5 Feb 2024 · Herculaneum, Italy
AI and X-ray tomography revealed over 2,000 characters of Greek philosophy, probably Philodemus, from a carbonised scroll that cannot be unrolled.
Why it matters: Lost ancient texts may now be readable, which could bring whole libraries back.
Source: Vesuvius Challenge ↗; Herculaneum papyri (Wikipedia) ↗
20 Jul 2026 · Dahshur, Egypt
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.
ancient technologypyramidsremote sensing
Site guide: Giza & Saqqara · Source: Landreau, Piton & Hemeda 2026, npj Heritage Science ↗
18 Jun 2026 · Sacsayhuamán, Cusco, Peru
Researchers analysed 138 dispersed blocks from a dismantled sector, using geometric silhouettes and computational matching, to propose how the early Inca walls fitted together.
Site guide: Sacsayhuamán & Cusco · Brien Foerster · Source: npj Heritage Science 2026 ↗
21 May 2026 · Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt
An ambient-noise survey at 37 points inside and around Khufu’s pyramid found uniform resonance frequencies and design features that reduce seismic amplification.
Site guide: Giza & Saqqara · Source: Scientific Reports 2026 ↗
9 Jan 2026 · Brazilian coast, Brazil
Science reported bone harpoons used by ancient coastal foragers in Brazil as the oldest known whaling tools.
Source: Science news, Jan 2026 ↗