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.

Yu the Great, in red, the founder of the Xia Dynasty that was an extension of the Erlitou culture, fighting the flood waters with his fellow fighters. Source: The Chairman's Bao

14 January, 2022 - 18:00 dhwty

Erlitou: China’s First Great City and Beginning of the Xia Dynasty?

The Erlitou culture dates to the early Bronze Age and existed in the Yellow River valley region of ancient China. The culture was named after a village site that was discovered in the central Chinese...

An amazing new study has charted the funerary avenues across northwestern Saudi Arabia using satellite images, aerial photography and more! Source: Royal Commission for AlUla

12 January, 2022 - 21:57 Sahir

New Study Reveals Ancient Arabian Peninsula Funerary Avenues Network

The modern fascination with highways is not as modern as it seems. Throughout history, there have been examples of building and constructing routes, particularly along important trading routes...

Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan. Source: robnaw / Adobe Stock

10 January, 2022 - 14:00 Joanna Gillan

Mohenjo Daro and The Mounds That Hid a Civilization

In 1914, Rakhaldas Banerji, Director of the Western Archaeological District in Bombay (now Mumbai), went to investigate a series of mounds near the town of Dokri in Sindh Province, Pakistan. The site...

This 4,000-year-old Bronze Age stone board game was recently unearthed in a remote area of northern Oman at an ancient copper trading center. Source: PCMA

9 January, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Incredible 4,000-year-old Stone Board Game Found in Oman Was For More Than Just Fun

A 4,000-year-old stone board game has been discovered at a Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement in Oman. Furthermore, stone towers and evidence of Bronze Age trade has also been found in the same area...

Horse buried with the dead, and decorations of shell strings at Anyang. Source: Anyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

7 January, 2022 - 21:46 ashley cowie

Unique Bronze Age Clan Cemetery Excavated in Anyang, China

After two years of excavations a 3,000-year-old clan cemetery containing the treasure-laden tombs of early social elites has been uncovered in central China. Located in Anyang, the northernmost city...

The bronze plate pieces of the Roman military diploma found in the ancient Anatolian city of Perre or modern-day Adiyaman, Turkey. Source: Anadolu Agency

4 January, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

1,898-year-old Roman Military Diploma Gives Citizenship Rights

Archaeologists have found an ancient Roman military diploma dating to 123 AD in Turkey’s ancient city of Perre (modern day Adiyaman). The latest round of excavations, which have been carried out...

The walls of the ancient Citadel of Erbil in Iraq as seen from the bazaar. Source: Levi Clancy / CC BY-SA 4.0

4 January, 2022 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

The Magnificent Citadel of Erbil - A True Archaeological Sandwich

The Iraqi city of Erbil is truly magnificent - and in many ways. With the settlement origins dating back at least 8,000 years, it is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities in the...

One of the Warring States Period graves found in Sanmenxia City in central China of a total of 260 that have stunned Chinese archaeologists. Source: CGTN

3 January, 2022 - 18:00 Nathan Falde

260 Warring States Period Graves Stun Archaeologists in Central China

Archaeologists digging near the city of Sanmenxia in central China’s Henan province have uncovered a massive graveyard of ancient burials, traceable to the Warring States Period that lasted from 481...

A recent PNAS study has revealed the extent of the Tera eruption's tsunami wave destruction across the northern Aegean based on Late Bronze Age skeletons found in northern Turkey. Source: MiaStendal / Adobe Stock

29 December, 2021 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Shattered Skeletons of Man and Dog From Eruption and Tsunami 3,600 Years Ago

In 2021, archaeologists recovered the shattered skeletons of a man and a dog at a site in Turkey. Their frames were both smashed to pieces, but not by an act of human violence, but by the force of a...

Israeli archaeologists working at the Tel Tsaf site in the Jordan valley have discovered the earliest evidence of social drinking in the Middle East, dating to 5000 BC. This image shows medieval people eating and drinking together in an ancient kitchen interior. Source: Nejron Photo / Adobe Stock

28 December, 2021 - 22:00 Sahir

Earliest Social Drinking Evidence in the Middle East Found in Israel

Social drinking history in the Middle East has been rewritten with finds at Tel Tsaf, Israel. According to the Times of Israel , Israeli archaeologists have found the first evidence of social...

Does the fabled 1,000-ft White Pyramid of Xian in China really exist? Source: EvgeniyBobrov / Adobe Stock

25 December, 2021 - 21:59 aprilholloway

In Search of the Fabled 1,000-ft White Pyramid of Xian in China

Scattered across an isolated, flat plain in Shaanxi Province, near the ancient capital of Xi’an, lie dozens of spectacular pyramid mounds that are little known outside of China. Mixed in with the...

The Sintashta culture has been remembered for inventing war chariots. Source: Dark Heritage

22 December, 2021 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

Unravelling the Sintashta Culture: War Masters of the Eurasian Steppe

Understanding the mysterious origins of the Indo-Europeans, the emergence of the Indo-Iranian languages, and the earliest identities of associated peoples remain some of the burning questions in...

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

20 December, 2021 - 22:00 Sahir

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

20 December, 2021 - 18:00 Sahir

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

19 December, 2021 - 17:56 Sahir

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

18 December, 2021 - 17:57 aprilholloway

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

10 December, 2021 - 13:58 Nathan Falde

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

9 December, 2021 - 22:20 Sahir

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

7 December, 2021 - 13:57 dhwty

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

30 November, 2021 - 00:57 dhwty

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

29 November, 2021 - 21:57 dhwty

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

27 November, 2021 - 17:57 Nathan Falde

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

25 November, 2021 - 13:57 Sahir

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

24 November, 2021 - 17:57 ashley cowie

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...

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