This Week in Archaeology: A 4,000-Year-Old Cosmic Goblet, Roman Roads Doubled in Length, and Hidden Pyramid Chambers

A tiny silver goblet from the Judean Hills has finally revealed its secrets after sitting in collections for more than half a century. What scholars once believed depicted Babylonian myths actually shows something far older: a Bronze Age understanding of how the universe came into being. The vessel’s packed imagery traces the sun’s journey from birth to maturity, offering a window into cosmic beliefs shared across the ancient Near East.

This same week brought the most complete map of Roman roads ever created, nearly doubling the known network to almost 300,000 kilometers. Meanwhile, air-filled cavities discovered behind polished granite blocks in the Menkaure Pyramid suggest a second entrance may exist on the eastern face.

This and more archaeological finds from this week: ⬇️

Silver Goblet From Judean Hills Shows Bronze Age Cosmology, Not Babylonian Myth

A silver goblet discovered 55 years ago in a high-status tomb in the Judean Hills has been reinterpreted as depicting ancient Near Eastern cosmology rather than Babylonian mythology. At just 8 centimeters tall, this vessel from ˁAin Samiya dates to around 2200 BCE and is considered the only true artwork surviving from this period in the Levant. Its exterior features two interconnected scenes with hybrid creatures, serpents, plant motifs, and celestial symbols, though damage has left part of the narrative incomplete.

One scene depicts a chimera-like figure with a human upper body merging into the legs of two bulls, positioned next to a large serpent. Between the figure’s limbs appears a small rosette interpreted as a newborn sun. Scholars previously viewed this imagery as representing primordial chaos. Contrasting sharply, a second scene shows two human figures lifting the ends of a crescent form that cradles a radiant, fully developed sun shown face-on. Here the serpent lies flat beneath this celestial boat, subdued and no longer dominant.

Recent analysis argues this sequence illustrates the transition from chaos to cosmic order rather than depicting a specific myth like the Enuma Elish. Progression from a small, newly born sun to a powerful, mature sun represents a cosmological journey. Researchers identify the crescent form as a Celestial Boat, a motif common throughout Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia used to transport the sun across the sky. Imagery aligns with Sumerian and Akkadian beliefs about the world being divided into two hemispheres for the living and the dead, both governed by the cyclical rebirth of celestial bodies and seasons.

Iconographic analysis suggests a southern Mesopotamian artist designed the goblet during travels north in the 23rd century BCE. Production likely occurred in northern Syria, where silver was more accessible, before the vessel moved south through trade routes. When placed in its tomb, the goblet may have served a ritual function, guiding the deceased’s soul along the same cyclical path as the rising sun.

Dogs and Humans Moved Together Across Eurasia for 11,000 Years

Photo by Anna Dudkova on Unsplash

Ancient dog genomes reveal that canines traveled alongside human populations during major cultural transitions across Eurasia for at least 11,000 years. Research published in Science analyzed 73 ancient dog genomes, including 17 newly sequenced specimens from archaeological sites spanning East Asia to the western Eurasian Steppe. Animals in this study lived between approximately 9,700 and 870 years ago, with ancient dogs from China included in the dataset for the first time.

Clear genetic connections emerged between specific human groups and their dogs. Ancient canines shared ancestry patterns with communities including Ancient Paleo-Siberians, Eastern hunter-gatherers, East Asian populations, and Steppe pastoralists. When people moved, traded, or replaced earlier groups, their dogs accompanied them, sometimes across remarkable distances.

China’s Early Bronze Age around 4,000 years ago provides a striking example. When Steppe populations brought metalworking technologies into western China, genetic evidence shows their dogs came with them, and this ancestry quickly spread through the region. Genetic signals of shared dispersal between humans and dogs extend back 11,000 years, when northern Eurasian hunter-gatherers exchanged dogs closely related to modern Siberian Huskies. Such early interactions occurred long before farming or complex societies emerged, showing dogs were embedded in the lifeways of various societies, moving with migrating groups and adapting to new environments alongside their human partners.

Roman Glass Cage Cups Contain Hidden Workshop Signatures

Abstract symbols carved into Roman glass cage cups are actually makers’ marks that identify the workshops producing these intricate vessels, according to new research. Washington State University art historian and glassblower Hallie Meredith made this discovery in 2023 while examining a private collection of diatreta at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She noticed that shapes long dismissed as decoration formed repeated, intentional patterns across multiple vessels.

Diatreta were produced between the fourth and sixth centuries CE and are renowned for their openwork designs. Each cup was carved from a thick glass blank into a thin inner bowl connected to an outer lattice by impossibly fine bridges. Scholars had focused on inscriptions and craftsmanship but overlooked the abstract shapes near those inscriptions: diamonds, leaves, and cross-like figures.

Studies published in the Journal of Glass Studies and World Archaeology trace identical or near-identical symbols across several surviving pieces. Meredith argues these symbols reveal coordinated production among teams of engravers and polishers rather than work by solitary master artisans. Examining tool marks, unfinished objects, and repaired or recycled fragments, she found evidence of a complex craft world where groups of workers collaborated and shared techniques across industries.

Symbols accompanying inscriptions, once vaguely described as “stop-marks,” now appear to form a deliberate visual language used to communicate within and between workshops. Rather than relying on individual skill or a single method of carving, casting, or blowing, vessels appear to result from a collective process that could stretch over extended periods. Makers’ marks may have functioned like studio logos, showing that branding existed in ancient craft traditions far earlier than previously recognized. Meredith’s experience as an active glassblower provides insight into the physical demands of the craft, and her broader research investigates how craftworkers communicated through irregular spellings, mixed alphabets, and unconventional inscriptions.

Turkish Roman Pool Was Actually a Healing Sanctuary for Asclepius

What was long assumed to be part of a water distribution system at the ancient city of Tyana in central Turkey has been identified as a sacred healing sanctuary dedicated to Asclepius, the Greco-Roman god of medicine. Excavations at the site in Bahçeli, Bor district of Niğde Province, were renewed by a team from Aksaray University’s Archaeology Department as part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Heritage for the Future project.

Construction of this pool occurred in the 2nd century CE during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Recent excavation seasons uncovered compelling evidence for ritual use, including a marble altar decorated with snake motifs, symbols closely associated with Asclepius and themes of rejuvenation and health in ancient medical cults. Additional sculptural fragments bearing serpent imagery were found nearby, reinforcing the interpretation of the site as a sanctuary for healing and purification with sacred water.

Archaeological evidence on the eastern side shows the pool once formed part of a larger temple or sanctuary complex. Asclepian sanctuaries were common throughout the Greco-Roman world and typically combined worship with medical treatment. Visitors and pilgrims sought cures through bathing in consecrated water, prayer, and offering votive tokens to the god in gratitude for restored health.

A newly preserved inscription referring to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus indicates the main construction phase occurred between CE 177 and 180, refining the site’s historical timeline and confirming imperial patronage. Tyana, known as Tuwana during the Iron Age, was among the most important cities in Cappadocia during the Roman period and served as a vital trade center between central Anatolia and the Cilician plains. During Caracalla’s reign, it received the elevated title of Antoniana Colonia Tyana, reflecting its status within the empire. After almost eight decades without major excavations, this research provides the first scientific confirmation that the Roman Pool was part of a healing complex rather than a purely utilitarian structure.

Missing Fragments of Scotland’s Stone of Destiny Traced Worldwide

Dozens of missing fragments from the Stone of Scone have been traced across the world in new research revealing a hidden chapter of Scotland’s most powerful national symbol. Professor Sally Foster of the University of Stirling’s study, published in The Antiquaries Journal, documents the fate of 34 pieces lost after the Stone’s dramatic 1950 removal from Westminster Abbey by four Scottish students.

Weighing 152 kilograms, this sandstone block has been used in royal coronations for centuries. King Edward I seized it in 1296 and placed it beneath the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey as a symbol of England’s dominance over Scotland. In 1950, student Ian Hamilton led a nationalist effort to return it to Scotland, but the stone broke in two during the heist. Stonemason Bertie Gray secretly repaired it while keeping several small fragments as mementos.

Over the years, these fragments found surprising homes. Some became jewelry: one was set into a brooch for Hamilton’s girlfriend, another into a locket worn by politician Winnie Ewing. A piece reached Australia after Gray gifted it to a visiting woman, whose family later donated it to the Queensland Museum. Foster’s work involved tracking letters, photographs, and records to identify the fragments’ paths. Of the 34 missing pieces, she has verified 17, with some passed down in families and others still missing.

Officially returned to Scotland in 1996, the Stone was displayed at Edinburgh Castle before moving in 2024 to the new Perth Museum. In 2023, activists attacked its glass case in Edinburgh, months after it was temporarily returned to Westminster for King Charles III’s coronation. Foster’s study gained new relevance when former First Minister Alex Salmond received a fragment in 2008, a gift that reignited political controversy. Her interdisciplinary research combines material culture and ethnography to explore how these shards carry powerful emotional and political weight, with fragmentation allowing the Stone to create personal connections far beyond Scotland.

Maya Mosaic Patolli Board Discovered in Guatemala Palace Floor

Excavations at the ancient Maya city of Naachtun in northern Guatemala have uncovered a unique patolli gameboard created by inlaying hundreds of red ceramic fragments into fresh mortar like a mosaic. Published by Julien Hiquet and Rémi Méreuze of the French CNRS in Latin American Antiquity, this find represents the only known example of its kind, as all other patolli boards were made by carving into plaster.

Naachtun was a powerful Classic period city (circa CE 250-900) situated between Tikal and Calakmul. Discovered embedded in the floor of Structure 6L-19 within Group 6L13, a grand residential compound, the board’s surrounding architecture suggests the building belonged to a wealthy or influential household, possibly a local administrative center. Found beneath later construction and partly obscured by a wall, the board clearly predates the room’s final phase and was built intentionally into the flooring as part of the structure’s original design.

Consisting of tiny tesserae—1-3 centimeter sherds of red and orange pottery—the board follows a rectangular layout crossed by a central axis in the traditional Mesoamerican pattern. A digitized reconstruction shows it likely measured about 80 by 110 centimeters, with close to 478 tesserae arranged in some 45 squares. Many fragments came from worn household vessels, including Early Classic types such as Dos Hermanos Red and Aguila Orange. Red coloring may have carried symbolic meaning: in Maya cosmology, red is associated with the east, a direction linked to rebirth and the rising sun.

Patolli is a game known from later Central Mexican sources but was widely played across Mesoamerica, with both entertaining and ritual significance among the Maya. Carved examples on palace benches and temple floors at sites like Seibal, Uxmal, and Xunantunich suggest elite play in social or ceremonial contexts. By embedding it into the architecture itself, builders intended it to outlast generations, perhaps serving both social and spiritual functions. Floor mosaics are nearly unknown in ancient Maya architecture, making this artifact doubly exceptional. Because it was built into a newly laid floor, archaeologists can confidently link creation to a particular construction phase dating roughly to the fifth century CE, making it one of the earliest known Maya examples.

Air-Filled Cavities in Menkaure Pyramid Suggest Second Entrance

Two previously unknown air-filled cavities have been discovered in the Menkaure Pyramid at Giza, supporting a hypothesis that a second entrance may exist on the eastern side of the monument. Researchers from Cairo University and the Technical University of Munich made this discovery as part of the ScanPyramids project, with results published in NDT & E International.

A polished section of granite blocks on the eastern facade has puzzled Egyptologists for decades. Covering an area about four meters high and six meters wide, these stones are as smooth as those framing the known northern entrance. In 2019, researcher Stijn van den Hoven suggested this distinctive finish might mark another access point, but direct evidence had been unavailable until now.

Using three non-invasive technologies—Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and Ultrasonic Testing (UST)—the ScanPyramids team combined data through Image Fusion, allowing researchers to cross-reference and align datasets for higher precision. This approach confirmed two anomalies directly behind the eastern granite blocks. Anomaly A1 sits 1.35 meters beneath the surface and measures about 1.5 meters wide by 1 meter high. A2 begins at 1.13 meters and measures approximately 0.9 by 0.7 meters. Both are interpreted as air-filled voids inside the limestone structure. Numerical simulations showed the anomalies could not be explained by natural cracks or irregularities in the stone.

Professor Christian Grosse of TUM stated that non-destructive testing methods allow investigation of ancient monuments without causing harm, and results bring scholars “a big step closer” to verifying the existence of a second entrance. Full extent and purpose of the voids remain to be determined. Because of limited depth penetration, researchers cannot confirm how far into the pyramid the anomalies extend. Following the 2023 identification of a previously hidden corridor within the Great Pyramid of Khufu, also revealed by ScanPyramids, these findings demonstrate how imaging technologies are transforming the study of ancient Egyptian architecture.

Roman Road Network Nearly Doubled in New High-Resolution Digital Map

A new high-resolution digital map called Itiner-e has expanded the known Roman road network to 299,171 kilometers, almost doubling the previous estimate of 188,555 kilometers. Published in Scientific Data, the dataset covers almost four million square kilometers and represents the Empire’s transportation network as it existed around 150 CE.

At its height in the second century CE, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Egypt and Syria, with over 55 million inhabitants. Its extensive road network was vital for administration, trade, military logistics, and cultural exchange. Despite centuries of research, the network has never been completely mapped, and earlier digitizations lacked high resolution.

Developed by Tom Brughmans, Pau de Soto, Adam Pažout, and colleagues, Itiner-e combines archaeological and historical sources with modern and historical topographic maps, satellite imagery, and remote sensing. Roads were divided into 14,769 segments. Of the total, 103,478 kilometers (34.6%) were classified as main roads, while 195,693 kilometers (65.4%) were classified as secondary routes.

Only 2.7% of road locations are known with certainty. Nearly 90% are less precisely located, and about 7.4% are hypothesized based on historical and geographic inference. Particular attention was given to previously underrepresented regions, including the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and North Africa. Improved spatial accuracy adapts routes to natural geography, such as allowing mountain crossings to follow winding paths rather than straight lines.

Researchers say Itiner-e provides a transformative resource for studying the Empire’s mobility and will help scholars investigate how roads shaped connectivity, trade, migration, administration, and even the spread of diseases. Although this represents the most comprehensive open-source mapping of Roman roads to date, it cannot yet capture changes in the network over time. Itiner-e not only consolidates existing knowledge but also exposes gaps in understanding, pointing toward future studies on the evolution of the Empire’s infrastructure and its role in shaping the ancient world.