13 Jun 2025 · Göbekli Tepe, Turkey (Türkiye)
Marc Verhoeven interprets the carvings as a relational, animist world of beings, with emerging hierarchy.
Why it matters: This is the mainstream symbolic interpretation, in contrast to astronomical readings.
Site guide: Göbekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe · Source: Verhoeven 2025, Cambridge Archaeological Journal ↗
26 Oct 2026 · Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan, China
Jianbo Guo, Ruochen Ge, Lu Yang and colleagues studied textile residues on objects from the Sanxingdui sacrificial pits K2–K8, the site of the famous bronze heads and gold masks of the ancient Shu culture. They found silk on 101 objects, 94 of them bronzes, dating to the Late Shang period (1300–1046 BCE). Microscopy and infrared tests identify mulberry silk, mostly plain weave, some coloured with hematite or an organic red dye, and some cloths as finely woven as Shang silks from the Central Plains.
excavationart & symbolsancient society
Source: Guo, Ge, Cai, Tian & Yang 2026, Antiquity ↗; Archaeology Magazine (news), 28 Oct 2026 ↗
21 Jan 2026 · Sulawesi, Indonesia
A hand stencil in Sulawesi was dated to at least 67,800 years old, the oldest known rock art, before modern humans reached Australia.
Source: The Conversation, Jan 2026 ↗
26 Jun 2025 · Çatalhöyük & Anatolia, Turkey (Türkiye)
Genomes from early farming villages including Çatalhöyük shed light on household and kinship structure. The research highlights women’s lines in some communities.
Site guide: Göbekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe · Source: Science 2025 ↗
25 Jul 2024 · Göbekli Tepe, Turkey (Türkiye)
Martin Sweatman argues V-shaped marks on Pillar 43 count days, forming a 365-day lunisolar calendar, and tie the carvings to the Younger Dryas onset.
Site guide: Göbekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe · Andrew Collins · Source: Sweatman 2024, Time and Mind ↗