Europe

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

Fibulas dating to the 4th – 7th centuries AD from the Russian Putilovo-2 cemetery, where countless Baltic amber elite graves were found. Source: Konstantin N. Skvortsov / Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

27 December, 2021 - 22:00 ashley cowie

New Finds Show Ancient Baltic Amber Elites Weren’t Ignorant or Dumb!

Until now, ancient Baltic tribes have been incorrectly branded as being ignorant and dumb. However, the recent discovery of hundreds of Baltic amber elite graves on the Russian Sambia Peninsula, full...

The Velsen I Roman fort in the Netherlands. Source: Graham Sumner / Livius.org

27 December, 2021 - 18:00 Sahir

Roman Fort Used During Conquest of Britain Found in the Netherlands

Between 43 AD and 410 AD, large parts of Britain were under Roman occupation. Part of the Roman empire’s eastwards occupation, these conquered territories had the status of a Roman province. The...

Painting by John Collier, "A glass of wine with Caesar Borgia," depicting Cesare Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Pope Alexander, and a young man holding an empty glass. The painting represents the popular view of the treacherous nature of the Borgias: the implication being that the young man cannot be sure that the wine is not poisoned. Source: John Collier / Public domain

27 December, 2021 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

Lucrezia Borgia: The Misunderstood Femme Fatale of the Renaissance

Women of the Middle Ages were often sadly lacking in rights. Across the world, this period was dominated by a patriarchal society, where the might and prowess of Lords, knights, Kings, warriors, and...

The two Viksø horned helmets found in Denmark in 1942, which were used in a new study as evidence that an ancient Bronze Age trade route linked the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. Source: Nationalmuseet / CC BY-SA 3.0

23 December, 2021 - 21:55 ashley cowie

Do 3,000-year-old Bronze Age Horned Helmets Have Trans-Continental Links?

A team of researchers has sampled organic matter from residue found inside a rare and deeply ancient bronze horned-helmet in Denmark. But their claim that a long-distance prehistoric oceanic trade...

Beads found in at the medieval Ribe, Denmark Viking center, which was the basis for a new radiocarbon dating model applied to Viking Age trade. Source: The Museum of Southwest Jutland / Nature

23 December, 2021 - 00:59 Sahir

Long-Distance Trade Revealed at Medieval Danish Viking Center

Revolutionary new advances in radiocarbon dating techniques have enabled scientists to more precisely determine the chronology and dynamics of Viking Age trade networks based on a medieval Danish...

The disarticulated remains of an adult male, excavated from a large prehistoric burial pit at Cliffs End Farm, Kent. Source: Wessex Archaeology

22 December, 2021 - 16:06 Sahir

Study Finds Huge Undetected Migration Wave to Prehistoric Britain

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from circa 2500 BC to 700 BC. Prehistoric Britain in this period was marked by complex tool making using copper and bronze. Britain’s Bronze Age was also...

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...

Saqsayhuaman, Peru. Source: SL-Photography / Adobe Stock

21 December, 2021 - 22:00 Freddy Silva

Winter Solstice Resurrection At Saqsayhuaman and Newgrange

Two of the Boyne Valley’s most impressive passage mounds — Knowth and adjacent Newgrange — may have functioned together as part of an important initiation ritual, one that survived over three...

Sir David Attenborough with some of the Steppe mammoth bones found in the gravel quarry near Swindon. Source: Julian Schwanitz / BBC / Windfall Films

21 December, 2021 - 17:55 ashley cowie

Neanderthal Hand Axe Leads to Steppe Mammoth Graveyard

Five ancient prehistoric Steppe mammoth skeletons have been unearthed in Britain. How did they get there, and how did they die? The deeply ancient Steppe mammoth site was discovered at a quarry near...

Saint Oswald's Church, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England, dedicated to King Oswald of Northumbria, who became a saint. Source: Peter / Adobe Stock

20 December, 2021 - 14:01 Aleksa Vučković

King and Saint: King Oswald of Northumbria and His Lost Throne Quest

Much of English history was defined by critical wars, conflicts, and invasions. However, not everything was drenched in chaos and bloodshed. Throughout the ages, powerful rulers were there to keep...

Representational image of an underwater temple. Source: Vitalis Arnoldus / Adobe Stock

19 December, 2021 - 22:00 Sahir

Have Researchers Found Fabled Temple of Hercules Gaditanus in Cadiz?

A famous temple of the Phoenician-Punic deity Melqart, located near the ancient city of Gadir (now Cádiz), became a temple dedicated to Hercules Gaditanus under the Romans. Now experts believe they’...

The unicorn ring found by a metal detectorist in 2018 near Thornton, Buckinghamshire, England Source: Hanson Auctioneers

18 December, 2021 - 14:00 ashley cowie

Detectorist’s 2018 Unicorn Ring Sold, But Provenance Questions Remain

A 400-year-old gold signet unicorn ring has just sold at auction for 26,470 dollars (23,550 euros). Everyone is talking about the ring’s value and its association with a noble family linked to...

Now we know that Neanderthals, like this one who seems to kill wildlife and burn forests, altered ecosystems. More and more the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are disappearing or getting blurred. Source: regis allouet / Adobe Stock

17 December, 2021 - 13:59 Nathan Falde

“German” Neanderthals Altered Ecosystem 125,000 Years Ago, Study Shows

Archaeologists from Leiden University in the Netherlands have released the results of a study that proves Neanderthals altered ecosystems in significant ways. The evidence was found in a spot...

The runic inscription on one side of the gold medieval cross found by metal detectorists on the Tweed River near Berwick in the county of Northumbria, England spells a name that is entirely unique. Source: The History Blog

16 December, 2021 - 21:55 Nathan Falde

Small Gold Medieval Cross Found in England Linked to Mysterious Eadruf

An unusual item unearthed by metal detectorists in 2020 in northeast England is puzzling scholars. In this case it is not the archaeologists who are puzzled, but linguistic experts who study the...

It was here in the Arma Vierana cave in northern Italy where the Mesolithic infant and her shell beads were found by the research team. Source: Jamie Hodgkins / University of Colorado Denver

15 December, 2021 - 13:57 Nathan Falde

10,000-Year-Old Mesolithic Burial Showed Special Reverence For Infant Girl

Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists exploring a cave in Italy excavated parts of a skeleton that belonged to an infant girl who died approximately 10,000 years ago, in the early Mesolithic period...

Artifacts unearthed during excavations at the Library House in Pompeii point to work being done painting frescos at the time of the volcanic eruption. Source: Pompeii Archaeological Park

14 December, 2021 - 22:40 Sahir

Evidence of Fresco Painting Uncovered at Library House in Pompeii

Recent restoration work in ancient Pompeii has uncovered evidence that work was being carried out at the Library House, or Casa della Biblioteca , when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, reports...

Baltinglass Stones – connected to Turkey’s Gobkeli Tepe?

14 December, 2021 - 15:18 David Halpin

Baltinglass Hill: Ireland’s Forgotten Gobekli Tepi?

Resting high upon the hills of Wicklow lies buried one of the most remarkable Neolithic sites in all of Europe. Strangely, even today many people are unaware of its existence. Baltinglass Hill is one...

The rare medieval falconry figurine found in an ancient land fill site uncovered in the Old Town of Norway, Oslo. Source: NIKU

13 December, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Rare 13th-century Falconry Figurine Miraculously Found in Oslo

A Norwegian archaeologist digging in the frozen ground at a medieval excavation site in Oslo found something extremely rare and most unexpected. While sorting through a waste layer left behind by...

A reconstruction of Blair Atholl Man’s face. Source: Christopher Rynn and Hayley Fisher / Perth Museum & Art Gallery

9 December, 2021 - 17:59 Sahir

Scotland’s Blair Atholl Man Was Actually From the West, Says Study

People migrated long distances in early medieval Scotland, concluded a new study on the Blair Atholl Man published in the Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal . The study reveals that he was not...

The Binnenhof, or “Inner Court”, is still the beating heart of the Dutch parliament. Recently, more and more medieval material has been discovered underneath these buildings. Source: Public domain

7 December, 2021 - 17:57 Simon Duits

Medieval Walls Discovered Underneath Dutch Parliament

Archaeologists stumbled upon medieval material underneath the Dutch parliament building last week. The area is being prepared for a major renovation that’s long overdue. Fortunately, as a matter of...

Agape Table at the St. Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat, Malta. Source: etfoto / Adobe Stock

5 December, 2021 - 21:57 Laura Tabone

The Mysterious Agape Tables: A Unique Feature of the Maltese Catacombs

The ancient man-made subterranean catacombs of Malta, make up an artificial tunnel system first built in prehistoric times. This vast network of tunnels connects temples, dwellings, sanctuaries and...

The Pillar of Eliseg is just one monument that bears witness to the Romanitas of early medieval Wales. Source: Public domain

4 December, 2021 - 13:57 Meagan Dickerson

Romanitas in Early Medieval Wales: The Evidence of Latin Standing Stones

There are very few texts that survive from early medieval Wales, an era spanning the moment when the Romans left Wales until the Normans arrived. This is one of the reasons that historians have...

Excavated remains of the last fugitive at Herculaneum archaeological park. Source: Parco Archeologico di Ercolano

3 December, 2021 - 21:57 Sahir

Heat from Mount Vesuvius Eruption as Deadly as Hiroshima Atomic Bomb

Archaeologists continue to excavate in search of remains left behind after the 79 AD Mount Vesuvius volcanic eruption which decimated the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy. Now, an...

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge builders ate Neolithic mince pies. Source: English Heritage

2 December, 2021 - 17:57 ashley cowie

‘Neolithic Mince Pies’ Were Eaten by Stonehenge’s Builders

Just 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Stonehenge in England, Durrington Walls is a huge Neolithic settlement and henge site. Located within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, excavations back in 2004...

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