The best of 2025: the most important archaeological discoveries of the year

BarcelonaYears ago, deciphering a manuscript or artifact was much more difficult. Scientific advances and new technologies have allowed archaeological discoveries to provide us with far more information, giving each relic a rich history that overturns what many books say. This year, Babylonian texts have been deciphered, a new date has been established for the discovery of fire, a rigorous report has been compiled on how the Counts of Urgell died, and we have been able to see what the temple where Cleopatra worshipped Isis looked like. However, none of this would be possible without human curiosity and the determination to find traces of our past. Without it, for example, we would never have been able to find Kissa.

More than 8,200 years ago, someone deliberately decided to bury the Göbekli Tepe temple in southeastern Turkey. We don't know why they wanted it to disappear, but fortunately, it is remarkably well-preserved. Excavations have been underway for over 30 years and have challenged many assumptions about the beliefs of the earliest Neolithic communities. The 5.5-meter-high pillars decorated with abstract figures and animals demonstrate a high level of symbolic and religious complexity. In 2025, for the first time, a human sculpture with a defined face was unearthed, along with various domestic structures that provide new insights into the site and the beliefs of these prehistoric societies.

In the church of the monastery of Santa María de Bellpuig de les Avellanes, in Os de Balaguer (Noguera), are buried Ermengol X; his parents, Álvaro I and Cecilia de Foix, and his brother Álvaro II. The skeletal remains provided a lot of information about their lives and their deaths. Ermengol X has bone abnormalities at the ends of his long bones, with porosity and thickening of the outer layer. These are two features typically associated with chronic lung diseases, such as tuberculosis. Álvaro II's body was dismembered and disarticulated to transport it from Sicily, where he died after a battle during the Sicilian Vespers War.

During the works being carried out in the Doctor Fleming Gardens of Barcelona Bone remains dating from the 17th and 19th centuries surfaced from those who died in the hospital. Between 1629 and 1680, a cemetery called El Corralet was established, and an anatomy classroom was built where unclaimed corpses were studied. In the southern part of the square, where the 18th-century remains were found, there was a certain dignity: the bodies were placed in wooden coffins and buried clothed, with rosaries and medals. Their arms were clasped, and they were buried in a supine position.

A team of researchers led by the British Museum found evidence in Barnham (United Kingdom) that hominids were already capable of making fires more than four hundred thousand years agoThey made them repeatedly and in a controlled manner during the Lower Paleolithic, long before the appearance of the Homo sapiensUntil now, the oldest evidence of the ability to control fire dated back some fifty thousand years and had been found in northern France. The emergence of this technological capacity brought social and adaptive benefits: it allowed for cooking food on demand—especially meat—and improved digestion and energy availability, factors possibly key to the evolution of the human brain. It fostered the development of new technologies, such as the manufacture of adhesives for attaching tools, but also greater social complexity. Around the fire, the ancestors of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens must have shared many things.

It has long been known that cannibalism existed during the Neolithic period. Increasingly sophisticated techniques have allowed for the documentation of one New episode from 5,700 years ago in the El Mirador cave (Atapuerca)In an excavation, the remains of eleven individuals (children, adolescents, and adults) were found. They had been torn apart, dismembered, fractured, cooked, and consumed in a very short time. Investigators believe the eleven victims were eaten after a confrontation.

It was recently thought that the remote islands of the Mediterranean had not been inhabited until the arrival of the first farmers and ranchers. A study published in the journal Nature The discovery of the Latnija site in the north of the island of Malta overturned this belief and demonstrated that hunter-gatherer societies were already sailing more than 8,500 years ago. The study documents for the first time a voyage of more than 100 kilometers across the open sea. This journey was made in dugout canoes without sails. The navigators used the stars, ocean currents, and coastal landmarks for orientation.

Caral is considered one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas. It emerged in Peru between 3000 and 1800 BCE and was a complex society that left behind temples and ceremonial spaces, but no trace of weapons or conflict. In 2025, the archaeological gem Peñico was unveiled to the world. Researchers described it as a "city of social integration" because it served as a link between the coastal, Andean, and Amazonian populations. In other words, it was a large-scale commercial and cultural hub. Peñico is believed to have been a continuation—or a reconfiguration—of the Caral civilization's legacy.

In 1908, many houses in the Barcelona neighborhoods of La Catedral, La Ribera, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina, and Sant Cugat del Rec were demolished to make way for Via Laietana. Approximately 2,200 houses were affected, and it is estimated that the construction impacted 10,000 people. The redevelopment works on Fusteria street, between Ample and Mercè streets, revealed the medieval remains of some of these housesas well as its evolution until its demolition. Among other things, a section of the Encants vault pavement was uncovered.

At Driffield Terrace, near the Roman city of Eboracum (modern-day York, England), 80 graves were excavated twenty years ago, yielding nearly 90 bodies, mostly those of burly men. It is considered one of the best-preserved gladiatorial cemeteries in the world. This year, the remains of one of these gladiators, who had been decapitated, were analyzed. He likely died from poorly healed wounds caused by a lion bite. The lion's tooth marks are physical proof of what, until recently, was only known from written sources and artistic depictions: violent combat between men and beasts was common in Rome and the provinces of the Empire.

Pompeii is like an open book of Ancient Rome. In one of the houses, which was under construction when Vesuvius erupted, tools, roof tiles, reused materials, and mixtures of lime and pozzolana were found, which allowed for the creation of... opus caementiciumAccording to researchers, this concrete withstood millennia thanks to a composition capable of self-repairing cracks and strengthening over time.

During construction work on the future BSM parking garage in Barcelona's Ciutadella Park, a blackened wooden skeleton was unearthed: it was the side of a ship that had sunk between the 15th and 16th centuries. Nearly intact pinecones, as well as seeds from hazelnut trees and other fruit trees, were found alongside the wreck. It is almost certainly a merchant ship and did not sink where it was found; rather, a storm likely carried it there. The discovery may help to understand and document port activity at that time in Barcelona.

In the subsoil of Barcelona there are more than 1,322 Civil War shelters registered, but there are many more that are not listed anywhere. The last one came to light during the construction of the La Sagrera station and was not listed in the 1938 census of shelters.The structure, linked to the old freight station, is notable for its bunker-like design, and its state of preservation is quite remarkable. It is a private shelter, built by the workers and the CNT (National Confederation of Labor), which served the old freight station.

The discovery of alabaster and pottery fragments bearing the names of the pharaoh and Queen Hatshepsut confirmed that the tomb located in the Theban necropolis, near the Valley of the Kings, is that of Thutmose II, who reigned from around 1490 BC to 1475 BC. The tomb, damaged by ancient floods, preserves architectural remains and ritual elements that confirm its royal nature. The discovery is significant because it is the first pharaoh's tomb identified in a long time. It provides new information about the reign of Thutmose II., the funerary practices of the empire and the dynastic relations in the royal family, especially with Hatshepsut, the first woman to be proclaimed pharaoh.

Underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio reconstructed the Temple of Isis on the submerged island of Antirhodos, where Ptolemy XII and his daughter, Cleopatra VII, performed liturgical rites and worshipped their gods. Excavations unearthed medals, columns, statuettes, mosaics, and frescoes, remarkably well-preserved thanks to being submerged after an earthquake around 50 AD. This was not the only treasure discovered. Submerged are the remains of a time of opulence in which Greek and Egyptian cultures intertwined. Just off the harbor, archaeologists also unearthed a luxurious vessel, 35 meters long and about 7 meters wide. The central pavilion and wooden remains, on which ancient Greek letters are still legible, confirmed that it was used either for luxurious cruises or for ceremonies related to the cult of the goddess Isis. All the research can help to understand how the last queen of Egypt ruled, the woman who has so fascinated writers and filmmakers.

The conflict between the Romans and Carthaginians had terrible consequences for the Iberians. Among them was the destruction of an important settlement that until that year was only known from written sources: Kissa. The Greek historian Polybius mentions it only once to explain the conflict between the Carthaginians and Romans, but Archaeology has rescued it from the ashesKissa, which had about 5,000 inhabitants, was located at the Vilar archaeological site, where the old Magrinyà anise factory stood. In fact, stones from the Iberian wall were used to build the factory walls.