Scientists have discovered a massive whale necropolis deep beneath the Indian Ocean, at depths reaching nearly 7,000 meters (22,966 feet), stretching almost 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) along the seafloor and containing hundreds of fossils dating back more than five million years.

The findings, published in Nature, offer a rare look at one of the ocean’s most extreme and least understood environments.

The site sits in the Diamantina Zone, a rugged underwater fracture zone in the southeastern Indian Ocean, at depths between 4,616 and 7,001 meters (15,144 and 22,969 feet).

Lead author Xiaotong Peng of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Sanya, China, and a team of researchers made 32 deep-sea dives using the submersible “Fendouzhe” from February to March 2023.

Whale necropolis beneath the Indian Ocean pushes known depth limits

Researchers found 476 fossilized whale remains and five active whale-fall communities, the ecosystems that form around carcasses sinking to the ocean floor.

The deepest of these communities was found at 6,789 meters (22,274 feet), extending the known depth range of whale-fall habitats by more than 2,500 meters (8,202 feet).

In some areas of the zone, whale remains reached densities of up to 759 individuals per square kilometer (1,966 per square mile).

All five active whale-fall communities are in what scientists call the “sulfophilic stage,” a prolonged phase where bacteria break down bone fats and release sulfide compounds that sustain surrounding life.

The team identified 35 animal species at these sites, including bone-eating worms, brittle stars, and chemosynthetic bivalves, creatures that draw energy from chemicals rather than sunlight. Molecular analysis showed that most of these species may be entirely new to science.

Researchers examined 43 fossil specimens and identified five ‘beaked whale’ species and one ‘baleen whale’ species. Two of the ‘beaked whale’ species still inhabit those waters today, while others have been extinct for millions of years.

One fossil belongs to a previously unknown species, named “Pterocetus diamantinae” after the Diamantina Zone.

Bones preserved for millions of years on the seafloor

Using strontium isotope dating, researchers found that whales have been sinking to this seafloor for at least 5.3 million years.

This whale necropolis survives largely because of the region’s very low sedimentation rate, which means bones are not buried quickly and can remain exposed for hundreds of thousands of years. Iron and manganese minerals gradually coat the bones, protecting them from further decay.

Peng and colleagues noted that the Diamantina Zone’s deep V-shaped underwater valleys likely funnel sinking carcasses into concentrated areas at the bottom. Beaked whales, which dive deeper than nearly any other mammal and can stay submerged for over an hour, likely died from the physical strain of extreme foraging dives.

The discovery also provides new insight into beaked whales, whose behavior and population sizes remain poorly understood because they are rarely seen and are known mostly from occasional strandings.

Researchers further suggest that this stretch of whale falls may act as a biological corridor, connecting deep-sea ecosystems across the southern Indian Ocean.

A small clay figurine, broken and seemingly unremarkable, may hold one of the earliest known examples of numerical notation in the ancient world. Researchers studying a Guatemala figurine have found what appears to be an early form of Mesoamerican writing on its surface, potentially pushing back the timeline of symbolic notation in the region by centuries.

The artifact comes from the Middle Preclassic site of La Blanca in San Marcos, Guatemala. It dates to roughly 750 to 650 BC and features 11 small dots arranged into three vertical columns on what appears to be its headdress.

Julia Guernsey of the University of Texas at Austin led the study, published in Latin American Antiquity. Researchers argue these dots may represent the number 11 in an early dot-based numerical system.

La Blanca was once a major urban center on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, reaching its peak between 1000 and 900 BC. It controlled a large regional system and was marked by significant social stratification and some of the largest Middle Preclassic architecture in Mesoamerica.

Eleven dots on ancient artifact hint at number system

The artifact belongs to what researchers call the “tab” type, a recurring form at La Blanca in which a tapered, abstract projection replaces a naturalistic human head.

More than 300 such figurines have been found at the site. What sets this one apart is the presence of 11 impressed dots, split into one column of three and two columns of four.

Guernsey notes that the dots were pressed into the clay before the figurine was fired, pointing to deliberate planning by the maker. Their placement in the head region also carries meaning.

Across ancient Mesoamerica, the head and headdress served as the primary space for conveying identity. Symbols placed there often carried names, calendar dates, or other markers tied to personhood.

Guatemala figurine pushes back the timeline of Mesoamerican writing

Numbers were deeply connected to the human body in ancient Mesoamerican cultures. The K’iche’ Maya word for “person” also means 20, a reflection of the 10 fingers and 10 toes at the core of their counting system. Calendar dates at birth often determined a person’s destiny and character, according to the study.

Guernsey argues the figurine from Guatemala stands as the earliest securely dated example of potential dot-based Mesoamerican writing or numeration found anywhere in the region.

While the dots lack an accompanying calendar glyph, their odd total and deliberate grouping hint at numerical intent.

Purely decorative motifs in early Mesoamerican art typically favored symmetry and even numbers, making this arrangement difficult to dismiss as mere decoration.

Archaeologists at an ancient site in Iraq have uncovered rare cuneiform tablets, mass graves, and evidence of a large-scale siege nearly 4,000 years old, giving researchers what they call the clearest record yet of Bronze Age urban warfare in the region.

The site, Kurd Qaburstan, lies in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq and is believed to be the ancient city of Qabra. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, an associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida, led the excavations over two field seasons in 2024 and 2025 with U.S. National Science Foundation support.

Inside a structure called the Lower Town East Palace, researchers recovered 20 cuneiform tablets and more than 100 administrative sealings, the largest tablet find yet made on the Erbil Plain.

The records include palace administrative texts and a letter tied to a senior official. Several bear dates cluster within the same few days, a pattern consistent with the city’s documented fall. Earley-Spadoni said the tablets offer a detailed look at palace operations and the city’s economy in its final days.

Iraq’s rare palace tablets found alongside ancient mass graves

Within the same destruction layers, researchers found the remains of 17 people. Bioarchaeologist Andrea Zurek-Ost of Michigan State University is studying the individuals.

None had been given a formal burial or left with belongings, and some appear to have died where they lay. One person was found collapsed across a stone basin.

A dig in northern Iraq has yielded rare cuneiform tablets, mass graves and a 4,000-year-old siege record that brings a forgotten ancient city back to life. pic.twitter.com/VGssXIZjt0

— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) June 11, 2026

The site also showed two overlapping destruction events matching historical records of Qabra’s siege and conquest by Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad. Charred debris, fallen walls, and broken pottery point to a prolonged assault, making it the most complete archaeological case of Middle Bronze Age siege warfare identified in northern Mesopotamia.

Earley-Spadoni said the rare tablets, mass graves, and other findings from the Iraq site make clear that northern cities like Qabra were as organized and politically significant as the more familiar southern centers of ancient Mesopotamia.

Survey uncovers fortified walls matching an ancient monument

A magnetic survey of more than 80 hectares uncovered a large fortification wall with towers encircling the site, matching the layout shown on the “Victory Stele of Dadusha,” an ancient monument tied to the siege.

Researchers also found a preserved street with an engineered drainage system and spaces used for food preparation and textile work.

Laboratory analysis is continuing, including DNA and isotopic testing on the 17 individuals to trace their origins and determine whether they were related.