Finding the wreck of SS Iron Crown, lost underwater for more than 70 years, was the (relatively) easy part. It’s what we can learn from now on that’s the challenge.
Callao Cave on Luzon Island in The Philippines, where the fossils of Homo luzonensis were discovered.
Callao Cave Archaeology Project (Florent Détroit)
Reports say that a new species of ancient human has been identified in a cave in The Philippines. But only a few bone and teeth fossil fragments have been found, so far.
Richard ‘Bert’ Roberts, Vladimir Uliyanov and Maxim Kozlikin (clockwise from top) examining sediments in the East Chamber of Denisova Cave.
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Author provided
New studies reveal when the Denisovans and their Neanderthal cousins occupied a cave in southern Siberia. It’s the only site known to have been inhabited by them and by modern humans.
The Port Arthur historic site is beautiful today – but its isolation would have been overwhelming for former convict inhabitants.
Port Arthur Historic Site
When the remains of Aboriginal people who died more than a century ago were found, the local Aboriginal community wanted to know more about these past lives.
Paintings of human figures from East Kalimantan. NB: The human figures, originally mulberry-coloured, have been digitally traced over to enhance the art.
Pindi Setiawan
Jo McDonald, The University of Western Australia and Peter Veth, The University of Western Australia
They were looking to study rock art at a remote desert site but what they found showed people had been using the place almost since the first people arrived in Australia.
A line of protesters against the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota head to a unity rally on the west steps of the State Capitol in September 2016 in Denver.
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Development projects are claiming ancestral sites at alarming rates. This ineffective protection of Indigenous heritage is a violation of human rights.
The use of stone tools is evidence of technnological sophistication.
Shutterstock/iurii
Stone working is one of the most successful technologies used by humans, from 3.3 million years ago to the present day. So don’t think its “primitive”.
We don’t have the full skeleton of a Denisovan so we don’t really know what they looked like.
from www.shutterstock.com
Why is jewellery so important to the story of human evolution? Because it provides a public message – even to people we don’t know.
After the Civil War, Texas’s sugar cane plantations were still farmed by unpaid black laborers – prisoners forced to work for free in a system called ‘convict leasing.’
An African-American burial ground uncovered at a construction site in Texas has ignited debate on how to protect black history as suburban sprawl overtakes rural areas once farmed by enslaved workers.
Mephisto after its capture in France by the Australian 26th Battalion.
Queensland Museum
One hundred years after its capture from the battle fields of France, the last German battle tank of its kind is giving up its secrets to archeologists and forensic analysis.
It’s been 50 years since the find of burnt bones in ancient soil, eroded from deep in shoreline dune in NSW.
Jim Bowler
It’s been half a century since Jim Bowler discovered Mungo Lady, which changed the course of Australian history. But now he says the find has fallen off the national radar, leaving a legacy of shame.
Sunset looking across Port Warrender to the Mitchell Plateau on the Kimberley coast. It is in Wunambal Gaambera country.
Mark Jones Films (with permission)
The first people to make it to Australia could have navigated their way by sea crossing, reaching the north-west coastline of the island continent more than 50,000 years ago.
The battle for the Franklin River runs far deeper than simply providing the backdrop for a political tug-of-war.
PETER DOMBROVSKIS/ LIZ DOMBROVSKIS/AAP
Essays on Air: how archaeology helped save the Franklin River
The Conversation23.2 MB(download)
The battle to save the Franklin River - an exhilarating story of politics, cultural heritage and passionate environmentalism - captivated the nation in 1983.
Limestone ‘tower’ karst region of Maros in the south of Sulawesi, where Leang Burung 2 is located.
D.P. McGahan
Archaeologists have dug deeper at an old dig site on an Indonesian island, revealing more stone tools made by the ancient inhabitants of the place. But who they were remains a mystery.
The view from Indonesia’s Rote Island towards Australia.
Kasih Norman
There is plenty of debate over what route was taken by the first people to reach Australia. New research reveals a likely route through a now submerged chain of islands.
Centre for the Study for Christianity and Culture, University of York.
New archaeological research on Glastonbury Abbey pushes back the date for the earliest settlement of the site by 200 years – and reopens debate on Glastonbury’s origin myths.
Middle Palaeolithic artefacts emerged during excavation at Attirampakkam.
Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University