Experts were alerted by the local government to looting near the northern Peruvian town Zaña and quickly moved to the area before any destruction occurred, a press release from the Field Museum in Chicago said.

In June, the team began studying the Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas archaeological site. They excavated a 33-foot square plot of land at a depth of six feet, where ancient walls formed from clay and mud were identified.

“It was so surprising that these very ancient structures were so close to the modern surface,” Luis Muro Ynoñán, a research scientist at the Field Museum who led the team, said in the release.

Further digging revealed one section of a large temple. According to Ynoñán, “one of the most exciting things” was a small theater “with a backstage area and a staircase that led to a stage-like platform. This could have been used to perform ritual performances in front of a selected audience.”

Flanking one of those staircases was elaborately engraved mud panels featuring a bird-like creature. Perhaps more importantly, they resemble depictions of mythological creatures dating to the Initial Period (2,000 BCE to 900 BCE).

“The Initial Period is important because it’s when we first start to see evidence of an institutionalized religion in Peru,” Ynoñán explained. The find, he continued, “tells us about the early origins of religion” in the area.

Several large murals were also found painted on the walls. Pigment samples from these works can also be used to help with identifying the age of the site using radio carbon dating.

“We still know very little about how and under which circumstances complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, and now we have evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that people were creating in this part of the world,” said Ynoñán.

These discoveries predate the country’s most well-known archaeological site, Machu Picchu, by approximately 3,500 years. Machu Picchu was an ancient city built by the Inca Empire in the 15th century CE. The site also predates the pre-Inca Moche and Nazca cultures.

“We don’t know what these people called themselves, or how other people referred to them. All we know about them comes from what they created: their houses, temples, and funerary goods,” Ynoñán added. “The people here created complex religious systems and perceptions about their cosmos. Religion was an important aspect of the emergence of political authority.”

The Brera Modern will hold Modern art from Pinacoteca di Brera gallery, which is located down the street. On opening day, officials confirmed, there will be an annual gala premier of La Scala’s opera season.

Angelo Crespi helms the museum, having succeeded British-Canadian historian James Bradburne in February. Despite his efforts to have the Brera Modern open within his tenure, Bradburne had completed two four-year terms and was no longer eligible to continue his post.

This change was implemented by the hard-right Italian government, which has been appointing Italian citizens to lead notable cultural institutions.

Founded in 1809, the Brera is home to works by such masters as Canova, Caravaggio, and Raphael. A number of works in its collection, particularly its Modern art, however, have long been in storage.

Reasons for delays have included issues with asbestos and the air conditioning system.

As part of this new addition to the Brera, the institution is expected to total more than 500,000 visitors this year—an increase from last year’s 466,709 people.

Standing nearly 7 feet tall, the well-preserved statue was found during excavation work at the former city of Heraclea Sintica. Despite its size, Bulgarian archaeologists believe it was carefully buried.

Located near the Greek boarder, Heraclea Sintica was founded by Philip II of Macedon between 356 BCE and 339 BCE. The city was later destroyed by an earthquake in 388 CE. Not long after, Heraclea Sintica rapidly declined before it was abandoned altogether in 500 CE.

Hermes was a known as a messenger to the gods in the Ancient Greek pantheon. Around the time of the earthquake, the statue may have been placed in the sewer, experts believe. It is unclear, however, if this was done in an effort to preserve the ancient deity or as a symbolic rejection of pagan practices, which had fallen out of favor due to the rise of Christianity.

“Its head is preserved,” Lyudmil Vagalinski, who led a team of archaeologists from Bulgaria’s National Archaeological Museum, told CNN. Vagalinski described the statue, a Roman copy of a Greek original, as being in “very good condition. There are a few fractures on the hands.”

“Everything pagan was forbidden, and they have joined the new ideology, but apparently they took care of their old deities,” he said.

The space is set to measure 103,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet), and will be designed by architect Paolo Desideri. It will be located within the former Albergo dei Poveri, a building also known as the Palazzo Fuga. This new institution will serve as a sister museum to the Museo Nazionale Archaeologico Napoli (MANN) and will therefore be known as MANN 2.

The building has sat empty for decades, and the new museum is part of a larger city-wide revitalization effort meant to improve tourism. A vast collection of artifacts that have otherwise been sitting in storage, due to insufficient exhibition space, will now be housed in the previously abandoned site.

A section of the museum will be focused Pompeii, which was preserved in ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The museum has more than 40,000 objects from the ancient city’s excavation in its holdings.

The showcase will spotlight remains from the city and chart their discovery in the 18th century. There will also be a series of exhibitions honoring historically notable archaeologists such as Giuseppe Fiorelli, Vittorio Spinazzola, and Amedeo Maiuri. Additionally, there will be interactive rooms and areas devoted to research.

“In Palazzo Fuga we do not want to replicate a collection already well told in the MANN itself: rather, we are going to create a space dedicated to the history of the rediscovery of the Vesuvian sites through artefacts, but also reconstructions, panels, and multimedia supports”, Massimo Osanna, Italy’s director general of museums, told the Collector.

Parts of MANN 2’s building will also house a branch of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and the city’s National Library; more than half of the building will operate as classrooms for the University of Naples Federico II. A bookshop, café, and panoramic terrace will also be part of the renovation.

Funded at €158 million ($170 million), the project is expected to be completed in mid-2026.

The ancient long barrow, located at the border of the villages Dlouhé Dvory and Lípa in the country’s eastern Bohemia region, measures roughly 620 feet long and 50 feet wide at its largest point. It is believed to date to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of Europe’s earliest known funerary monuments. The structure may also be the longest of its kind in the region.

“Mounds of this type are found mainly in northwestern Bohemia. They have not yet been reliably documented in Eastern Bohemia,” Petr Krištuf, a professor in UHK’s department of archeology at the faculty of arts, said in a statement. “In addition, the examined specimen represents the longest prehistoric mound not only in our region, but probably in the whole of Europe.”

The posthole and gutter of the long barrow’s entrance have been uncovered thus far on the D35 highway between Plotiště and Sadová. Therein, they found two central burials. The first contains a human skeleton, with a ceramic vessel offering, while the second has another human body, with five chipped flint artifacts; both were laid on their left side facing north.

Despite these finds, however, the grave was disturbed by what is believed to be a younger burial pit. Further analysis on the pit is needed to determine if it was ever used as a grave, as no human remains have been found there. Alongside the central burials and pit, another grave was also uncovered. Though it contained human remains, the skull was very badly fragmented.

“Similar burial mounds in Central Europe usually consist of only one, maximum two, burials. From this point of view, it will be interesting to see how the discovered graves are related to each other and whether they represent the burials of relatives,” Krištuf added.

There are an additional 30 graves nearby the burial mound. Researchers think graves were added around the long barrow over time, making it a fairly substantial monument to the dead during its time. The team is currently studying grave samples to better understand these burials.

The D35 highway project is currently undergoing repairs as well as construction to connect Liberec and Lipník nad Bečvou.

A team of experts from Nelson Mandela University and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity used optically stimulated luminescence dating on the purported artwork, which was previously mistaken for a symmetrical rock formation along South Africa’s coast near Still Bay in 2018. Findings suggest an ammoglyph, or tracing made in sand that subsequently hardened into stone, a theory supported by the rock’s symmetrical features and surface grooves.

Per the new theory, some 130,000 years ago, a human traced a stingray found on the shore. The cultural significance of the animal is still to be determined: Stingrays could have been a valuable source of food, or a symbol that aided in early storytelling.

Further analysis is required but based on this discovery, the impulse of human creativity and expression began much earlier than previously anticipated.

The team believes the stone was created in the Middle Stone Age, which predates previous examples of figurative art by approximately 85,000 years. Prior to this discovery, a cave painting of a pig in Indonesia was the oldest recognized representational art, dating back 45,000 years. With this study, the team suggests a connection between abstraction and realism made in these early depictions.

The work was painted by Thomas Taylor when he was 23 years old. In 1997, it was featured on the first-edition covers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (published outside the UK as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). To commemorate the book’s 25-year anniversary, Bloomsbury Publishing created a commemorative reprint of the famed book with Taylor’s illustration on the cover.

The painting surpassed its $400,000–$600,000 pre-auction estimate, and has now increased in value by more than 1,650 percent since it was first auctioned in 2001. At that time, when Sotheby’s London auctioned the piece, it exceeded expectations, fetching a $107,000 (£85,750) price tag.

Sotheby’s has not identified the person who bought the watercolor this time.

In addition to the watercolor, a handwritten manuscript of J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book of fictional fairy tales referenced in Harry Potter, is also in the sale. The manuscript is expected to garner between $250,000 and $350,000. Bidding for the item comes to a close on Friday.

Participants responded to the prompt “My wish for the next 25 years…” The winner, Maisie, a student from Washington, D.C., will receive a $55,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for her school in honor of her submitted Doodle, titled Family Dinner.

As she considered how much college would change her life in the near future, Maisie’s Doodle was inspired by her wish to hold on to what she holds most dear.

“Every Sunday night is filled with chaos, laughter, and the smell of food in my household,” she said in a statement. “The standing invitation goes to any friends and family in the area. As my life grows and changes, my wish for the next 25 years is that this tradition remains a constant.”

Now in its 16th year, the Doodle for Google contest invites kids in kindergarten through 12th grade across the US to submit drawings that, if selected, go into consideration for display on Google.com. After narrowing the submissions down to 55 state and territorial winners, Google users vote on five finalists. Each of the finalists receives a $5,000 college scholarship.

In 2022 Google honored a victim of the Uvalde school shooting by featuring a Doodle she had submitted shortly before her death.

Google Doodles traditionally honor established figures. Past ones paid homage to artists such as Rosa Bonheur, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Pacita Abad. They have also been used to commemorate dates, events, and holidays.

The museum, which will open in 2026, was once expected to receive roughly $58 million in state funding, with $34 million from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and $24 million from the Department of State. But the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA), which coordinates funding and support for projects like this one, told NJEDA in March that it is anticipating annual revenue of around $4 million. Recurring expenses will total more than $23 million, the agency said, and this means that the new museum outpost could operate at a $19 million annual deficit.

In April, NJEDA wrote a letter to the JCRA about the potential budget deficit, according to a report by NJBIZ. In that letter, NJEDA spoke of a “lack of an operating plan,” warning that it would potentially drop its funding for the museum.

“It is evident that strides have been made in identifying funding sources, including substantial state appropriations and potential tax credits under the recently enacted Cultural Arts Incentives Program,” Tim Sullivan, NJEDA chief executive, said in the April letter. “However, it is also apparent that the persistent operating gap continues to pose a substantial challenge.”

NJEDA also questioned the funding of the museum’s construction and its economic impact on the community.

Governor Phil Murphy told Artnet News that the funding remains intact for now.

Diana Jeffrey, executive director of the JCRA, wrote in response that it would consider the letter an “honest willingness” by the state to continue its funding of the project, noting that the costs of construction and operating costs are “in line” with comparable museums and institutions.

“For example, the original plan put forth by the state, and evidenced in our first state budget appropriation, dedicated such initial $24 million of state grant funding from the Council on the Arts to offset operational costs,” Jeffrey wrote. “At the time of the first state budget appropriation, the proposed annual operating budget for the [Centre Pompidou x Jersey City] after earned income was approximately $22.5 million. We worked diligently to decrease that amount, so that today that amount is now $19 million, and likely lower.”

The project is further complicated by collaborations with foreign governments and multiple stakeholders. Concerns about timing also loom large because, as Sullivan stated, the funding “has a federal clock attached to it.”

Two draft economic impact reports obtained by the Jersey Journal, however, indicate that the satellite museum could be “an expensive burden for nearby property owners, yielding higher taxes without much direct benefit.”

With a projected annual attendance between 100,000 to 250,000 visitors, the report estimates a generated revenue of $5.5 million to $14.1 million in spending across dining, retail, hotel, and transportation. Property taxes, however, are slated to increase to an annual addition of $11.8 million.

The state authority is currently reviewing JCRA’s updated revenue model.

The Centre Pompidou has not responded to an ARTnews request for comment.

A man from Kazakhstan reportedly carved “Ali” on light plaster in the House of the Ceii when he was caught on Saturday/ The wall is part of an ancient villa believed to have been owned by the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus.

The vandal will have to pay for the necessary restoration work to remove the graffiti from the ancient wall, according to Italian authorities.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, has called these kinds of incidents “an uncivilised act. Thanks to the new law supported by Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, the perpetrator of the crime will have to pay for the restoration of the wall.”

Adding, according to the Daily Mail, “Well done to the ministry collaborators and the Ales company who promptly intervened. Excellent collaboration with the police, who we thank for their promptness.”

A rare example of a late Samnite period (2nd century BCE) residence, the House of the Ceii is a tetrastyle atrium and impluvium filled with lavish frescos of wild animals set in an Egyptian-style landscape along the Nile Delta. These themes are believed to be linked to the cult of Isis, which was popular leading up to the city’s destruction in 79CE.

Pompeii is an Ancient Roman city that has been preserved in ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

This is hardly the first time someone has been caught denigrating ancient structures. Last year, for instance, a tourist carved his and his girlfriend’s names into the Colosseum in Rome.

Italian authorities are expected to be monitoring historical sites, as we move into peak tourist season.