A new technique developed by an international team allowed to trace the remains of groups of hominids in sediments even in caves or in strata which have no skeletal remains. the researchers analysed 85 samples of sediments from the Pleistocene, between 550000 and 14000 years ago, from eight Eurasian caves, including El Sidrón (Spain) and Denisova Cave (Russia).
First biological analysis of ancient terracotta figurines found at Yikpabongo in Northern Ghana’s Koma Land between 2010-2011 revealed that they were created by an unknown African civilisation. The figurines depict ancestral figures and animals.
An intact Viking boat burial was discovered in the Ardnamurchan peninsula, Western Scotland in 2011, and the results of its excavations were just published. This is the first boat burial from mainland UK ever found.
Underwater archaeologists discovered a human skeleton at the wreckage site of the ancient ship that carried the clockwork device known as the Antykithera mechanism. The individual found at the 2000-year-old wreckage, off the shore of the Greek island of Antykithera, might reveal first DNA from an ancient shipwreck victim.
Excavations in the Kolegiacki square in Poznań (Western Poland) revealed a burial with trepanation marks on the skeleton’s head. The remains, dated to 17th century may be one of the oldest known signs of such surgical techniques in Poland, as another well studied find of such marks is dated back to 1613.