A one-of-a-kind clay figurine depicting conjoined frogs found at the site of Vichama may represent evidence of a looming crisis faced by the Caral civilization 3,800 years ago. In Andean culture, these amphibians were associated with water, rainfall, and rejuvenation. It’s likely that when the 5-inch-long statuette was created, local communities were suffering from an unstable climate. The small object may have been used in ceremonies to invoke frogs’ role as conjurers of rain and balance. 

High-resolution imaging has exposed previously invisible tattoos on the frozen remains of a woman buried in Siberia’s Altai Mountains. The 50-year-old woman was a member of the nomadic Pazyryk culture, which inhabited the Eurasian steppe around 2,500 years ago. Scans revealed that her arms were covered in elaborate fighting scenes that included leopards, tigers, and stags. The complex designs were executed with such skill that today’s tattoo artists would surely admire their predecessors’ talents.

When the Phoenicians explored the Mediterranean Sea in the 1st millennium b.c., founding new settlements in far-off lands, they brought the familiar scents of home with them. A study of 51 ceramic bottles found in the Phoenician city of Motya on San Pantaleo Island revealed that all were made in the Phoenician homeland, in present-day Lebanon, between the 8th and 6th centuries b.c. Residue analysis identified the essential components of fragrant oils, suggesting that Phoenician sailors used the bottles to carry perfumes on their trips abroad.