Why does Hierakonpolis, ancient Egypt's earliest city, contain tombs for baboons, elephants, cows, dogs, and cats? Archaeologists are uncovering answers.

In a discovery worthy of a Dan Brown novel, archaeologists in Jerusalem say they've found an ancient ritual cup with an intentionally cryptic message.

New genetic analysis bolsters the theory that wolves were first domesticated in East Asia, a new study says—and it's possible the canines were tamed to be livestock, not pets.

Living apart from the natives, the first farmers in Europe were skilled immigrants from far-off farming cultures, a new study says.

Just like modern-day starlings, some 40-million-year-old birds had glossy black feathers, according to the first fossil discovery of feather iridescence.

In underground passageways that snake underneath the French capital, nearly six million people who died of disease in the Middle Ages share a final resting place.

A long-legged mammal, a sharp-toothed rodent, and an iridescent beetle are among the more than 6,500 fossils recently unearthed in Germany's Messel Pit, where creatures trapped in 47-million-year-old shale have been helping scientists better understand life during the Eocene epoch.

Caught in the act in the dinosaur age, pterosaur feet left behind footprints that show a hopping, birdlike landing, say discoverers of the first known pterosaur landing tracks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.