New finds, dating results, scans and controversies relevant to lost civilisations, ancient mysteries and unexplained structures, all in one place. Each entry links to the primary paper or press source and, where relevant, gives the mainstream and alternative takes. Updated weekly.
72 of 72 entries · newest first
Photo: Bernard DUPONT · CC BY-SA 2.0
6 Nov 2026 · Lago Cobá and Cenote Xcach, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
Matthew Waters, Mark Brenner and colleagues dated sediment cores from two lakes beside ancient Maya settlements in the northern Yucatán. Mercury, linked to the Maya use of cinnabar (red pigment) and elemental mercury, exceeded modern sediment toxicity thresholds for centuries between about 40 and 820 CE, peaking around 720 CE at Cenote Xcach. In the same layers, markers for algae, cyanobacteria, ostracods, snails and midge larvae declined or vanished, and recovered when mercury fell.
Jianbo Guo, Ruochen Ge, Lu Yang and colleagues studied textile residues on objects from the Sanxingdui sacrificial pits K2–K8, the site of the famous bronze heads and gold masks of the ancient Shu culture. They found silk on 101 objects, 94 of them bronzes, dating to the Late Shang period (1300–1046 BCE). Microscopy and infrared tests identify mulberry silk, mostly plain weave, some coloured with hematite or an organic red dye, and some cloths as finely woven as Shang silks from the Central Plains.
Kelly Graf, Ted Goebel and colleagues report on Shég’ Xdaltth’í’ (formerly McDonald Creek), 55 km south-southeast of Fairbanks. It has three Late Pleistocene occupation layers dated to about 13,800, 13,000 and 12,700 years ago. The oldest layer holds more than 80,000 specimens, including a distinctive hafted biface, bone and antler tools, animal remains and well-preserved activity areas.
Enrico Crema and colleagues used statistical models of radiocarbon and site data to track Jomon forager populations around the Kikai-Akahoya eruption about 7,300 years ago, one of the largest of the Holocene (VEI 7). They find a major population collapse in regions next to the volcano, but some nearby populations grew after the disaster, and some distant communities were hit by environmental effects that had been overlooked.
Kathleen Springer, Jeffrey Pigati, Jessica Tierney and colleagues expanded the excavations at White Sands and found 20 stratigraphic layers with human footprints in place, alongside megafauna trackways and drag lines made by travois. New radiocarbon dates on conifer pollen, combined with dates on aquatic seeds, put the footprint sequence between 23,500 and 21,700 years ago. Pollen, biomarker and sediment data record the lake turning into a playa during a dry spell that matches Dansgaard-Oeschger event 2, about 23,200 years ago.
A Science news feature reports that Andean archaeologists are replacing the traditional Inca chronology (empire from 1438) with radiocarbon dates. At Saqsaywaman, dated charcoal suggests the site began to be remodelled with fitted masonry around 1400, with construction peaking from about 1418; the first results are in press at Antiquity.
Whole-genome sequences from across Polynesia show some of the strongest founder effects known in any population. Hawaiʻi and Rapa Nui are among the most bottlenecked and, despite their distance, are each other’s closest relatives, likely settled by the same voyagers with roots in Mangareva.
Nature reported new geophysical survey results, published by Eldamaty, Abbas, Ballard and Reeves in the Amarna Royal Tombs Project’s occasional papers, that they say point to hidden chambers beyond the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb, possibly the burial of Nefertiti.
Remote Sensing retracted Filippo Biondi and Corrado Malanga’s 2022 paper, which claimed SAR Doppler tomography revealed undiscovered internal structures in the Great Pyramid. The journal says an investigation after a reader’s concerns confirmed serious methodological flaws and statistical errors that undermine the conclusions.
Xavier Landreau, Guillaume Piton and Sayed Hemeda used satellite imagery, 19th-century maps and watershed mapping. They argue that two 600–700 m structures across Wadi Dahshur, west of the Red Pyramid, long read as stone-transport ramps, are dams, one with a duckbill-shaped spillway, linked to a roughly 1 km diversion channel passing close to the pyramid.
Moore, Thackeray, West and colleagues analysed nanoparticles in peat at Wonderkrater, where an earlier study found a platinum anomaly at about 12,800 years ago. They report a 4.6-fold rise in nanoparticle numbers in a 5 cm layer, with platinum-group-rich and rare-earth-rich particle populations, which they interpret as consistent with an extraterrestrial component plus extra terrestrial dust.
Researchers analysed 138 dispersed blocks from a dismantled sector, using geometric silhouettes and computational matching, to propose how the early Inca walls fitted together.
A ScanPyramids team from TU Munich and Cairo University published ultrasonic shear-wave scans, made in 2022, of the 45 accessible granite blocks in the two lower rows of the King’s Chamber walls. They built a 3D model of block thicknesses and joints and found internal reflectors up to about 3 m deep, including an anomaly about 2 m behind block NW9 on the north wall.
An ambient-noise survey at 37 points inside and around Khufu’s pyramid found uniform resonance frequencies and design features that reduce seismic amplification.
Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt combined 3D models of road moai and rope-rocking experiments. They argue the statues were “walked” upright along concave roads, matching oral tradition.
Authors from the impact-hypothesis camp reported shock-fractured quartz in Younger Dryas boundary layers at several sites, arguing for cosmic airbursts about 12,800 years ago.
Genomes from early farming villages including Çatalhöyük shed light on household and kinship structure. The research highlights women’s lines in some communities.
Researchers presented at EGU25 the first cosmogenic-nuclide exposure dating of Tiwanaku’s stone structures, which measures how long surfaces have faced the sky.
Corrado Malanga and Filippo Biondi presented interpreted satellite-radar (SAR) tomography. They claimed spiral shafts and chambers extend more than 600 m below the pyramid. It was not peer-reviewed. Update (Aug 2026): Remote Sensing retracted the pair’s 2022 Great Pyramid paper using the same SAR Doppler-tomography approach (see the August 2026 entry).
Yamagata University and IBM researchers used an AI model on aerial imagery, then checked the candidates on foot. This nearly doubled the known figurative geoglyphs. Most are small relief-type figures beside footpaths, showing people and domestic animals.
A French team proposed that the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure acted as a check dam. Water would then flow to a shaft where a floating platform lifted stones.
Glasgow researchers applied gravitational-wave statistics to the hole spacing. They found 354 holes, which suggests a lunar calendar rather than a solar one.
NYU physicists eroded clay mounds containing harder inclusions in a water flume and produced Sphinx-like “lion” forms. This supports the idea that natural yardangs gave builders a head start.
Lee Berger’s team finalised claims that small-brained Homo naledi buried its dead and engraved walls, about 250,000 years ago. Reviewers remain unconvinced.
Wiley and the journal retracted the 2023 paper. An investigation found that the radiocarbon dates came from soil samples with no artefacts or bone, so they do not date human activity. The authors disagreed with the retraction.
Sonar revealed a 971 m wall of about 1,670 stones at 21 m depth. It is interpreted as a hunting drive built about 10,000 years ago, before the sea rose.
Forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada and Peru’s Public Ministry examined figures seized at Lima airport. They reported the figures were made of animal bones, synthetic glue and paper.
Lidar mapped about 6,000 earthen platforms, plazas, roads and drained fields. They were built by the Kilamope and Upano cultures from about 500 BCE to 300–600 CE.
Holliday and colleagues assessed the proposed impact markers and dating. They concluded that the evidence does not support a cosmic event at 12,900 years ago.
At a follow-up hearing, Mexican doctors presented imaging they said showed internal organs and eggs, and invited outside scientists to study the bodies.
Natawidjaja et al. published radiocarbon dates from soil in drill cores. They argued the hill is a pyramid-like structure whose oldest phase dates to 25,000–14,000 BCE.
The Taş Tepeler project announced a 2.3 m statue of a seated man, found in an enclosure. It is one of the most realistic human sculptures of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
Two interlocking logs joined by a deliberately cut notch were dated by luminescence to at least 476,000 years ago. This predates Homo sapiens and is the oldest known evidence of shaping wood into a structure.
At a hearing on UAPs, journalist Jaime Maussan presented two small, three-fingered bodies said to come from Peru. He claimed lab tests showed they were not human.
ScanPyramids used muon imaging to confirm a 9 m-long corridor above the main entrance, then filmed it with an endoscope. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced it on 2 March 2023.
In a bench frieze, a man holding his phallus is flanked by two leopards, and another man faces a bull. It is the earliest known narrative relief scene, about 9000 BCE.
