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Courtesy Professor Chenyang Cai
Stunning fossil trapped in amber reveals previously unknown species that lived during the time of dinosaurs
A nearly 100 million-year-old firefly fossilized in amber sheds light on how the bioluminescent insects evolved during the time of dinosaurs, a new study finds.

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Using drone-borne light detection and ranging equipment, archaeologists have mapped two abandoned cities in the mountains of Uzbekistan.
Michael Frachetti
Lost Silk Road cities mapped using remote sensing
Hoard of silver coins dating from Norman Conquest is Britain’s most valuable treasure find ever
A giant meteorite boiled the oceans 3.2 billion years ago. Scientists say it was a ‘fertilizer bomb’ for life
World’s largest arthropod lived 300 million years ago. Now, fossils show what it really looked like
Secret tomb found under ‘Indiana Jones’ filming location in Petra
Human foot found on Everest may hold key to one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries
‘It went horribly wrong’: DNA analysis sheds light on lost Arctic expedition’s grisly end
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Guy Eisner
Lost biblical plant with medicinal properties resurrected from 1,000-year-old seed
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Yamagata University Institute of Nasca
AI helps uncover hundreds of unknown ancient symbols hidden in Peru’s Nazca Desert
Panoramic view of the treeless Falkands landscape which was once a rainforest.
Zoë Thomas/University of Southampton
Scientists discover hidden ancient forest on treeless island
An illustration of the now-extinct woolly rhino.
Florilegius/Universal Images Group Editorial/Getty Images
Woolly rhino found preserved in Russian permafrost after 32,000 years

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by Shutterstock (515009di) The skull of a newly discovered species of human - Homo Floresiensis. Believed to be living 18,000 years ago, barely a metre tall with a skull the size of a grapefruit. The partial skeleton was discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores - 27 Oct 2004 VARIOUS
Shutterstock
The remarkable fossil that radically changed our understanding of the human story
Sue the T. rex strikes a pose in its old location at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. (Antonio Perez /Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Getty Images
What is a mass extinction, and why do scientists think we’re in the middle of one?
DTGN0M Megalosaurus jaw
Natural History Museum/Alamy Stock Photo
Megalosaurus, the first ever dinosaur discovery
Babylonian clay model showing a nude couple engaged in kissing. Date: 1800 BC
The Trustees of the British Museum
Humanity’s earliest recorded kiss adds new twist to the history of locking lips

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A photo of one of the mummies from the Xiaohe cemetery, with the kefir samples scattered around the neck of the mummy.
Wenying Li
DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese sequenced by scientists
Excavations in the battlefield horizon of Weltzin 20, Tollense Valley
S. Sauer
Thousands of bones and hundreds of weapons reveal grisly insights into a 3,250-year-old battle
The sword is engraved with the name of Ramses II in hieroglyphics.
Egypt Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Ancient remains of Egyptian army barracks and a bronze sword unearthed by archaeologists
(240409) -- EASTER ISLAND, April 9, 2024 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on April 5, 2024 shows a Moai stone statue on Easter island of Chile. Easter Island, known for its giant stone-carved heads facing out to sea, is located at the southernmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in the South Pacific, and is considered one of the world's remotest inhabited regions. (Xinhua/Zhu Yubo) (Photo by Xinhua/Sipa USA)
Zhu Yubo/Xinhua/Sipa USA
New evidence upends contentious Easter Island theory, scientists say
WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 07: The ancient neolithic monument of Stonehenge near Amesbury is viewed from a hot air balloon on September 7, 2016 in Wiltshire, England. To mark the 30th anniversary of Stonehenge becoming a World Heritage Site, English Heritage has launched a competition offering members of the public the chance of a hot balloon ride which allows the chance to see a unique view of Stonehenge within in a wider prehistoric landscape but also the see the recent changes to its setting in recent years including the removal of the A344 and the old car park. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
The search for the origin of Stonehenge’s mysterious Altar Stone intensifies
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Paul Wignall
The Great Dying once wiped out 90% of life on Earth. A new theory may explain why
Discovery of Thorin in Grotte Mandrin.
Courtesy Ludovic Slimak
Cave discovery in France may explain why Neanderthals disappeared, scientists say
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Terryl Whitlatch
Fossils reveal that some pterosaurs soared like vultures, while others flapped their wings
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University of Aberdeen
‘Enthusiastic amateur’ finds ‘remarkable’ Pictish ring buried for more than 1,000 years
This image, taken in July, shows the bow of the Titanic with a large section of the deck railing now missing.
RMS Titanic Inc./AP
New Titanic photos show major decay to legendary wreck
Bogdan Onac submerged bridge study 2 (Cova den Besso Pont vertical).jpg
R. Landreth
Ancient humans built a bridge inside a cave on Mallorca nearly 6,000 years ago
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Jaime Bran Sarmiento
Prehistoric sea cow was eaten by a croc and a shark, newly discovered fossil reveals
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Southern Methodist University
Matching sets of dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean
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• Video 1:54
Kirk Murray
University of Iowa
Video Archaeologists look for human link after unearthing giant fossil 1:54
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Miguel Ángel Blanco de la Rubia
Neolithic engineers built megalithic monument with stones that weighed as much as two jumbo jets
Circa 1610, English born colonial administrator Baron Thomas West De La Warr (1577 - 1618). (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)
MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Long-hidden family scandal in Jamestown colony revealed 400 years later by ancient DNA