Artifacts

There are undoubtedly millions of ancient artifacts from the past that have served to shed light on the lives of our ancestors from many millennia ago. But some ancient mystical artifacts stand out for their uniqueness, their intrigue, or their ability to expand our knowledge about previously unknown aspects of our history. Here we feature many such ancient history artifacts, from amazing examples of ancient technology, to artistic masterpieces, unexplained objects, ancient texts, and mysterious artifacts that shed light on the daily lives of our ancestors.

English archaeologists have stumble upon a once-in-a-lifetime Romano-British settlement near Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. This skeleton and a caltrop, a Roman era area denial weapon, similar to police spikes used to stop cars today, were unearthed at the Grange Paddocks site. Source: East Herts District Council

11 May, 2022 - 22:38 Nathan Falde

Archaeologists Stumble Upon Key Romano-British Trade Center

Archaeologists performing excavations near Bishop’s Stortford, an historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, have uncovered the ruins of a Romano-British settlement that served as a commercial...

Bronze Age daggers, like this one found near Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, were always assumed to be ceremonial status weapons, but a recent study has shown that they were actually used a lot to butcher animals! Source: Rama / CC BY-SA 3.0 FR

10 May, 2022 - 18:46 Sahir

Bronze Age Daggers Were Tools to Butcher Animals, Not Markers of Status

Excavations of Bronze Age “warrior graves” throughout Europe have nearly always led to the recovery of copper alloy Bronze Age daggers. However, their function has been poorly understood. It has long...

This Italian copy of the Nostradamus manuscript was stolen in the mid-2000s from a library in Rome, but a member of the Italian military’s Cultural Heritage Conservation Command (Carabinieri) spotted it online in a German auction and “saved” it. Source: Carabinieri

10 May, 2022 - 14:47 Nathan Falde

Stolen Nostradamus Manuscript Returned to Library in Rome!

A pilfered copy of the Nostradamus manuscript written by Renaissance-era French physician, astrologer and psychic Michel de Nostredame, has been recovered and returned to the library from which it...

Two more stone giants of Mont’e Prama from the Iron Age have been unearthed in Sardinia. Source: mont’e prama

9 May, 2022 - 22:46 ashley cowie

Two More Disc-eyed Giants of Mont’e Prama Found in Sardinia!

Their purpose is currently unknown, but two more disc-eyed giants of Mont’e Prama have been unearthed on Sardinia. The Mont’e Prama Iron Age burial necropolis on the Italian island of Sardinia has...

Left; Portrait of Francisco Pizarro. Right; The tomb of Francisco Pizarro in the Lima Cathedral held the wrong man’s remains for nearly a century, but modern science has corrected the error with Pizarro’s remains, found in two boxes beneath the cathedral in 1977. Source: Left; Public Domain, Right; RAF-YYC / CC BY-SA 2.0

9 May, 2022 - 18:58 Sahir

Finding Francisco Pizzaro: The Strange Story of Pizarro’s Remains

It’s fair to say that Francisco Pizarro was a highly divisive figure. Indeed, even a mention of him today in some parts of the world can incite blood fueled anguish and hatred of the man responsible...

Discover the fascinating history of eyeglasses. Source: Fxquadro / Adobe Stock

9 May, 2022 - 14:59 Lex Leigh

Crystal-Clear Vision – The Ancient History of Eyeglasses

Eyeglasses are an essential tool for thousands of people across the globe. Unfortunately, glasses didn’t always exist, which caused difficulties for those in the ancient past with poor vision...

Tiny bible (representational image). Source: Kevin Carden / Adobe Stock

8 May, 2022 - 18:58 ashley cowie

Miniature Bible the Size of a Coin Found in UK Library Storage

A miniature Bible surfaced in the vast Leeds library during lockdown. The tiny holy book includes both old and new testaments and was printed on 876 stamp-sized pages. However, nobody knows where...

The Nabateans built this reservoir at the Nabataean city of ancient Hawara, modern Humayma or “Humeima”. Source: Larry W. Mays

8 May, 2022 - 14:58 mrreese

The Sophisticated Water Technologies of the Ancient Nabataeans

The Nabataeans were an ancient Semitic people, dating back to 586 BC, who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. The desert climate created agricultural difficulties for the Nabataeans,...

Plastered skull, c. 9000 BC, found at Kfar HaHoresh in northern Israel and now at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Source: Gary Todd / CC0

7 May, 2022 - 18:57 Joanna Gillan

Bizarre Mortuary Practices and the Jericho Plastered Skulls

Jericho (also called Tell es-Sultan ) is a city with an incredibly rich history located in the Palestinian West Bank, near the Jordan River, some 55 kilometers (34 mi) from Jerusalem. Besides being...

Excavated walls of the Aztec house, and one of the funerary vessels. Source: INAH

7 May, 2022 - 14:53 Nathan Falde

Aztec House and Floating Gardens Discovered Under Mexico City

Archaeologists performing excavations in Mexico City’s Centro neighborhood dug up more than they bargained for when they uncovered the hidden ruins of an ancient Aztec dwelling, which had apparently...

The Abydos carvings are mysterious carved hieroglyphs which were found on a ceiling beam in the temple of Seti I in Abydos. Source: merlin74 / Adobe Stock

7 May, 2022 - 01:58 Cecilia Bogaard

Helicopter Hieroglyphs? Debunking the “Mystery” of the Abydos Carvings

In the ancient city of Abydos, within the famed temple of Seti I, strange hieroglyphs were discovered on the ceiling. Appearing to depict modern or extraterrestrial vehicles, some claim that the...

: Left; This sturdy mudbrick tower house overlooking the Nile River, found along with the 85 new Egyptian tombs. Right; Funerary permits for the graves found at the site. Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

6 May, 2022 - 14:43 Nathan Falde

Discovered: 85 Egyptian Tombs, Spanning More Than 2,500 Years!

The latest excavations in Egypt’s southern province of Sohag have led to the discovery of 85 new Egyptian tombs that date back far into antiquity, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities just...

Vintage goods store owner, Laura Young, with the Roman bust. Source: Laura Young / MySanantonio

5 May, 2022 - 22:38 ashley cowie

Looted Ancient Roman Bust Found In Texas Thrift Shop

A 52 pound, 1st-century Roman marble bust turned up in a Texas store. Having been sold to a local woman for $34.99, the ancient artifact will now be returned to Germany. In 2018, Laura Young, the...

In a first for ancient Anatolia, archaeologists found this stone sarcophagus belonging to the elite bodyguard Tziampo, which was inscribed in Latin with the title “Emperor’s Protector.” Source: TRT

4 May, 2022 - 22:32 ashley cowie

Emperor’s Protector Sarcophagus Is A First For Anatolia

Representing a national first, an ancient sarcophagus bearing the title “Emperor’s Protector” has been unearthed in western Turkey (ancient Anatolia). Furthermore, it's also the first time the...

Thousands of years of oysters and oyster farming by the indigenous peoples of Chesapeake Bay lay hidden in this coastal oyster shell layer. A recent study on oyster farming by indigenous peoples in Australia and North America is supplying new insights for managing highly degraded modern oyster beds. Source: Torben Rick / Smithsonian

4 May, 2022 - 18:52 Sahir

Ancient Australians and Americans Ate Billions of Oysters Over Millennia

Precolonial indigenous communities in Australia and North America harvested and gorged on vast quantities of oysters. Yet, this copious consumption did not cause oyster populations to crash and...

Representative Scythian gold warrior helmet kept in the National History Museum Kyiv. Source: Yurii Zushchyk/Adobe Stock

3 May, 2022 - 14:56 ashley cowie

Russian Soldiers Empty Ukraine Museum Of Scythian Artifacts

Russian soldiers have entered a Ukrainian museum where they stole a priceless collection of ancient artifacts. Their haul included a 2,300-year-old Scythian gold crown. The ancient crown was used by...

The Chiapas cave sacrifice scene, where about 150 toothless skulls were found, as it was discovered in 2012. Source: INAH

1 May, 2022 - 18:44 Sahir

150 Toothless Skulls in Mexico ‘Crime Scene’ Cave are Ancient Sacrifice Victims

In 2012, a citizen alert brought the Mexican police to a cave on the Guatemalan border where a horrific cave sacrifice scene met their eyes. Some 150 skulls and other human skeletal remains lay piled...

A 3,000-year-old prosthetic big toe unearthed in Egypt. Source: Jacky Finch / University of Manchester

30 April, 2022 - 01:58 dhwty

3,000-Year-Old Artificial Toe Reveals Ancient Origins of Prosthetics

Believe it or not, but the use of prosthetics is actually not a modern phenomenon. In fact, the creation of man-made devices to replace missing body parts was already in use several thousand years...

Whatever Happened to Blackbeard’s Silver-Plated Skull?

29 April, 2022 - 22:52 Lex Leigh

Whatever Happened to Blackbeard’s Silver-Plated Skull?

Blackbeard, an infamous pirate from the 1700s, was notoriously an excellent fighter and survivalist. He was so famous, in fact, that after his death his skull was rumored to have been plated in...

Stone Age friendship rings found in Finland, made from slate in Russia, broken or refashioned into pendants. Source: Marja Ahola / University of Helsinki

29 April, 2022 - 01:57 Sahir

Slate Stone Age ‘Friendship Rings’ Found in Finland

According to the latest research, Stone Age hunter-gatherers in northeast Europe expertly crafted slate friendship rings some 6,000 years ago. These were produced in copious numbers by many makers in...

The ancient Chinese made sticky rice mortar by using sticky rice for construction. Source: Atstock Productions / Adobe Stock

28 April, 2022 - 15:13 dhwty

Sticky Rice Mortar Used in Ancient Chinese Architecture

Ancient Chinese culture has made great contributions to humanity. The so-called Four Great Inventions of China – the compass , gunpowder , paper , and printing – are still being used extensively...

The Borgund Viking village museum basement has drawers upon drawers with remains of textiles from perhaps a thousand years ago. They can tell us more about what kind of clothes people in Norway wore during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. Source: Bård Amundsen / sciencenorway.no

27 April, 2022 - 18:30 Sahir

‘Lost’ Viking Village Artifacts Emerge From Norwegian Basement Archive

It isn’t rare for a once prosperous medieval town to be abandoned and slowly get side-lined in the annals of history. Nothing exemplifies this statement better than the lost Viking village of Borgund...

A fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing a possibly explosive material to make an ancient hand grenade. Source: Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum. Griffith University

27 April, 2022 - 14:40 ashley cowie

Crusaders Were Attacked With These Ancient Hand Grenades in Jerusalem

Archaeologists have for a long time unearthed clay pots in medieval Jerusalem. But now, a new study shows that some of them were likely ‘ancient hand grenades’. Residues sampled from inside a...

The Goddess Anat head recently discovered by a farmer in the Gaza Strip. Source: WAFA

26 April, 2022 - 18:42 Sahir

4500-year-old Limestone Head of Canaanite Goddess Anat Found in Gaza

While cultivating his fields in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip, a farmer discovered a rare 4500-year-old sculpture, according to the WAFA News Agency . The stone head was found...

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