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Evidence of animal sacrifice, many of them horses, at the courtyard of the Casas del Turuñuelo site in Spain. Source: Construyendo Tarteso / CC-BY 4.0

Lost Mass Animal Sacrifice Rituals Revealed at Tartessos Site in Spain

Archaeologists and other scientists affiliated with several institutions in Spain have revealed a startling fact about an Iron Age site known as Casas del Turuñuelo, which is located in southern...
Was this the world’s first zoo? Source: YouTube Screenshot / Smithsonian Channel.

Was This Ancient Egyptian Site The World's First Zoo? (Video)

In the world of ancient mysteries lies a peculiar Egyptian burial ground that challenges our understanding of the past. Archaeologist Dr Renée Friedman and her team have discovered a prehistoric...
Tycho Brahe Had a Drunken Moose Pet. Source: Andrew / Adobe Stock.

16th Century Astronomer Tycho Brahe Had a Drunken Pet Moose

In the realms of ancient history, the enigmatic quirks of historical figures never cease to amaze. Among these eccentricities, Tycho Brahe, the esteemed 16th-century astronomer , stands out not only...
The Hohle Fels “horse” figurine with all its fragments. Source: Ria Litzenberg / University of Tübingen

A Case of Mistaken Identity: Hohle Fels “Horse” Was Not a Horse at All

The first example of ancient ivory artwork ever recovered from the World Heritage cave Hohle Fels in southwestern Germany was a piece of a broken figurine that depicted a horse’s head—or so...
Sculpture by Kendra Haste of the polar bear which once lived in the royal menagerie at the Tower of London. Source: It’s No Game / CC BY 2.0

The Tower of London Was Once Home to a Polar Bear

The Tower of London has served as a stronghold, royal residence and a notorious prison for prominent figures ranging from Guy Fawkes to Elizabeth I . But few know that for over 600 years it was also...
A gladiator fights a lion at the Gladiator Games in ancient Rome. Source: (DigitalGenetics/Adobe Stock)

The Exotic Menagerie: The Wild Animals Slaughtered in Gladiator Games

The ancient Roman gladiator games were a spectacle of blood and brutality that captivated audiences for centuries. While we may imagine sword-wielding gladiators fighting to the death in the arena,...
Decoration inside one of the tombs recently unearthed in Saqqara, Egypt. Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Tombs, Treasures, and Animal Mummies Unearthed in Saqqara Necropolis

Archaeologists in Egypt have announced the completion of their 6th excavation season at the Saqqara necropolis. Not only did they find human tombs filled with artifacts and painted hieroglyphs, but...
Archaeologists found a selection of animal skulls at the Neanderthal cave in Spain, including this bison skull. Source: Nature Human Behaviour / CC BY 4.0

Neanderthals Filled This Spanish Cave with Animal Skulls. But Why?

As the data continues to accumulate, it becomes more and more clear that Neanderthals were highly intelligent hominins who built their own unique and remarkable culture. Some of the latest...
The remains of a young girl found buried with 142 dogs has offered new insights. Source: CEI RAS

Young Girl and 142 Dogs Found Buried Together in Elite Egyptian Tomb

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of 142 non-ritually buried dogs, covered in blue powder, in an elite Egyptian tomb. It is believed they were drowned in a reservoir flood. Designated a...

Seven Famously Obscure Pets from History

Animal companionship is nothing new to humankind. Throughout history, people have sought out furry (and not-so-furry) friends to spend their days with. However, it wasn’t always just cats and dogs...
Egyptian mummified cat. Source: Andrea Izzotti / Adobe Stock

13 of the Coolest (and Creepiest!) Egyptian Animal Mummies

Ancient Egypt is well-known for its practice of mummification, but few realize the monumental scale in which they also mummified animals. A staggering 70 million mummified cats, dogs, birds, rodents...
Left: Barbary apes can are intelligent, nimble, and can get pretty angry. But were they used as military monkeys in ancient times? Right: It’s not unheard of for monkeys to have thoughtful burials. Shown: An Indian monkey buried like a child in Egypt. Source: Left: Peter Mazlan / Adobe Stock, Right: Marta Osypińska / Science in Poland

Ancient Monkey Soldiers? Romans Buried Barbary Ape with Military Offerings

Militaries from many countries past and present have used animals in their work. Whether using horses to carry men, or dogs to track and patrol, the use of animals has been significant throughout...
The Altamaha-ha legend has its roots in Muscogee traditions. This cryptid river monster with an alligator shaped head and long neck, is said to inhabit the Altamaha river and nearby marshes in southern Georgia. Will it be the next cryptid proven real? Source: Daniel Eskridge / Adobe Stock

7 Legendary Cryptids that Turned Out to Be Real!

Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals that mainstream science considers to be mythical or non-existent. Animals studied by cryptozoologists are called cryptids. Famous examples include...
A man playing a fantastic pig organ, or piganino, composed of screaming pigs. Source: British Museum / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Louis XI Enjoyed an Abominable Orchestra of Squealing Pigs - the Piganino

Believe it or not, but it appears that the ruthless 15th century King Louis XI of France, nicknamed the Spider King or l'universelle araignée , took pleasure in the torture of animals. One particular...
Archaeologists excavating a grave at the recently discovered graveyard at the ‘Duropolis’ site in Dorset, England.	Source: Bournemouth University

Sacrifice Remains From 100 BC Dug Up At ‘Duropolis’, Dorset

A team of 65 Bournemouth University archaeology students exploring an Iron Age site in Dorset County in southwest England have been credited with a significant discovery. While digging at a location...
Herman tortoise and her egg discovered under a house at Pompeii. Source: Archaeological Park of Pompeii

A 2000-Year-Old Pregnant Tortoise Found at Pompeii

A 5.5-inch-long pregnant Hermann’s tortoise was another casualty at Pompeii, but this time it was a different kind of natural disaster that caused death. It was an earthquake rather than the famous...
A Rhynchites auratus weevil. 	Source: Florian / Adobe Stock

The Trial of the Weevils: When French Winemakers Took Insects to Court

One surprising quirk about life in medieval times is that people could, and did, take animals and insects to court and try them as if they were humans. While there is scant verifiable evidence on the...
Man in the desert extracting camel milk. Source: padraic spencer/EyeEm / Adobe Stock

Camel Milk, The Ancient Liquid Gold Superfood, is Rising in Demand

A U.S. farm is struggling to supply rising demand for bottles of their ancient nomadic survival juice - camel milk. But at $12-$16 a pint, consumers pockets are getting humped. Ancient nomadic and...
A cat mummy on display at Aksaray Museum. 	Source: IHA/ Daily Sabah

1000-year-old Cat and Baby Mummies on Display in Turkey’s Aksaray Museum

The museum at Aksaray, the gateway of Turkey’s Cappadocia region to the West, holds a very special mummy section that displays as many as 13 local mummies to interested visitors. Astonishingly, apart...
A caged pig. Source: Jasmine / Adobe Stock

Medieval Justice: Pig Was Tried in Court, Sentenced and Executed for Murder

In the Middle Ages, animals were put on trial just like human beings. A wide range of crimes could be committed by these animals including murder, being an accomplice in bestiality , and damage of...
Viking skin or Daneskin and a hinge taken from the door of St. Botolph’s church in Hadstock, near Cambridge, in the UK. A recent study has revealed that all the famous Viking skin doors in England did not use human skin at all, but the myths were too powerful and the science too primitive to prove otherwise.		Source: Saffron Walden Museum

The Truth Behind the Macabre Discovery of “Viking Skin” on Church Doors

For centuries, it has been believed that the large piece of skin nailed to the door of St Botolph’s church in Hadstock near Cambridge in England was human skin that belonged to a Viking raider who...
Top: Sumerian chariots drawn by hybrid animals known as kungas, illustrated on the Standard of Ur (© Thierry Grange) Bottom left: Hybrid animals known as ‘kungas’ found at Umm el-Marra site, Syria (Glenn Schwartz/John Hopkins University). Bottom right: South of Gobekli Tepe, Turkry, D enclosure T pillars. (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin).		Source: CNRS

Earliest-known Human Engineered Hybrid Animals Identified in Mesopotamia

A super-powerful animal known as the ‘kunga’ was the first-known human-engineered hybrid of two animal species, reports a new study published in Science Advances . The researchers conducted a genome-...
Bronze Age Bull Geoglyph Found In Siberia Is A First

Bronze Age Bull Geoglyph Found In Siberia Is A First

Archaeologists conducting excavations at the Jonderguéi 22 site in the south-west of the Republic of Tuva in southern Siberia have made the exciting discovery of a bull geoglyph. It is believed to be...
A pack of Eurasian hunting dogs, like the one discovered at Dmanisi, chasing prey, while a disabled member of the pack is running far behind; incapable of contributing to the hunt, its survival depends on the pack-mates. Source: Mauricio Antón / Nature

Earliest European Hunting Dogs Supported Their Weak

The “earliest evidence of the arrival of hunting dogs in Europe” discovered to date has been announced in a new article published in Nature . The Eurasian hunting dog remains were unearthed at the...

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