Middle East

One of the four newly translated cuneiform tablets

Newly Deciphered, 4,000-Year-Old Cuneiform Tablets Used Lunar Eclipses to Predict Major Events

Ancient Babylonians linked astronomical phenomena to pestilence, the death of kings and the destruction of empires

Researchers translated the cuneiform writing, which is characterized by symbols gouged into moist clay.

Researchers Decipher Cuneiform Tablet—and Discover It’s a Furniture Receipt

The small clay rectangle is engraved with an ancient Semitic language known as Akkadian

The Roman-era ring depicts the goddess Minerva, who is adorned with a shield, helmet and spear.

This 13-Year-Old Stumbled Upon a Roman-Era Ring While Hiking in Israel

The small artifact, discovered near an ancient farmstead, features an engraving of the goddess Minerva

The reconstructed Magan boat floating off the coast of Abu Dhabi

This Bronze Age Ship Replica, Made From Reeds and Goat Hair, Just Sailed 50 Nautical Miles

Researchers constructed the vessel using a list of materials found on a 4,000-year-old clay tablet

The mythical beasts have fired up cultures around the world.

From China to the Mediterranean and More, Here's How Different Cultures Envision Dragons

In some parts of the world, the mythical creatures are monsters. In others, they’re more benign beings

Jacob Sharvit and Karnit Bahartan examine the two amphorae recovered from the wreck.

World's Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Discovered a Mile Beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Archaeologists recovered two amphorae from the 3,300-year-old wreck site, which sheds new light on ancient maritime navigation

Rania Matar, Farah, 2020

This Woman-Led Photography Exhibition Showcases the Diversity of Middle Eastern Femininity

The Middle East Institute show, "Louder Than Hearts," explores portraits of Arab and Iranian women through the lens of ten celebrated female artists

Researchers found the building's remains at Tel Habwa, an archaeological site northeast of Cairo.

This Ancient Building May Have Served as a Rest Stop for an Egyptian Pharaoh's Army

Found in the northern Sinai Peninsula, the multi-room structure may have housed Thutmose III's troops over three and a half millennia ago

A researcher explores the depths of Umm Jirsan.

Extensive Desert 'Lava Tubes' Sheltered Humans for 7,000 Years, Archaeologists Find

Formed after volcanic activity, the underground caves periodically hosted early humans and their livestock in Saudi Arabia, facilitating cultural exchange

Ruben Soto (right), a migrant from Venezuela, sits with Rosa Bello, a Honduran migrant, on top of a freight train known as “The Beast.” Ruben and Rosa met in Mexico and fell in love on their way to the United States.

See 25 Astonishing Images From the World Press Photo Contest

The winning photographs capture moving moments in the midst of tumultuous global events

Shababeek for Contemporary Art was leveled during an Israeli military campaign in late March.

Arts Center in Gaza Destroyed in Israeli Hospital Siege

Shababeek for Contemporary Art was the last established visual arts center still standing in the enclave

A video posted on social media shows a woman spraying red paint on the portrait, then cutting it with a handheld tool.

Pro-Palestinian Activists Damage Balfour Portrait at Cambridge University

The 1917 Balfour Declaration was a pivotal declaration of British support for a "national home for the Jewish people"

Mohammed (seated at left) with Franklin D. Roosevelt (center) and Winston Churchill (right) at a 1943 war conference near Casablanca

The Moroccan Sultan Who Protected His Country's Jews During World War II

Mohammed V defied the collaborationist Vichy regime, saving Morocco's 250,000 Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps

A single locust swarm can comprise between four billion and eight billion individual insects.

Giant Locust Swarms Could Expand to New Areas With Climate Change, Study Suggests

In the coming decades, erratic periods of rain and drought could create new hot spots for the ravenous grasshoppers in west India and west central Asia, threatening crops and food security

The ancient red pigment was held in an intricately decorated chlorite vial.

Tube of Ancient Red Lipstick Unearthed in Iran

New research suggests the nearly 4,000-year-old cosmetic may be among the oldest discoveries of its kind

This reconstruction shows the 4,000-year-old structure in its original form.

Archaeologists Discover 4,000-Year-Old Wall Built Around Oasis in Saudi Arabia

The nine-mile-long structure surrounding the Khaybar Oasis may have once protected against raiders

Yuval Gadot stands at the bottom of the recently discovered moat.

Iron Age Moat Discovered in Jerusalem Parking Lot

The structure's purpose is unclear, but researchers think it may have been used to divide the city in two

The newly re-excavated 2,700-year-old lamassu—a winged bull with a human head—at the site of the ancent city of Dur-Sharrukin in northern Iraq

Stunning 2,700-Year-Old Sculpture Unearthed in Iraq

Archaeologists hope to reunite the 18-ton torso of the Assyrian deity with its head, severed by smugglers decades ago

Images from Corona, a U.S. military program that ran from 1960 to 1972

Declassified Cold War Satellite Photos Reveal Hundreds of Roman-Era Forts

Once thought to be defensive military bases, the forts may have supported peaceful trade and travel

A European depiction of Hasan Sabbah, an 11th-century leader of the Nizari Ismailis, and his followers in a garden paradise

The Medieval Sect That Inspired the Video Game 'Assassin's Creed'

The Order of Assassins is loosely based on the Nizari Ismailis, who formed a Shiite Muslim state that relied on political assassination to achieve its goal

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