Ancient World
Tomb of Fu Hao: Shang Queen and General Unearthed in 1976
The only intact Shang royal-family tomb ever found, it revealed the wealth of the Shang court and confirmed a woman's military role recorded in oracle bones.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Rakhigarhi: The Largest Indus Valley Site and Its Ancient DNA
Rakhigarhi is ranked among the largest Indus settlements, and a 2019 study of a woman buried there produced the first published genome from the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Ancient World
Twelve Tables (451-450 BC): The Foundation of Roman Law
Rome gained its first written law code, published in the Forum, which remained the acknowledged foundation of Roman law for a thousand years.
Ancient World
Grave Circle A and the Mask of Agamemnon (c. 1600 BC) at Mycenae
Six shaft graves of an early Mycenaean elite were found packed with gold, revealing the wealth of Greece's first Bronze Age rulers centuries before the age of Agamemnon.
Ancient World
Imhotep: Architect of Djoser and Later God of Medicine
Imhotep was remembered as the inventor of stone architecture and a great sage, and was eventually worshipped as a god of healing.
Ancient World
Royal Cemetery of Ur: Queen Puabi and the Great Death Pits
About 1,850 graves were excavated, including 16 so-called royal tombs with lavish treasures and the remains of sacrificed attendants.
Prehistory
Cave of Swimmers: Prehistoric Rock Art of the Gilf Kebir
The paintings became a famous symbol of a once wetter Sahara, though whether they really show swimming is still debated.
Prehistory
Domestication of Wheat and Barley: The First Crops of Farming
Einkorn, emmer and barley became the staple cereals of the first farmers and later of Europe, North Africa and western Asia.
Prehistory
Pinnacle Point Cave 13B: Shellfish, Ochre and Early Humans
PP13B provided the oldest well-dated evidence of humans systematically eating shellfish and using red ochre, supporting the idea that coastal resources helped early Homo sapiens survive a harsh glacial period.
Prehistory
Kenyanthropus platyops: The Flat-Faced Man of Lake Turkana
The cranium KNM-WT 40000 was named as a new genus and species in 2001, suggesting several hominin lineages lived alongside Lucy's species, though its status is still debated.
Prehistory
Wadi Al-Hitan: Egypt's Valley of the Whales and Fossil Whales
Hundreds of fossil whale skeletons, including Basilosaurus with small hind legs, record a key stage in the evolution of whales from land mammals.
Prehistory
Origin of Earth's Oceans: Where the Water Came From
Liquid water collected on Earth's cooling surface, forming the first oceans, which have persisted in some form ever since.