Wow, folks, lots of cool discoveries in the news this week — standing stones, statues, castles, you name it! Let’s get right into it.
Here’s the latest ancient news. 👇
🗞 Ancient News: Top 5
Iberian Solstice Sanctuary Uncovered In Spain — A 2,500-year-old sanctuary has been uncovered at El Fontanar near Jódar in Jaén, Spain, where architecture and astronomy merged into ritual performance. The site features two symbolic structures: a limestone rock shelter about 23 ft high with a V-shaped entrance evoking female anatomy, and a phallic monolith over 16 ft tall positioned to align with the rising sun at the winter solstice. At dawn on the shortest day, sunlight strikes the tip of the… monolith, its shadow extending into the recess of the shelter before retreating, interpreted as a ritualized union of solar and fertility forces. The sanctuary dates to the 5th–4th centuries BCE, predating large Iberian settlements and suggesting that sacred landscapes shaped the region before urbanization. Nearby monuments, such as the heroon of El Pajarillo, formed a ritual route tied to mythic journeys of death and rebirth. The discovery demonstrates the Iberians’ advanced astronomical knowledge and their ability to inscribe cosmic cycles of fertility and renewal into the land itself.
Image credit: A. Ruiz et al., Complutum (2025). Major Neolithic Monuments Identified In Austria — Excavations at Rechnitz in eastern Austria uncovered at least three circular earthworks, each about 350 ft across, built between 4850 and 4500 BCE. The enclosures featured concentric ditches and timber palisades, suggesting communal gathering spaces with ceremonial or social functions. Nearby, traces of earlier Neolithic settlements revealed rectangular houses belonging to some of the region’s earliest farming communities. The monuments are among the most significant prehistoric structures yet found in Austria.
Colossal Neo-Assyrian Sculpture Unearthed In Mosul — In Mosul at the site of ancient Nineveh, archaeologists revealed a massive lamassu, the protective winged bull with a human head, standing more than 20 ft tall. Carved during the reign of Esarhaddon (681–669 BCE), it once flanked a palace entrance, symbolizing royal power and divine protection. Its size places it among the largest known lamassu sculptures, and its recovery provides rare insight into the monumental scale of Neo-Assyrian art and architecture.
Researchers Solve Mystery of Armenia’s “Dragon Stones” — The so-called vishaps (dragon stones) of Armenia—monolithic steles up to ~18 ft (~5.5 m) tall—were long enigmatic. A study of 115 such stones reveals they cluster near springs, streams, or irrigation systems in high-altitude pastures (~6,200 or 8,800 ft). New radiocarbon dates place their erection between 4200 and 4000 BCE. Their distribution suggests they were markers in a water-cult ritual landscape, symbolically tied to snowmelt sources feeding agricultural valleys.
Downed Trees Reveal Ancient Irish Monument — Storms on Achill Island, Ireland, toppled trees that exposed a row of prehistoric standing stones buried beneath forest soil. The stones run in a north–south alignment and are tentatively dated to about 1000 BCE, placing them in the Bronze Age. Their placement suggests a role in ritual or astronomical observation, though they may also mark a burial site. The monument had lain hidden for millennia, preserved by the overlying woodland until the recent natural disturbance revealed its presence.
That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 32 discoveries and 4 recommended pieces of content covering wampum beads, a lost castle, and a very ancient hunter’s pouch.
Until next time, thanks for joining me!
-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum
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