Archaeology: Facts, Trivia, Quizzes, Brain Teasers & More

Just like the English Bard, Tang died in 1616, and he also penned dramatic works and romances.

File drinking Italian wine under "ancient tradition." Really, really ancient.

Royal Institution of Cornwall. Photo taken by Anna Tyacke, Cornwall Finds Liaison Officer, Portable Antiquities Scheme, British Museum

The currency, which dates from 253 CE to 274 CE, consists of bronze and a small amount of silver.

Yum.

Jim Forest, Flickr Creative Commons // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Barred from taking parchment samples, researchers resorted to analyzing the crumbs left behind after archivists cleaned the paper.

Oblique cuts in the bottom third of the legs of a medieval skeleton found in Portugal.

A team recently excavated three graves located at the edge of a medieval cemetery.

A whole neighborhood has been preserved in a pristine state for nearly 2000 years.

Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern

The find could help experts learn more about how farming developed in Europe during the Bronze Age.

The National Museum of Chinese Writing will pay about $15,000 for each unknown character translated, and $7500 for a disputed character’s definitive meaning.

There are now 53 known shipwrecks off the coast of Fourni, Greece.

Experts spent three years dismantling the pile of 70,000 coins piece by piece.

Experts were surprised to find that the structure contained the bones of women and children.

The National Geographic Society has paid to send forensic dogs to the island of Nikumaroro.

Something is poopy in the state of Denmark.

Archaeology badger don’t care if it's mucking up our knowledge of the ancient past.

Michael Cordonsky and Noa Evron, Tel Aviv University

The text remained invisible until this year, even though the clay was on display in the Israel Museum.

On day one, the archaeologists excitedly announced the discovery of a ship. And then came days two and three.

The view from above—sometimes way above—has revealed lost cities, forgotten pyramids, and ancient trading routes.

The USCGC McCulloch was part of the Asiatic Squadron, a group of U.S. Navy warships that fought in the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay.

The front (left) and back (right) of a 3000-year-old copper mask. Small holes near the edges suggest the mask could have been attached with threads. Someone tried to repair the fracture near the left eye—note the holes near it.

Its discovery complicates the long-standing idea that metalworking began on the continent in Peru.

A strange calculation machine from an ancient Roman shipwreck is still unlocking its secrets.

Two views of an adult Homo naledi cranium found in the Lesedi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, where the remains of 15 individuals were discovered in a different cave in 2013.

Scientists date the intriguing hominin remains to 335,000–236,000 years ago—and find three more bodies.

With enough funding, they will analyze—and then reinter—the remains of people buried between 1707 and 1859 in a Baptist cemetery—and mental_floss will be in the lab with them.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeologists Discover Tomb of 'Chinese Shakespeare' Tang Xianzu

Archaeologists Find Italy's Earliest Wine—And It's Thousands of Years Older Than We Thought

English Hobbyists with Metal Detectors Discover Roman Coin Hoard in Farmer's Field

Researchers Find 100-Year-Old Antarctic Fruitcake in 'Excellent Condition'

Scientists Devise Clever Way to Test Old Manuscripts’ DNA

Archaeologists Make Rare, Gruesome Find in Portugal

Archaeologists Uncover 'Little Pompeii' Buried Beneath Ash in France

A 3500-Year-Old ‘Lunch Box’ Discovered in Switzerland Once Contained Bronze Age Cereal

A Chinese Museum Is Offering Cash to Whoever Can Decipher These 3000-Year-Old Inscriptions

8 New Ancient Ships Found at the 'Shipwreck Capital of the World'

Watch Conservationists Disassemble World's Largest Known Celtic Coin Hoard

The Discovery of a Skull Tower Has Archaeologists Rethinking Aztec Human Sacrifice

Dogs Join the Search for Amelia Earhart’s Remains

Archaeologists May Have Unearthed the Oldest Toilet in Denmark

6 Archaeological Finds Made by Badgers

Archaeologists Uncover an Ancient Soldier’s Request: 'Send Wine'

Three Viking Boat Burials Discovered in Three Days in Iceland

4 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries Spotted by Satellite

100 Years After It Sank, This Coast Guard Ship Will Remain in Its Watery Grave

Rainy Season in the Andes Reveals the Oldest Known Copper Death Mask

The Enduring Mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism

Puzzling Human Relative Homo Naledi May Have Lived at the Same Time as Our Ancestors

Archaeologists Need Your Help to Study 100+ Graves in Philadelphia

Archaeologists Need Your Help to Study 100+ Graves in Philadelphia