Flipboard 2025 Archaeology And Discoveries

Archaeologists in Bulgaria unearthed a significant historical treasure hidden in the sewer system below an ancient city—but its discovery is not what’s making history.

History is full of unsolved mysteries, but sometimes, new technology leads historians to answers. Here are some historical mysteries that we’ve recently figured out.

Archaeologists in Iceland have uncovered the oldest Viking longhouses ever discovered in the country, changing the timeline of Iceland’s earliest settlement.

Archaeologists have dug up a rare hoard of copper coins from the final stages of Jewish resistance against Roman rule, forlorn fragments of a people’s doomed last stand.

The coastline near Samikon rarely draws attention. Yet excavations showed that it hid a structure described only in fragments of ancient text. Recent discoveries changed everything, exposing foundations that match long-debated accounts about an architectural wonder.

Gold shaped power in ancient Egypt, and rulers used it to decorate temples, crown jewels, and statues meant to shine like the gods. As Egypt grew stronger during the New Kingdom, demand exploded. The deserts east of the Nile promised huge deposits, sparking state-driven searches.

Beneath the hills of northern Spain lies a site that continues to reshape our picture of early human life. At Atapuerca’s Gran Dolina cave, researchers of IPHES-CERCA recently uncovered a tiny cervical vertebra—just over an inch long—that had been buried for nearly 850,000 years. It belonged to a child no older than four, and the sharp cut marks etched across its surface revealed something unsettling: the child had been deliberately decapitated. This discovery adds powerful confirmation to a long-debated idea that early cannibalism in Western Europe may have been both systematic and tied to survival pressures.

A forgotten hilltop in the highlands of Guerrero in Mexico revealed something significant: a whole city uncovered through detailed surveying and systematic mapping. Researchers documented terraces that extended down the slopes and identified plazas used for community gatherings. Archaeologists also recorded perimeter walls, ceremonial platforms, and a ballcourt linked to political activity within the settlement. The combined evidence shows a well-organized center with long-term occupation. And anyone interested in ancient cities will find this discovery especially informative and historically valuable. Read on.

Researchers found rows of ancient wooden stakes beneath the waters off Grado, evidence of a constructed shoreline that no longer matches what you see today. The discovery shows how earlier communities shaped and defended this coast in ways now hidden. And the story only gets stranger from here—keep reading.

There’s a place in Southeast Asia where locals have whispered the same story for generations—about small, strange, "Hobbit Humans" living deep in the forests. Most people outside the region have never heard of it. Even fewer have taken the claims seriously. But a handful of researchers say the locals might be describing something far more extraordinary than anyone imagined.

A thrift-store shopper buys a pair of $25 jars only to discover they are rare Qing Dynasty imperial artifacts worth over $74,000. Explore the extraordinary journey of these forgotten treasures, the history behind their craftsmanship, and how a chance find became one of the most captivating archaeological stories of the year.