The hills may be alive with the sound of music, but so were vulture bones and mammoth tusks for ancient Europeans. Researchers working at two Stone Age German sites have unearthed a nearly complete flute made from a vulture’s forearm as well as sections of three mammoth-ivory flutes. These 35,000- to 40,000-year-old finds are the […]

Two forensic artists working separately and using different techniques reconstructed Meresamun’s face. Josh Harker used the latest software and imaging technology (left), while Michael Brassell created more traditional police-artist sketches by hand (right), filling in only the color digitally. She was more than just a pretty face. The ancient Egyptian Meresamun, who lived around 800 […]

Scientists excavating a Stone Age cave on South Africa’s southern coast have followed a trail of engraved pigments to what they suspect are the ancient roots of modern human behavior. Analyses of 13 chunks of decorated red ochre (an iron oxide pigmen from Blombos Cave indicate that a cultural tradition of creating meaningful geometric designs […]