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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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History

From the powerful civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, to the fearsome yet sophisticated society of the Vikings, the ancient world was a surprising and challenging place. Here we feature some of the most seminal and influential events and people throughout history, that have helped shape the world we know today.

Four warriors of ‘The Immortals’, from the famous glazed brick friezes found in the Apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa ( Wikimedia)
14 March, 2022 - 13:19 mrreese

The Immortals: Elite and Formidable Army of the Persian Empire

The first Persian Empire (550 BC – 330 BC), called the Achaemenid Empire, is known for having an elite force of soldiers. Named the “Immortals” by Herodotus, this army consisted of a heavy infantry...
Common treatments for cancer included bloodletting. Source: Public domain
12 March, 2022 - 17:57 Lex Leigh

The Many Ways Cancer Was Treated in the Ancient World

How did people of ancient times treat the difficult and complex condition known today as cancer? In recent years, a rising number of scholars have taken a look at the prevalence of cancer diagnoses...
Saffron
12 March, 2022 - 00:20 dhwty

Saffron: Tracing the Origins of a Treasured Ancient Spice

Considered the world’s most expensive spice , saffron has been highly valued by many ancient civilizations, but its origins have long been debated. A new study claims to have traced the evolution of...
An Egyptian woman wearing a mysterious wax head cone, which is morphing 2) into the benben stone, atop which sits 3) the bennu bird, symbol of resurrection, all set before 4) the Great Pyramid, the architectural climax of mound expressionism, behind which rises 5) the morning sun, called weben by the Egyptians. This rhymed with benben, and provided an important linkage between the rising of the primeval mound and the solar disc. (Image: Design by Jonathon Perrin)
11 March, 2022 - 20:31 Jonathon Perrin

Egyptian Head Cones: Mini Pyramids and Status Symbols

One of ancient Egypt’s most-enduring embalming enigmas has to be its cryptic head cones. These unusual objects can be seen in tomb paintings perched atop the heads of both mummies and living people...
Henry supervising the beheading of his rival Peter, thus firmly establishing the House of Trastámara that was a blend of the powerful kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, who eventually overthrew the Muslims in Granada. A manuscript page from the Grandes Chroniques de France. Source: Public domain
11 March, 2022 - 00:57 dhwty

The House of Trastámara: The Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon Take Spain

The House of Trastámara was a royal dynasty that ruled over Spain during the Late Middle Ages. The dynasty was a cadet branch of the House of Burgundy, and initially ruled over the Crown of Castile...
The caltrops the Ukrainian Art of Steel workshop has been manufacturing with traditional blacksmithing for the current war with Russia. Source: Art of Steel
10 March, 2022 - 17:39 Sahir

Medieval Caltrop Defense Weapon Coming to the Aid of Ukrainian Resistance

When nations go to war, the most tragic aspect is the disruption and annihilation of civilian lives. International media has been reporting the robust resistance put up by Ukrainian citizens in many...
Antarctic explorer Earnest Shackleton’s long lost Endurance shipwreck, which sank in 1915, has finally been found at a depth of 10,000 feet or 350 meters off the coast of the icy continent. Source: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust / National Geographic / Endurance22
10 March, 2022 - 13:26 ashley cowie

Shackleton’s Famous Antarctic Shipwreck Endurance Is Finally Discovered

Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost Endurance shipwreck has been discovered at the bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. And while this isn’t a discovery from the ancient world, it packs such a historically...
Are The Gōbekli Tepe Enclosures Giant Lunisolar Calendars?
9 March, 2022 - 21:29 Martin Sweatman

Are The Gōbekli Tepe Enclosures Giant Lunisolar Calendars?

Situated in southern Turkey near the upper Euphrates, Gōbekli Tepe has become famous for its surprisingly advanced megalithic architecture and symbolism, seemingly too early for the hunter-gather...
Kai-Awase: Elegant Shell Matching Pastime Of The Nobility During Heian Japan
7 March, 2022 - 17:24 MartiniF

Kai-Awase: Elegant Shell Matching Pastime Of The Nobility During Heian Japan

Coming in an infinite number of shapes and colors, seashells have been used as a medium of exchange for centuries in a variety of locations, such as many Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands, as...
Easter Island. Source: Aliaksei / Adobe Stock
6 March, 2022 - 14:00 Cecilia Bogaard

Easter Island and the Mysteries of the Moai

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui , is a remote Chilean island a few thousand kilometers west of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Described as an archaeological Disneyland, the island has...
Eating insects goes back to the beginning of human time and continues today in more ways than you might think of. Source: freshidea / Adobe Stock
5 March, 2022 - 18:00 Jake Leigh-Howarth

Eating Insects: The History of the Human Hunger for Bugs

Have you ever thought about eating insects? Do cricket cookies, chocolate covered silkworms, or smoke cured mopper moth caterpillars make you froth at the mouth? This certainly was the case for our...
4 March, 2022 - 21:50 Meagan Dickerson

King Aelle and the Blood Eagle: Ritual Sacrifice in Viking Age Britain

Thanks to recent attention in popular culture, the story of King Aelle’s violent death at the hands of Ivar the Boneless in a type of ritual killing known as the “blood eagle” is well-known. The...
Defensive Fortresses Along The Way Of Horus In Ancient Egypt
4 March, 2022 - 17:58 tedloukes

Defensive Fortress Zarw, Along The Way Of Horus In Ancient Egypt

The rich fertile lands of Egypt’s Nile Delta must have been looked on with avaricious eyes from their next-door neighbors to the east. All that lush greenery lay in stark contrast to the deserts of...
Zero Point Field: Know Ye Not That Ye Are Gods?
2 March, 2022 - 16:18 jim willis

Zero Point Field: Know Ye Not That Ye Are Gods?

“ Know ye not that ye are Gods ” reads Psalm 82 verse 6 and John 10 verse 34. It is quite a radical thought, but some scientists are beginning to entertain a rather shocking speculation that might...
A plaque to the Black Death dead from 1349 and 1369 at Monmouth, Wales. Source: Jaggery / CC BY-SA 2.0
1 March, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Was Medieval Black Death Really That Bad? A New Pollen Study Says No!

Black Death is said to have killed over half of Europe’s population. However, a new pollen study suggests many parts of Europe were not affected by the bacterial onslaught. Black Death was a bubonic...
Memories Of An Ancient Goddess At Sintra’s Mountain Of The Moon
1 March, 2022 - 15:26 elyn aviva

Memories Of An Ancient Goddess At Sintra’s Mountain Of The Moon

Nothing about magical and mysterious Sintra is straightforward, including its name. Sintra can refer to a small town in western Portugal, a short distance north and west of Lisbon, or the large and...
The Eleusinian Mysteries: An Unresolved Ancient Greek Puzzle
1 March, 2022 - 00:53 marinasohma

The Eleusinian Mysteries: An Unresolved Ancient Greek Puzzle

To this day the Eleusinian mysteries remains a subject enveloped by broken pieces of information, creating great controversy among historians who work under heavy assumptions while trying to piece...
Maxilla and tooth specimen excavated at the Stone Age burial site in Portugal’s Cabeço da Amoreira. Source: Petroteo-Stjerna et. al. / CC BY 4.0
28 February, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

African Remains Discovered in Prehistoric Shell Heap in Portugal

In an intriguing discovery, the remains of an African man who died just 350 years ago have been found buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. The middens in Amoreira and other...
Ancient columns at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt. Source: EwaStudio / Adobe Stock
28 February, 2022 - 14:00 Phoenix Vald

5 Unique Facts Straight Out of Ancient Egypt

A lot of things viewed as unusual by the people from the present day used to take place in ancient Egypt. While some of these aspects are fascinating, others can be simply regarded as odd. Going...
Collage of various measures of unit of length. Source: Andrey Armyagov / Adobe Stock
27 February, 2022 - 14:00 ancient-origins

A Rediscovered Unit of Length and Implications for the Neolithic

Following work which began in the 1970s and spanned nearly 40 years, Peter Harris and Norman Stockdale identified a “new” unit of length in 2015. They called it the Harris and Stockdale Megalithic...
Medieval exorcism of a woman.
27 February, 2022 - 00:40 Mark Oliver

The Exorcism Of Marthe Brossier: The First Exorcism With Scientific Controls

Marthe Brossier was a celebrity in France in the 1590s. She was a woman possessed by demons and her family took “the act” on tour. They went from town-to-town showing off the Satanic entity that...
In this painting by Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of the Trojans. Source: Walters Art Museum / Public domain
26 February, 2022 - 17:52 Thanos Matanis

The Friend in the Foe: Trojans in Greek Media

Trojans are typically thought of as the archrivals of the Greeks. Their abduction of the beautiful Helen launched a thousand ships on Trojan shores, igniting a war that spanned ten years...
Ahnenerbe: Nazi Secret Society and their Reinterpretation of History
26 February, 2022 - 00:50 johnblack

Ahnenerbe: Nazi Secret Society and their Reinterpretation of History

Few know of the Ahnenerbe organization, a secret society created in 1935 by Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Wirth and Richard Walter Darre, even though the names may sound familiar. Herman Wirth was a...
Sarmatia bronze dolphin coins, 5th-4th century BC, from the ancient city of Olbia, which was first Greek, and then Scythian and then Roman. Source: catawiki
25 February, 2022 - 21:51 dhwty

Olbia: Greek, Scythian, Roman Trade Center That Had Dolphin Money

Olbia (also spelled Olvia) began as an ancient Greek colony on the northern coast of the Black Sea, in the southern part of modern-day Ukraine. Olbia was famous as an emporium, and the importance of...

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