The sites appear to have been chosen for their proximity to fresh water – explaining why the statues appear inland as well as on the coast.

Priests ritually sacrificed their victims on one of the temple’s two circular altars, then flayed them on the other and draped themselves in their skin.

The citizens of the city, previously known mostly from ancient texts, appear to have been “remarkably affluent”.

Ancient Egyptians were serious cat people, if a discovery in a tomb near Cairo is any indication.

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that cave painting did not emerge only in Europe, as was once thought

Most of the scrolls and fragments are tightly controlled by the Israeli Antiquities Authority. But around 2002, a wave of new fragments began mysteriously appearing on the market, despite scepticism from Biblical scholars.

The burial site of the child who died 1,500 years ago was surrounded by other “deviant graves”

There was no immediate confirmation that Saga would be crowned ‘Queen of Sweden’, in an echo of the Arthurian legends of the sword in the stone and the lady of the lake.

Opponents of archaeological digs by the Russian Military History Society say they are trying to cover up Stalinist purges in a forest where thousands were executed.

Collection at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum includes a gold hat decorated with gems that was discovered in a Ming dynasty prince’s tomb and items from the shipwreck Nanhai No. 1.

A groundbreaking analysis of 5,000-year-old bone fragments show that the people buried at Stonehenge in southern England came from far away

Among the artefacts were mummy masks, fragments of cartonnages and embalmers’ tools, which could unlock secrets about the oils they used.

A century on from Peking Man, the discovery of fossils in China and beyond over the last decade has given palaeoanthropologists pause for thought, suggesting that, maybe, Africa was not the only ‘human cradle’

A discovery indicates a hominid presence outside Africa about 2.1 million years ago.

Footprints found in Shandong province suggest beats were social and travelled together, scientists say.

The site is located close to another where 140 youngsters were slain, but the most recent discovery may be even bigger

Radar scans have put to rest theories that the tomb of Queen Nefertiti might be located behind a secret wall in the king’s ancient tomb