Ancient Places

Ancient places can be found all over the world. Their fascinating histories and impressive artifacts open intriguing glimpses to times past, and visiting such ancient places in the world can be an unforgettable experience.

Science is constantly discovering new archaeological places and uncovering more evidence into what we once thought we knew about our history, therefore offering new pieces to the ever changing puzzle of humanity’s past and altering how we interpret it. This section will present the most interesting archaeological sites all over the world, as well as new discoveries of ancient places that are worth paying a visit.

Researchers over the last decade have narrowed in on the cause of Neanderthal extinction in prehistoric Spain and the answer is that they were unable to trap or capture smaller prey, especially rabbits. Source: Akkharat J. / Adobe Stock

15 March, 2022 - 13:59 Nathan Falde

How Rabbits Led to Neanderthal Extinction in Iberia and Elsewhere

There were undoubtedly many reasons why the Neanderthals finally went extinct in Europe 40,000 years ago. One hypothesis states that the inability of the species to adapt to hunting small animals...

Four warriors of ‘The Immortals’, from the famous glazed brick friezes found in the Apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa ( Wikimedia)

14 March, 2022 - 13:19 mrreese

The Immortals: Elite and Formidable Army of the Persian Empire

The first Persian Empire (550 BC – 330 BC), called the Achaemenid Empire, is known for having an elite force of soldiers. Named the “Immortals” by Herodotus, this army consisted of a heavy infantry...

Henry supervising the beheading of his rival Peter, thus firmly establishing the House of Trastámara that was a blend of the powerful kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, who eventually overthrew the Muslims in Granada. A manuscript page from the Grandes Chroniques de France. Source: Public domain

11 March, 2022 - 00:57 dhwty

The House of Trastámara: The Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon Take Spain

The House of Trastámara was a royal dynasty that ruled over Spain during the Late Middle Ages. The dynasty was a cadet branch of the House of Burgundy, and initially ruled over the Crown of Castile...

The return of the moai to Rapa Nui from Chile. Source: Paula Rossetti

10 March, 2022 - 21:52 Cecilia Bogaard

The Return of the Moai: Rapa Nui and the Fight for its Ancestors

Rapa Nui, the original name for Easter Island, is most famous for its giant monolithic moai statues. Located 3,512 km (2,182 mi) off the coast of Chile, Rapa Nui has suffered a history of constant...

The caltrops the Ukrainian Art of Steel workshop has been manufacturing with traditional blacksmithing for the current war with Russia. Source: Art of Steel

10 March, 2022 - 17:39 Sahir

Medieval Caltrop Defense Weapon Coming to the Aid of Ukrainian Resistance

When nations go to war, the most tragic aspect is the disruption and annihilation of civilian lives. International media has been reporting the robust resistance put up by Ukrainian citizens in many...

Antarctic explorer Earnest Shackleton’s long lost Endurance shipwreck, which sank in 1915, has finally been found at a depth of 10,000 feet or 350 meters off the coast of the icy continent. Source: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust / National Geographic / Endurance22

10 March, 2022 - 13:26 ashley cowie

Shackleton’s Famous Antarctic Shipwreck Endurance Is Finally Discovered

Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost Endurance shipwreck has been discovered at the bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. And while this isn’t a discovery from the ancient world, it packs such a historically...

The Roman inscription is still clear on this amphorae recovered with many other well-preserved artifacts from a 4th-century-AD Roman cargo ship found meters from a busy Mallorca, Spain beach in 2019. Source: Jose A Moya / Arqueomallornauta-Consell de Mallorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Cádiz, Universitat de les Illes Balears

9 March, 2022 - 21:55 Sahir

1600-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck Found in “Perfect” Condition in Spain

In 117 AD, at the time of Caesar Trajan’s death, the Roman Empire had reached its territorial peak, stretching across the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa and Western Asia. And the Romans used ships...

After 900 years the cursed prophecy of the broken Killing Stone has come true in Japan, and many are worried about what comes next! Source: ITmedia

9 March, 2022 - 17:58 ashley cowie

Japan’s Killing Stone Has Cracked, Sparking Widespread Fear

A legendary volcanic rock in Japan associated with an ancient evil vixen-demon, has split in two. While geologists assure the occurrence is natural, others are convinced the chaotic fox spirit has...

The evidence found in north China from roughly 40,000 years ago, including advanced stone tools and ochre processing knowledge, was created by ancient humans. However, archaeologists are still trying to figure out who these ancient hominins were, and the choices are Neanderthals, Denisovans or Homo sapiens. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

8 March, 2022 - 13:59 ashley cowie

40,000-year-old Tools Used by Ancient Humans Unearthed In North China

Archaeologists in China have unearthed a hoard of intricately crafted stone blades and ochre processing activities attributed to ancient humans living less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of...

The Egyptian emeralds would have looked this these (from Brazil) when taken from the ground. (Géry Parent / CC BY-ND 2.0)

6 March, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Vast Roman-Period Emerald Mines Revealed in Egyptian Desert

A topographic scan of emerald mines in Egypt’s Eastern Desert has revealed scores of time locked chambers, tunnels and sacred spaces dating to the Graeco-Roman and Byzantine periods. Emerald mines...

Easter Island. Source: Aliaksei / Adobe Stock

6 March, 2022 - 14:00 Cecilia Bogaard

Easter Island and the Mysteries of the Moai

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui , is a remote Chilean island a few thousand kilometers west of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Described as an archaeological Disneyland, the island has...

Machu Picchu. Source: David / Adobe Stock

5 March, 2022 - 00:57 johnblack

The Mysteries of Machu Picchu and Archaeological Obsession

Hidden away within the Andes, 2,430 meters (7,972 ft) above sea level, the Inca site of Machu Picchu near Cusco in Peru is often referred to as the lost city of the Incas. These days you couldn’t...

Representational image of a lost city at the bottom of the ocean. Source: diversepixel / Adobe Stock

4 March, 2022 - 17:47 Sahir

12,000-Year-Old Lost City Off New Orleans Coast or Imagination Gone Wild?

A self-proclaimed amateur archaeologist professes that mysterious granite stones found over the years by fishermen near the uninhabited Chandeleur Islands, located 50 miles east of New Orleans in the...

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest ochre workshop in East Asia in north China and a recent study in the Nature journal shows how the lithic tools found at the site link to Africa. Source: Griffin University

3 March, 2022 - 21:55 Sahir

Advanced Human Culture Dating Back 40,000 Years Found in China

A new study published in the journal Nature by an international team of archaeologists has provided fascinating new insights into hunter-gatherer lifestyles 40,000 years ago in north China, and Homo...

A new research study has “proven” the Stonehenge solar calendar theory, and reveals that the solar calendar concept was likely “imported” from Egypt. Source: Vic / Adobe Stock

3 March, 2022 - 13:23 Nathan Falde

Stonehenge Solar Calendar Theory “Proven” by Study

Many scholars have suspected that the monuments of Stonehenge were carefully arranged to function as some type of calendar. Proof of this concept has been hard to come by, however, as even the most...

The Ajanta caves in India. Source: mukulbanerjee / Adobe Stock

3 March, 2022 - 00:59 ancient-origins

The Wondrous Buddhist Rock-Cut Architecture of the Ajanta Caves

It was in 1819 when John Smith, a British army officer in pursuit of a tiger came across a cave near Ajanta village in India. More than thirty caves carved inside the rock of the mountainside and...

One of the 13th-century-BC Tell el Kedwa fortress water wells recently found in the North Sinai Governate of Egypt, along the ancient Horus military road to Canaan. Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

2 March, 2022 - 16:55 Sahir

Unique 13th-century-BC Water Wells Discovered Near Fortress in North Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula, the only part of Egypt located in Asia, sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, is a land bridge between Asia and Africa. This peninsula has been the subject of...

A plaque to the Black Death dead from 1349 and 1369 at Monmouth, Wales. Source: Jaggery / CC BY-SA 2.0

1 March, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Was Medieval Black Death Really That Bad? A New Pollen Study Says No!

Black Death is said to have killed over half of Europe’s population. However, a new pollen study suggests many parts of Europe were not affected by the bacterial onslaught. Black Death was a bubonic...

Ancient columns at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt. Source: EwaStudio / Adobe Stock

28 February, 2022 - 14:00 Phoenix Vald

5 Unique Facts Straight Out of Ancient Egypt

A lot of things viewed as unusual by the people from the present day used to take place in ancient Egypt. While some of these aspects are fascinating, others can be simply regarded as odd. Going...

In this painting by Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of the Trojans. Source: Walters Art Museum / Public domain

26 February, 2022 - 17:52 Thanos Matanis

The Friend in the Foe: Trojans in Greek Media

Trojans are typically thought of as the archrivals of the Greeks. Their abduction of the beautiful Helen launched a thousand ships on Trojan shores, igniting a war that spanned ten years...

Sarmatia bronze dolphin coins, 5th-4th century BC, from the ancient city of Olbia, which was first Greek, and then Scythian and then Roman. Source: catawiki

25 February, 2022 - 21:51 dhwty

Olbia: Greek, Scythian, Roman Trade Center That Had Dolphin Money

Olbia (also spelled Olvia) began as an ancient Greek colony on the northern coast of the Black Sea, in the southern part of modern-day Ukraine. Olbia was famous as an emporium, and the importance of...

African genetic research has gone to a new level by looking at what happened in Africa after the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens migrated into Eurasia. Rock painting of humans and antelopes from the Drakensberg mountains, South Africa by the San bushman tribe. Source: EcoView / Adobe Stock

25 February, 2022 - 17:43 Nathan Falde

Genetic Research Untangles Africa’s Human Evolutionary History

An international team of anthropologists, archaeologists, and genetic researchers that included 44 scientists from 12 countries has completed a new African genetic research study that reveals more...

Men working at the Roman cemetery discovered in Gaza. Source: Gaza Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

25 February, 2022 - 13:58 Nathan Falde

Construction Project Digs Up 2,000-Year-Old Roman Cemetery in Gaza

A construction crew working at a residential building site in northern Gaza in Palestine unearthed a most unexpected and historically significant find. While digging deep into the bedrock, the...

Examples of the bronze votive offering body parts given to the Veneti Pora Reitia nature goddess at her sanctuary in Este, Italy. Source: McDonald / House of Secrets

25 February, 2022 - 01:00 Jari Padoan

The Ancient Italian Adriatic Veneti and Their Pora Reitia Nature Cult

Between the eighth and seventh centuries BC, the first manifestations of the Italic people known as Veneti appear in the territory of today's Veneto, the main region of the northeast of Italy...

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