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The massive complex of Monte d'Accoddi on the island of Sardinia is nearly 6,000 years old.
architecture

This Mysterious Ziggurat Was an Ancient European Pilgrimage Site

Sardinia's 'mountain of stones,' Monte d'Accoddi, is nearly 6,000 years old.
Jeffrey Biggers May 24, 2023
The Bar Hill Comb was part of a collection of more than 280,000 artifacts recovered in Cambridgeshire, England, between 2016 and 2018.
archaeology

In England, Bar Hill's 'Skull Comb' Is an Iron Age Mystery

The unusual artifact hints at how ancient communities may have treated their dead.
Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing May 17, 2023
Visakhapatnam, India

Thotlakonda

These hilltop ruins of a forgotten Buddhist monastery flourished in Antiquity from trade with the Roman Empire.
This ancient dodecahedron found in Avenches, Switzerland, once the Roman city of Aventicum.
objects of intrigue

The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire

The first of many of these puzzling objects was unearthed almost three centuries ago, and we still don't know what they were for.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 12, 2023
<em>Le Défenseur du temps</em>—<em>The Defender of Time</em>—has been reinstalled in the Quartier de l'Horloge in Paris. Throughout the day, the metal swordsman marks the passage of time by fighting off a dragon, a rooster, and a crab.
shipwrecks

Wonder Is Everywhere: The Defender of Time, a Plan to Bomb the Moon, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White May 12, 2023
The pillar.
Pahlejpur, India

Eran Pillar of Goparaja

India's oldest sati stone, attributed to an otherwise unknown king of the ancient Gupta Empire.
Kamusongolwa Hill
Kasempa, Zambia

Kamusongolwa Hill

A hill outside of Kasempa is the location of a famous battle between the Kaonde and Lozi tribes.
Digitizing gravestones from the colonial era preserves them for future study and makes them more accessible, but it also raises questions about how to study this period of American history.
cemeteries

Burial Hill's Historic Gravestones Are Coming to Your Screen

Digitizing markers at the Massachusetts cemetery makes them more accessible.
Anya Gruber May 8, 2023
The ruins of Songo Mnara.
Songo Mnara Island, Tanzania

Songo Mnara

Mosques carved from coral and dozens of well-preserved stone structures fill this 500-year-old Swahili trading center.
The river bed of Eridanos at Monastiraki train station on November 7, 2019
Athens, Greece

Archaeological Site inside Monastiraki Metro Station

View the ancient remains of buildings and the ancient "River of Hades" before hopping on a train.
On the platform.
Lovelock, Nevada

Lovelock Cave

How a bat poo mine became a major Native American archaeological site—and connections to legendary red-haired giants.
Medieval buildings at Songa Mnara, one of many coastal Swahili ports and settlements that connected East Africa to Arabia, Persia, China, and Southeast Asia.
science

Ancient DNA Restores the Origin Story of the Swahili People

New research complicates both modern and colonial-era ideas about the medieval East African civilization.
Chapurukha Kusimba and David Reich April 24, 2023
The fossil tree
Tiroran, Scotland

The Fossil Tree and Burg

On a corner of the Ardmeanach peninsula on the Isle of Mull, a 50 million-year-old fossil tree hides in the coastal cliffs.
Port Eynon, Wales

Port Eynon Salt House

The seaside ruins of an ancient salt production facility.
One of the 2.000 mummified ram heads found in the Temple of Ramses II, in the historical city of Abydos, Egypt.
cemeteries

Wonder Is Everywhere: 2,000 Ram Skulls, a Cold War Mystery, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White April 14, 2023
For perhaps thousands of years, local Cappadocians retreated underground when enemies approached. Their subterranean city, illustrated here, was rediscovered by accident.
caves

The Mysterious Underground City Found in a Man’s Basement

How a renovation project in Turkey led to the discovery of a lifetime—a lost city that once housed 20,000 people.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think April 7, 2023
A large rock structure called Rainbow Valley in the Northern Territory.
Northern Territory, Australia

Rainbow Valley

This sacred site lives up to its name with its majestic, color-splashed sandstone formations.
The trove of spices was found in the stern of the ship by Brendan Foley and a team of archaeologists.
science

How Did a Medieval Spice Cabinet Survive 500 Years Underwater?

Exotic saffron, black pepper, ginger, cloves, and more offer a look into how Scandinavian royalty lived.
Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing March 28, 2023