They’re probably about half as old as scientists once thought they were. But a pair of butchered bones found in a cave near the Alaska-Yukon border are “definite” evidence of…
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‘Twin’ Ice Age Infants Discovered in 11,500-Year-Old Alaska Grave
A tenderly decorated grave discovered in Alaska holds the remains of two infants dating back 11,500 years, the youngest Ice Age humans yet found in the Western Hemisphere, archaeologists say….
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First Columbian Mammoth With Hair Discovered on California Farm
Artichoke farmers plowing their fields in northern California have reaped a strange harvest: a trove of exotic animal fossils, including camel, mastodon and — most striking of all — the…
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Famous Utah Rock Art May Be Thousands of Years Younger Than Was Thought
One of the most iconic works of Ancient American art is likely hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years younger than was previously believed, according to new research. The giant display of…
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1,300-Year-Old Pottery Found in Colorado Contains Ancient ‘Natural Aspirin’
Fragmented pottery unearthed in a rockshelter in east central Colorado has revealed traces of salicylic acid, a substance derived from willow bark that’s the natural precursor to modern-day aspirin. Dated…
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Ancient Clovis Elephant-Hunting Camp Discovered in Mexico
A tip from a rancher in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert has led to an unexpected find: an ancient encampment where members of the Clovis culture hunted an elephant-like animal never before…
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13,500-Year-Old Tool-Making Site Uncovered in Idaho Forest
On a remote forest riverbank in northern Idaho, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of human occupation going back more than 13,500 years, adding to the signs of an increasingly ancient human…
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From Stone Darts to Dismembered Bodies, New Study Reveals 5,000 Years of Violence in Central California
From shooting their enemies with darts and arrows to crushing their skulls and even harvesting body parts as trophies, the ancient foragers of central California engaged in sporadic, and sometimes…
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Earliest Evidence of Gigantism-Like Disease Found in 3,800-Year-Old California Skeleton
The remains of a man buried 3,800 years ago in a richly decorated California grave bear some unusual but unmistakable features — a protruding brow, a lantern jaw, thick leg…
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History of Ancient Los Angeles Was Driven by Its Wetlands, 8,000-Year Survey Finds
It may be hard to visualize if you’ve been through drought-stricken southern California lately, but much of what’s now Los Angeles was once a teeming wetland. And a new landmark…
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Genome of America’s Only Clovis Skeleton Reveals Origins of Native Americans
The remains of a one-year-old boy who died 12,600 years ago in what’s now Montana are giving up exceptional information about the place his people held in American history, and…
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Southwestern-Style Spear Throwers Identified in the Ozarks
New analysis of two spear-throwers excavated nearly a century ago in the Ozark Mountains reveals what one archaeologist calls an “uncanny” similarity to those used in the ancient Southwest and…
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Ancient California Islanders Relied on Drifting ‘Tarballs’ for Petroleum, Study Finds
Eight thousand years ago, as today, one thing you needed to get by in southern California was petroleum. But even then, it seems, you didn’t need the top-grade stuff shipped…
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Ancient Rock Art in Texas Yields ‘Surprising’ New Finds
New technology is providing unexpected insights into some of the most distinctive rock art in the American West, archaeologists say. The canyonlands of Texas’ Lower Pecos River are home to…
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11,000-Year-Old Seafaring Indian Sites Discovered on California Island
Just offshore from the chock-a-block development of Southern California, archaeologists have discovered some of the oldest sites of human occupation on the Pacific Coast. On Santa Rosa Island, one of…
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