All Archaeology articles – Page 4
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ResearchHumans influence soil chemistry from beyond the grave
Chemical elements can reveal where bodies decomposed even after flesh and bones are long gone
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OpinionThinking of ink
Tattoos can be virtually any colour nowadays, but they are still tricky to remove
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ResearchChemists find mummified legs may belong to Queen Nefertari
Gas chromatography reveals legs belong to one of Egypt’s lost queens
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ResearchMiddle Eastern bitumen at Sutton Hoo rewrites trade history
The black lumps provide the first evidence for a bitumen trade network between the British Isles and the Middle East
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OpinionFrictional events
Sporting heroes and adventurers both benefit from chemically-assisted clinging power
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ResearchPrehistoric proteins found in ancient ostrich eggshells
New record set by preserved proteins that are 3.8 million years old
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Research3.7 billion year old microbe fossils discovered in Greenland
Discovery puts earliest evidence for life back 220 million years
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ResearchTutankhamun’s burial dagger is ‘extra-terrestrial’ in origin
Analysis of the iron in the 3000-year-old mummy’s dagger suggests it originally came from a meteorite
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ResearchLead isotopes track Roman Empire’s water supplies
Analysis reveals damage to the water network after the eruption of Vesuvius and its subsequent repair
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ResearchAncient scrolls roll back first use of metallic inks by centuries
X-ray fluorescence reveals lead-based inks in papyrus from town destroyed in Mount Vesuvius eruption
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ResearchNeanderthals turned to chemistry to start fires
Ancient humans may have used manganese dioxide as a firelighter
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FeatureBones of contention
Can protein in dinosaur bones survive for millions of years? Rachel Brazil explores the evidence
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FeatureDating the age of humans
Physical science is helping archaeologists close in on the real answers behind the mysteries of human evolution, finds Ida Emilie Steinmark
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ResearchUncoiling collagen using advanced computers
Two-dimensional mass spectrometry allows rapid analysis of complex samples
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ResearchJurassic pigment structure elucidation tickles chemists pink
Unusual boron-based molecule found in ancient algae fossil throws light on natural product evolution
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ResearchChemical fingerprints of prehistoric beekeepers discovered
Traces of beeswax found on 8500-year-old pottery fragments provide evidence of early bee domestication
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ResearchAncient graphite may push start of life back by 300 million years
Discovery of biologically forged carbon could rewrite textbooks on the earliest organisms
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ResearchGetting closer to secrets on the seabed
Scientists in Spain are developing a technique to analyse minerals and artefacts underwater
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ResearchTomography allows ancient texts to rise from the ashes
Scroll from town destroyed in Vesuvius eruption over 2000 years ago deciphered
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FeatureFlowing rivers of mercury
Philip Ball investigates claims that the burial chamber of China’s first emperor contains rivers of shimmering mercury