An ancient token-based recording system from before the dawn of history was rendered obsolete by the birth of writing, according to popular wisdom. But now, latest excavations show that, in fact, these clay tokens were integral to administrative functions right across the Assyrian empire – millennia after this system was believed to have vanished.
The Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA) has been announced as one of the ten finalists for the prestigious Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2013. Celebrating the very best UK museums and galleries, it is the largest arts prize in the UK. The prize aims to reward and highlight innovation and creativity in bringing objects and collections to life.
Were dinosaurs really the most exciting and interesting creatures ever to roam the planet? Zoologist Nick Crumpton tells the Cambridge Science Festival that it’s high time other prehistoric animals stepped out from the shadows.
Research indicates the out-of-Africa spread of humans was dictated by the appearance of favourable climatic windows.
Ceramics found on the coast of the Adriatic attest to a hitherto unknown artistic culture which flourished during the last Ice Age, thousands of years before pottery was commonly used.
The traditional image of Neanderthals as gritty people who spent most of their time out hunting might not be entirely accurate, according to a new study revealing that they may have had to devote hours to daily subsistence tasks instead.
Our earliest ancestors may have started walking on two limbs instead of four in a bid to monopolise resources and to carry as much food as possible in one go, researchers have found.
Some of the earliest evidence of prehistoric architecture has been discovered in the Jordanian desert, providing archaeologists with a new perspective on how humans lived 20,000 years ago.
One of the most important later Bronze Age sites ever discovered in Britain is being excavated near Peterborough, providing a richly detailed, “3D” view of life around the year 1,000 BC.
An old lock of hair has enabled researchers to sequence the genome of an Aboriginal Australian, and show that modern Aboriginal Australians are direct descendants of the first people to arrive there.
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