Newly analyzed fossils from Antarctica may represent an extinct species of giant bird with a wingspan of more than 20 feet. By comparison the largest modern-day bird, the wandering albatross, has a wingspan of just 11 feet and six inches. Called pelagornithids, the ancient avians soared over Earth’s oceans more than 40 million years ago. … Read more
Have we been painting Henry VIII in the wrong light? Famous ‘unfeeling’ womaniser was left ‘heartbroken’ by his mother’s death and ‘wept’ at her bedside, unearthed drawing reveals Henry VIII was not unaffected by grief and left ‘heartbroken’ by mother’s death Captured ‘weeping’ at her bedside, according to new documentary about ruler Henry VIII, which … Read more
Small fossils have been unearthed in China that belonged to a monkey about 6.4 million years ago. The remains were found a southeastern Yunan Province mine, making them the oldest to be found outside of Africa. Researchers from Penn State University have obtained a heelbone and jawbone with teeth that are believed to have been … Read more
In centuries past, the River Thames became London’s sewer as industrial waste, human excrement and even murdered bodies were dumped into its murky waters. But along with the mounds of foul-smelling rubbish which caused the Great Stink of 1858, historical treasures have also sunk to the river’s depths. Simon Bourne, 39, has spent nine years … Read more
An ancient Roman villa — resplendent with beautifully preserved black-and-white mosaics — has been unearthed under a block of flats at the foot of the Aventine Hill. Archaeologists first exposed the remains of the home — a so-called ‘domus’ that would have belonged to members of the upper class — in Rome back in 2014. Hidden … Read more
Bizarre new species of toothless two-fingered dinosaur that looked like a giant parrot and lived 68 million years ago is unearthed in the Gobi Desert Researchers from Edinburgh have named the new species Oksoko avarsan It would have grown to around 6.5 feet in length and sported feathers and a beak Most members of its genus … Read more
A stone head carved around 700 years ago that is thought to depict King Edward II has been unearthed during a dig at the former site of Shaftesbury Abbey in Dorset. Archaeologists said that ‘stunning’ find may once have formed part of a previously unknown gallery of sculpture of Kings and Queens within the grand building. The statues, … Read more
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest is one of the two great military humiliations in the glittered history of the Roman Empire. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Roman soldiers and their commanders, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus, a general under the emperor Augustus, were destroyed by Germanic warriors in a series of guerrilla-style attacks. The soldiers … Read more
The complex grave of a Germanic lord or prince who lived 1,500 years ago during the Great Migration has been unearthed in Saxony-Anhalt, near Brücken-Hackpfüffel. Experts say the site is the country’s most important archaeological find for 40 years and have kept the exact location of the dig a secret to stave off thieves. Excavations got … Read more
An extraordinary 2,500-year-old grave of an ancient warrior couple has been found in Siberia. The pair are believed to have died in their 30s and were buried with a baby and an ‘elderly’ servant woman, archaeologists say. The elderly woman was likely in her 60s when she died and was entombed in a crumpled position under the … Read more