news

The first genetic data from Palaeolithic human individuals in the UK - the oldest human DNA obtained from the British Isles so far - indicates the presence of two distinct groups that migrated to Britain at the end of the last ice age, according to new research. Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.

A team of archaeologists and geographers from The University of Manchester have discovered that hundreds of ancient animal and human footprints found on a beach in Merseyside record a major decline in large animal diversity in Ancient Britain. Their new research, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution , includes a new programme of radiocarbon dating which shows that the most species-rich footprint beds at Formby Point are much older than previously thought.

New insights into the history of South Africa's climate have been revealed. In a project that spanned seven years, the Tracing History Trust, with support from Cardiff University and Wits University, has digitised and transcribed the Dutch East India Company's day registers which were written between 1652 to 1791.

Historians show that Ukraine has been an important centre for scientific research over the past 150 years. Ukraine has also been at the heart of the struggle for scientific freedom. Understanding this history can help plan for the future of science in Ukraine. In a comment article in leading science journal, Nature , researchers at the University of Warwick highlight the long struggle for scientific freedom in Ukraine.

Research examining traces of parasites in the remains of medieval Cambridge residents suggests that local friars were almost twice as likely as ordinary working townspeople to have intestinal worms - despite monasteries of the period having far more sanitary facilities. One possibility is that the friars manured their vegetable gardens with human faeces Piers Mitchell A new analysis of remains from medieval Cambridge shows that local Augustinian friars were almost twice as likely as the city's general population to be infected by intestinal parasites.

Recent research regarding a dinosaur nicknamed April which previously called Manchester Museum home has revealed rare new findings. Scientists made the discovery of gastroliths (stomach stones) inside the Tenontosaurus which is unusually rare. This represents the second oldest occurrence of gastroliths in an ornithopod dinosaur and the first to be identified in a more derived ornithopod.

Distinctive and rare rock crystals were moved over long distances by Early Neolithic Brits and were used to mark their burial sites, according to groundbreaking new archaeological research. Evidence for the use of rock crystal - a rare type of perfectly transparent quartz which forms in large hexagonal gems - has occasionally been found at prehistoric sites in the British Isles, but little investigation has previously been done specifically into how the material was used and its potential significance.

Ancient genomes from the herpes virus that commonly causes lip sores - and currently infects some 3.7 billion people globally - have been uncovered and sequenced for the first time by an international team involving UCL scientists.

The hidden archaeological potential of nationally important heritage site Seaford Head has been uncovered through a project involving the UCL Institute of Archaeology. The pilot study involving researchers from Archaeology South-East (ASE), part of UCL Institute of Archaeology, aimed to investigate how an archaeological site at risk from climate change accelerated coastal erosion can be rapidly recorded and communicated to the public before it is lost.

A new study shows how the ancient world adapted to climate change A new study of the ancient world of Anatolia - now Turkey - shows how they adapted to climate change but offers a warning for today's climate emergency. The efforts of ancient populations to minimise the impacts of climate change were undermined during longer climate shifts when it is combined with other events such as pandemics, earthquakes and wars - findings the lead author says offer scary parallels to the modern day.

Were the bones of fallen Battle of Waterloo soldiers sold as fertiliser? Thousands of soldiers died on the Belgium battlefield yet very few human remains have been found. Now a new study by the University of Glasgow's Professor Tony Pollard suggests it is the most probable outcome of such a bloodied affair, but the archaeologist says it isn't quite a situation of 'case closed'.

Chickens were introduced to Britain, mainland Europe, and Northern Africa later than previously thought, and were primarily regarded as exotica not food, new research suggests. The study, led by Cardiff University and published in the journal Antiquity is one of two papers published today which together, transform our understanding of how humans' relationship with the popular poultry has evolved over time.

The fossil record, which documents the history of life on Earth, is heavily biased by influences such as colonialism, history and global economics, argues a new study involving palaeontologists at the University of Birmingham and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. The findings have significance across the field of palaeontology, but also for the ways in which researchers are able to use our knowledge of ancient fossil records to gain clearer, long term perspectives on Earth's biodiversity.

'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th- 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries. The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia.

'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th- 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries. The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia.

The biographies of eight crew found among the remains of the Tudor warship Mary Rose have been revealed using the latest archaeological methods. Cardiff University academics, in partnership with the Mary Rose Trust and the British Geological Survey, used cutting edge scientific techniques to reveal the ancestry, childhood origins and diets of some of the crew who perished on the ship in 1545 AD.

CT scanning used to uncover remnants of malignancy hidden inside medieval bones provides new insight into cancer prevalence in a pre-industrial world. We searched within the bone for signs of malignancy Piers Mitchell The first study to use x-rays and CT scans to detect evidence of cancer among the skeletal remains of a pre-industrial population suggests that between 9-14% of adults in medieval Britain had the disease at the time of their death.

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, with colleagues from Goethe University, Frankfurt, has found the first evidence for ancient honey hunting, locked inside pottery fragments from prehistoric West Africa, dating back some 3,500 years ago. Honeybees are an iconic species, being the world's most important pollinator of food crops.

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, with archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology, have found the first evidence of a religious diet locked inside pottery fragments excavated from the early medieval Jewish community of Oxford. Keeping kosher is one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining these dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life.

Scientists have used proteomic techniques to find evidence of vaginal fluid, along with honey and milk, on a rare manuscript from the late 15th century. There are suggestions that due to the dimensions of the object - long and narrow - they were worn like a chastity belt, to help support the pregnant women both physically and spiritually Sarah Fiddyment Researchers have found direct evidence that a 500-year-old manuscript was worn during childbirth by using "biomolecular analysis" to detect ancient proteins from cervico-vaginal fluid within the weave of the parchment.