7 exciting archaeological discoveries that stunned us in 2024
From mysterious cities hidden by dense jungle to reading ancient scrolls with artificial intelligence, this year’s top findings showcase how modern and old school techniques are shaping the future of archaeology.
Many of today’s most significant archaeological discoveries come from applying new techniques to artifacts and human remains already discovered: details of a Bronze Age disaster, for example, or the culprit in an ancient Egyptian murder mystery.
This year was no different. In 2024, modern methods like DNA analysis and remote sensing technology revealed new evidence of past cultures, technologies, and social structures. But while archaeology often now advances through science, it still needs fresh excavations to feed future studies.
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Here are some of the most important archaeological discoveries from the last 12 months.
1. Lidar reveals hidden cities around the world
Lidar stands for Light Detection and Ranging, an analog of radar and sonar that scans terrain with thousands of pulses of laser light every second. While the technology has been around for decades, its ability to detect vast structures beneath layers of vegetation and to map the subtle changes of ancient landscapes has recently revolutionized archaeology.
Flying in a small plane with lidar equipment, archaeologists can scan large areas; and the technique has been especially useful to see beneath dense jungles in Central and South America. Finds this year include Maya settlements at Campeche in southern Mexico; a landscape of gardens, roads, and rivers in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest; ancient ruins on the Pacific island of Tonga; and the remains of two medieval cities along a Silk Road route in Uzbekistan.
2. Tombs, amulets, and more uncovered in Egypt
Egyptian artifacts helped inspire the development of modern archaeology, and such discoveries continue. This summer, researchers announced that they had unearthed 33 tombs in southern Egypt and 63 in the Nile Delta, along with stunning gold amulets, coins and pottery. At around 2,000 years old, many of the new finds date to later periods in Egyptian history, and researchers hope they will reveal more about burial practices and the wider ancient world at that time.
Researchers also documented the damaging work posture of Egyptian scribes and detected a long-lost branch of the Nile, now mostly dried-up, which was used thousands of years ago to bring stone to build the pyramids at Giza.
3. A desert tomb at Petra
One of the year’s most remarkable finds was the discovery of 12 ancient skeletons in a tomb beneath the Treasury at Petra, a desert archaeological site in Jordan known for the elaborate structures carved into its red sandstone cliffs. Archaeologists think nomads called the Nabateans—a early branch of Arab people—began burying their dead at Petra in the fourth century B.C.; and in the second century B.C., Petra became the Nabatean capital city, and a complex system of cisterns supplied it with water.
The carved rock columns of the Treasury, or Al-Khazneh in Arabic, form Petra’s most iconic structure. The name derives from a legend that the large urn above its façade hides a valuable treasure; the urn is actually made from solid sandstone. Though the legend proved false, archaeologists say the tomb beneath Al-Khazneh is a priceless discovery that will help them learn more about these vanished people.
4. AI reads scrolls burned by Vesuvius
In February, researchers announced they’d used an artificial intelligence system to read parts of a 2,000-year-old scroll burned in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D.—the same volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii. The scroll is one of about 1,800 papyrus scrolls discovered in the 18th century amid the remains of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town about 10 miles from Pompeii that archaeologists think was destroyed by a superheated blast of ash, rock, and gas from the volcano.
The eruption reduced the scrolls to charred lumps that were thought unreadable. Now, scientists have scanned one of those lumps with X-rays and used artificial intelligence to decipher what it says. The initial discovery comprises 15 columns of text and more than 2,000 written characters about how to enjoy life, likely written by a follower of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.
5. The oldest saddle ever discovered
This 2,700-year-old saddle was uncovered in a woman’s grave in the Yanghai cemetery at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, in northwest China. Although humans domesticated horses thousands of years earlier, ancient carvings show that they were usually ridden bareback, or with only a mat or blanket for the rider. Saddles were a later technological advance that allowed riders to travel for longer distances without injuring themselves or their mounts.
Researchers think horse riding was introduced into China from the northern parts of Central Asia, but the Yanghai saddle is the earliest in the archaeological record. It is made from pieces of leather stitched together and stuffed with straw and animal hair; such organic items usually decay quickly, but in this case, the dry desert environment preserved them.
6. A jade mask and more Maya grave finds
An ornate jade mask, made from interlocking pieces of jade with seashell for the eyes and teeth, was discovered in the tomb of a Maya king at Chochkitam in Guatemala. Radiocarbon dating shows the mask dates from about A.D. 350, and the discoverers think it depicts a Maya storm god. Such masks were often made for the burials of Maya royalty, and carvings made with a knife or chisel of volcanic obsidian glass also decorated this king’s tomb.
Other Maya discoveries announced this year include a genetic analysis of sacrificial victims found near the ancient city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico and a deposit of burned human remains at another site in Guatemala that may have signalled political change.
7. The origins of Stonehenge’s ‘altar’
The Neolithic monument of Stonehenge in the southwest of England first rose to fame in the Middle Ages, but new techniques are revealing more details about its construction. In August, researchers found that the altar stone near the center of the structure was made from sandstone that originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles from Salisbury Plain where it now lies. Such a journey would have been a major undertaking roughly 4,600 years ago, when archaeologists think the stone was emplaced: It weighs more than six tons, and the builders probably did not use wheels.
Previous studies have shown that the giant upright sarsen stones in its main circle are cut from local sandstone, but the smaller bluestones within it were brought from the southwest of Wales, more than 100 miles away. The earliest parts of Stonehenge date from about 5,000 years ago; researchers now think it began as a burial site but was expanded over thousands of years to become a Neolithic religious monument.
