But overall, machine learning approach closely matches what human scholars had long suspected about ancient documents

Farzin Yezishne, a Zoroastrian mobed (priest), performs a blessing ceremony at a home in Karachi, Pakistan. He wears a veil to protect the purity of the fire. Photograph by Matthieu Paley Early one morning last December, Aaria Boomla rose from her…

Ahmed Ibrahim Alkhair (at far left), wrapped in the first flag of independent Sudan, and Awab Osman Aliabdo, with the current flag, take in the view from Jabal Barkal. Sudan’s 2019 revolution ousted its Islamist dictator and stirred hopes for…

Believers call him the Son of God. Skeptics dismiss him as legend. Now, researchers digging in the Holy Land are sifting fact from fiction. Worshippers in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre surround the restored Edicule, a shrine that Christian…

Archaeologists, law officers, and search-and-rescue personnel execute the risky emergency recovery of 17th-century shipwreck timbers from the Oregon coast earlier this week. They are believed to belong to the Santo Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon…

Named after the teenage pharaoh, this four-legged celebrity faced his own struggles at the center of a very modern empire. As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the…

"Samurai" cat armor by Jeff de Boer features vanquished mice on the helmet and tailpiece. "Armor is political and militaristic, but also used in parade and pageantry," says the artist about his fascination with armor. "The purpose and reason for it…

First thought to belong to an English lady-in-waiting, the lavish silk clothing from a 17th-century Dutch vessel is just one of many mysteries surrounding the last voyage of the Palmwood Wreck. Years of research have raised more questions than…

The 2,300-year-old royal tomb of a Kushite king appears nearly untouched—and submerged in rising groundwater. What’s an archaeologist to do? With more than 20 ancient pyramids sprawling across 170 acres of Sudanese desert, Nuri is perhaps the most…

Several unique factors play into the ongoing rescue efforts for the five-passenger submersible Titan. The Oceangate submersible Titan has been missing near the Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic since early Sunday morning. There are a number of…

<p>A technician uses ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to search for voids behind the west wall of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. The 2018 investigation was coordinated by specialists from the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy.</p> The third radar scan…

The rare discovery was greeted with excitement but revived strong concern about the authenticity of these mysterious Neolithic artifacts. With their vacant eyes and enigmatic, toothy expressions, the 9,000-year-old stone masks from the area around…

Construction materials date to Roman times, suggesting the original holy site's legacy has survived despite its destruction 1,000 years ago. Over the centuries, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre has suffered violent attacks, fires, and…

An Iraqi dam break would not only kill hundreds of thousands, but also wipe out millennia of history. Iraq's Mosul Dam, shown here in September 2016, has been called the world's "most dangerous" dam. Engineers predict that a structural failure would…

The volcanic eruption of Santorini rocked the Mediterranean and changed history. Crucial—and chilling—evidence from the Bronze Age cataclysm as well as a medieval-era tsunami can help people better prepare for future disaster, researchers say. A…

As the Enguri flows from the mountains to the sea, it follows a trajectory from Georgia’s traditional past into its forward-thinking future The Enguri river begins in Georgia's northern region of Svaneti, where glaciers from Caucasian peaks feed its…

National Geographic Explorer at Large Bob Ballard in the control room of the Exploration Vehicle Nautilus, a research vessel dedicated to exploring the seafloor. Ballard discovered Titanic in 1985—and has warned against expeditions that could damage…

In an interview with National Geographic, the club president explains why special underwater robots are needed to recover Titan without damaging its fragile hull—but requests to bring the equipment to the search area are caught in a bureaucratic…

With a video showing an Assyrian palace's destruction, the Islamic State wants to establish itself as heir to a legacy of "idol destruction." On April 11th, a brief video appeared on social media and quickly became the subject of international news…

This human burial from a 1,500-year-old shark fishing community held a surprise for archaeologists: Two additional left legs were buried alongside the adult body. Photograph courtesy Gabriel Prieto Dozens of "very unique" burials from an ancient…