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Left: Upper part of the body of grave 43 during excavation. The girl had an artificially deformed skull, was place in a grave with a side niche and richly equipped with a necklace, earrings, a comb and glass beads. The girl belonged to a group of people with a non-local origin and similar dietary habits, which appeared to have arrived at the site about 10 years after its establishment. (Wosinsky Mór Museum)         Right: Artificially deformed skull of an adult woman. Permanent binding during childhood caus

Cemetery of Elongated Skulls Revealed Chaos After the Fall of Rome

In 2020, researchers studied a remarkable burial site containing 51 men, women, and children with deformed elongated skulls from an ancient cemetery in Hungary , revealing a multicultural transition...
The Iron Age and medieval jewelry unearthed in Shropshire, England. Left: the medieval brooch with centaurs. Right: The gold Iron Age ring.            Source: British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme

Detectorists Unearth Rare Iron Age and Medieval Jewelry in England

In Britain , metal detectorists have unearthed two historically significant treasures and in particular, very rare pieces of Iron Age and medieval jewelry. One is a gold ring and the other is a...
Adaptation to harsh climates and isolated lands helped Late Pleistocene humans outlive other hominins.        Source: Gorodenkoff

Last Hominin Standing: Extreme Adaptation of Late Pleistocene Humans

How is our species unique compared to other hominins? What did Late Pleistocene humans have that their neighbors lacked? They obviously interacted, but Homo sapiens survived when others could not. A...
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...
The Milky Way is important in Australian Aboriginal astronomy

Looking to the Stars of Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

Astronomy played an important role in many ancient societies. Through this natural science, the ancients were able to make calendars, navigate during the night, and even explore the nature of the...
Researchers are challenging historic gender archetypes, revealing many “battle scars” on skeletal remains pointing to the existence of warrior women. Pictured: skeletons of two people buried in an ancient tomb in Mongolia include a woman (left) who may have been a horse-riding, bow-and-arrow-wielding warrior, scientists say. Source: Christine Lee / California State University

Are Skeletal Wounds On Hunter-Gatherer Women Battle Scars Or Execution Marks?

Historic gender archetypes of hunter-gatherer women are being challenged by a team of researchers whose new study presents further evidence of “warrior women” in prehistory. Traditional...
The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession by Lucas de Heere (1572) National Museum Cardiff (Public Domain)

Things: Old Viking Parliaments, Courts And Community Assemblies

Ancient governmental terminology such as monarchy, oligarchy and democracy have been used for more than 2,000 years and have Greek and Roman origin, but in Early Germanic societies, right up to the...
Left:  A team of scientists have found an alignment that occurs between the rising Sun and a major street in Turin that was constructed around 28 BC. (Guido Cossard) Right: Statue of Emperor Octavian in Rome. (fabiomax / Adobe stock)

Does This Ancient Solar Phenomenon Really Honor Emperor Octavian?

A team of scientists in Turin, Italy , have claimed the alignment of one of the city streets marks the day Roman Emperor Octavian (“Augustus”) was titled “father of the country” - but not everyone...
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...
Archaeologists have unearthed “recycling sites” outside the walls of ancient Pompeii, showing the Pompeiians once recycled trash in an a very effective manner. Pictured: shot of the ruins with Mount Vesuvius in the background.      Source: dbvirago / Adobe stock

Ancient Pompeiians Built Parts of the City With Recycled Trash

Archaeologists have determined rubbish mounds outside the city walls at Pompeii were “recycling sites” where trash was sorted, reformed and resold, revealing the ancient Pompeiians were eco-conscious...
Mesoamerican ball game players

Danger on the Court: The Deadly Ancient Mesoamerican Ball Game

The Mesoamerican ball game is the oldest known team sport in the world. It was practiced by ancient Pre-Columbian cultures of Central America and played almost a millennium before the establishment...
A new study of Neolithic pottery fragments has revealed ancient Britons were among the first people to farm dairy. Pictured: Cow and her calf in sunset. Source:  lassedesignen / Adobe stock

Thirsty Brits Turned to Drinking Cow’s Milk 7,000 Years Ago

Molecular food remains sampled from Neolithic pottery determines dairy farming “took hold” in what is modern-day Britain and Ireland . A new study of pottery fragments by a team of scientists led by...
The Paleolithic rock art of the mammoth discovered at Baga-Oygur III in early 2000s. Source: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS / Siberian Times

15,000-Year-Old Paleolithic Rock Art Gallery Identified On Russian Border

Paleolithic rock art found in Siberia and Mongolia is some 7,000 years older than previously thought, with ancient artists using the same artistic style in both locations. Scientists have closely...
The Greek theatre of Syracuse, Sicily            Source: Marco Brivio / Adobe Stock

3000 Years of Greek Drama at the Theatre in Syracuse

For many centuries Sicily was part of the wider Greek world and this can be seen in the many spectacular monuments and ruins on the island. One of these is the Greek theatre at Syracuse. Syracuse was...
The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession by Lucas de Heere (1572) National Museum Cardiff (Public Domain)

History Repeats Itself On The Television Screen

Even if school’s history class was a bit of a drudge, historical movies and television series delivered the same old stories with much more passion and intrigue than tweed wearing professors...
View of the Etruscan burial chamber. In the foreground bowls and animal remains and towards the back the deceased.           Source: Roland Haurillon, Inrap

Rare Etruscan Tomb of Treasures Excavated in Corsica

Over the last few months as the world was slowly shutdown with the prevailing pandemic, a team of archaeological and anthropological researchers led by Franck Leandri, head curator of the French...
Close-up of the Göbekli Tepe site in central Turkey.    Source: Brian Weed / Adobe stock

Hidden Geometric Pattern Reveals Deeper Complexity of Göbekli Tepe

Does a “hidden-pattern” at Göbekli Tepe in central Turkey suggest 12,000-year-old hunter-gatherers knew rudimentary geometric principals, indicating a more complex society than previously assumed by...
Ancient Greek astronomy has baffled experts for centuries – how did they know what they knew so long ago? These four discoveries epitomize this. Pictured: view of the Earth, Moon and Sun from the space elements (original image from NASA). Source: vovan / Adobe stock

Four Discoveries of Ancient Greek Astronomy That Still Baffle Experts

The Histories by Herodotus (484BC to 425BC) offers a remarkable window into the world as it was known by ancient Greek astronomy in the mid fifth century BC. Almost as interesting as what they knew,...
The cave where the rock art was discovered. Inset: One of the sections of rock carvings. Photos courtesy of Ministry of Antiquities

Ancient Cave Found in Egypt with Unique Predynastic Rock Carvings

In Egypt, archaeologists from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have found a mysterious and diverse collection of rock art. They were located deep in a cave in the Sinai and are not like...
Representation of a Mongol female warrior / the legendary Mulan.   Source: katalinks / Adobe stock

Ancient Mongolian Female Warrior Skeletons Substantiate Disney’s Mulan

Microscopic marks discovered on the shoulder bones of two ancient female warriors bring the legendary woman warrior, Mulan , from eastern mythology into historical reality. Disney’s 1998 animated...
Unravelling the True Story of the Legendary Trojan Horse

Unravelling the True Story of the Legendary Trojan Horse

The Trojan horse really exists, or rather did exist until a few years ago. It is a horse that has crossed history over the last 3,000 years, who has made poets, princes, kings, and emperors fall in...
Is the answer of the downfall of the giants found in ancient texts? Source: grandfailure / Adobe Stock.

The Fall of the Giants and Their Fate According to Ancient Texts

Giants were here. In using the term giants, I am referring to persons at least 7 feet (2.1m) and up to 13 feet (4m) in height. Given that pre-modern man was significantly shorter on the average than...
Priest in Tenochtitlan Plucks the Heart from Human Sacrifice. Date: circa 1500. Credit:  Archivist / Adobe Stock

Secrets of Living Human Heart Extraction Revealed

In the mid-16th century the hyper-violent forces of Spanish conquistadors burned, tortured, raped and spread diseases as they made their way across Mesoamerica in the name of their one god. Yet they...
The young woman’s coffin and proposed trousseau. Source: CSIC

Teen Mummy was Buried with Bridal Trousseau in Ancient Thebes

Archaeologists have found the bejeweled mummy of a teenage girl in a coffin filled with ancient treasure, which may have been her trousseau, near Luxor, Egypt. The remarkable find dates back over 3,...

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