Ancient Origins presents how human origins are explained through three different perspectives: a) science and scientific evidence, b) religions and creation stories and c) folklore and mythology.
For most of our history, scientists have primarily believed that the universe is eternal and unchanging. Aristotle in the fourth century BC asserted that the world is without beginning or end. But...
This retelling of key parts of the Epic explores the unconventional idea that Gilgamesh was not searching for life eternal on Earth, as has been suggested as the theme of the Epic, but was instead...
There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...
The Flower of Life is a name for a geometrical figure composed of seven or more evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. This figure, used as a decorative motif since ancient times, forms a flower-like...
As more and more people describe themselves as ‘spiritual’ rather than religious, experts expect eco-friendly pagan movements will continue to grow. Already there are perhaps a million pagans in the...
Amenhotep IV, also known as the Pharaoh Akhenaten, was destined to be remembered for his attempt at a religious conversion of ancient Egypt; one that saw the old gods put aside and replaced by a...
The Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature, and the Sumerians worshipped a great number of deities. These deities were anthropomorphic beings, and were meant to represent the natural forces of...
Current evidence suggests that Neanderthals and humans shared a last common ancestor sometime between 765,000 and 550,000 years ago. We speculate that this ancestor was H. heidelbergensis . The story...
My pious Baptist grandmother once shockingly confessed, at the ripe old age of 93, that she didn’t want to go to heaven. “Why,” we asked? “Well, I think it will be rather boring just sitting around...
The Kalash (also known as the Kalasha) are an indigenous people living in what is today Pakistan. Although Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, with more than 95% of its population being adherents of...
Many of us grew up watching Disney movies and their tales of fairy princesses and evil queens are undeniably a part of the modern zeitgeist . Some of the movies are original to Disney, but at their...
When the journalist Roger Lewin in 1987 dubbed the common maternal ancestor of all people living today “ Mitochondrial Eve ,” he evoked a creation story —that of a woman who was the mother of us all...
The origins of behavioral modernity and what exactly makes us human are topics which have fascinated people for hundreds of years. There is a plethora of theories as to which archaic human ancestor...
A study has made a startling claim. It argues that an extinct species of humans, the Denisovans , may have mated with modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) as late as 15,000 years ago. This claim is based...
In many ancient cultures and religious traditions, rulers and elite members of society not only had wives, they also had concubines. Concubines normally served a dual purpose – to increase a man’s...
Modern humans, Homo Sapiens , are now the only surviving member of the homo genus. It is almost inconceivable to us that there was a time we walked with other human species, but as the science of...
Facial reconstructions allow us to look eye to eye with our ancient ancestors and relate to them in a way that skeletal remains do not inspire. It can be dehumanizing to look at a bare skull , and...
Osiris, the green-skinned god of the underworld, lord of the afterlife and judge of the dead, is one of the best-known gods from ancient Egypt. His story provided his followers with reassurance for...
There have been a number of high-profile reconstructions of historical figures recently and it seems like whenever a reconstruction is shared there is controversy and argument about whether the...
By Ian Moffat / The Conversation If you bumped into a Homo erectus in the street you might not recognize them as being very different from you. You’d see a certain “human-ness” in the stance, and his...
The Cycladic culture (known also as the Cycladic civilization) is an early Bronze Age culture located in the Cyclades. This culture thrived from around 3200 to 1100 BC, and predated two other major...
The Land of Nod is not just a place we go to catch a few winks but was mentioned in Genesis as the place where Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, was cast away after murdering his brother Abel...
University College London / Science Daily Skin color is one of the most visible and variable traits among humans and scientists have always been curious about how this variation evolved. Now, a study...
In the early 1960s, renowned chemist Dr. James Lovelock was approached by NASA to develop systems and methods that could be used in determining whether or not a planet harbored life. Specifically,...
