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Tag Archaeology

3,000-year-old canoe recovered from Lake Mendota

September 22, 2022

On a brisk and breezy first day of fall, divers recovered an ancient Ho-Chunk canoe from the depths of Lake Mendota, an effort coordinated by the Wisconsin State Historical Society and members of the Ho-Chunk Nation.

Ancient poop helps show climate change contributed to fall of Cahokia

February 25, 2019

A study provides a direct link between changes in Cahokia’s population size as measured through a unique fecal record and environmental data showing evidence of drought and flood.

‘Origins’ scientists to take your questions Thursday during Reddit AMA

May 1, 2018

Ever wondered what it’s like to unearth a long-buried human ancestor? Or to peer into the night sky to discover the mysteries of galaxy evolution? Find out Thursday.

In ‘Origins,’ UW–Madison and South African scientists tackle mysteries of our shared beginnings

April 23, 2018

The quest to understand our beginnings — of our universe, of life on Earth, of our species — inspires people all over the world. At UW–Madison, researchers have forged partnerships with colleagues in South Africa and are uncovering answers and opening new scientific frontiers.

South African cave yields yet more fossils of a newfound relative

May 9, 2017

The discovery of the new Homo naledi fossils, representing the remains of at least three juvenile and adult specimens, includes a “wonderfully complete skull,” says UW–Madison anthropologist John Hawks.

UW search team finds downed WWII plane

November 9, 2016

This summer, in a unique collaboration, a team from the University of Wisconsin–Madison recovered wreckage and possible human remains from a site in France where an American pilot crashed during World War II.

Old technology provides modern lessons to archaeology students

July 28, 2016

Students in anthropology Professor Mark Kenoyer's Ancient Technology and Invention course were working recently under a beating hot sun at the outdoor UW–Madison Experimental Archaeology Lab near Picnic Point.

Explorations at Aztalan yield enthusiasm and excitement for visitors, students

June 15, 2016

Excavations are underway to better understand the daily lives of the ancient peoples who called Aztalan home a millennium ago.

UW-Madison graduate named Gates Cambridge Scholar

February 15, 2016

Joanna Lawrence received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from UW–Madison and completed her master’s degree in archaeology at Cambridge last year.

Excavation exposes Roman imperial outpost at its bitter end

September 17, 2014

Like Pompeii, the ancient ruins of Zeugma, a frontier city of the Roman Empire on the banks of the Euphrates River in what is now modern Turkey, stood frozen in time.

Anthropologist, ‘underground astronaut’ strike fossil gold in South Africa dig

December 6, 2013

Squeezing through a gap called the International Postbox and climbing the jagged Dragon's Back were not in Alia Gurtov's plans for the fall semester, but she made an exception in order to participate in a wildly successful archaeological expedition into a South African cave.