Monte Albán: The Zapotec City Built on a Flattened Mountain
Monte Albán’s terraces, plaza, tombs and waterworks show how Zapotec builders reshaped a mountain into a capital. The city’s role changed over 1,500 years.
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Ivan Petricevic
Ivan Petricevic is an investigative journalist and researcher with more than a decade of experience covering ancient history, UAP phenomena, space, and science. He writes about space, science, and history for Večernji list and has appeared as an expert on Discovery Channel and History Channel. He founded Curiosmos, where he reports from primary sources, archaeological research, and field investigations.
Inca Stonework: How Cusco’s Builders Fitted the Andes into Their Walls
Inca masons shaped local stone one block at a time. Quarry evidence and unfinished walls help archaeologists reconstruct how they built, moved and fitted the stones.
Salango’s “Skull Helmets”: Two Infant Burials from Ancient Ecuador
Two infants buried at Salango around 100 BC had older children’s crania placed around their heads. Archaeologists documented the unusual ritual but cannot yet say why it was done.
Drought May Have Strained Assyria Before Nineveh Fell
A cave record from northern Iraq suggests that drought narrowed the Neo-Assyrian Empire’s food supply before its capital fell in 612 BC. It adds climate context to a collapse already shaped by war and political conflict.
Zhang Heng’s Seismoscope: The Han-Era Device That Pointed Toward an Earthquake
A Han-dynasty account describes Zhang Heng’s bronze seismoscope releasing a ball to indicate the direction of an earthquake. Modern replicas explore how the mechanism may have worked.
Euboea’s Dragon Houses: The Ruins Behind the Greek Legend
On Euboea, massive dry-stone buildings carry a name linked to dragons. Recent excavations date activity at some sites and offer clues to their use.
80 Ancient Grape Seeds Trace Tuscany’s Wine Through Roman Rule
A 2026 study examined 80 grape seeds from Tuscan wells. Their DNA connects Etruscan and Roman vines with later varieties, while leaving wine recipes to other evidence.
Newgrange’s Winter Solstice Beam Reaches a Neolithic Burial Chamber
Newgrange’s roof box admits the low midwinter sun, sending a brief beam down the passage of a 5,000-year-old burial monument.
The Strange Faces of Vinča’s Neolithic Clay Figurines
More than 6,000 years old, Vinča’s clay figurines show carefully shaped faces and bodies. Their archaeological settings offer clues to how people used them.
Arthur’s Seat’s 17 Miniature Coffins Still Have No Known Maker
Found on Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat in 1836, the tiny coffins contain wooden figures and clues to a skilled maker. Their purpose remains debated.
Tel Burna and Libnah: Archaeologists Test a Biblical Identification
Tel Burna overlooks routes through the Judean Shephelah and preserves Bronze and Iron Age remains. Its fortifications fit a strategic town, but no inscription names it Libnah.
Angkor’s Water Network Fed a Vast City Hidden in the Forest
Reservoirs, canals and ponds helped support Angkor’s cities. Lidar surveys are revealing how the Khmer water network stretched beyond the famous temples.
Pavlopetri: Mapping the Bronze Age Town Beneath Greece’s Coast
Under a few metres of water off southern Greece, straight lines cross the seabed and low walls outline rooms. They are the remains of Pavlopetri, a Bronze Age settlement in…
Locmariaquer’s 280-Ton Menhir: How Neolithic Builders Raised It
Four enormous fragments lie near the Breton coast where the Grand Menhir once stood. The original stone was about 20 metres long and weighed an estimated 280 tonnes. Neolithic builders…
What Happened at Jebel Sahaba 13,000 Years Ago?
Jebel Sahaba, also known as Site 117, was excavated in the 1960s in what is now northern Sudan. The cemetery contained the remains of 61 people, including children. Many had…
Cíbola: How a Golden-City Legend Led Coronado Across North America
In 1540, a Spanish expedition set out toward seven cities said to glitter with gold. The name attached to them was Cíbola. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado crossed deserts, river valleys…
Is Dighton Rock Really a Phoenician Inscription?
Is Dighton Rock really a Phoenician inscription? The evidence points to an Indigenous petroglyph site—and a long history of misreading it.
Why Has Rongorongo Never Been Deciphered?
Why has the Rongorongo script never been deciphered? A small Rapa Nui corpus, lost context and new dating explain what researchers know—and what they cannot read.
Why Were Achaemenid Kings Buried High in the Rock?
Why were Achaemenid kings buried high in the rock? The tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam reveal how Persian rulers used cliffs, inscriptions and royal imagery.
What Were Poland’s 7,000-Year-Old Rondels For?
Archaeologists have found roughly twenty Neolithic rondels in Poland. Their circular ditches and palisades reveal organised communities, but their exact purpose remains open to evidence.
What Counts as Writing—and Why the “First” Script Is Hard to Name
What counts as writing? Compare Uruk tablets, Egyptian signs and Jiahu marks—and see why the earliest script is hard to name.
What Can the Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca Head Actually Prove?
A terracotta head from Calixtlahuaca has been called Roman. What do its date, style and incomplete excavation record actually show about pre-Columbian contact?
Why Did the Last Woolly Mammoths Survive on Wrangel Island?
The last woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island thousands of years after the mainland herds vanished. Ancient DNA reveals a severe bottleneck, a long recovery and a final extinction that remains unresolved.
How Did Prehistoric Hunters Trap Mammoths Near Mexico City?
What do the mammoth traps at Tultepec reveal? INAH and UNAM evidence shows how pits, bones and lake sediments illuminate prehistoric hunting in Mexico.