A 7,000-year-old village may have practiced a haunting skull ritual that left bodies behind

Archaeological evidence from the Canary Islands suggests that by the 11th century, people there were harvesting and processing a variety of fish and other marine organisms—indicating that coastal resources may have played a vital role in the economic system, according to a study published in PLOS One by Jonathan Santana of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain, and colleagues.

Archaeologists digging at an Inca site on the arid coast of southern Peru have unearthed two rare, roughly 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes. The potatoes are among the only ones found in more than a century and would have been transported across the empire from the freezing peaks of the Andes.

There are many theories as to how human language first evolved. But none completely explains why it happened.

An analysis of corn, cassava and coca plants discovered with sacrificed Inca children reveals they died during the reign of one of the last Inca emperors.