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.

Top left: Cuzco, Peru. Top right: Western Italy. Bottom left: Alaca Hoyuk, Turkey. Bottom right: Casing stones on pyramid on Giza plateau.

31 March, 2021 - 17:31 Hugh Newman

Did Megalithic Sites in Turkey and Peru Share the Same Architects?

6,500 years before Stonehenge and 7,000 years before the pyramids were constructed, a cult megalithic complex sat atop the hills near current day Sanliurfa, in southeast Turkey. Göbekli Tepe was...

The Afaq Khoja Mausoleum And The Legacy Of A Great Uyghur Leader

23 February, 2021 - 01:02 dhwty

The Afaq Khoja Mausoleum And The Legacy Of A Great Uyghur Leader

The Afaq Khoja Mausoleum is a tomb complex located in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in northwestern China. For the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs (or Uighurs ) who inhabit the region, this mausoleum...

One of the Junapani stone circles in Maharashtra, India, which are now increasingly viewed as astronomically aligned burial sites. Source: Ganesh Dhamodkar, CC BY-SA 3.0

18 February, 2021 - 13:53 Caleb Strom

Junapani Stone Circles: India’s Astronomical Megalithic Tombs

India has a rich historical and archaeological record. Something that may be less known about the Indian subcontinent is its many megalithic sites. Many of these sites are found across India. The...

Magadha: Mighty Kingdom that Spawned Two of India’s Most Powerful Empires

15 February, 2021 - 13:51 dhwty

Magadha: Mighty Kingdom that Spawned Two of India’s Most Powerful Empires

Magadha was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas, or ‘Great Kingdoms’ that existed in ancient India. This ancient kingdom was centered around southern Bihar, in the northeastern part of India. Much of the...

The History of the Tibetan Empire and Its Dazzling Rise to Prominence

10 February, 2021 - 18:01 Aleksa Vučković

The History of the Tibetan Empire and Its Dazzling Rise to Prominence

One of the overlooked regions in modern historiography is ancient Tibet, an area of great historical importance with a very rich and diverse heritage. Today, the historical area of Tibet is divided...

The Heian Era: Golden Age of Japan’s Imperial Court

31 January, 2021 - 21:56 dhwty

The Heian Era: Golden Age of Japan’s Imperial Court

The Heian period, which lasted from the 8 th to the 12 th centuries AD, is considered to be the last division of Japan’s classical era. This period began with the establishment of a new imperial...

The Nara Period: Japan’s First Permanent Capital

23 January, 2021 - 13:33 dhwty

The Nara Period: Japan’s First Permanent Capital

The Nara period lasted from 710 to 784/94 AD. This period in Japanese history is named after the seat of imperial government in the ancient city of Nara. This was the country’s first permanent...

Mesopotamian relief of Assyrian warriors. Credit: kmiragaya / Adobe Stock

14 January, 2021 - 23:08 Sarah P Young

Ancient Mesopotamia and the Rise of Civilization

In ancient times, Mesopotamia, meaning ‘land between two rivers’, was a vast region that lay between the Tigris and Euphrates river systems, and it is where civilization emerged over 7,000 years ago...

Sargon the Great, founder of the Akkadian Empire. Source: Dave LaFontaine / CC BY-SA 2.0

10 January, 2021 - 23:49 dhwty

Explaining the Fall of the Great Akkadian Empire

The Akkadian Empire was an ancient empire that existed towards the end of the 3 rd millennium BC. This was the first empire in Mesopotamia , and some consider it to be the first true empire in world...

The White Horse Temple: China’s Very First Buddhist Temple

3 January, 2021 - 21:45 dhwty

The White Horse Temple: China’s Very First Buddhist Temple

The White Horse Temple is a Buddhist temple located not far from Luoyang , Henan, in China. This temple is reputed to be the first Buddhist temple in China, as, according to tradition, it was built...

The Fall of Constantinople

31 December, 2020 - 20:16 Mark Miller

The Fall of Constantinople: Relentless Ottoman Fire Power Finally Pulverizes the Last Vestiges of the Roman Empire

Constantinople stood against sieges and attacks for many centuries, until finally new technology—the big cannons of the Ottoman Empire —brought down the Byzantine Empire’s capital. The fall of...

Remembering Winter in Kashmir: Shaping A Collective Memory of the Past

18 December, 2020 - 21:56 Tawseef Mushtaq

Remembering Winter in Kashmir: Shaping A Collective Memory of the Past

During nineteenth and first-half-of-the-twentieth century, a popular proverb on every Kashmiri’s tongue was Sountas na keneras, Te hardas na neeles , meaning “plough the soil in spring even if it is...

Jahanara and Roshanara: Rival Princesses of the Mughal Empire

21 November, 2020 - 22:06 Khadija Tauseef

Jahanara and Roshanara: Rival Princesses of the Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire has been filled with remarkable women , but the most understated of them are two princesses - two sisters - who played a very crucial role during the reign of Shah Jahan and the war...

India’s Pallava Dynasty Left Its Mark On Much Of South-East Asia

19 November, 2020 - 22:06 Saurav Ranjan Datta

India’s Pallava Dynasty Left Its Mark On Much Of South-East Asia

In southern India, the journey from Puducherry to Chennai is without question one of the most pleasurable travel experiences to be found in all of south Asia. The biggest highlight of this trip lies...

Zhouzhuang: China’s Stunning and Popular Venice of the East

19 November, 2020 - 00:46 dhwty

Zhouzhuang: China’s Stunning and Popular Venice of the East

Zhouzhuang is a small town located in China’s Jiangsu province not far from the modern metropolis of Shanghai. As one of the China’s most famous water towns, Zhouzhuang has been nicknamed the “Venice...

Inari Shrines: Worshiping Japan’s Most Popular Shinto Deity

14 November, 2020 - 13:44 dhwty

Inari Shrines: Worshiping Japan’s Most Popular Shinto Deity

Inari shrines are a type of shrine dedicated to the Japanese deity Inari. These shrines are immensely popular in Japan and can be found all around the country. It is estimated that a third of all the...

The Haryanka Dynasty of India: Betrayals of Fathers by Sons

14 November, 2020 - 00:59 Saurav Ranjan Datta

The Haryanka Dynasty of India: Betrayals of Fathers by Sons

This is the story of a son in ancient India who killed his father for no other reason than uncontrolled ambition. In the royal dynasties of India, the killing of family members and family rivals is a...

10 Must-Visit Sites in Cappadocia

25 October, 2020 - 20:58 Joanna Gillan

10 Must-Visit Sites in Cappadocia

The Cappadocia region in central Turkey has one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. The deep valleys and soaring rock formations are dotted with numerous archaeological wonders. There...

The Templar’s Tunnel (olegmayorov / Adobe Stock)

25 October, 2020 - 01:06 dhwty

The Templar Tunnel: Knight’s Strategic Passageway Was Lost for 700 Years

The Templar Tunnel is an underground passageway located in the city of Acre, in what is now Israel. This tunnel was built by the Knights Templar when the city was under the rule of the Kingdom of...

Time Capsule of the House of the Tesserae Opens Window into the Past

19 October, 2020 - 13:59 dhwty

Time Capsule of the House of the Tesserae Opens Window into the Past

In 2017 archaeologists in Jordan unearthed a time capsule dating back over a thousand years. The House of the Tesserae was fortuitously preserved after an earthquake struck the Jordanian city of...

Draksharama Temple, Where Dozens of Hindu Gods Live as a Family

13 October, 2020 - 00:52 Ed Whelan

Draksharama Temple, Where Dozens of Hindu Gods Live as a Family

India is a land of many religious and has thousands of remarkable temples and holy sites. One of the most important in all of southern India is the Draksharama Temple, a Hindu site dedicated to the...

Delving into the Depths of Japan’s Mysterious Tonkararin Tunnels

11 October, 2020 - 13:58 Elizabeth Moore

Delving into the Depths of Japan’s Mysterious Tonkararin Tunnels

Within the sloping mountains of Japan lies a mysterious ruined tunnel structure known as the Tonkararin Tunnels. This ancient ruin likely dates to the 5th or 6th century of Imperial Japan, although...

The tranquil waters of the Burning Lake in Bhutan, a place of miracles that still attracts thousands today! Source: Brian Weed / Adobe Stock

3 October, 2020 - 13:24 dhwty

Bhutan’s Burning Lake, Place of Legend and Pilgrimage

Bhutan’s sacred Burning Lake (known also as Membartsho or Mebar Tsho), in the Tang Valley, gets its name from a legend involving Pema Lingpa (or Padma Lingpa), a renowned Bhutanese saint. Today, the...

Great Chain of The Golden Horn: Constantinople’s Impenetrable Barrier

26 September, 2020 - 17:53 Aleksa Vučković

Great Chain of The Golden Horn: Constantinople’s Impenetrable Barrier

For all large capital cities in ancient and modern history, protection was one of the major survival strategies. And what historical capital was bigger than legendary Constantinople ? Known as...

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