All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

German

Klaus Störtebeker was part of the Victual Brothers pirate band that terrorized the Baltic Sea until . . . 		Source: waewkid / Adobe Stock

Klaus Störtebeker: The Bizarre Tale of a North German Pirate

Looking to the past, the annals of history have its fair share of extraordinary and unusual deaths, some more famous than others. It’s well known that Attila the Hun, the marauding Mongolian warlord...
German soldiers shooting Herero people in 1904

Herero and Namaqua Genocide: The Little-Known First Genocide of the Second Reich

When you hear the word genocide, your mind may immediately go to the Holocaust by the Nazis during the Second World War. Very few know that the first genocide of the 20th century that almost led to...
2,000-Year-Old Shoe Unearthed in German Bog

2,000-Year-Old Shoe Unearthed in German Bog

Bogs have been home to some of the weirdest items and artifacts, some that were buried or stored intentionally, and others that were inadvertently lost in the mud. The archaeological record is full...
The German Stonehenge at sunset in Pömmelte.       Source: Mattis Kaminer / Adobe stock

Pömmelte Ring Sanctuary Eclipses Stonehenge With Homes and Ghastly Burials

Scientists think an ancient astronomical observatory in Pömmelte, Germany will overshadow England’s famous Stonehenge in terms of archaeological data and the number of human burials. Over 4,000 years...
Human remains found at the excavation site at the medieval cemetery in Petriplatz, Berlin.    Source: Ausgrabung Petriplatz

Mass Medieval Cemetery Sheds Light on Berlin’s Brutal Birth

In Berlin , a historic medieval cemetery has been excavated which reveals that medieval people’s lives were blighted by hunger, disease, and extreme violence. Many of the human remains show signs of...
Archaeologists investigating the German burial site.  Source: Antiquity Publications Ltd

6000-Year-Old German Burial Chamber Destroys Egalitarian Ideologies

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a 6,000-year-old hilltop burial mound that indicates Neolithic societies were much more hierarchically organized than previously thought. The story of the...
Danevirke wall defended the Danes in the north from the Germanic and Slav tribes.    Source: khosrork / Adobe Stock

From the Vikings to WWII, the Danevirke Wall Has Seen it All

All through classical history, imposing and long walls, ramparts, and fortifications played a significant role in securing the borders of nations and kingdoms from all sorts of incursions and attacks...
Portrait of Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) (cropped) by Fydor Rokotov      Source: Public Domain

Destined for Glory: The Reign of Empress Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great takes up a rare role in the history of Russian rulers and Emperors. In many ways she was a woman of firsts, as well as being the country’s longest ruling female leader. From the...
Depiction of the German Knights Templar.    Source: vukkostic / Adobe stock

The Curious Apparitions of Pagan Goddesses to the German Knights Templar

The Untersberg is a great mountain straddling the Austro-German border opposite Salzburg. It was reputed in local legend to be the seat of the god Wotan and to be haunted. The Knights Templar of the...
Left: Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps - Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. (Leonid Andronov / Adobe stock). Right: Crest of the House of Hohenzollern. (Public domain)

The House of Hohenzollern – The Rise and Fall of German Emperors

In the history of the European Middle Ages, noble families and powerful feudal lords always played a very important role. The wealthier, influential aristocratic families rose to great heights and...
Main: View over the excavations in Schöningen in Germany. Inset: The ‘killing stick’ that was unearthed at the excavation site.           Source: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

300,000-Year-Old ‘Killing Stick’ Sheds Light on Evolution of Hunting

In Germany, a team of experts have made a very important discovery. They have established that an ancient wooden artifact is a throwing stick (or ‘killing stick’). This is allowing them to understand...
Painting of a key scene in The Nibelungenlied

Song of the Nibelungs: The Epic Germanic Tale of Love, Death, and Revenge

The Nibelungenlied , or "The Song of the Nibelungs", is a Middle High German epic poem first written sometime in the thirteenth century. Though its author is unknown, The Nibelungenlied remains one...
Nyanza Royal Palace, Rwanda                       Source: Photo by Momaa

The Contrasting Royal Palaces of Rwanda

Rwanda, known as the land of a thousand hills, is one of the best countries to spot gorillas in their natural habitat. It is emerging from a bloody past and is now one of the most dynamic societies...
Fort Antoine, Monaco          Source: johnbraid / Adobe Stock

Fort Antoine, A Theatre That Once Protected Monaco

Monaco is famed for being the playground of the rich and famous and hosting an exciting annual Grand Prix race, and yet, this tiny sovereign state also has a long history. There are several historic...
Mir Castle Complex, Belarus

Mir Castle - The Beauty, the Atrocities, and the Restoration

The modern nation of Belarus has had a dramatic and often bloody history because of its strategic location. Like many other European nations, it has a rich heritage in military architecture . While...
Eltz Castle in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Eltz Castle: A Majestic Medieval Pile Owned by the Same Family for 800 Years

Eltz Castle is a majestic castle situated on the top of a rock within a small wooded valley in Germany. Be it through luck or strategy, the castle has been mostly spared from the ravages of war...
Comb with etui recovered from the Alemannic warrior burials.

Medieval Alemannic Warriors Welcomed Foreigners into their Fold

In 1962, an Alemannic burial site containing human skeletal remains was discovered in Niederstotzingen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). Researchers at the Eurac Research Centre in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy,...
Artist's rendering of the hof, a pagan temple, in Uppsala, Sweden.

The Heathen Hof: Resurrecting a Germanic Pagan Temple

A heathen hof, also referred to as a Germanic pagan temple, is the name given to a place of worship in the Germanic religion. These were pre-Christian temples found in various parts of Northern...
Erdstall entrance, Erdstall Ratgöbluckn, Austria

The Enigmatic Erdstall Tunnels of Europe: Purpose - Unknown

An erdstall is a type of tunnel that is found throughout Europe, mainly in the south-eastern German state of Bavaria and Austria. Erdstalls are thought to have been created during the Middle Ages,...
Archaeologists from Mainz reveal new findings on the history of the early-Islamic caliphate palace Khirbat al-Minya

Archaeologists from Mainz reveal new findings on the history of the early-Islamic caliphate palace Khirbat al-Minya

Archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) started excavations in September 2016 at Khirbat al-Minya, an early-Islamic caliphate palace on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel...
Portrait of Queen Victoria, 1859

Moments from the Life and Reign of Queen Victoria of Great Britain

The famous Queen Victoria set the tone for Britain’s era of industrial expansion and empire. Though often recalled as wearing black mourning clothes and having a strict code of morality, she was said...
The 18-letter message running down the central groove of a Medieval sword. Credit: The British Museum.

Medieval Sword contains Cryptic Code. British Library appeals for help to crack it.

In 1825, a mysterious double edged sword containing a cryptic code was found in the River Witham near Lincoln in England. The 13th century sword contains an enigmatic 18-letter message running down...
Siegfried's Death

Song of the Nibelungs: The Epic Germanic Tale of Love, Death, and Revenge – Part 2

Like many ancient poems and epic tales, the 13 th century saga of The Nibelungenlied, or "The Song of the Nibelungs", is based on both myth and history. Written by an unknown author, the tale remains...
German Knight. Source: nullplus / Adobe

The Mummy of Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz, the Not So Chivalrous Knight

There are not many who would mourn the death of Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz, a German knight who is known to have frequently exercised droit du seigneur , a legal right in late medieval Europe...

Pages