Ancient World

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An ancient timber structure dug up near the River Thames might have helped people keep their feet dry as they ventured across soggy marshes in search of food, archaeologists say.

August 17, 2009
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A discovery of heat-treated arrowheads and blades suggests people used fire for tools 50,000 years earlier than thought, possibly ushering in the age of truly modern humans.

August 13, 2009
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Rich with marble and mosaics, a vast, newfound ruin near Rome is likely the 2,000-year-old birthplace of Emperor Vespasian, who commissioned the Colosseum, archaeologists say. Video.

August 12, 2009
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The tasty Tasman booby was hunted to extinction centuries ago. Or was it? New DNA evidence says the bird's been living a secret life as ... the masked booby.

August 11, 2009
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Contrary to depictions in films, in books, and with plastic toys on the living room rug, dinosaur predators more often picked off vulnerable and inexperienced juveniles, a new study says.

August 11, 2009
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An ancient bronze figure that was underwater for 2,000 years is offering new clues to how some marine creatures absorb metals to create hard shells, scientists say.

August 7, 2009
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A modern-day walking bat in New Zealand did not evolve its unusual habit, but instead retained it from an ancestor, a new fossil found in Australia shows.

August 7, 2009
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Two spiders sported adaptations that helped them survive the brutal beginnings of earthly life, new 3-D imaging shows.

August 6, 2009
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New analysis of a well-preserved pterosaur fossil has revealed that the creature had uniquely complex wing membranes and a covering of fibers quite different from modern mammal hair.

August 4, 2009
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Using aerial pictures of crop fields near Venice, researchers have made a detailed map of the buried Roman port of Altinum, revealing the remains of city walls, a network of streets and canals, homes, and even monuments such as an amphitheater and a basilica.

July 30, 2009
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Using aerial pictures of crop markings, scientists are painting a first detailed picture of the buried Roman city of Altinum, which some scholars think helped give rise to nearby Venice.

July 30, 2009
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Naked, beheaded, and tangled, the bodies of 51 young men—their heads stacked neatly to the side—have been found in a thousand-year-old pit in England.

July 28, 2009
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Vast amounts of a mineral that doesn't form in seawater surround some of the earliest known animal fossils, suggesting that complex life arose in salty, alkaline lakes.

July 28, 2009
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Like a Paleolithic edition of CSI, scientists wounded pig carcasses to replicate a Neanderthal man's death and found that a weapon used only by modern humans likely inflicted the fatal blow.

July 22, 2009
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Pygmy mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and some of the earliest Americans may have been killed off by climate change sparked by a cosmic bombardment 12,900 years ago, a new study suggests.

July 21, 2009

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