Ancient DNA Hub
Find out how you are connected to ancient people and cultures through one of our DNA tests, available at www.ancientdnahub.com
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- Fascinating article about Korea's "sea women," the Haenyeo, who, in short, evolved to dive. www.dw.com/en/koreas-ha...
- Oral histories passed down by griots--west African storytellers--inspire archaeologists and lead to the discovery of the 500 year old Kingdom of Kaabu in modern Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. www.npr.org/sections/goa...
- Archaeologists learn tin from Cornwall spread throughout the Mediterranean more than 3000 years ago, "radically transform[ing]" understanding Britain role in the bronze age world. #AncientBlueSky www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
- The cult of Bastet may have lead to the domestication of cats...well, of the ones who weren't sacrificed. www.independent.co.uk/news/science...
- 200 year old notes from students found while renovating an old school in Maine. The notes show the student's social lives (a sort of old fashioned analog equivalent to snapchat...plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose) and funny doodles of their teachers. local12.com/news/offbeat...
- An illustration in a medieval manuscript looks like Yoda. The illustration--like the illustrations of giant snails and a rabbit decapitating a beheading an armless man--"Bear[] no direct relation to the text." #MedievalBlueSky www.openculture.com/2025/04/the-...
- Thousands of stone tools found in a cave in South Africa show us about the spread of ideas. Repetition of the same practices "at multiple sites across the landscape [tells us] that these people were sharing ideas with one another," says archaeologist Sara Watson. phys.org/news/2025-04...
- Prehistoric hunting kit found in Texas may be "the oldest intact weapon system found in North America." #PrehistoricBlueSky www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
- Recent discovery of a metal stamp presents a new theory on England's Sutton Hoo helmet. #AncientBlueSky www.gbnews.com/science/arch...
- What is thought to be the world's oldest story discovered in Indonesia. The rock art shows a hunting scene, but the human hunters have tails and snouts, giving insight into early human's imagination. #AncientBlueSky allthatsinteresting.com/indonesia-ol...
- Scientists brought the dire wolf back from extinction by editing the genes of their modern relatives. Here I am wondering how much more use I can get out of that Ian Malcolm quote. www.wired.com/story/scient...
- A look into King Tut's DNA reveals he may have died of malaria. #AncientEgypt #AncientBlueSky www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
- 23,000 year old footprint rewrites the story of the earliest humans in America. #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...
- The DNA of two ancient women of the Sahara shed light on the prehistory of North Africa. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- A chicken, but make it look like a dinosaur. Those scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. #DNA #Genetics scitechdaily.com/disrupting-a...
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- New study changes how we understand human's shift to farming, suggesting that humans weren't just "passive" participants responding to climate change but "played an active and crucial role in the transition." #AncientBlueSky phys.org/news/2025-03...
- A look into the ancient world of red tape, noting even the death of sheep in the far flung regions of the empire. Also shows the role of women in state offices in the Akkadian empire. #AncientBlueSky www.euronews.com/culture/2025...
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- Aqueduct in Slovakia is notable for being the oldest in the country and for a dog's pawprint on a brick. The print is more likely to have been made by a dog running across the clay as it dried than the stamp of it's manufacturer. #AncientBlueSky #AncientRome www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
- New cat fur color discovered! Scientists sequenced the genome of "salty licorice" colored cats and found a mutation to explain this new look. www.popularmechanics.com/science/a643...
- An exploration through the underground insula and aquaducts of Rome. Just don't accept any offers of amontillado. #AncientBlueSky #AncientRome www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/explo...
- Lost Arthurian manuscript discovered among Elizabethan property deeds was not on my BINGO card for 2025. #AncientBlueSky #KingArthur #Merlin www.bbc.com/future/artic...
- Mosaics of "dueling cupids" found in Teos, Turkey. The mosaics, along with an inscription, provide clues to the builders of the bouleuterion and suggest the building may have been earlier than previously thought. #AncientBlueSky #MosaicMonday www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
- Why are animals so funny looking in medieval texts? Because the illustrators had the same sense of humor that we do. #AncientBlueSky www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03...
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- The evolutionary purpose behind your cat's toe beans. These fatty, bouncy pads help them absorb shock when falling from heights and can detect differences in temperature. www.livescience.com/animals/cats...
- Ancient Greek and Roman statutes may have been perfumed. #AncientBlueSky allthatsinteresting.com/greco-roman-...
- 34 million years ago, iguanas traveled by "raft" (read: branches) from North America to Fiji, where they remain the only iguana population outside the Western Hemisphere. www.livescience.com/animals/liza...
- Why did early humans first make stone tools? "There is no reason to produce sharp stone tools unless the need to cut is already in place." So maybe knapping was our way of reproducing sharp stones found naturally, according to a new hypothesis. #AncientBlueSky phys.org/news/2025-03...
- Oldest evidence of "making biscuits" found in Jerusalem. Pottery pieces from the 9th century CE suggest a cat had kneaded the wet clay. #AncientBlueSky #Cats www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
- Gertrude of Nivelles (not to be confused with the other St. Gertrude) was venerated as a protector from mice and rats during the time of the plague. She may have been conflated with the Germanic goddess Frigg, who is sometimes depicted riding a cat.
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- Scientists put the "language gene" in mice and changed how they communicate, bringing us one step close to the rat society from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. www.iflscience.com/scientists-p...
- New study looking at how domesticated cats arrived in China. Shows they were gifts from European merchants and treated as "honored guests." #AncientBlueSky www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
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- The untold story of Rome's female gladiators. #AncientRome #AncientBlueSky www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...
- The earliest known evidence of human habitation in rainforests found in Africa, rewriting what we thought we knew about human adaptation to environments. scitechdaily.com/lost-in-the-... #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology
- More ruins of the Temple of Apollo Sosianus. #Archaeology #AncientRome
- Ruins of the Temple of Apollo Sosianus. #Archaeology #AncientRome
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- Early fire making evidence found in China, lending some archaeological evidence to Chinese legends: #archaeology www.jpost.com/archaeology/...
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- A clinician's house in Rimini, Italy teaches us about ancient Roman medicine. "Eutyches, a good man, lives here. Here are the miserable ones," reads graffiti in his home, presumably carved by a patient. www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
- Researchers in Uppsala are creating a digital model of the ancient city of Babylon based on archaeological findings and ancient texts. Learn more here: www.uu.se/en/departmen...
- New evidence of what may be the world's earliest use of iron found in India. #archaeology www.bbc.com/news/article...
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- New archaeological evidence suggests that the ancient people of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste may have mastered seafaring as long as 40,000 years ago, long before anyone else. #Archaeology #SoutheastAsia www.popularmechanics.com/science/arch...
- Italy's Castel del Monte is somewhat of a mystery. Why was it octagonal? Was its shape inspired by Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock? It's been used as a hunting lodge and a prison, but what was its intended purpose?
- What looks like a placid, cozy home from the 1700s actually has a somewhat gruesome history. In 1829, it's where a university student was found beaten to death by a friend. A tragic and frightening story, though it led the university to realize they needed to improve student life.
- Early labyrinths may have been designed to trap evil spirits (like Crete's Minotaur). In Christian usage (such as the labyrinth in the picture by a cathedral in Sweden), they may represent a spiritual path.
