10 Outstanding Archaeological Discoveries Unveiled in 2024

Views: 2424

A lost Amazonian civilization, explicit erotic frescoes in a Roman house, and the grapeshot-damaged shoe buckle of a rebel Scottish chieftain. Those are just a sample of the outstanding archaeological finds reported during the course of 2024. Read on to find out how researchers have extended our knowledge of the human story through their excavations and deep sea explorations in the past year.

Related: Top 10 Greatest Archaeological Restorations

10 Pompeii Porn

Pompeii’s Tiny Middle-Class House with Mysterious Shrines and Frescoes Discovered

Pompeii, of course, was the ancient Roman city overwhelmed by an eruption of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The city was blanketed in a thick layer of volcanic ash, which resulted in its spectacularly detailed preservation, and it’s still being excavated.

In 2024, archaeologists came across a mansion complete with wall paintings of an explicitly erotic nature. Pompeii porn, if you will, although the Romans of the time regarded it as completely normal to have walls decorated with frescoes depicting sexual activity. In fact, over the years, researchers have uncovered plenty of erotic frescoes and statuary at Pompeii, which was hidden from public view until relatively recently for fear of offending delicate sensibilities.

If you happen to make it to Pompeii, look for the Via dell’Abondanza, where the house in question is located, which will eventually be on public display. One of the images portrays a sexual encounter between a naked nymph and a satyr, while another shows a barely clothed Queen Phaedra with her stepson Hippolytus. According to Greek mythology, she fell for Hippolytus but then accused him of rape when he spurned her advances. [1]

9 Lost Amazonian Cities

Ancient Builders of the Amazon | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS

A study published in January 2024 in the journal Science revealed an extraordinary complex of cities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. As the BBC put it, this discovery showed “that the world’s biggest rainforest was once a thriving cosmopolitan hub.” One of the lead archaeologists on the project, Stéphen Rostain, asserted that the new discovery “forces us to rethink the entire human past of the Amazon.”

Airborne LiDAR technology, which uses lasers to create 3D maps of the ground, has allowed researchers to look some 2,500 years into the past. The … Read More