• Human activity has polluted European air for 2,000 years

• Mysterious volcano-shaped pyramid discovered in Peru hosted celebrations in honour of solar eclipses

• Ancient Water System Discovered Near Ramat Bet Shemesh

• Polish researchers filled an archaeological blank spot in northern Mesopotamia

• Mass Grave from Thirty Years' War Battle Reveals Soldiers' Fatal Wounds

• The first genome data from ancient Egyptian mummies

• Danish Bronze Age elite buried in fancy woolly hats and shawls, 3,500-year-old graves reveal

• Iran: Rock art from unknown ancient civilisation discovered on sacred volcanic stone at top of mountain

• Lavau Celtic Prince: 2,500-year-old royal tomb starts to reveal its secrets

• Treasure trove of jade stones used in Mayan rituals discovered in Guatemala

• Ceramic Heads of Possible Goddesses Discovered in Ancient Waste Dump

• A Tumor with Teeth Discovered in Gothic Graveyard

• Parthian fortification being excavated in Iraqi Kurdistan. How long would/could it take to expose the entire fortification? Kilometers of massive walls and towers buried beneath meters of earth and grass, forgotten for over 2,000 years.

• Solving the puzzle of when the first humans arrived in the Americas: A microscopic technique is being used to analyse organic matter known as coprolites (aka fossilized poop) at the 14,300 year old Paisley Cave archaeological site in Oregon

• The Idiocy, Fabrications and Lies of Ancient Aliens

• Earliest evidence for dog breeding found on remote Siberian island

• Ancient DNA evidence shows hunter-gatherers and farmers were intimately linked

• Bamburgh dig uncovers unique find

• Ochre use by Middle Stone Age humans in Porc-Epic cave persisted over thousands of years

• FAU Archeologist Involved in Ancient Peru Discovery

• unknown henge monument discovered in warwickshire UK

• ‘Agricultural revolution’ in Anglo-Saxon England sheds new light on medieval land use

• Ancient Slingshot Was as Deadly as a .44 Magnum

Australian convict pirates in Japan: evidence of 1830 voyage unearthed was a Guardian story on May 28, and the subtitle Exclusive: Fresh translations of samurai accounts of ‘barbarian’ ship arriving at the height of Japan’s feudal isolation corroborate a story long dismissed as fantasy already had all my skeptic antennae out but wow, it's a solid story.

To be clear, a British-flag-bearing ship's arrival in Japan and brusque sendoff with cannonballs, after the locals figured they were pirates, is well-documented. The new bit is connecting the mystery ship with Australian convict mutineers who later claimed they'd been chased from Japan, but were dismissed as fantasists.