As INRAP teams opened trenches in Marseille’s northern districts, the work initially looked like another routine intervention beneath busy streets. Layers of asphalt and industrial debris came away as expected, each tied to the city’s long expansion. But then a curious alignment appeared: evenly spaced pits forming a geometry too deliberate to ignore. What seemed like a minor irregularity expanded with every foot of soil removed. By the time the full pattern emerged, archaeologists realized they were no longer dealing with isolated traces. They were facing the layout of a Greek-era vineyard positioned 1.2 miles beyond ancient Massalia.

Beneath a quiet stretch of Arctic land lies a scientific effort that pushed technology to its breaking point. The Kola Superdeep Borehole exposed unexpected heat and geological surprises that challenged decades of assumptions, leaving behind unanswered questions.

Americans and Canadians seem culturally similar—but legally, they might as well be different planets. Many everyday habits that feel perfectly normal in the U.S. can actually be illegal north of the border. Here are the surprising things Americans do without thinking that could get them in trouble in Canada.

At first glance, Wuwangdun seemed like another quiet rise in the land outside Huainan in China’s Anhui province. However, archaeologists had suspected for years that something monumental sat under the soil. When work finally began in earnest, those suspicions turned out to be right. Beneath layers of earth and centuries of shifting area lay one of the largest and best preserved Chu-state tombs ever found, complete with chariot pits, lacquerware, and enormous wooden structures built for someone who clearly held elite status. What researchers uncovered opened an unexpected window into a kingdom that flourished more than 2,200 years ago.

A new discovery in Turkey opens the possibility that human societies developed complex ritual practices far earlier than we ever previously thought.

Mass tourism has turned once-pristine destinations into overcrowded nightmares, while some extraordinary places remain relatively unknown. For all globe-trotters, here is a list of 22 skips and 22 must-sees for your bucket list.