Alongside those early accounting systems, the Mesopotamians developed the world's first spreadsheets, as well as sophisticated banking systems. They also invented the concept of credit -- and, with it, interest-bearing loans.
An ancient Persian inscription, preserved since the inauguration of the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro in 1909, was finally deciphered after remaining untranslated for about 117 years. Furthermore, the discovery was made by professors Alex Mazzanti, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and Matheus Treuk, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj).
On 10 June 2026, the NEAstr project team held its second workshop, on the theme of 'Late antique astronomical sciences in medieval compendia'. Few pre-medieval witnesses of late antique scientific works survive, and most manuscripts available to scholars were copied centuries after the composition of the texts.
A small clay tablet no larger than a modern handheld document is offering an extraordinary glimpse into the commercial world of Anatolia nearly 4,000 years ago. Now on display at the Kayseri Archaeology Museum, the cuneiform tablet remained sealed inside its original clay envelope for millennia.
Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the most historically significant river systems in Western Asia. The way it formed marks a key event in the development of the Fertile Crescent, the arc of fertile land in the Middle East where some of the world's earliest civilizations emerged.
Biblical history is being rewritten thanks to recent radiocarbon dating of a few grains of cereal. New research from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) uses C14 dating of preserved organic samples taken from one of two ancient fortresses in the Arava in southern Israel.