Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered a 3,800-year-old hexagon-shaped structure that they describe as a "pyramid." The maze-like structure is not as tall as Egypt's monuments, but currently stands about 10 feet (3 meters) high and likely served as an elite burial site.

While archaeologists use the term "pyramid" or "step pyramid" to describe it, the Bronze Age monument is unlike the pyramids found in Egypt. Its outer stone walls form a hexagon, the structure's inner walls look like a maze that leads to a grave at its heart. Parts of it were once covered by an earthen mound, Umitkaliyev added. It's not clear if there was ever a roof over part of the structure or whether it was entirely open air.

The newfound necklaces may have been made by Celtic peoples whose goldsmiths crafted them from a central rods with wound gold spirals, according to The History Blog.

Both necklaces were probably part of a hoard, "a deliberate hiding of valuable objects; a type of context which is very frequent in Atlantic Europe during the Bronze and Iron Ages," Arias said in an email.

Most likely, Arias noted, the necklaces were either buried in a pit or within a perishable container, like one made of wood or leather, that has long since decayed. Soil samples were taken for chemical analysis to determine if such materials may have been present.

Half a million years ago, earlier than was previously thought possible, humans were building structures made of wood, according to new research by a team from the University of Liverpool and Aberystwyth University.

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered the grave of a Frankish warrior who was buried with his weapons and shield more than 1,300 years ago.

The weapons include a spatha, a long sword based on cavalry swords of the late Roman Empire.

Deep underground in a rock-salt mine in Austria, archaeologists have made an "outstanding" discovery: the 2,200-year-old shoe of a child.

The mine's rock salt, which people have been mining since the Iron Age (800 B.C. to 1 B.C.) in the village of Dürrnberg near present-day Salzburg, preserved the well-crafted shoe, according to a translated statement from the German Mining Museum (DBM) in Bochum. The lone footwear is about a U.S. children's size 12 (European children's size 30).

Eight of Ohio's prehistoric monumental earthworks built 2,000 years ago by Native Americans are poised to become Ohio's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Fragmentary remains of two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, were carried aboard a Virgin Galactic flight on Sept. 8. Departing from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the fossils, carried by South African-born billionaire Timothy Nash in a cigar-shaped tube, were rocketed to the edge of space.

"I am horrified that they were granted a permit," Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton in the U.K., wrote in an X thread, noting she would use it as an example in her class about unethical approaches. "This is NOT science."

Unearth the #Cairo Toe! 🦶 Dating back to 950-710 BCE, this wooden prosthetic toe from ancient #Egypt, now in the British Museum, reflects remarkable innovation. More than art, it's functional, enhancing mobility. A testament to resilience through the ages.

Original: https://mstdn.science/@furqanshah/111051554688611414

A 3D recreation of the capital of the Aztec empire, with comparisons with modern day Mexico City.

A huge stash of reddish minerals from a cave in Ethiopia shows how Stone Age people gradually adapted their technologies and practices over a 4500-year period. This material included 4213 pieces of “ochre” – an umbrella term for minerals that are rich in iron and consequently have vivid colours, typically red. Prehistoric people often collected these minerals, but the original excavators of Porc-Epic did not study them.

[The composition] changed over time: ochre from the beginning of the 4500-year period was typically high quality and rich in iron, while ochre from the end of the period was lower quality and had less iron. The later ochre was also coarse-grained, so instead of grinding it to powder the people tended to chip and cut it.

An extremely rare "rainbow cup" coin minted more than 2,000 years ago by the Celts has been found next to a river in Germany, according to the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection.

The gold coin, minted in the second or first century B.C., features a rare design of a four-pointed star surrounded by arches on one side, said Bernward Ziegaus, a senior curator in the State Archaeological Collection's numismatic department who is studying the coin. Like other rainbow cups, the coin is curved.

As someone that's worked in museum collections, I'd describe the mummy smell as perfume and "absolute ass."

Fun facts from my zooarch days: if you shake a couple of these bones in your hands they sound like dice.