The Top 20 Archaeological Discoveries of 2025 Part 1

We've made it to 2026, my friends! Congratulations! 2025 was a big year for archaeology, from new tombs, lost cities, deciphered myths, and discoveries that completely altered our understanding of the historical timeline. There's simply too much to cover, and that's why I've teamed up with fellow archaeologist Rachel from Inside Archaeology, who has had her finger on the pulse with archaeological discoveries all year long, to bring you our top 20 archaeological discoveries of 2025. We've divided the list between our two channels, so make sure you watch both videos, not only to find out what all 20 are, but because we're asking you to vote for your favorites for what we are calling the Discovery of the Year awards. After you watch both videos, cast your vote for your top three via the link in the description. Voting is open from January 4th to the 18th, and then at the end of the month, Rachel and I will be live streaming from her channel to announce the winners. Will we agree, or are fights going to break out in the live stream chat? There's only one way to find out, so make sure you listen carefully, do your research, and vote to make sure your favorite makes the awards. So without further ado, let's dig in to the discoveries. Just when we thought all the major archaeological finds of the year were already announced, British archaeologists said, hold my beer, and published an article claiming they have found the earliest evidence of man-made This is definitely one of the most important finds of the year, because without fire, we wouldn't be where or who we are as a species today. Fire and the ability to make it and control it allowed us to survive inhospitable environments, fend off predators, and cook food, which allowed for our brains to grow and become the powerhouses that they are today. With bigger brains, we developed complex thought and language, we were able to become better hunters, and we could become more social and create more dynamic social relations and communities. A team excavating at the Paleolithic site of East Farm in Barnum, England found evidence of baked clay, meaning it had been heated. Think of how the earth looks after you've had a campfire, and you'll get the idea of how we can sort of identify areas of dirt that have been subjected to intense heat. Baked earth alone though just isn't enough to claim this fire was man-made, as of course naturally occurring fire was usually captured and then tended to to keep it from going out. The kickers that sealed the deal were some hand axes that showed evidence of heat fractures and the earliest known stone age lighter. That was the smoking gun. The lighter consisted of flint and small pieces of iron pyrite, otherwise known as fool's gold. To make a spark, the two stones would have been bashed together and boom, you've got a fire. Now iron pyrite is not a mineral that occurs naturally in the area where this lighter was found, meaning that it would have had to be brought to the area purposely by the early humans who lit this fire for this specific purpose. Finding a lighter and some heat-treated stone tools along with a bit of baked clay is fine and all, but to 100% confirm that this fire was started by humans, they needed to find evidence of the fire going out and it being lit again. And lo and behold, they did it. In the stratigraphy, the layers of dirt that form over time, archaeologists found this thin red layer. It has this red color in it because of the hematite that's inside it, which is a mineral that is created when iron-rich sediments, like those in the clay that is found in Barnum, are heated. This layer proves that this section was exposed to several short intense periods of heat, much like those that are created by small fires made multiple times in the same spot. It's believed that the creators of these fires were early Neanderthals who would have come over to England from mainland Europe via a land bridge. And when they came over, they brought this fire-making technology with them to help survive the harsh cold weather. Without this lighter, it would have been very difficult for them to survive. Not to be biased, but this I think is one of the most important discoveries of the year, solely for the importance to the evolution of our species. Without fire, nothing else we're talking about today would have been possible. But don't let that sway you when you're voting for your favorites at the end of this video. Sometimes new archaeological discoveries don't come directly from the field or an excavation. Actually, more often than you think, some of the greatest discoveries happen in museums or other collections decades after the archaeological material was pulled from the earth. And this is exactly what happened at the Mülheim City Museum in Germany when a team of Danish archaeologists from Aarhus University were re-examining a Paleolithic oil lamp that had been in the museum's collection for 50 years. While re-examining this 13,000 year old object that has long been believed to be a stone oil lamp from the Paleolithic period, they noticed these small dots of blue pigment on its surface. While these tiny blue specks may seem insignificant, their discovery could change the way we look at and envision Paleolithic art and culture. This residue is the oldest instance of blue pigment in Europe, 8,000 years older than the previous oldest known instance of blue. The best part is that the archaeologists weren't even looking for this blue pigment when they came to Germany. They were originally analyzing the lamp to look for traces of animal fat or combusted plant materials to help determine the actual function of the artifact. When the pigment was first noticed, the researchers joked with each other that it was maybe some sort of modern ink that had somehow gotten onto the artifact while it was in storage. Which I think is really funny because it's always those finds that are the least expected when you're trying to do something completely different or just determine something else that turn out to be the ones that are the most life-changing. Apart from these tiny blue specks, there was only one other known older instance of pigment in this color found on figurines in Siberia which date to between 19,000 and 23,000 years ago. To confirm that the pigment was indeed man-made, the team used x-ray fluorescence and microscopic image tests. They ended up confirming that this was in fact created by people from a mineral called azurite which is naturally occurring in the area in Germany where this artifact was originally found in the 1970s. Looking closer at this bowl-shaped object, they also found that the blue pigment only occurred on the inner concave part of it, meaning that it may not have actually ever been used as an oil lamp. Now it seems that this piece of worked stone could have been an early palette or mixing tool used to create this blue pigment from azurite. Normally when we think of Paleolithic art, we imagine red, black, and yellow pigments that we so often see in caves across Europe and beyond. While you can do a lot with these three colors and we have the evidence to prove it, archaeologists have always wondered why there were so few colors used because Paleolithic people clearly possessed the technology to create these various pigments and experiment with color. This small, almost microscopic presence of blue azurite shows that people living tens of thousands of years ago did have this more robust knowledge of mineral pigments and probably had a much more colorful past than we originally thought. The co-authors of the paper believed that Paleolithic people may have used this blue for purposes and activities that we can't find in the archaeological record, such as decorating your skin or painting and dying fabrics that would have all but degraded with time. So instead of this pigment maybe being inaccessible or rare, it might have been a cultural or artistic choice to not use blue for certain things like cave painting. We still don't know if blue was widely used in the Paleolithic, but this discovery opens up a whole new realm of possibilities and potential for how the Paleolithic world could have looked. It's too bad that most of it will remain a mystery forever, but I always think that that's half the fun when you're studying the stone ages. Now we head to Vietnam and a cave site in the Trang An Landscape Complex World Heritage Site, where an exceptionally well-preserved approximately 35-year-old male skeleton was found in 2017-18. Dating to between 12,500 to 12,000 years ago, aka the Late Pleistocene Epoch, the superior preservation of his remains meant that scientists could perform detailed testing of different models of biological affinity, aka ancestry, and recover the earliest mitochondrial DNA evidence to come from Vietnam to date. The results of this testing found that he belonged to a local hunter-gatherer population with no trace of East Asian farmer populations. Osteological analysis found that despite his death at what we would consider to be a young age, he was in good health, except for the fact that he was dead. Interestingly, he had an extra 25th rib, something which is only seen on 0.2 to 1% of the human population. This extra rib was located near the neck and showed signs of being broken and infected. A small triangular quartz micropoint was found near this rib, which the researchers think was part of a projectile, like an arrow, that did not kill him instantly. Instead, he likely lived for a few months before dying, probably from an infection of the projectile wound. The micropoint is unique, as this technology has not yet been widely found in mainland Southeast Asia. Until now, these have only been found in island contexts. This uniqueness and the damage profile of the point, combined with the skeleton's injuries, has led the researchers to believe that this man's death was a result of what we osteologists call interpersonal violence, which also makes him potentially the oldest known murder victim in the world. This discovery is also significant in that it adds to a growing list of archaeological evidence of interpersonal conflict among prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies, leading us to wonder what exactly was going on to motivate these conflicts among these societies. When the significance and major pillars of Karahan Tepe in Southeast Turkey first came to light six years ago, it quickly became one of the most talked about Neolithic sites in Southwest Asia, and it is often spoken about in the same breath as its more famous older sister, Gobekli Tepe. But recent finds at Karahan Tepe might just put it over the edge significance-wise, and it all has to do with this face right here. Karahan Tepe and Gobekli Tepe are famous for their monumental T-shaped pillars. Many of these pillars served the structural purpose of supporting the roofs of the ancient buildings they were constructed in. While they served a functional role, archaeologists have also noted for quite some time that these pillars appear to be anthropomorphic in nature, as many have been found to be possessing human hands and arms, and some are even wearing garments like belts and loincloths. All that's been missing from these human-like pillars is a face. That is, until October of 2025, when a 11,000 year old, four and a half foot tall pillar at Karahan Tepe was found to have this face carved onto it. This is the first of its kind to be found in the area, and the first proof that the T-shaped pillars were meant to symbolize humans. The face is simple, with a prominent brow, a straight nose, and deep-set eyes, and it resembles other examples of faces on other artifacts found at Karahan Tepe. The pillar itself made up part of a dwelling that contained domestic artifacts such as grinding stones, suggesting that this building would have had some sort of functional purpose rather than a religious one. With this discovery, we now have the first instance of a Neolithic person carving themselves, or someone else, onto a monumental pillar, an architectural feature that we know was important to these communities that were first settling down and beginning to domesticate animals and develop agriculture. This face is a unique, abstract example of Neolithic self-expression, and shows that people were undergoing a cognitive transformation while so much of their daily lives was shifting during the transition from hunting and gathering to a more settled lifestyle. I love this face. It's so simple, yet immediately so recognizable and evocative. So much has been coming out of Neolithic Turkey lately, and this face is a monumental step for archaeologists to gather new insight into how the people of this region fought, what they believed in, and how they even just envisioned themselves. There are so many disjointed puzzle pieces for this time period and area, and this face is one larger piece that's completely changing the bigger picture. For as long as we've existed, there has always been some level of violence between our species. For a very long time, most of this violence was brute force, but as we developed technology, we got more creative with how to go about warfare and conflict. Which brings me to my next top discovery of 2025, the world's oldest arrow poison. Archaeologists excavating Kruger Cave in South Africa have identified what may be the world's oldest confirmed multi-component arrow poison, dating to 7,000 years ago. The poison was found in a femur bone of an antelope with three modified bone arrowheads embedded into it. It was first found during excavations in 1983, but just like the blue pigments, there was renewed interest in the find, and a team from the University of Johannesburg conducted an investigation to see if there was any sort of chemical residue on the arrowheads. What they found was a complex recipe where someone had combined at least two toxic plants to create a poison in which to tip the arrows. One of the substances is known to disrupt heart function, so this poison was likely meant to be fatal. The discovery of this complex poison proves that ancient people were quite the alchemists and very good at mixing up plant poisons to help them hunt. What's also interesting about this find is that none of the plant species that have these toxins in them are native to the Kruger Cave area. Getting these plants would have required established trade networks between regions, which in itself is an important discovery because there had been assumptions that non-domestic plants didn't really move around much in southern Africa during this period. Ancient people possessed advanced knowledge about plant properties, usage, and how to get them, which further deepens the history of our pharmacological journey as a species. Our ability to create complex recipes for things like poisons and medicines is just one amazing testament to our capability. This is a big win for the archaeobotany and chemistry community as well. This next story is one that I actually have a personal connection to, as I spent a week working on it in 2016 when the excavations originally happened. In 2025, the project was fully published, so now I can talk all about it since all that information is out there and publicly available. This story comes from the site of Carnoustie in Scotland, where during archaeological work in advance of building a high school football field, one of the largest Neolithic timber halls in Scotland was found, part of a lost site of prehistoric gatherings, rituals, and later Bronze Age wealth. The 35 meter long and 9 meter wide hall is believed to have served as a ceremonial and communal space for some of Scotland's earliest farming communities over 6,000 years ago, over a thousand years before Stonehenge was built. The structure was built using massive oak timbers with complex internal divisions and thick daubed walls, pointing to a highly sophisticated and organized society. Unlike the contemporary isolated halls found across Scotland, the Carnoustie site also features a smaller adjacent hall measuring nearly 20 meters in length, which was probably used for domestic purposes. Charred cereal grains and hazelnut shells found in its large hearth indicate that it was used for daily activities. However, the larger hall seems to have been used for more symbolic purposes. Inside, archaeologists found deliberately buried stone tools and rare artifacts, which point to ceremonial or ritualistic activities being practiced. The site saw continual activity for centuries, with seasonal visits and gatherings until about 2500 BCE. But perhaps the most remarkable find to come out of Carnoustie happened on a Friday afternoon at the end of the first week of the dig, when we found a late Bronze Age metalwork hoard. Buried between 1118 and 924 BCE, the hoard included a bronze sword in its original wooden scabbard, a gold banded spearhead, whose image in situ here is one that I actually took on my camera phone on site when we first found it, and a sunflower-headed swan neck pin, all carefully wrapped in woolen cloth and sheepskin, textiles which don't usually survive, but were preserved partly due to the antimicrobial properties of the copper, and also because it was found by archaeologists. We were able to carefully dig around and underneath this hoard to take it out in one big block, so that it was then excavated in a lab to ensure maximum preservation of the materials. I remember that we had to go out and buy a couple rolls of plastic wrap to keep it intact, and it took a team of like five or six to then lift it into the truck bed, as we didn't really want to risk leaving it on the site over the weekend. The sword bears combat damage, while the spearhead shows structural weaknesses. Its delicate gold decoration is one of only five examples, and the survival of the sword's pommel is also very rare. In keeping with this, hoards like this are extremely rare, and a similar discovery from the 1960s north of Dundee points to a regional tradition of burying wealth for safekeeping, perhaps during uncertain times. Its presence at this site suggests that the settlement's occupants were of high status, even though the roundhouse dating to the same period from the site is itself quite modest. Carnoustie has been hailed as one of the most significant Scottish archaeological discoveries in recent history. You can read the full report on the site via the link in description, and if you happen to find yourself in this small coastal town near Dundee, make sure you head to the library where a replica hoard and two dioramas are on display. The original hoard has been allocated to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and is due to go on display in 2026. You can bet I will be going there once it's out to get a photo of myself with something that I was actually involved in finding in a museum. That is like an absolutely like crazy thing for me as an archaeologist to have. Now we head to Egypt, where for the first time the genome of a dynastic period ancient Egyptian has been successfully sequenced. I was so excited about this one, I actually have an entire video interview speaking to the geneticist and archaeologist who did this analysis, but for now here's a quick summary of what they found. For decades we have been doing bioarchaeological analysis of the skeletal remains of ancient Egyptians. However, the lack of ancient genome studies, particularly for the early periods of Egyptian dynastic history, has until now been a barrier to our understanding of population continuity and gene flow in the region. This is due to a general lack of preservation of DNA due to the incredibly dry climate of Egypt, which is possibly compounded by the practice of mummification, which is drying out your remains essentially. Only three individuals in recent history have had sequencable DNA, but they all come from the late Hellenistic periods long after wars and foreign occupations that would have had an impact on the genetic makeup and ancestry of the Egyptian population. It has been assumed that the Old Kingdom population is of local origin with limited input from other regions, but now a new DNA analysis doesn't match this assumption. The individual analyzed was found in the Beni Hasan necropolis in 1902 and this is the first time that we've ever been able to sequence the genome from someone from this time and geography. He died around 4800 to 4500 years ago and his remains were placed within a large pottery vessel in a rock-cut tomb, a burial treatment which possibly explains why his DNA survived. He was between 157 and 160 centimeters tall and died between the ages of 44 and 64, which was quite old for that time. He is thought to have had brown eyes, hair, and dark to black skin. The image that you see is a reconstruction of what he might have looked like. The presence of age-related osteoarthritis in most of his joints and vertebrae and various activity-induced musculoskeletal indicators of stress revealed that he experienced an extended period of physical labor, which is in contrast to his seemingly high status tomb burial. The patterns of osteoarthritis and stress further imply that he might have been a potter. Stable isotope analysis showed that he grew up in the Nile Valley and sequencing of his genome indicated that he had no recent history of cosanguinity aka incest in his bloodline. However, while 80% of his genome is best represented by North African Neolithic ancestry, as we would expect, 20% was traced to genomes representing the Eastern Fertile Crescent, including Mesopotamia, indicating he had a grandparent who was not native to Egypt. Now before we all start jumping to conclusions, please remember that one individual does not represent a whole population. Analysis of many other individuals is needed to fully gain that picture. However, these first results indicate that contacts between Egypt and its eastern neighbors were not limited to trade and cultural exchange, but also involved human migration. Further work will hopefully allow for more detailed and nuanced understanding of the I had read it in university way back when, but because it was for school and the professor wasn't the most engaging, I never really got the hype. Now this year I did get the hype and finally got on the bandwagon, but of course all this took a backseat when I found out that a new Mesopotamian myth had been newly translated back in July. Dr. Yana Matuzak recently translated and published the contents of tablet NI-12501, dating to the early dynastic 3B period, circa 2540 to 2350 BCE, from Nippur in modern day Iraq. The tablet was excavated in the 19th century and is currently held in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. Even though it was discovered over 100 years ago, this is the first time it was analyzed and published. The fragmented tablet tells the tale of a mythical narrative where the Sumerian storm god Ishgur, who is responsible for bringing rain, is held captive in the netherworld. Enlil, Ishgur's father, who is also often referred to as king of the gods, gathers a divine assembly, asking if one of the other gods would go and retrieve his son. But only the fox volunteers to take on this quest. The fox successfully enters the underworld, but that is where the tale cuts off on quite a cliffhanger. We don't know if the fox succeeds in his mission. We only have about less than one third of this story preserved, and so far it is the only narrative we have where Ishgur plays a leading role. This story reflects the importance of agriculture in Mesopotamia. With the god of rainfall essentially dying and going to the underworld, a drought or period of starvation plagues the area, which is why the fox is sent to retrieve him. This is also the first instance of the trope of the cunning fox that we have in literature. Not to mention that he's also playing double duty as the unlikely hero. Museums hold hundreds of thousands of cuneiform tablets, and most of them have never been translated. We have so much material that will take lifetimes to decipher, and new discoveries like this myth are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Here's hoping we find the rest of the tale in the near future, because I'm really hoping that the fox succeeds in his quest. Long before the Inca, Peru was home to the Coral culture, who flourished from around 3000 to 1800 BCE, and is considered to be the cradle of civilization in the Americas. And back in July, Peruvian authorities announced the discovery and opening of the site of Peñico, a major lost city in the Supe Valley. Excavations and restoration projects began at Peñico back in 2017, but it was this year that the existence and what the city can teach us today became worldwide knowledge. Peñico is located just 10 kilometers from the main settlement of the Coral civilization, Coral Supe, and dates closer to the end of their existence between 1800 and 1500 BCE. For years, archaeologists thought that the Coral people abandoned the Supe Valley and fled to the coast after suffering a 130-year drought that was part of a wider global climate shift that also affected other powerful ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and even China. The site of Coral Supe was abandoned, and other excavations supported this hypothesis. That is, until Peñico showed up. A thriving city at Peñico shows that the Coral people adapted to climate change and moved closer to glacial-fed water sources to survive off of meltwater. Instead of completely abandoning the desert that they called home, some of the Coral people adjusted and relocated without any signs of conflict, weapons, or fortified walls. Look what happens when people collectively come together to solve a problem instead of just collapsing into disarray and upheaval. This is one of those rare, commendable outcomes in a time of scarcity, and it can really teach us a lesson when it comes to how we approach impending difficulties with our own modern climate change. The Coral civilization was famously peaceful, and Peñico continued that tradition, even during times of hardship. They lived in harmony with nature and worked together to continue thriving despite the uncertainty. Peñico was an organized urban center that was actively involved with agriculture and trade with communities along the Peruvian coast, the highlands, and the jungle. Archaeologists have uncovered 18 distinct structures so far, including residential complexes, public buildings, temples, and a monumental central plaza with a large circular structure decorated with depictions of conch shell trumpets. Excavations also revealed that art and spirituality also continued to evolve, even at the end of the Coral civilization. Clay figurines, beaded necklaces, and carved bones all point to a community invested in continuing traditions of cultural expression as a way to maintain their identity and social cohesion, even with a dwindling population. Humans just never cease to astound me. Even when things appear dire, here we are just continuing to find ways to become better. We have the discovery that shook the world at the beginning of the year. The tomb of Thutmose II has finally been found. This was the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th dynasty, a dynasty that saw some of Egypt's most famous rulers like Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamen, not to mention Thutmose III. The tomb was originally uncovered in October of 2022 by a joint Egyptian-British archaeological team at the Theban Necropolis near Luxor, but it wasn't until earlier this year that its owner was identified. Archaeologists knew it was a royal tomb right from the start because its ceiling was painted blue and covered in white stars. Known as the kekir frieze, this decoration is only found in tombs belonging to Egyptian kings. Other religious decorations on the tomb also hinted at this being royal, but the owner of this final resting place couldn't easily be determined because when it was discovered, almost nothing was left inside. This is quite unusual for a royal tomb, even one that had been robbed in the past. Usually only items of value are taken and the rest is left behind. There weren't even any human remains. Archaeologists determined that the tomb was flooded shortly after this royal person was buried, so the body and grave goods of the individual were taken out and redeposited elsewhere. It wasn't until the late 2024 and early 2025 field seasons when broken alabaster jar fragments recovered from this mostly empty tomb were analyzed and found to bear the names of Thutmose II as the deceased king and his great royal wife Hatshepsut. This, without a doubt, allowed the team to confirm their suspicion that this tomb belonged to a pharaoh of the infamous 18th dynasty. Thutmose II ruled approximately between 1482 and 1479 BCE and was the fourth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom, the time when ancient Egypt was at its most powerful. Because the contents of the tomb were relocated and not plundered, there still may be a chance that a fully intact second still-to-be-discovered tomb is out there. And Dr. Litherland, one of the lead archaeologists on the project, has said that he and his team have a rough idea of where it might be. So we might have even more news about this tomb in 2026. Fingers crossed. Even if we don't find the second tomb anytime soon, this original find still provides us with so much more information about the development of royal tombs in the early New Kingdom. If you want more information on this discovery and on Thutmose II, I have a full-length video all about it and I've linked it in the description below for you. Thanks so much for watching, everyone. If you haven't seen Rachel's video yet with the other half of the top 20 discoveries of 2025, then head on over to her page and watch it. The link is in the description down below. And once you've watched both videos and come to your conclusion of the top three finds of 2025, make sure you click that link to vote for your top three, so that way you can have your say and hopefully maybe one of them will win. We're gonna have a live stream awards ceremony at the end of the month, so make sure you get your votes in ASAP to make them count. If you like that video, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, subscribe to Rachel's channel as well. Big thank you to all of my patrons over on Patreon. If you like the channel and you want to help support the channel, head on over to Patreon and become a patron. Here's to another year full of amazing discoveries. Stay dirty, my friends.