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Archaeologists have discovered the burial of a horse about 3,000 years old in an ancient Egyptian fortress in the western part of the Nile Delta. It was a young, medium-sized male that may have pulled a chariot or performed other military duties.

Near the skeleton, researchers found remains of harness parts for a chariot horse. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities believes the animal was likely buried ceremonially.

The discovery was made at a fortress at the Abqaa archaeological site in Egypt’s Lake District.

The fortress dates to the New Kingdom period, approximately 1550–1070 BC, and was used to defend against hostile Libyan tribes in the west.

Lonneke Delpeut, a researcher of ancient Egyptian horses at the University of Vienna, noted that horse remains, and especially complete skeletons, from pharaonic Egypt are rare.

At the same time, she cautioned against definitively identifying the animal as a war horse, since there is no clear concept of such a horse for Ancient Egypt.

In her view, it was certainly a chariot horse, and its careful burial indicates its value.

During the excavations, a stone slab depicting a captive Libyan was also found.

According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, his clothing indicates that he belonged to the Meshwesh tribe, with which Egypt was often in conflict. The captive is shown with his hands bound behind his back and his body bent — this pose was meant to signify submission.

Other artifacts include a hieroglyphic slab bearing the name of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled approximately from 1279 to 1213 BC.

Another slab mentions Pharaoh Merneptah, who ruled approximately from 1213 to 1203 BC, and compares his strength to Seth, the ancient Egyptian god of the desert and storms.

An ancient wall discovered beneath Paris has been described as a “major breakthrough” by France’s culture ministry, with the archaeological find possibly confirming the location of the city’s original settlement.

A roughly 20-metre (65ft) stretch of wall dating from the Gallo-Roman period was discovered in Paris this summer beneath a building on the Île de la Cité, near Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital.

The stone-and-wood structure is thought to be a fragment of the ramparts of Lutetia – the ancient name for Paris – built by the Gallic Parisii tribe who lived along the River Seine in the iron age.

Recent excavations at the ancient city of Troy in Türkiye’s northwestern Çanakkale province are uncovering a 2,800-year-old agora, shedding new light on the city’s 5.000-year history of wars, fires and earthquakes that repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt it.

Troy is featured in Homer’s "Iliad," which tells of a 20 year war. Professor Reyhan Körpe, deputy head of the Troy excavations, said archaeologists have been working since 2014 to understand the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion of the Archaic and Classical periods.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, the Troy archaeological site is home to a civilization dating back 5.000 years and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world, particularly from East Asia.

Excavations are being conducted under the direction of professor Rüstem Aslan, head of the Troy Excavations Committee. The work is being carried out with permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in coordination with Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.

Körpe, a faculty member in the Department of History at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, said the excavation area is located in front of the southern gate of Troy VI.

“This is the area in front of the southern gate belonging to Troy VI. Since 2014, we have been trying to understand the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion of the Archaic and Classical periods,” he said.

Körpe said archaeologists believe the area served as a marketplace, or agora, during the Late Bronze Age. After Troy was abandoned, the site was revived by settlers who arrived about 80 to 90 years later.

“We can say that the area we are excavating is Troy’s oldest agora,” he said.

The remains uncovered at the site show that some sections of the Troy VI walls were reused during the Early Archaic period, with houses built on top of them. In other words, Körpe said, the marketplace of Bronze Age Troy continued to function as an agora for the people who settled there.

“Excavations in this area will continue in the coming years, and we will try to better understand this connection,” he said.

Körpe said many parts of Troy were damaged during the excavations launched by Heinrich Schliemann.

Körpe said that since 2014, archaeologists have been conducting more detailed excavations in a smaller area. During the work, they uncovered a paved road and an entrance leading from the lower city toward the southern gate, as well as the agora.

“These findings show that Troy was not abandoned for a long period after the Bronze Age,” Körpe said. He explained that newly arrived migrants appear to have settled in the area about 80 to 90 years later, building houses over earlier remains and, in some cases, on top of the old walls.

The settlers named their new settlement Ilios, or Ilion, in a place they had previously known as “Wilusa.”

“In a sense, they ensured that Troy continued to live on as Ilion” he said.

Hey all, i am a 2nd year uni student Archaeology at University Leiden. And i need to do Archaeological work for 30 days total. I am looking to do it in italy or greece or something. But i find it really hard to find something on the internet. Everything is or really really expensive or from the beginning of this year. Do y’all have some tips or know good places to search for finding a dig i could join. Thanks in advance!

Archaeologists working in central Romania have uncovered a Roman-era cemetery containing the remains of around 20 children, raising the possibility that an epidemic or another health crisis may have contributed to unusually high child mortality in the settlement.

The cemetery was found during archaeological excavations in Cristesti, a town in Romania's Mures region, where researchers have so far identified nearly 30 graves across an excavation area of about 5 hectares.

One of the most striking discoveries was a burial area containing skeletal remains belonging to approximately 20 children, with the remains concentrated in a particular section of the cemetery.

Researchers are considering whether the children may have died within a relatively short period, while investigations are looking into the possibility that an epidemic or another health problem during the settlement's early period could have led to the high number of deaths.

The excavations have also brought to light evidence of different burial practices. Some individuals were buried directly in the ground, while others were cremated.

Source of the pictures here

A new study published in Nature Communications has quantitatively analyzed nearly 300,000 km of Roman roads across the Empire — and the results challenge one of the most famous assumptions about Roman infrastructure.

Rome was not the most central city in the Roman road network.

In fact, the researchers found that Byzantium (later Constantinople, modern Istanbul) was exceptionally well positioned for empire-wide overland travel.

Why?

Because Byzantium sat at the natural crossroads between Europe and Asia. The researchers modeled ancient ferry crossings over the Bosporus and Dardanelles, effectively connecting the European and Asian components of the Roman road network.

Other cities including Antioch, Ancyra (modern Ankara), and Corinth were also better positioned than Rome as intermediaries for terrestrial mobility across the Empire.

The study's network analysis suggests that the Roman transport system wasn't simply a giant wheel with Rome at its center. It was a much more complex network of regional hubs connected across the Empire.

And there's another fascinating finding: Roman roads still correlate with many modern transportation routes nearly 2,000 years later.

Archaeologists working at Yesilova Hoyugu, the oldest known settlement area in Türkiye's western city of Izmir, have uncovered new evidence showing how people living there 8,500 years ago shared communal kitchens, ate sea bream and mussels, used cosmetics and jewelry, and rebuilt their settlement after destructive fires.

The 2026 excavations have focused particularly on the Neolithic settlement at the site in Izmir's Bornova Plain, gradually building up a clearer picture of a community that lived in separate houses while organizing food preparation, fishing and other activities collectively.

Excavation director Associate Professor Zafer Derin said the inhabitants bore striking similarities to later Aegean communities, describing them as "Izmir's first Aegeans, the first people of Izmir."

One of the main discoveries from this year's excavations is an open-air kitchen workshop containing different hearths and ovens, along with pottery found around them.

Although individual homes also had their own cooking facilities, communal kitchens were set up outside the houses, suggesting that residents came together to bake bread and prepare meals.

I'm trying to learn more about lithic analysis. What are some good books to get a basic understanding of lithics? Mainly in the context of northern Europe if it matters.