A new genetic study is challenging the old idea that Rome's fall in Western Europe came from a sudden barbarian takeover of the region. Instead, the research points to a slow, local process of intermarriage and blending between groups...
People living in eastern North America may have consumed cacao, the plant used to make chocolate, about 1,000 years ago, far earlier than researchers had clear evidence for in the region. New research published in the journal PLOS One...
A curse tablet unearthed at a Roman temple in south Wiltshire, carved with the unusual Greek name 'Hegemon,' is one small but telling piece of evidence in a new review of how people moved into and across Roman Britain.
The...
Two ancient skeletons unearthed in Japan are giving scientists a rare, detailed look at how prehistoric population shifts shaped the genetic makeup of modern Japan.
A new study, led by Koji Ishiya of Kanazawa University's Institute for the Study of...
A stretch of Neanderthal DNA passed down through interbreeding thousands of years ago may still be shaping the bodies of some humans today, making carriers more muscular and giving them a slightly different build than people without the ancient...
Researchers studying Europe's megaliths are increasingly finding evidence that these massive stone monuments were raised by egalitarian communities rather than by societies ruled over by a powerful elite.
The conclusion comes from several strands of recent archaeological work that used...
Ancient DNA revealed that the fall of Rome did not leave Pannonia deserted. Instead, the former frontier province changed gradually as new migrants arrived and local communities adapted over several centuries.
A study published in Science analyzed ancient DNA from...
New genetic research reveals a striking Etruscan paradox: the ancient civilization's genes shifted dramatically over the centuries, but its language did not. The findings come from a large study of ancient DNA led by Cosimo Posth of the Department...
A major ancient DNA study has revealed how thousands of years of migration, trade, and intermarriage shaped the population of Ningxia, a region in northwestern China that served as a key meeting point between East and West.
Researchers from Fudan...
Researchers have used ancient DNA from grape seeds to trace the origins of wine-making traditions that still shape modern viticulture, finding a direct genetic thread connecting an Etruscan settlement in Italy to wine regions across Europe today.
Oya Inanli of...
