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Make sure your passport is current, book your flight, and let yourself imagine the lives of the people who called these ancient cities home.
ARCHAEOLOGY
The astonishing cave paintings of bison, deer, and extinct animals were discovered by accident in France in 1940. They offer a tantalizing glimpse into prehistory.
The ancient Acropolis has loomed over the Greek city of Athens for more than 3000 years as a defensive citadel, temple complex, weather station, and even a site of resistance against the Nazis.
The Shanghai Museum‘s “Meowseum Nights” allowed cats to witness their history.
Carved from rock in modern-day Jordan, Petra prospered for centuries under Nabataean and Roman rule. This dazzling settlement is now one of the region’s greatest attractions.
The Chauvet Cave paintings are tens of thousands of years old and depict iconic animals that are now extinct. Even Werner Herzog was impressed.
These prehistoric members of our genus, ‘Homo,’ occupy different branches of the human family tree.
Scientists have uncovered ancient fossils, prehistoric artwork, and other clues to human evolution. Here are nine of the most revealing discoveries that have changed our understanding of our early ancestors—and ourselves.
Within the last 200 years, we’ve discovered about two dozen species of hominins in Europe, Africa, and Asia—which you can see laid out in this map.
According to a medieval saga, the Norwegian “Well Man” might have been used as a biological weapon.
China, Chile, and New Zealand are a few places that have historic mummies of their own.
Hundreds—even thousands—of years ago, Native American peoples built complex and mysterious earthworks. Here are 11 you can visit for a glimpse into prehistory.
Scientists examined microscopic fossils in the tombstone and suggest the jet-black slab with an English knight’s insignia could have come only from one place.
Millions of fossils, from shells to the largest known shark species, were unearthed beneath San Pedro High School.
The 2019 fire at the cathedral brought a mystery to the surface: a lead coffin containing an unknown skeleton.
Historic doors can reveal a lot about their times—like the medieval trend of covering doors in (allegedly) human skin.
The rare golden bracelet was probably given to a soldier as a reward for bravery as Roman armies invaded England.
The gorge in northern Tanzania has yielded many of the oldest fossils of humankind, shedding new light on our ancient ancestors.
From forged artworks to fake mummies and even fraudulent orangutan bones, archaeological hoaxes fool scientists and stir the public’s imagination—until the culprits are forced to come clean.
The Stone Age timeline encompasses a huge chunk of prehistory—and life wasn’t only about hunting and gathering.
The changing climate did not bode well for Khmer Empire, the Maya Civilization, and more ancient cultures.
The bodies of Iron Age Europeans are so well preserved in peat bogs that they’re sometimes mistaken for modern murder victims.
Archaeologists discovered a hoard of Persian coins at the site of ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey.
A fragment of an arm bone found on Flores, Indonesia, suggests that some of our human ancestors were even smaller than we thought.