Today, more than 200 million people worldwide are infected with the parasitic worms that cause schistosomiasis. But where did the disease come from? Researchers think that they might have found a clue ...

The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

The targets, in hindsight, were obvious choices. Amid a brutal campaign a decade ago to claim a caliphate across the lands of Mesopotamia, the insurgent group the Islamic State sought to control the ...

The discovery of a schistosomiasis parasite egg in a 6,200-year-old grave at a prehistoric town by the Euphrates River in Syria may be the first evidence that agricultural irrigation systems in the ...

Archaeologists have uncovered a vast network of canals underneath the world’s oldest city in Mesopotamia, shedding more light on the rise of farming in the region. Researchers, led by geoarchaeologist ...