Traces of Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) have been discovered along with tobacco residue in Maya ceramic vessels. This is the first time a non-tobacco ingredient has been identified in a Maya tobacco container, and the first archaeological evidence that marigold was used in mind-altering plant mixtures.

Spanish chroniclers recorded the smoking of herbal blends among the Maya and Nahua, and dried marigold, on its own and mixed with [...]

The image of a wild pig on a cave wall in Sulawesi, Indonesia, has been dated to 45,500 years ago, making it the oldest known cave art animal in the world. The life-sized Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) was painted in dark red ochre on the limestone wall of Leang Tedongnge cave. It was outlined in profile and filled in with lines and dashes. There are two [...]

A Gallo-Roman grave of a child buried with a puppy has been discovered in Aulnat, central France. Excavation at a site slated for  airport expansion unearthed the grave was found on the perifery of a settlement from the Gallo-Roman era. It dates to the first third of the 1st century A.D., the reigns of emperors Augusts and Tiberius.

The child was only one year [...]

A group of 45 pre-Inca ceremonial objects have been discovered at the archaeological site of Tiwanaku, western Bolivia. The objects include ceramic vessels and statuary, stone knives, bottles, a gold head with blue stone yes and lips that may have represented a deity and the remains of animals including fish, camelids and birds. They are at least 1,500 years old, and may date as far back as [...]