Discoveries

Roman knife handle discovered in the UK is testament to gladiators’ celebrity status

As gladiators return to the big screen, English Heritage announces plans to show the artefact at Hadrian’s Wall

Leonardo Cartoon was ‘presentation drawing’ in Florence commission bid

Leonardo’s largest known drawing was hung with the Mona Lisa in his studio, says Per Rumberg, the curator of the Royal Academy’s Florentine Old Masters exhibition opening this month

Maya city with pyramids, plazas and a ballcourt discovered in Mexican jungle

Research team uncovers settlement hidden for centuries using laser mapping technology

House featuring erotic art unearthed at Pompeii

Frescoes show, among other saucy scenes, a satyr coupled with a naked nymph

Bobbly lines and an unfinished doodle: super-high-res scans may show William Blake's first-ever engravings

New research argues that works discovered on the rear of 18th century copperplates can be attributed to a teenaged Blake

Ancient throne room of powerful Moche woman discovered in Peru

The so-called “Hall of the Moche Imaginary” is one of two elaborately decorated spaces archaeologists recently uncovered at Pañamarca

Emily Carr painting bought for $50 at barn sale could bring $148,000 at auction

The 1912 painting is believed to have been gifted by the artist to friends who later moved to the Hamptons, where a discerning dealer nabbed it decades later for a bargain

Voynich Manuscript scans reveal early decoding attempt

Multispectral imaging has uncovered that the baffling symbols in the 15th-century document—dubbed the world’s most mysterious manuscript—were scrutinised by its owner, a Prague doctor

Lost self-portrait by UK painter Norman Cornish discovered behind bar scene

The undated work, which was during conservation work, is going on display in an exhibition at the Bowes Museum in County Durham

From a fox to a silky chicken: centuries-old paper cuttings discovered under floorboards of National Trust house

The objects are believed to have been made by students in the 17th century, when Sutton House was a school

Wreck of the ship Ernest Shackleton died on found off the coast of Canada

The famed explorer died aboard the Quest in 1922; the ship sank in the Labrador Sea 40 years later

Newly discovered drawings in Pompeii indicate children saw gladiators in bloody action

Charcoal sketches highlight they ‘witnessed battles in the amphitheatre’, says park director

Possible Ancient Egyptian structure identified beside the Giza pyramids

The discovery of the L-shaped object was made in an ancient Egyptian elite cemetery beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Stunning frescoes revealed at Pompeii

Depicting scenes from Greek mythology, the works were discovered in the banqueting room of a large house in the ancient Roman city

Newly identified William Kent chairs—discovered in a Wiltshire Church—go on show at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge

The two internationally important chairs have been acquired for the reopening of the institution's Founder’s Galleries

Investigation by Portuguese newspaper reveals grappling between politicians and museums over future of Kwer’ata Re’esu

Disagreement centred over whether the painting, looted in 1868 and later sold to a private collector in Portugal, should be bought by the government and returned to Ethopia

Roman funerary bed found in central London

Archaeologists are "blown away" by the levels of preservation of the finds at Holborn Viaduct, which also include five oak coffins, a decorated lamp, a glass vial, and jet and amber beads

Plazas and pottery: oldest Amazonian cities uncovered in major archaeological discovery in Ecuador

Lidar light detection technology helped scientists to see beneath the foliage and discover the 2500-year-old settlement

Medieval cemetery with crouching bodies and rare artefacts unearthed near Cardiff airport

French glass and African pottery suggest individuals buried are of high status

$4 thrift-store vase sells for $107,100 at auction

It turns out the glass vessel is a rare example of a 1940s Venini piece designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa

Rediscovered panels by proto-Renaissance master Lorenzetti soar at auction

A painting depicting Pope Sylvester I made €3m, while a portrayal of Saint Helena more than doubled its high estimate, selling for €1.6m

'Rediscovered' Rembrandt could make £15m at Sotheby's London this December

The Biblical scene was recently offered at auction for just €10,000

Archaeologists discover 24,000 year-old Palaeolithic art site in eastern Spain

Researchers have now revealed details about the trove of ancient paintings and engravings found in 2021

Exclusive: first colour photographs shed fresh light on Ethiopia's most treasured icon and its looting by an agent of the British Museum

An Art Newspaper investigation uncovers new details on the infamous seizure in 1868 by Richard Holmes of a 500-year-old painting of Christ, the Kwer’ata Re’esu, which never reached the London institution

‘Breakthrough’ attribution for Artemisia Gentileschi painting stored at England's Hampton Court

Royal Collection curators checked provenance records and pigments, tracing the work to Queen Henrietta Maria

World's oldest wooden structure discovered in Zambia

A new report reveals that humans were building with wood 476,000 years ago, upending previous beliefs about our ancestors

N.C. Wyeth painting purchased at a thrift shop for $4 could sell for $250,000 at auction

The painting's whereabouts were unknown for 80 years, but a Facebook post led to its rediscovery

Metal detectorists make first discovery of Iron Age gold coins in Wales

The haul has now been officially classed as treasure and may be acquired by an Anglesey museum

Ancient ruins of emperor Nero's theatre found in Rome

Objects ranging from the Roman to medieval period were found at the archaeological site, which will now be turned into a Four Seasons hotel

‘Clearly a copy from the 19th century’—Old Masters scholars reject AI-attributed Raphael

The so-called de Brécy Tondo has in the past been assumed to be a Victorian copy