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History / Archeology - Innovation - 25.05.2022

Early urbanism found in the Amazon
Archaeologists reveal pre-Hispanic cities in Bolivia with laser technology LIDAR Several hundred settlements from the time between 500 and 1400 AD lie in the Bolivian Llanos de Mojos savannah and have fascinated archaeologists for years. Researchers from the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Bonn and the University of Exeter have now visualized the dimensions of the largest known settlement of the so-called Casarabe culture.

History / Archeology - 17.05.2022

Spectacular ceiling paintings discovered in the temple of Esna
German and Egyptian researchers have uncovered a series of colourful ceiling paintings in the temple of Esna in Upper Egypt. As Professor Christian Leitz of the University of Tübingen reported, the relief-like images of the central ceiling section are a total of 46 depictions of the Upper Egyptian crown goddess Nechbet and the Lower Egyptian crown goddess Wadjet.

History / Archeology - 17.05.2022

Spectacular ceiling frescoes discovered in the Temple of Khnum at Esna
In the Temple of Khnum at Esna, Upper Egypt, German and Egyptian researchers have uncovered a series of vibrantly-colored ceiling frescoes. The relief images in the central section of the ceiling, Professor Christian Leitz from the University of Tübingen reports, make up a total of 46 depictions of the Upper-Egyptian vulture goddess Nekhbet and the Lower-Egyptian serpent goddess Wadjet.

History / Archeology - Life Sciences - 03.05.2022

Spread of black rats was linked to human historical events
New research reveals how the black rat colonised Europe in the Roman and Medieval periods New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe - revealing that the rodent colonised the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods.

Environment - History / Archeology - 26.04.2022

Neanderthals of the North
A multidisciplinary research team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Leuphana University Lüneburg, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics and other partner institutions investigated whether Neanderthals were well adapted to life in the cold or preferred more temperate environmental conditions.

History / Archeology - Life Sciences - 01.04.2022

Origins of the Avars elucidated with ancient DNA
Multidisciplinary research team sheds light on the 1,400-year-old mystery about the genetic origins of the Avar elite Less known than Attila's Huns, the Avars were their more successful successors. They ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years. We know that they came from Central Asia in the sixth century CE, but ancient authors and modern historians debated their provenance.

Environment - History / Archeology - 01.02.2022

Reconstruction of the history of mankind Early human settlement on the Arabian Peninsula less influenced by climate than previously thought
Research team detects early Stone Age settlement during dry periods 210,000 years ago An international team of researchers from the Sharjah Archaeology Authority/United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Universities of Tübingen and Freiburg as well as Oxford Brookes/England led by Dr. Knut Bretzke from the University of Tübingen and Frank Preusser from the Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg has uncovered

History / Archeology - Social Sciences - 07.01.2022

Tracing the origins of human remains from colonial contexts
A scalp from Namibia and skulls from Tanzania and Papua New Guinea: these are examples of human remains from University of Jena collections that found their way to Germany during the colonial period. Extensive research has been necessary to uncover the precise origins and history of these human remains, as identification is nearly always difficult and labour-intensive.

History / Archeology - 28.10.2021

Team of archaeologists finds monumental antique temple: Münster researchers investigate a previously unknown sanctuary from the Roman era
Last summer, archaeologists from the University of Münster discovered a previously unknown sanctuary from the Roman era during excavation work in the ancient town of Doliche in south-eastern Turkey. Over a period of nine weeks, the team - headed by Prof. Engelbert Winter and Prof. Michael Blömer from the Asia Minor Research Centre -uncovered parts of a large temple notable not only for its size but also for its unusual form.

History / Archeology - 22.07.2021

Stone tool tells the story of Neanderthal hunting
65,000 years ago Neanderthal from the Swabian Jura hunted horses and reindeer with hafted leaf-shaped stone points. A newly discovered leaf point from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hohle Fels Cave documents the evolution of hunting. A team under the direction of Professor Nicholas Conard for the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment in southern Germany recovered the artifact underlying a layer dating to 65,000 years ago, which represents a minimum age for the find.

History / Archeology - 29.06.2021

Bronze Age: how the market began
researchers investigate the spread of weighing systems across Western Eurasia 4,000 years ago Knowing the weight of a commodity provides an objective way to value goods in the marketplace. But did a self-regulating market even exist in the Bronze Age? And what can weight systems tell us about this? A team of researchers from the University of Göttingen researched this by investigating the dissemination of weight systems throughout Western Eurasia.

Environment - History / Archeology - 21.06.2021

Environmental pollution as far back as antiquity: Finds in the ancient city of Jerash provide evidence of heavy metal contamination
Current research shows that environmental pollution is a phenomenon found not only in modern times. Even in ancient times people suffered from lead poisoning. The Romans widely used this heavy metal as a material for their water pipes and sometimes even for sweetening wine. There is a fair amount of evidence for the extent and the influence of this contamination, and its impact on the global atmosphere can be tracked on the basis of Arctic ice core analyses.

History / Archeology - Earth Sciences - 02.06.2021

Early Medieval Egyptian blue in laser light
Research team elucidates complex spectrum of trace compounds in the first artificial pigment of mankind Art technologist Dr. Petra Dariz and analytical chemist Dr. Thomas Schmid (School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof SALSA at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung BAM) identified Egyptian blue on a monochrome blue mural fragment, which was excavated in the church of St. Peter above Gratsch (South Tyrol, Northern Italy) in the 1970s.

History / Archeology - 25.05.2021

Researchers unearth oldest gold find in southwest Germany
Archaeologists working in the district of Tübingen in southwest Germany have discovered the region's earliest gold object to date. It is a spiral ring of gold wire unearthed in autumn 2020 from the grave of an Early Bronze Age woman. It is about 3,800 years old, according to analyses. Precious metal finds from this period are very rare in southwestern Germany.

History / Archeology - 05.05.2021

Scrap for cash before coins
Researchers including Göttingen University show Bronze Age witnessed revolution in small change across Europe How did people living in the Bronze Age manage their finances before money became widespread? Researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and Rome have discovered that bronze scrap found in hoards in Europe circulated as a currency.

History / Archeology - 14.04.2021

Revealing the routes of the Hanseatic era online
Research team led by University of Göttingen reconstructs late medieval trade routes digitally The Hanseatic League was a confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe, which came to dominate trade in the region for three hundred years. A digital platform has now been built which reveals the long-distance trade routes in Northern Europe between 1350 and 1650.

Earth Sciences - History / Archeology - 20.01.2021

New Data about the structure of the Pyramid of Cheops
An interview with Prof. Christian Große about his pyramid research Measuring a height of 139 meters (455 ft.), the largest of the three pyramids of Giza is one of the oldest edifices in the world. Yet, even after 4,500 years, this architectural masterpiece still leaves some questions unanswered.

Religions - History / Archeology - 23.11.2020

Early Christian fish: excavations provide insights into church construction
Archaeologists of the University of Münster have uncovered an early Christian basilica in south-eastern Turkey. The team of researchers led by Prof. Engelbert Winter spent eight weeks exposing richly ornamented mosaics with images of fish as well as painted marble reliefs. "These finds cast a new light on the development of church building in the Near East between the 4th and 7th centuries AD," explains Engelbert Winter, professor at the Minor Research Centre in the Department of Ancient History at the University of Münster.

History / Archeology - 09.07.2020

New method solves old mystery: Hafnium isotopes provide the key
For a long time, it was not possible to establish the precise origin of high-grade transparent glass from imperial Rome (3rd century CE) - glass which was used for example for vessels and as window glass. Historical sources strongly suggested that the glass originated in Egypt - on the basis of the term "Alexandrian" found in these sources - but this could not so far be confirmed.

History / Archeology - 25.05.2020

The Banner of Péronne - a political matter: Tenacious and clever
As journalists traditionally say: real-life stories are the best ones. In the case of Dr. Daniel Stracke, 46, an historian and research assistant, his real-life story presented itself in the corridor of the Institute of Comparative Urban History (Institut für vergleichende Städtegeschichte, IStG) at the University of Münster.