Archaeology & Arts

Τhe Romans in the countryside...

This volume, containing 30 chapters by leading scholars, leverages recent methodological advancements and new interpretative frameworks to provide a holistic, empire-wide view of the importance of Roman rural areas to the success of ancient Rome.

Roman Rural Archaeology This volume provides a holistic view, with an empire-wide reach, of the importance of Roman rural areas in the success of ancient Rome.

Rediscovering Homer: The Human Experience in the Odyssey and the Iliad.

Michael Cosmopoulos approaches the Homeric poems not as remote works of literature but as a living record of human experience shaped by war, loss, memory, and survival.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/23/rediscovering-homer/

New sections of the 26th Dynasty Old Qasr Temple at Bahariya help confirm the site's development during the reigns of Pharaohs Psamtik I, Wahibre (Apries), and Ahmose II (Amasis), while the site itself was controlled by the Egyptian state since at least the reign of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/22/new-architectural-elements-uncovered-at-the-old-qasr-temple/

First confirmed same-sex medieval burial in Poland

The remains of two unrelated women buried together in a medieval grave have been found in Poland, in what archaeologists say is the first genetically confirmed same-sex medieval burial in the country.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/22/first-confirmed-same-sex-medieval-burial-in-poland/

Discoveries in Minya redraw the evolution of ancient Egyptian tombs

During excavation work at Gebel (or Jabal) El-Teir in Minya Governorate, an Egyptian SCA mission uncovered two tombs dating to the Early Dynastic Period, as well as several burials from the Predynastic and Late Periods. Preliminary studies reveal striking similarities between the design of the newly discovered early dynastic tombs and that of the famous tomb of King Den at Abydos, while one of the tombs displays elements that can be linked with the architectural evolution that eventually led to the construction of the step pyramid in Saqqara.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/22/two-early-dynastic-tombs-found-in-at-gebel-el-teir-in-minya/

A new study reconstructs the earliest known plague genomes and, for the first time, shows that early forms of plague caused deadly outbreaks.

Oldest strains of plague caused deadly outbreaks 5,500 years ago A new study reconstructs the earliest known plague genomes and for the first time shows that early forms of plague caused deadly outbreaks.

Mystery of shipwreck holding 400 gold coins finally solved

A new publication identifies the shipwreck discovered off the south coast of England, full of gold coins, that a team of divers and researchers has worked to identify for almost 30 years. According to experts from the British Museum, Bournemouth University (BU), and the South West Maritime Archaeology Group, the ship was identified as the “Dom van Keulen,” which left Morocco for the Netherlands in the autumn of 1633, loaded with gum arabic, saltpeter, goat skins, and "9,000 Barbary ducats, gold Moroccan coins". Most of the cargo seems to have been recovered from the wreck, save for the 400 gold coins, which were left behind and only found thirty years ago.
Research has been published in a book, available with open access online (first comment)
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/19/mystery-of-shipwreck-holding-400-gold-coins-finally-solved/

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra among sites damaged following Russian attack

Due to a large-scale Russian attack, cultural heritage sites, infrastructure, and institutions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro were damaged.
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/17/the-kyiv-pechersk-lavra-and-other-sites-have-been-damaged/

The Global Thucydides database is online

A tool in support of the first comprehensive mapping of Thucydides' receptions on a global scale.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/16/the-global-thucydides-database-is-online/

Can we approach the identities of the people of the past? Researchers can investigate what people ate, where they grew up, and how their bodies were affected by disease, diet, work, and inequality. But is this enough to construct their identity?
Let's find out more through a new study edited by Annamaria Diana, Daniela Marcu-Istrate & Alice Toso, in which identity is approached not only as a big dataset of what remains but also of what has been concealed or hidden.

Human Identities in the Archaeological Record. Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Modern Period (2026), is available from Bloomsbury Academic.
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2026/06/15/human-identities-in-the-archaeological-record/