The Middle East continues to reveal traces of its ancient past, with discoveries offering new insight into how early civilisations lived, worshipped and organised society.
Since January, archaeologists have uncovered ancient burial chambers, royal monuments and prehistoric artworks. Some finds may answer long-standing historical questions, while others are challenging what we know about the region's earliest communities.
Here are six of the most significant discoveries announced over the year so far.
A Bronze Age communal tomb in Al Ain
A burial chamber uncovered at the Qattarah Necropolis in Al Ain has revealed evidence of funerary traditions that endured for at least 1,000 years.
Announced by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi in July, the chamber was 11 metres long and 2.5 metres wide. Dating back to the Wadi Suq period, it remained in use into the Iron Age, suggesting successive generations continued to bury their dead at the same site.
Archaeologists recovered weapons, vessels and personal ornaments, providing clues about the customs of the communities that inhabited the region.
The chamber's entrance faces the East, potentially allowing the rising Sun to illuminate its interior, although whether this carries symbolic significance remains uncertain.
The discovery adds to Al Ain's archaeological importance, with its Unesco-listed sites already documenting thousands of years of settlement, burial practices and technological development.
The possible discovery of Egypt's lost city of Masn
An inscription bearing the name of a long-lost Egyptian city may finally help settle an archaeological mystery dating back almost 140 years.
Discovered at Tell Abu Seify, near the Suez Canal, the sandstone lintel bears the royal titles of Ramses II, who ruled Egypt during the 13th century BC. It also records the restoration of a statue of Horus, described as Lord of the City of Masn.
Announced in August, the find strengthens the possibility that Tell Abu Seify was the ancient settlement, although further investigation is required to confirm its identity.
Excavations have also revealed a temple complex, defensive walls, roads and evidence of Roman military occupation.
Establishing the city's whereabouts could help researchers reconstruct Egypt's eastern frontier, particularly the Horus Military Road, which connected the Nile Delta with Sinai and territories farther east.
A rare Assyrian royal monument in Nineveh, Iraq
More than 2,600 years since the reign of King Ashurbanipal, archaeologists have uncovered a monument documenting the ambitions of one of Assyria's most powerful rulers.
The two-metre stone stele was discovered in June at Shamash Gate in Nineveh, once the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. It features cuneiform inscriptions and relief carvings associated with Ashurbanipal's reign from 668BC to 627BC.
The inscriptions offer further evidence of how the king developed Nineveh and commemorated his achievements through public monuments.
The discovery also carries significance for the city's modern history. Nineveh's archaeological remains suffered extensive destruction during ISIS's occupation of the Mosul area between 2014 and 2017.
Recovered by a joint Iraqi-American archaeological mission, the stele contributes to efforts to document and preserve one of the ancient Middle East's most important cities.
An image of the lost Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt
An ancient bronze ring recovered from the Mediterranean Sea bears a rare depiction of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
It was announced last week that the signet ring had been discovered during underwater excavations at Antirhodos, a submerged island that once housed a royal palace in Alexandria's Great Harbour.
Its engraving depicts the Lighthouse of Alexandria and resembles representations found on Roman-era coins. Archaeologists have yet to establish the ring's precise date or identify its owner, but it is believed to be the first known depiction of the monument on a signet ring.
Constructed during the third century BC, the lighthouse guided ships into Alexandria's harbour for centuries before successive earthquakes brought about its destruction.
The discovery adds to the limited surviving visual record of the structure, whose appearance is known largely through ancient descriptions and representations.
An 11,000-year-old carved human face in Karahantepe, Turkey
A human face carved into a limestone pillar is providing new evidence of artistic expression among some of the world's earliest settled communities.
Unveiled in November 2025, the discovery was made at Karahantepe in south-eastern Turkey, a Neolithic site dating back about 11,000 years.
The 1.4-metre T-shaped pillar features deep-set eyes and a prominent nose. It is the first known example of a human face represented directly on this type of pillar at the region's prehistoric sites.
Similar structures have been found at nearby Gobeklitepe, with archaeologists suggesting their forms may represent stylised human figures. The discovery at Karahantepe lends weight to that interpretation.
Alongside other sculptures and monumental structures uncovered at the site, the pillar reveals the sophistication of prehistoric artistic and ceremonial traditions thousands of years before the emergence of writing or cities.
Thousands of years of rock art in Sinai, Egypt
Paintings, engravings and inscriptions spanning thousands of years have been documented at a previously unknown archaeological site in South Sinai.
Announced by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in February, the discovery was made on the Umm Iraq Plateau, where researchers identified a natural sandstone rock shelter extending more than 100 metres.
Its walls contain prehistoric paintings depicting animals and other figures, alongside later engravings and inscriptions. Archaeologists have also documented pottery fragments and material associated with different periods of human activity.
Some of the earliest artwork is believed to predate the emergence of the ancient Egyptian state, although further research is needed to refine its chronology.
The site is particularly valuable for its unusually long archaeological record. Its changing imagery and inscriptions suggest communities returned to the same location across vastly different historical periods, leaving evidence of their environments, beliefs and artistic traditions.
