We bring you all the latest historical news and archaeological discoveries relating to ancient human history. Read more history news from around the world here at Ancient Origins.
When this English metal detectorist realized that he hadn’t dug up a metal top, but an ancient Roman gold earring, he “sank to his knees in disbelief”. After many unfruitful searches, 53 -year-old...
4,000-year-old Hittite texts speak of the lost cultic centre of Zippalanda, somewhere in modern Turkey. Now, new discoveries at the Uşaklı Höyüy site further suggest this was the ancient holy city...
When archaeologists in Denmark identified the foundations of a huge Viking hall they knew they’d hit archaeological paydirt. But they didn’t expect that this building would be the largest Viking hall...
The discovery of this ancient sacred site was described as “special” no less than seven times in the Dutch archaeologist’s press release. Inside one of the intact Roman temples the excavators...
Examination of stone tools excavated at the Cooper Ferry’s site in Idaho has revealed the presence of humans in North America 16,000 years ago. Having left behind distinctive Clovis points, their...
A prehistoric necropolis used between 900 and 600 BC in Aubagne in southeastern France has revealed a first millennium BC individual, bedecked in copper jewelry, after two rounds of excavations in...
It is well known that ancient cultures in what is today Peru deformed their babies' skulls to form elongated shapes. A new study reveals that, a millennium ago, people 'finger painted' the skulls of...
An exceptionally rare Viking Age grave has been unearthed in Oslo, Norway’s capital city. The Viking Age (793–1066 AD) followed the Migration Period and the Germanic Iron Age in Europe . At this time...
Archaeologists excavating the Theban Necropolis in Egypt have made the extraordinary discovery of nine crocodile heads placed inside two tombs belonging to high-ranking nobles. The discovery was made...
In the days leading up to the biggest Holy Day (holiday) of the Christian year, celebrating the birth of Christ, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have announced “the cave of Holy Salome,' the...
Most historians long ago concluded that Edward of Woodstock, also known as Edward the Black Prince , the heir apparent to the English throne who died at the age of 45 in 1376, fell victim to chronic...
Ample archaeological and geological evidence has now been uncovered that suggests archaic humans were building boats and crossing the Aegean Sea as long as 450,000 years ago, the authors of a new...
A group of perfumers have come together to recreate an ancient Mesopotamian perfume formula. Originally made 3,200 years ago, they have replicated a fragrance from what has come to be known as the...
Two Israeli archaeologists have successfully deciphered an 8th century BC inscription that was left on a wall in an underground tunnel located just outside the walls of the City of David (ancient...
Egyptian archaeologists excavating the Tell El Deir site in the Nile Delta have discovered 20 tombs dating back to between 664 BC and 332 BC. They include both limestone structures, likely for the...
Archaeologists in the Judean desert have unearthed a small wooden box lined with sheepskin and a purple cloth. Within it, they discovered fifteen rare coins minted by Egyptian King Ptolemy VI,...
Archaeologists in Mexico have always wondered how sky watchers tracked the sun over time to maintain their farming calendar. Now, a new paper demonstrates how Mexica temples were used, with entire...
History has remembered Attila (c. 406 to 453) for having terrorized the Roman Empire with a campaign of violence as the ruler of a nomadic Central Asian and Eastern European people known as the Huns...
A team of archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton in the United Kingdom have just published a study reporting that enigmatic artifacts recovered from a significant Bronze...
A grammatical puzzle from ancient India has baffled scholars for 2,500 years. Now, a Cambridge scientist has finally cracked the meta-code underlying the ancient ‘language machine’. Pāṇini was a...
For the second time since 1947, a human skeleton has been found in the Egedal Municipality in Denmark – in fact, the remaining fragments of a ‘bog body’. Initially just a femur, a lower jaw with some...
Back in the 1920s, archaeologists working at Amarna’s North Palace in Egypt uncovered a “masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art.” This was the palace of Meritaten, the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and...
An Egyptian-English mission excavating a necropolis at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt has uncovered the burial of a young woman wrapped in textile and plant fiber matting. She carried a full complement of...
A fresh set of 168 geoglyphs have been discovered by researchers in Peru’s intriguing Nazca Lines UNESCO World Heritage Site. The newly found drawings depict humans, camelids, birds, orcas, cats and...
