Brenna Hassett is Science Report’s archaeology, human origins and bioarchaeology editor, covering ancient health, burial practices, archaeological methods and evidence from past populations.
Brenna Hassett
30 reportsEditor
Archaeology, Human Origins and Bioarchaeology Editor
Brenna Hassett is an archaeology and bioarchaeology editor covering human origins, ancient health, burial practices and the scientific methods used to study past populations. She focuses on what bones, teeth, artifacts and environmental evidence can reveal and where interpretation remains uncertain.
30 latest articles by Brenna Hassett
Melting Norwegian Ice Exposes 6,000-Year-Old Mountain Artefacts
Norway's retreating mountain ice has exposed 48 prehistoric arrows and other artefacts dating from more than 6,000 to about 1,800 years ago, forcing archaeologists to reassess how people used high-elevation landscapes.
Resharpened Clovis Points Track Early Adaptation in Tennessee
An analysis of 489 Clovis and Cumberland projectile points from the Tennessee River Valley shows how early hunter-gatherers changed their use of stone as they learned the landscape
Maya Frog Pendants Map Late Classic Exchange Networks
Fourteen small zoomorphic shell pendants recovered during Maya Train salvage excavations in Campeche and Yucatán may illuminate craft production, funerary practice and the movement of marine materials, although no independent chemical provenance study or later official assessment has yet been documented.
Bronze Hand Cannon Rewrites Korea's Early Firearms Record
A bronze hand cannon found during a trail safety survey in South Korea has passed X-ray and metallurgical tests. Identified as the Hwangja Hwatong after three years of analysis, it is regarded as Korea's earliest surviving firearm, although its 28-character inscription leaves two possible manufacturing dates.
Possible Fortified Windmill Revealed on Poland's Windmill Hill
Excavations near Puck have exposed more than 300 features, including two circular trenches around a possible 15th-century windmill and a Lutheran cemetery with about 150 graves.
Mesolithic Timber Structures Found Beneath Germany's Lake Arendsee
Worked timbers recovered 20 metres below Lake Arendsee date to about 10,500 years ago. Their marks show deliberate woodworking and may indicate construction, but researchers have not yet established whether the remains belonged to huts, platforms, fishing installations or another structure.
Aurochs Skull on Wooden Stake May Mark Mesolithic Burial Ritual
A nearly complete aurochs skull found driven onto a wooden stake near northern Germany's oldest known grave may point to a previously undocumented hunter-gatherer funerary practice, although researchers stress that the interpretation remains provisional.
Medieval Hot-Air Heating System Found Beneath Swiss Monastery
Archaeologists in Basel have documented a rare, almost completely preserved medieval hot-air heating system beneath the former Gnadental Monastery, including a stone heat-storage chamber, a masonry fire channel and eight controllable openings.
Luxury Tableware Cargo Found in a Turkish Shipwreck
Thousands of ceramic plates, bowls and trays recovered off Adrasan reveal a luxury cargo associated with Rhosus and Mediterranean trade during the 1st century BCE.
Somló Hill Reveals a Major Bronze Age Settlement
Archaeologists have identified a substantial prehistoric settlement on Hungary's Somló Hill through metalwork deposits, craft tools and ceramics dating from the Late Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age.
Posa Hill Excavations Expose a Bishop's Palace and Monastery Network
Excavations at Posa Hill have expanded the known monastery and exposed a possible early medieval tower, a monumental bishop's palace and a rare ceramic water-pipe system.
A Lead Venus Statuette Sharpens the Picture of Roman Pilisszentiván
A lead Venus Pudica found during the fourth excavation season at Pilisszentiván is the first known religious object from the Roman vicus, while associated finds illuminate personal equipment, work and monetary circulation.
Yeha Palace May Have Supported 19 Storeys
A structural study of the 2,800-year-old Grat Be'al Gibri palace in Ethiopia suggests that its walls could theoretically have supported at least 19 storeys, although the model does not prove that the palace was ever built to that height.
Kufic Ganch Fragments Illuminate Samanid Bukhara
Fragments of carved ganch bearing Kufic inscriptions have been recovered at Bukhara's Shahristan site. Their fragile condition limits what can be read but preserves evidence of Samanid religious architecture and the international archaeological work now documenting it.
Polish Field Telephones Found Along a 1939 Retreat Route
A pair of unusually well-preserved Polish military field telephones has been recovered near Sochaczew, where the Battle of the Bzura turned retreat routes into a fragmented wartime landscape
Roman Town With 8000 Seat Amphitheatre Found in Austria
Geophysical surveys in Lower Austria have mapped a Roman town with a regular street grid, burial grounds and an amphitheatre for about 8000 people. Researchers cautiously link it to Claudivium, but the identification remains unconfirmed.
A 25-Tonne Mikveh Is Lifted Intact From an Israeli Site
A 2,000-year-old mikveh has been lifted intact from Carmei Gat using a 300-tonne crane after archaeologists linked it with a previously unknown Jewish settlement of the Second Temple period.
Xpujil Maya Residence Reveals How Elite Power Was Built in Stone
Carved façades at a Maya residence near Xpujil feature three images of K'awiil and a royal mat glyph, evidence that the building housed elites during the final centuries of the Classic period
Warsaw Cellars Yield Artifacts From a City Lost to War
An excavation beneath Warsaw's E. Młynarski Square has recovered burned architectural remains and a mixed collection of lamps, ceramics, sculpture and objects that may connect to the Warsaw Philharmonic, although the attribution remains unconfirmed.
Roman Weights Expose the Working Economy of Bedford Villa
Two reported Roman lead pan weights from Bedford Roman Villa illustrate how measured mass may have structured work on a rural estate, while the limits of current verification caution against assigning them a specific trade or commodity.
Opovo Settlement Was Twice the Size Archaeologists Thought
A new survey of Opovo Ugar-Bajbuk in Serbia combines surface collection, geophysics, drilling and targeted excavation to expand the site estimate from five hectares to more than nine and from about 200 residents to over 700.
Galgenbichl Settlement Reveals Iron Age Life in South Tyrol
Excavations at Galgenbichl in South Tyrol have revealed more than 30 houses dating from approximately 800 to 500 BCE, together with craft evidence, animal remains and infant burials that differ from the cremation practices documented at nearby Windschnur.
Stone Age Arrow Preserved in Norway's Retreating Ice
Archaeologists recovered 48 ancient arrows in Norway's Jotunheimen mountains, including a slate-tipped Stone Age arrow dated to roughly 5,000-6,000 years ago, with wood and binding materials preserved in the ice.
Roman Tomb in Egypt Reveals Rare Greek Funerary Poem
A Roman-era pyramid tomb at Bir al-Shaghala contains Egyptian funerary imagery, a 19-line Greek poem and a Constantine-era bronze coin, offering a rare view of cultural exchange in the Dakhla Oasis.
Celtic Weapons Reveal a Sparse Iron Age Record in Hungary
A Celtic spear, complete shield assemblage and associated finds recovered near Erdőbénye provide rare evidence of Iron Age activity in northeastern Hungary while leaving the deposit's date and purpose unresolved.
Argentina's Andes Reveal Vast Stone Circles With Unknown Purpose
A remote survey in Mendoza province has confirmed huge circular stone structures linked by passageways at more than 3,000 meters above sea level. Their date and purpose remain unresolved
Hadrianic Coin Hoard in Germany Contains 934 Silver Denarii
A legally reported discovery near Wesseling has yielded 934 Roman silver denarii weighing 3.1 kilograms. The coins offer evidence of wealth, monetary circulation and deliberate concealment in the Rhineland during the second century CE.
Maya Beekeeping Site Found Along the Maya Train Route
A limestone structure near Tulum may preserve evidence of pre-Hispanic stingless-bee keeping. Forty stone discs and pottery fragments could clarify how Maya households produced and stored honey, although the proposed meliponary interpretation remains provisional pending residue and contextual analyses.
D55 Excavation Reveals 7,000-Year-Old Farming Landscape in Czech Republic
A rescue excavation along the Czech Republic's D55 motorway has documented 1,879 settlement features, 65 cremation and burial contexts, and large Neolithic houses across a landscape occupied repeatedly from the Neolithic to the medieval period.
Hattusa Fragment Reconnects a Piece of the Kadesh Treaty
A newly identified cuneiform fragment from Hattusa belongs to the Hittite version of the Kadesh Peace Treaty and preserves clauses on fugitives who crossed between Egypt and Anatolia
