri Reveal Routines of Great Pyramid Builders
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has unveiled the country's oldest written papyri that archaeologists have found so far, placing the delicate fragments on display last month.
In Brief
1,400-Square-Foot Roman Mosaic of Hercules's Labors Found in Cyprus
Construction crews working on the sewage system beneath the southern coastal city of Larnaca in Cyprus recently found themselves face-to-face with Roman-era scenes of toil: a large-scale mosaic floor of the Labors of Hercules dating to the 2nd century CE.
News
Caribbean Cave Art Illustrates Indigenous People's Early Encounters With Europeans
In the subterranean network of caves on Mona Island, 41 miles west of Puerto Rico, archaeologists have discovered a series of engravings by both indigenous people and the early European colonizers.
In Brief
Ancient Obsidian Tools Were Used for Tattooing, Archaeologists Find
You may find stick-and-pokes an intense form of tattooing, but the use of needles, safety pins, or other common sharp objects doesn't look quite so rough when you consider that ancient Melanesians inked themselves with volcanic glass.
Art
Copper Tomb Sculptures Show Rare Forms of Mesopotamian Portraiture
The ten statues in Founding Figures: Copper Sculpture from Ancient Mesopotamia, ca. 3300–2000 BC at the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan were never meant for our eyes.
In Brief
Ancient Roman Waxed Writing Tablets Unearthed in Central London
IOUs, a note to a brewer, and the earliest handwritten document known from Britain — these are among the 405, nearly 2,000-year-old Roman waxed writing tablets archaeologists have unearthed and deciphered over years of excavations at Bloomberg's forthcoming headquarters in London.