Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 4 000-year-old doll, thought to be the world's oldest toy, Milan's Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Thursday.
The doll's head, discovered during excavations on the southern island of Pantelleria, is about four centimetres long, with carved facial features and a curly head of hair.
Experts have dubbed the significant find the "Barbie of the Bronze Age".
"Tee hee! She's older than me! Like, 50 or something."
This could altar some views. . . . We have found Europe's earliest altar, say archaeologists
A recently unearthed sacrificial altar where ancient villagers left offerings to their gods may be up to 8,000-years-old, making it the oldest of its kind found in Europe, a Bulgarian archaeologist said today.
The altar was discovered earlier this week in a mound that contained many traces of Stone and Copper Age settlements near the village of Kapitan Dimitrievo, some 100 km. south-east of the capital, Sofia.
"The archaeological layer where the sacrificial altar was found dates back to 6,000 B.C.," said Vasil Nikolov, head of the excavation team.
Contract archaeology update Archaeologists excavating at site of Indian village
Archaeologists have begun excavating the site of an ancient Monongahela Indian village, digging up mussel shells, pottery shards, arrowheads and stone tools so far.
Team leader J.T. Sutton of KCI Technologies Inc. said the nine-member group is working under a contract with the developers of the Gateway Towne Center at the 1.5-acre site off state Route 705 and Stewartstown Road.
Already, the team has found what it believes were trash dumps and indications of a stockade fence, Sutton said.
Keep reading, it gets better Digging for history in Naujaat
And so a group of Inuit students, ranging from third-year university undergrads to Grade 10 high-schoolers, have converged on the small community of Naujaat (Repulse Bay) to share, learn and grow, brought together by the desire for new friendship, the need for new exciting memories, and the common goal of getting elbow-deep in dirt to help piece together the lifestyle of some of our 1,000-year-old ancestors.
Along with Erika Chemko of Inuit Heritage Trust in Iqaluit, Sue Rowley of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and three of Rowley's UBC archaeology students, the 11 Nunavut students, from places as far apart as Ottawa and Kugluktuk, are working together to gain a greater understanding of the way our Inuit ancestors survived before contact with Europeans.
The community of Repulse Bay was established just a few kilometres from a village first occupied by Inuit at least 1,300 years ago.
And we complain about 3 month field seasons. . . 20-year dig draws to an end
A 24-YEAR archaeological dig which has transformed Wales' view of the Iron Age is to be wound up.
The site at Castell Henllys, has become one of the largest and most important excavations in the UK since trowels first hit the soil near Newport, Pembrokeshire, in 1981.
For almost a century it has been known that the hillside was occupied by our ancestors but little was known about them or how they had lived.
Antiques Roadshow update
Fit for a Pharaoh: 'fake' vase is 5,000 years old
An Egyptian vase that for 30 years was dismissed as fake by experts, was yesterday revealed to be genuine - and older than the Pyramids.
Tests carried out at York University have revealed the vase to be from a very early Egyptian burial dating back more than 5,000 years.
Experts believe the vase may be one of the earliest depictions of an Egyptian burial on a ceramic vessel in the world.
And finally. . . Tombs ofAchaemenids unearthed in south Lebanon, more finds likely
Archaeologists said in Beirut on Wednesday that they have unearthed 10 giant stone tombs belonging to the era of Achaemenid rule over Lebanon near the southern city of Saida.
As'ad Seif, an archaeologist, told IRNA that the tombs dated back to 500 BC. He added that the tombs had been located inside a cave, and that each five of them had been covered by two round stone plates.
Seif also said several pieces of bones had been discovered in the graves.