Researchers across the globe put on their sleuthing hats this year to provide answers to questions that have lingered from decades to centuries. The thought-provoking findings offer new ways of understanding the past.
Archaeological exploration of historic sites yielded fresh insights. An analysis of a quarry containing unfinished statues showed how wayfaring Polynesians created the massive stone heads found across Rapa Nui , or Easter Island.
Meanwhile, a new project exploring Pompeii uncovered a stone staircase that could reconstruct what the ancient Roman city’s skyline once looked like before a volcanic eruption in AD 79 entombed it in a thick layer of ash.
A combination of microbotanical analysis and sweeping aerial drone footage has also enabled researchers to arrive at a new hypothesis about who created the mysterious “band of holes” formation , a series of about 5,200 holes dotting the Peruvian Andes.
Some research leads to more questions than answers, such as the inventive ways scholars have tried to determine how celebrated author Jane Austen died by analyzing her own words in the absence of medical documents.
Here are some of the most memorable findings in 2025 that provided answers to long-standing historical mysteries.
A mysterious mummy
