30 Oct 2024 · Khaybar, Saudi Arabia
A fortified town of about 2.6 hectares, with a 14.5 km rampart, was mapped. It dates to about 2400 BCE in a region thought largely nomadic.
Why it matters: It shows early “slow urbanism” in Arabia.
Source: Charloux et al. 2024, PLOS ONE ↗
26 Oct 2026 · Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan, China
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.
excavationart & symbolsancient society
Source: Guo, Ge, Cai, Tian & Yang 2026, Antiquity ↗; Archaeology Magazine (news), 28 Oct 2026 ↗
16 Oct 2026 · Shég’ Xdaltth’í’, Tanana valley, Alaska, United States
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.
datingexcavationhunter-gatherers
Graham Hancock · Source: Graf et al. 2026, Science Advances ↗
7 Oct 2025 · Quintana Roo, Mexico
Airborne lidar reveals the urban sprawl of Dzibanche/Kaanu’l, seat of the Kaanu’l (Snake) dynasty.
Source: Estrada-Belli et al. 2025, Latin American Antiquity ↗
3 Jul 2025 · Supe Valley, Peru
Ruth Shady’s team revealed the city of Peñico, a trade hub of about 1800–1500 BCE linking the coast, the Andes and the Amazon, with 18 buildings.
Source: Peñico (Wikipedia) ↗