Flower designs on 8,000-year-old Mesopotamian pots reveal a “mathematical knowledge” perhaps developed to share land and crops, archaeologists say.

The first known outbreak of syphilis in Europe began at the turn of the 16th century, but on the distant continent of South America, the pathogen's history goes much deeper than that.

Scientists have for the first time sequenced the most complete and oldest ancient Egyptian genome ever found—unlocking new secrets from the Old Kingdom. This facial reconstruction of an ancient ...

A 3,300-year-old whistle carved out of a cow's toe bone has been discovered in Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), an ancient Egyptian capital founded by the father of King Tutankhamun. It is the first ...

Researchers have reconstructed ancient herpesvirus genomes from Iron Age and medieval Europeans, revealing that HHV-6 has been infecting humans for at least 2,500 years. Some people inherited the ...

Scientists have found traces of ancient opiates in the residue lining an Egyptian alabaster vase, indicating that opiate use was woven into the fabric of the culture. And the Egyptians didn’t just ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

Ancient scientists can be easy to dismiss. Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, often described as the West’s first scientist, believed the whole Earth was suspended on water. Roman encyclopaedist ...