Articles by

Bruce Bower

Chemical residue reveals ancient Egyptians’ mummy-making mixtures

Scientists have unwrapped long-sought details of embalming practices that ancient Egyptians used to preserve dead bodies. Clues...

Complex supply chains may have appeared more than 3,000 years ago

Long-distance supply chains, vulnerable to disruptions from wars and disease outbreaks, may have formed millennia before anyone...

Lasers reveal sites used as the Americas’ oldest known star calendars

Olmec and Maya people living along Mexico’s Gulf Coast as early as 3,100 years ago built star-aligned...

Homo naledi may have lit fires in underground caves at least 236,000 years ago

An ancient hominid dubbed Homo naledi may have lit controlled fires in the pitch-dark chambers of an...

Some Maya rulers may have taken generations to attract subjects

Commoners may have played an unappreciated part in the rise of an ancient Maya royal dynasty. Self-described...

King Tut’s tomb still has secrets to reveal 100 years after its discovery

One hundred years ago, archaeologist Howard Carter stumbled across the tomb of ancient Egypt’s King Tutankhamun. Carter’s...

Indigenous Americans ruled democratically long before the U.S. did

On sunny summer days, powerboats pulling water-skiers zip across Georgia’s Lake Oconee, a reservoir located about an...

Homo sapiens bones in East Africa are at least 36,000 years older than once thought

Fossils from the oldest known Homo sapiens individual in East Africa are more ancient than previously thought....