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Analysis of historical latrines in the Norwegian medieval city of Nidaros found evidence that nearly all residents were infected with roundworm. Researchers tie the widespread infection to sanitation practices adopted in the city at the time, which appear to have inadvertently aided the parasite's spread.
Researchers surveying Lacroix Inlet on Isla de los Estados, an island off Tierra del Fuego, have uncovered remains of a temporary camp and shipwreck debris that they believe belonged to Argentine sailor Luis Piedra Buena and the crew of his schooner brig Espora, lost in 1873. The findings, published in Antiquity and led by Nicolas Ciarlo of the University of Cadiz, were made during fieldwork in January 2026.
Researchers analyzing remains of Inca children sacrificed atop high-altitude volcanoes found evidence that the children had consumed coca leaves and alcoholic beverages before death. The Inca reportedly believed these child victims would serve as intermediaries between their people and the gods.
The National Science Foundation funded fewer than 100 new social-science grants in fiscal year 2026, down from a historical average of about 850 per year, according to data from Grant Witness and the NSF itself. Entire programme areas, including archaeology and economics, received no new awards at all, even as the agency touted that 75 Nobel economics laureates had previously received NSF support.
Archaeologists excavating a Roman burial site opened a sarcophagus and discovered a rooster-shaped rattle along with two amulets. Such objects were traditionally given to Roman children, suggesting the grave belonged to a young child buried with items meant to bring luck and protection.
Glacial archaeologists with the Secrets of the Ice project in Innlandet, Norway, report that the oldest ice layers in the region's mountains are now melting, exposing arrowheads and shafts dating back to the Stone Age and Bronze Age. One recent find, a slate arrowhead with its shaft, is estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 years old, while Viking Age artefacts, previously the most common finds, are becoming rarer. Over the project's 20-year history, researchers have also recovered reindeer hunting equipment, clothing, footwear, packhorse remains and skis from the ice.
Archaeologists working at the ancient site of Troy have uncovered a fragment of a bone flute dated to roughly 2,700 years ago, along with an idol head estimated to be about 4,500 years old. Both artifacts fall outside the era typically linked to the legendary Trojan War, meaning neither would have existed during the events traditionally associated with Odysseus.
Researchers have reconstructed the face of a man who lived in Roman-era Scotland roughly 1,900 years ago, using a skeleton recovered from an unusual burial site. Analysis of the remains showed a broken nose and damage to an arm, pointing to a history of physical trauma before death. The skeleton was reportedly found in a grave described as gruesome, though details of the burial context were not fully specified.
Archaeologists retrieved a bronze sword estimated to be roughly 3,300 years old from a volcanic crater lake. Officials examining the find say the blade remains notably sharp despite its long submersion in water.
Researchers surveying 55 ancient lake sites across the central Rub' al Khali desert found no stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age, despite abundant freshwater lakes and nearby human occupation at the desert margins. They attribute this absence to the region's carbonate and evaporite geology, which lacks the fine-grained silicate rock needed to make stone tools, rather than to any lack of water or population capability.
A research study examined how the availability of stone material and water sources influenced where early human populations settled and moved in desert environments. The analysis ties archaeological occupation sites to proximity of these two resources, suggesting they constrained human mobility and settlement choices.
Researchers examining the Arabian desert's climate history found that the region cycled through wetter, greener phases over tens of thousands of years, yet evidence suggests early humans largely did not settle there even during these habitable windows. The findings come from paleoclimate and archaeological analysis of the region rather than from any single excavation site described in detail.