OLD WORLD
A 4,000-Year-Old Letter Reveals a Wife's Silver Dispute
X-ray CT revealed Anna-anna's letter inside its clay envelope, preserving the outer seals while exposing a silver dispute and the limits of an ancient correspondent's account.
Arc
Old World
Eurasia and Africa: early monuments, artifacts, and ancient transitions.
Latest Case Files
Recent write-ups in this arc.
OLD WORLD
Did a 3,200-Year-Old Inscription Reveal Egypt's Lost City?
A Ramesses II inscription strengthens the case for Mesen at Tell Abu Seifi, but identifying an ancient city requires more than finding its name on a movable stone.
OLD WORLD
Göbekli Tepe's New Rooms Look Like Homes. Are They?
New rectangular buildings at Göbekli Tepe suggest residential use, but floor deposits and artifact context must test that interpretation rather than architecture alone.
OLD WORLD
Trout Were Here 7,000 Years Ago. They Shouldn't Be
Ancient wooden traps at Norway's Lake Tesse support deliberate introduction of trout into mountain waters, without establishing domestication or a modern-style fish farm.
OLD WORLD
Truck Driver Finds a 1,700-Year-Old Roman Gold Ring
The Ilminster gold ring and nearby Roman coin hoard illuminate late-third-century Somerset, with important limits on the coin count, burial date, and owner's story.
OLD WORLD
Why This Ship Burial Isn't Viking
At Herlaugshaugen on Norway's Leka island, ship rivets and dated wood reveal a monumental burial around AD 700, before the Viking Age.