Brazil

Circles of mystery: Strange ancient earthworks in Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest

Hundreds of enigmatic earthworks lay hidden for millennia beneath what was thought to be virgin rainforest. Who built them, and why? In…

Inside Lapa do Santo, excavations are revealing the complex burial practices of an early Archaic community. André Strauss tells CWA about the…

Shaped from the clays of the Amazon estuary, the elaborately decorated red, white, and black ceramics of the Marajó culture are a…

Stories about lost jungle civilizations are normally the staple of adventure films or the lunatic fringe. Now fiction has become reality with…

The compelling rock art of north-eastern Brazil explored. But how might it redraft the story of early human migration…

Two hearths, three postholes, and a fragment from a nautical instrument: could this be the shelter of Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson…

Far from the Amazon being virgin forest, it once supported a network of densely populated towns, according to Prof. Mike Heckenberger, from…

Latest news from our sister site the-past.com

Enigmatic Roman building complex discovered at Scarborough
Current theories suggest that it could be a villa or possibly a religious sanctuary, but it probably will not be until post-excavation analysis is complete that a more definitive idea of the site’s use will be determined.
Highlights of the latest Treasure Report
The most recent Treasure Annual Report, which covers finds made in 2018, has been released by the British Museum. In total, 1,094 cases were reported as Treasure for that year, comprising over 20,906 individual artefacts. Of those reported, 347 have since been acquired by over 100 different museums across the country, and the vast majority of these (93%) were acquired by museums local to the findspot. Coinciding with the report’s launch, the British Museum announced some star discoveries among recent Treasure finds. One of the most unusual and quirky finds was a medieval ‘snail man’ mount (above) found near Pontefract
Neolithic salt production at Street House?
Many of these characteristics bear a close resemblance to other salt-production sites in Britain from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and are features in common with known Neolithic salterns from the Continent.
Connecting the dots: analysing skeletal remains with limited context
Overall, these results seem to be consistent with lay individuals who may have entered into a monastic life as children and subsequently gained access to a higher-status diet.