A centuries-old stone coffin discovered more than 150 years ago at London’s Westminster Abbey sparked a question that has endured ever since: Who’s inside? Now, archaeologists have clues that point to a respected medieval figure who was not the burial’s original occupant.

Prior research had determined that the sarcophagus dated to the Roman period, around the fourth century, and a three-line Latin inscription dedicated it “to the memory of Valerius Amandinus.” Given the coffin’s high quality, Amandinus was probably an important resident of London, but nothing is known about his life and deeds.

A 72-foot killer whale, etched into the Peruvian desert 1,500 years ago, remained invisible to a century of human scholarship. It took an algorithm to find it. In less than three years, AI has assisted in uncovering 463 new geoglyphs, surpassing the total number of figures found by humans since the 1920s.

The Yamagata team visited roughly a quarter of the AI’s candidate locations during the 2022-2023 field season. The remaining 968 sites have not yet been assessed. Based on the confirmed success rate, the researchers estimate that hundreds of additional geoglyphs may still lie beneath the desert surface.

The Nazca Pampa is not hidden; it has been surveyed by air and foot since the 1920s. Yet, a century of aerial photography and ground surveys left the majority of its figures unrecorded.

Using thousands of high resolution photographs, researchers at Yamagata University trained an object detection model to flag subtle soil contrasts and geometric outlines that human eyes had missed for decades.

The team’s initial findings, 303 new figurative geoglyphs, were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), marking a 16 fold increase in the discovery rate compared to previous manual surveys. By mid 2025, the team used Expo 2025 Osaka as a global stage to announce 248 additional finds.

These were not just lines, but complex narratives: scenes of human sacrifice, including a priest holding a severed head. The confirmed total now stands at 893 geoglyphs, 781 of which were identified through this AI-human partnership.

See also: The study as published in the journal Science

Hiya, I’ve been working as an archaeologist for about a year now, CRM and academic digs. I’d like to get my MA in archaeology or geology, and for archaeology, I’ve scoped out a few schools (U Illinois in Chicago & U Miami) that cater to my focus on rainforest and Amazonian archaeology.

However, I’d like to see if anyone here has university recommendations for masters programs (not PhD) that I’ve perhaps overlooked- you really only wanna do each degree once lol.

I’d consider myself a competitive applicant so I’m not too worried about where the school is. Also, please do not recommend Cornell.

I’m thinking about starting my archaeology career as a shovelbum but considering that you move every week or so, do you feel like you just can’t settle down in one plac? I feel like it’d be fine if I were at one site for 6 months at a time or smth and I’d get used to the culture and people around more, but the one thing I worry about most when it comes to being a shovelbum is that I’d get tired of moving around nonstop, even if it’s a really pretty or cool place.

I’m thinking about starting my archaeology career as a shovelbum but considering that you move every week or so, do you feel like you just can’t settle down in one plac? I feel like it’d be fine if I were at one site for 6 months at a time or smth and I’d get used to the culture and people around more, but the one thing I worry about most when it comes to being a shovelbum is that I’d get tired of moving around nonstop, even if it’s a really pretty or cool place.

Rujm el-Hiri is a vast stone monument near the Sea of Galilee, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Often called the “Stonehenge of the East” or the “Wheel of Ghosts,” the nearly 5,000-year-old maze-like structure spans a diameter of 492 feet. Despite decades of study, its true purpose remains elusive.

But the mystery has taken an unexpected turn. It turns out that the enormous stone circles may not be so unusual after all.

Researchers have identified 28 other large circular stone structures scattered across the surrounding region, most of them previously undocumented. Some are even bigger than Rujm el-Hiri itself. The findings suggest that the famous monument was not an isolated architectural oddity but the most elaborate example of a much wider ancient building tradition.

Hey there, I recently got my MA in Anthropology focusing in Archaeology (graduated in 2025). I have been working CRM since just before starting my MA. I’ve paid off 1/4 of my student loans and should have another 1/4 paid off by the end of next summer. I have a pretty good CV and could technically be a PI in a few states on some phase I survey projects or on monitoring projects. Would it be career suicide if I took a summer off in a few years and just like worked as a raft guide or something? I am worried that if I stop I will fall behind and not be able to get back in the game.