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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Asia

Ancient places can be found all over Asia. Their fascinating histories and impressive artifacts open intriguing glimpses to times past, and open up a window on Asian history. Visiting such historical places in Asia 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 Asia, as well as new discoveries of ancient places that are worth paying a visit.

The purest traditional Indian cuisine is created by following the principles of the ancient yogic saatvik diet.		Source: Dash / Adobe Stock

Health Concerns Drive Revival of Ancient Saatvik Foods in India

India, particularly when viewed from the Western lens, has always occupied a particular place in popular imagination. The Indian subcontinent was a land of mysticism, yoga, ayurveda, alternate...
The true and final resting place of Emperor Wen of Han has been affirmed and his actual tomb is enormous!		Source: Screenshot / CGTN

For Centuries Pilgrims Visited the Wrong Tomb of China’s Emperor Wen

Liu Heng, better known in history as Emperor Wen of Han, ruled the Western Han dynasty from 180 BC to 157 BC, and was associated with a stable and prosperous reign, after a tumultuous period in...
The Chinese first emperor’s tomb was protected by the famed Terracotta Warriors. Source: Carlos Adampol Galindo / CC BY-SA 2.0

Cosmic Rays Could Finally Reveal Structure of Mysterious Tomb of China’s First Emperor

For over two millennia, the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang have been locked away, with scientists and historians the world over desperate to catch a glimpse of what really lies within...
In China the Longyou Caves are known as the ninth wonder of the ancient world. Source: Zhangzhugang / CC BY-SA 4.0

Ten Enduring Mysteries of China’s Longyou Caves

Located near the village of Shiyan Beicun in Zhejiang province, China, lie the Longyou Caves - an extensive, magnificent and rare ancient underground world considered in China to be “the ninth wonder...
This handmade historical illustration shows Neo-Assyrian riders wearing their distinctive leather armor in ancient Mesopotamia.		Source: Lunstream / Adobe Stock

2,600-Year-Old Leather Armor Found In China Was Made By Neo-Assyrians

An international team of archaeologists and historians has completed an extensive analysis of a rare leather armor waistcoat recovered from the grave of an ancient horse-riding soldier in Northwest...
We have remains of Tibetan Plateau Denisovans, who lived for long periods in this landscape. But now we know that they passed their high-altitude adaptability genes on to Tibetans and other peoples that ultimately settled in the Himalayas.						Source: zah108 / Adobe Stock

Tibetan Plateau Denisovans Gave Modern Tibetans Altitude Superpowers

Little is known about our extinct archaic hominin cousins, the Denisovans, who populated Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, due to limited DNA fragments and evidence. This makes...
Anachronistic painting by Piero della Francesca of the Battle of Nineveh (627) between Heraclius' Byzantine army and the Sasanians under Khosrow II, which was pretty much the end of the Byzantine–Sasanian War.		Source: Piero della Francesca / Public domain

The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 AD and the Rise of the Muslims

The Byzantines and Sasanians were rival powers who fought each other for supremacy in the Middle East. Although the conflict between the two powers began during the 6th century AD, it is in fact a...
The altar of the Ateshgah Baku fire temple in the capital of Azerbaijan. Source: vadim.nefedov / Adobe Stock

The Ateshgah Baku Fire Temple: Built On an Azerbaijan Natural Gas Vent

The Ateshgah Baku fire temple, located in the capital of Azerbaijan, was built over a natural gas vent, and constructed between the late 17th and early 18th centuries AD. There is evidence, however,...
Adi Shankara, 788-820 AD, founder of the Advaita Vedanta, the oldest extant sub-school of Vedānta, a tradition of interpretation of the Upanishads, by Raja Ravi Varma.	Source: Raja Ravi Varma / Public domain

India’s Vedic Sanskrit Upanishads: Foundation of Religions and Karma!

The Upanishads are a genre of texts that form the final and last section of the Vedas. The Upanishads were composed orally in Sanskrit, and the earliest surviving ones dating to the 1st millennium BC...
The analysis of dripstones within the Shennong Cave (main image) and Jiulong Cave provided scientists with evidence related to the collapse of the Liangzhu culture. Source: Haiwei Zhang / Xi'an Jiaotong University

Fatal Flooding Destroyed China’s Liangzhu Culture 4,300 Years Ago

A thriving metropolis often referred to as “China’s Venice of the Stone Age” was mysteriously abandoned in approximately 2300 BC, leading to the extinction of China’s ancient Liangzhu culture. Now, a...
Volunteer Liel Krutokop with the rare silver Second Temple coin she found at the City of David National Park. Source: Yaniv Berman / City of David

Rogue Priest Second Temple Silver Coin Found By Girl in Jerusalem

A rare silver Second Temple coin belonging to the second year of the Great Jewish Revolt (67-68 AD) against the Romans was found by volunteers sifting through dirt from an archaeological dig...
A Turkish archaeologist holding up the 1800-year-old iron Roman cavalry mask found at the ancient garrison town of Hadrianopolis, Turkey.		Source: YouTube screenshot / DHA

Rare Iron Roman Cavalry Face Mask Discovered At Hadrianopolis, Turkey

An 1,800 year old Roman soldier's cavalry face mask has been discovered at a 3rd century AD military site in Turkey. But this site isn’t located in the heart of the Roman empire, but at a far flung...
St. Sebastian pleads for those afflicted with plague during the 7th century Plague of Justinian in a painting by South Netherlandish painter Josse Lieferinxe. 		Source: Josse Lieferinxe / Public domain

Study Demonstrates Terrible Toll of Sixth Century Plague of Justinian

In a new study appearing in the journal Past & Present , Cambridge University history professor Peter Sarris argues that recent scholarship has badly underestimated the true impact of the sixth-...
A Han-era bì , 16 centimetres (6.3 in) in diameter (CC by SA 3.0).

The Mysterious Dropa Stones – Fact or Fiction?

The Dropa stones are said to be a set of 716 circular stone discs dating back 12,000 years on which tiny hieroglyphic-like markings can be found. Each disc is said to measure up to 1 foot in diameter...
The outlines of the legendary but lost royal pavilion of Kyoto known as the Tokaden pavilion, which was built in ways that were still different from Tang dynasty Chinese foundations.		Source: Kyoto City Archaeological Research Institute

Five Post Holes Reveal Legendary Japanese Empress’s Royal Pavilion.

A team of Japanese archaeologists have discovered what they consider to be the remains of is the legendary Tokaden royal pavilion. Until the early 8th century the Japanese court was peripatetic,...
This Stone Age piece of cloth is the oldest cloth in the world ever, but it took 60 years for science to figure out the material used for the oldest textile known to man, which have recently been published in the Antiquity journal. 		Source: Antoinette Rast-Eicher / University of Bern

Anatolian Neolithic Weavers At Çatalhöyük Used Trees to Make The Oldest Cloth

A new study published in the journal Antiquity has revealed some surprising information about the inhabitants of the ancient city of Çatalhöyük, an early Neolithic settlement located in southern...
An aerial photo of the Tel Lachish in central Israel, which was quickly conquered by the Assyrians with their powerful siege ramp in 701 BC. The Assyrian siege ramp is the focus of a new study published in Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 	Source: The Lachish Expedition / Southern Adventist University

New Study Reveals How Legendary Assyrian Siege Ramp Overcame Lachish

Israeli archaeologists have revealed the secrets behind the Assyrian siege ramp that conquered the ancient Judean town of Lachish. A recent study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology shows...
A view of Shibam’s mudbrick skyscrapers for which Yemen’s ancient mudbrick structures have earned the moniker “the Manhattans of the Desert.” Source: Jialiang Gao / CC BY-SA 3.0

Ancient Skyscrapers: The Mudbrick Towerblocks of Yemen

Skyscrapers are a common sight in today’s cities. These modern structures trace their history to the late 19th century. Nevertheless, skyscrapers have precedents in earlier times, one of which being...

Lost Mongol Capital of Karakorum Mapped Properly for the First Time

The city of Karakorum, the 13th century capital of the great Mongol empire was established initially as a camp by Genghis Khan in the Orkhon Valley in 1220, and would be developed by his son and...
Pillar in Gobekli Tepe (Deriv.) (sebnemsanders) with a starry night sky. (CC0) What can be discerned about the site from Gobekli Tepe archaeoastronomy?

Gobekli Tepe Archaeoastronomy and the Second Hill of Osiris

The naming of places in the ancient world was a serious affair, particularly with regard to temples. A name enshrined the purpose for which the site was intended, or reflected a truth about its...
Excavators work at the site of the archaeological dig on the eastern bank of the Faidi canal, just north of Mosul, where evidence of an Assyrian wine press has been discovered. Source: The Kurdish-Italian Faida and Khinnis Archaeological Project

2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Wine Press Found in Northern Iraq

A team of Italian archaeologists exploring ruins connected to the legendary Neo-Assyrian Empire have discovered an ancient industrial wine press. Dating to approximately 700 BC, the remains of the...
The Beauty of Loulan, a Tarim Basin Mummy Source: Mummipedia

Origin Mystery of Controversial Tarim Basin Mummies Was Solved With DNA

Located in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, the Tarim Basin is a rich confluence of geology, history, and culture. In fact, it is speculated that this region may be one of the last to be...
The Shiyanzi grave robber discovered in China. Source: Zou et. al. / Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

“Grave Robber” Found in Cemetery Declared Victim of Murder

While his killer(s) will never be brought to justice, a new study published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences has cleared the memory a young man who died 1,300 years ago in the northwest...
Stephen Childs theorizes that Gobekli Tepe was once a site for dramatic funerals and corpse exposure, where vultures and carnivores circled awaiting to play their part. Source: Ezume Images / Adobe Stock

Corpse Recycling at Gobekli Tepe: The True Purpose of its Ancient Stone Circles?

The following essay is an extract from Stone Circles Explained by Stephen Childs, in which the author offers some original theories regarding the purpose of stone circles. Covering sites from around...

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