On a set of broken clay bowls from northern Mesopotamia, delicate flower patterns have turned out to be something far more radical than decoration. New analysis of this ancient art suggests that early ...

The intricate, abstract designs of Islamic art and architecture have always struck experts as the inspired expressions of a faith that forbids direct depictions of holy figures. But a new study shows ...

Traditionally created by ancient Bedouin women in what is now the United Arab Emirates, AlSadu rugs often act as social artifacts, their patterns designed to mirror a nomadic, desert lifestyle that ...

Ancient pottery reveals early farmers were using math thousands of years before numbers, embedding geometry and patterns into ...

Constructing a building involves using many geometrical shapes and patterns. In the absence of a proper mathematical calculation it is near impossible for anyone to build an architectural complex.

A researcher in the US reports to have found the first examples of perfect quasicrystal patterns in Islamic architecture. Her upcoming paper also describes how the designers were creating these ...

Scientists excavating a Stone Age cave on South Africa’s southern coast have followed a trail of engraved pigments to what they suspect are the ancient roots of modern human behavior. Analyses of 13 ...

Researchers examine pre-colonial geometric earthworks in the southwestern Amazonia from the point of view of indigenous peoples and archaeology. The study shows that the earthworks were once important ...

Strange carvings found on Peruvian rocks may have been created by ancient humans that were tripping out, researchers have found. Toro Muerto, where the carvings are located, is in a Peruvian desert ...