Researchers analysing the DNA of members of Europe’s first literate Bronze Age societies of Minoans (c. 2600 to 1100 BC) and Mycenaeans (c. 1700 to 1050 BC), revealed the origins of these populations. It turned out that ancestors of both civilisations were populations from Neolithic Western Anatolia and Greece, and that Minoans had deep roots in the Aegean.
As government forces drive ISIS terrorists out of Mosul and nearby Nimrud the scale of destruction to one of Iraq’s greatest archaeological treasures comes to light. Once magnificent masterpieces of art are now broken into pieces and bulldozed flat. Moreover, the crippled Mosul Dam threatens to flood vast populated areas filled with archaeological sites with water from the Tigris river.
Due to diplomatic tension between Turkey and Austria this year’s archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Ephesus, carried out by the Austrian Archaeology Institute have been cancelled by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.