A new study compares the carved symbolism of Göbekli Tepe's Vulture Stone with ritual imagery from the Trypillia culture, suggesting that early farming societies in Anatolia and Eastern Europe may have shared cosmological ideas about time, death, sacred space and the movement of the heavens.

At Göbekli Tepe, the famous Vulture Stone has never been easy to read. Its carved birds, snakes, scorpion, abstract signs and headless human figure have inspired competing interpretations for decades. Was it a scene of death ritual, an astronomical code, a mythic narrative, or something more complex? A new study argues that the answer may not lie in choosing one explanation over another, but in seeing the pillar as part of a wider symbolic system linking architecture, timekeeping and cosmology across early farming societies.

A new reading of one of Göbekli Tepe's most debated pillars

The study, published in the International Journal of Culture and History by Oleksandr Zavalii, focuses on the cosmological aspects of Göbekli Tepe's T-shaped stelae and compares them with religious symbolism from the Trypillia culture of Ukraine. Its central claim is cautious but ambitious: the carvings at Göbekli Tepe may preserve not isolated symbols, but a structured sacred language involving solar cycles, lunar rhythms, animal imagery, geometry and sacred space.

Göbekli Tepe, dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, roughly 9600 to 8200 BCE, already occupies a special place in archaeology as one of the earliest known monumental ritual landscapes. Zavalii's paper revisits several pillars, especially Stele 43, known as the Vulture Stone, along with Steles 33, 18, 20 and 1. Rather than treating the carvings as decoration, the study reads them as components of a broader visual grammar.

On Stele 43, the upper register includes bird figures, three arch-like forms, a central circle, rectangular elements and H-shaped signs. The lower register contains animals more closely associated with the earth or underworld, including a scorpion, snake, boar, waterfowl and a headless human figure. Zavalii suggests that this division may reflect a two-level cosmos, with celestial imagery above and chthonic or mortal imagery below.

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

Elisenda of Montcada founded the Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes in 1327. She was buried there after her death in 1364. Culture Institute of Barcelona

When Elisenda of Montcada, the onetime queen of the Kingdom of Aragon, died in 1364, she was buried in a marble sepulcher in what is now Barcelona, Spain. One side of the tomb pays tribute to her royal status, while the other alludes to her later years as a devout widow living in a monastic community.

New research by Curtin University has revealed how one of Stonehenge's most mysterious stones was likely transported hundreds of kilometres across Britain through challenging terrain, highlighting the remarkable capabilities of ancient communities.

Stonehenge's central Altar Stone is a six-tonne sandstone megalith now believed to have originated in northeast Scotland, around 700km from Salisbury Plain, underscoring the extraordinary scale of its journey.

The new study builds on earlier findings that ruled out glaciers as the sole mechanism for moving the stones, strengthening the conclusion people were responsible for transporting them across difficult terrain rather than relying on natural Ice Age processes.

Researchers have now focused on what that journey may have looked like, combining mineral grain dating with ice-sheet modelling to pinpoint the stone's origin and test whether glaciers could have carried it south.

Co-lead author Dr Anthony Clarke, from the Timescales of Minerals Systems Group within Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the findings suggest the journey was far from simple and likely required careful planning across multiple stages.

"Rather than being carried naturally by ice, the evidence points to a deliberate, carefully planned movement across a challenging and varied landscape," Dr Clarke said.

Archaeologists investigating a prehistoric settlement in northeastern Romania have uncovered evidence from a massive communal building that could transform our understanding of how some of Europe's earliest large communities were organised more than 6,000 years ago.

The structure, discovered at the Cucuteni settlement of Stăuceni-Holm in Botoșani County, has been identified as a rare "mega-structure" - a type of oversized building believed to have played a central role in the social, political, or ritual life of prehistoric communities. Researchers argue that the discovery may also force a reassessment of the chronology of the Cucuteni culture, one of Europe's most sophisticated prehistoric societies.

The findings were published in PLOS One by a team led by Doris Mischka, Carsten Mischka, Adela Kovács, Constantin Aparaschivei and Elena Marinova.

From 2021 to 2024, archaeologists conducted geophysical surveys and field investigations at the site and found around 45 houses surrounded by a series of ditches and palisades. One structure in particular, amongst the similarly sized buildings, was immediately apparent. It was about 350 square metres in size, many times larger than the average houses of the settlement and stood at the centre of what looks like the main entrance.

Such buildings are called mega-structures and have long fascinated archaeologists looking at the Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex, which flourished between roughly 5000 and 3000 BC in modern-day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. These settlements are of such immense size, some so-called "mega-sites" containing thousands of houses and populations numbering in the tens of thousands. Yet for all their size, there has not been any evidence for rulers or palaces or clear social hierarchies.

Children from previous relationships growing up as siblings in a new family, couples adopting or fostering children - so-called patchwork families are a widespread way of life today. It is considered modern, but is in fact ancient. This is demonstrated by the latest analyses of human genetic material from the Neolithic period. "We can show that even more than 5,000 years ago, people in Central Europe lived in communities where biological ties and social bonds were surprisingly flexible," explains Professor Ben Krause-Kyora, an expert in ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at Kiel University. He coordinated the study, funded by the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence, which was published today in the renowned international journal Science.

Impressive and still a mystery

The Neolithic period marks a fundamental turning point in human history. For the first time, communities settled down and practised agriculture and livestock farming. Between 3600 and 2800 BCE, early farming communities in Central Europe also erected monumental architecture structures and burial chambers from massive stones, known as megalithic sites.

"Where they have survived, these structures continue to be impressive to this day. At the same time, this fascinating era still presents us with many mysteries. How did megalithic architecture spread across Europe? Was a specific population group responsible for this and did they spread the idea? Or was the concept of megaliths passed on from group to group? How far did the contacts between the individual communities extend? And who was actually buried in these tombs?", questions Professor Johannes Müller, prehistoric archaeologist at the Institute for Prehistory and Early History of Kiel University (CAU) and co-author of the study.

Archaeologists have uncovered a remarkably preserved terracotta head depicting a Greek theatrical mask inside the Crno Jezero (Black Lake) cave on the Pelješac Peninsula in Croatia.

Dating from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC, the hollow mask features a suspension hole at the top, suggesting it was once hung on a wall, likely as part of ritual activity associated with Dionysus, the Greek god of theatre and wine.

According to archaeologist Domagoj Perkić, head of the Archaeological Museum, the discovery raises intriguing questions about the cave's religious significance and the possible worship of Dionysus or an Illyrian equivalent deity.

"Thanks to their location in a hidden, intact part of the cave, the finds have remained intact and almost completely preserved, almost like a frozen image more than two thousand years old," said archaeologist Domagoj Perkić, head of the Archaeological Museum."

Research conducted in 2025 revealed that the cave served multiple purposes across different prehistoric periods. During the Bronze Age, particularly throughout the 2nd millennium BC, it appears to have functioned as a refuge or seasonal shelter. Later, from the Late Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age, it became a burial site used between approximately 1012 and 481 BC, according to radiocarbon dating of human remains.

Researchers have possibly discovered the earliest evidence of human cremation. The findings were made in the Afar Rift in Ethiopia, one of the best preserved open air archaeological concentrations of early Homo sapiens communities.
The latest discoveries by an international research team, which includes Academy Research Fellow Ferhat Kaya from the University of Oulu, offer a detailed view of how early humans lived, moved, and adapted to their environment 100,000 years ago. The group has been studying the Afar Rift since 1981.

Significant fossils were found in the area, including remains of Homo sapiens individuals, among them bones that had been burned at high temperatures. This may indicate cremation and could represent the earliest known evidence of human cremation.

The remains also showed bite marks from predators and signs of sudden burial.

The study further shows that local hydrological factors — such as the flood cycles of the ancient Awash River — influenced human life more than global climate fluctuations.

Thousands of stone tools indicate that people repeatedly returned to the area for short periods on a seasonally flooding plain.

Artifacts documented at the site have remained in nearly undisturbed layers, giving researchers an unusually precise understanding of the spatial relationships between objects and fossils across a wide area.

"This research helps us build a comprehensive understanding of how early Homo sapiens interacted with their environment. Our findings suggest that local water‑related factors and changes were more decisive than global climate variations," says Ferhat Kaya.

New research reveals that the 4,000-year-old city of Mohenjo-daro defied the 'rules' of history by becoming more equal as it became more successful.
For decades, historians have generally agreed that the progress of small villages as they evolved into cities came at the price of widening inequality. A small group of leaders, Kings and priests, would inevitably seize control of the wealth and the gap between rich and poor would grow.

But a new study at the University of York delves into the archaeology of Mohenjo-daro, the Indus civilisation's largest city, and shows the opposite was true. By analysing house sizes across the ancient city, researchers found that Mohenjo-daro was not only more equal than its neighbours in Mesopotamia and Greece, but it actually became more egalitarian over time.

Entirely different

The lead author, Dr Adam Green from the University of York's Department of Archaeology and Department of Environment and Geography, said: "Legacy data from the ancient city shows that as the city matured, the gap between the largest and smallest homes narrowed. In fact by its later years, the wealth gap in this massive urban centre had dropped to levels typical of the first farming villages.

"While ancient Egyptians were building pyramids for god-kings, and the Greeks were constructing massive palaces at Knossos, the people of the Indus were building something entirely different.

"Instead of gold-filled tombs and huge temples, Mohenjo-daro focused on sophisticated brick-lined drains and organised street layouts. Instead of allowing the perks of society to accumulate with a tiny elite, the city's amenities were widely distributed amongst the everyday households."

A damaged Neanderthal tooth from Siberia may contain the earliest known evidence of dental treatment, according to a study published in *PLOS One*.

Researchers examined a lower molar recovered from Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. The tooth, labelled Chagyrskaya 64, belonged to an adult Neanderthal who lived roughly 59,000 years ago.

What caught the attention of researchers was a large cavity cut deep into the chewing surface of the molar. After analysing the tooth under microscopes and carrying out CT scans and drilling experiments, the team concluded the hole was probably made deliberately using a sharp stone tool.

The cavity reaches into the pulp chamber and contains a series of grooves and microscopic scratches that the researchers say are difficult to explain through natural wear alone.

"The morphology of the depression suggests intensive dentin removal," the authors wrote, arguing that the work was likely aimed at exposing or clearing diseased tissue inside the tooth.

The molar already showed signs of severe decay. CT scans revealed areas of demineralised dentine extending through the crown and root canal system, consistent with advanced caries. The researchers argue that ordinary tooth wear could not have produced the unusual shape of the cavity, particularly its widened upper section.

To test how the marks may have formed, the team recreated the process on modern human molars using small jasper tools similar to those found in the cave's archaeological layers.

Rep. Joaquin Castro's recent letter calling on the Trump administration to acknowledge Israel's nuclear arsenal joins a long history of members of Congress addressing the taboo topic. It is now time to take action and end the official silence.

Last week, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led a Dear Colleague letter, signed by 30 Members of Congress, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding that the Trump administration be transparent about Israel's nuclear arsenal.

The letter forthrightly states that the "public record strongly and consistently supports the conclusion that Israel possesses nuclear weapons."