A joint Guatemalan and American team of archaeologists has discovered a 1,600-year-old temple decorated with massive stucco masks depicting the phases of the sun as it moves across the sky. The temple rests beneath a pyramid at the Maya site of El Zotz, and was dedicated to Pa’Chan, the founder of the city’s first dynasty, who […]

An analysis of the calcified plaque left behind on Neanderthal teeth from northern Spain suggests that they ate a diet rich in roasted plants. Some of the compounds that were identified came from bitter-tasting plants that could have been used as medicines. Very few lipids or proteins from meat were found. “The idea that Neanderthals were […]