Kurdaitcha (known also as Kurdaitcha man) is a ritual ‘ executioner ’ in the culture of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia , in particular the Arrernte people of Central Australia. The job of a...
The Chislehurst Caves are a series of subterranean tunnels , man-made rooms, and caverns located in the southeastern part of Greater London . Although the history of the caves stretches back much...
The Norimitsu Odachi is a huge sword from Japan. It is so large, in fact, that it was said to have been wielded by a giant. Apart from the basic knowledge of it having been forged in the 15th century...
In 1642, The English Civil Wars broke out. On one side were the supporters of the king, Charles I, while on the other were his opponents. In England, it was the Parliamentarians (supporters of the...
In the 18th and 19th centuries, sugar was considered the ‘white gold’ in the commercial arenas of the world, but it was accrued by the scourge of ‘black gold’ – slave labor. The tiny green emerald...
Marine archaeologists have found an almost intact Ancient Egyptian ship under the waters of the Mediterranean in a sunken port . This is remarkable in itself, but the ship is also the first of its...
As early as Homer, more than 2,500 years ago, Greek mythology explored the idea of automatons and self-moving devices. By the third century BC, engineers in Hellenistic Alexandria, in Egypt, were...
The beginning of the Stone Age in Africa dates back at least 2.5 million years and it was an especially important era, not only in the history of Africans, but for all humanity. There are, however,...
Dido, known also as Elissa in some sources, is a legendary queen who is credited with the founding of Carthage. The legend of Queen Dido is found in Greek and Roman sources, the best-known of which...
One of the three children of Loki by a giantess (jötunn ) named Angrboða, Fenrir plays an imperative, though short, role in Norse mythology. A wolf of remarkable size and strength, Fenrir has one...
A fairy tree is a type of plant found in Irish folklore. Such trees are believed to be sacred to the fairies, and some believe that they serve as gateways between this realm and that of the fairies...
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is known as the woman whose beauty sparked the Trojan War. But Helen’s character is more complex than it seems. When considering the many Greek and Roman myths that...
Druid comes from the Old Irish word druí meaning sorcerer. And that is how most people today think of the druids, as mysterious wizards enveloped in the world of magic and ritual. But there is much...
The jackalope is a legendary creature mentioned in the folklore of North America. This animal is described as being a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The creature’s name, incidentally, is a...
Unexpectedly perhaps, North Africa has a great many historic sites and Tunisia, with its long and illustrious history, is a country with particularly notable archaeological wonders. The...
An international team of researchers have analyzed ancient DNA from almost 300 individuals from the Iberian Peninsula, spanning more than 12,000 years, in two studies published today in Current...
In the temple-schools of Mesopotamia , students learned exorcism rituals, how to mix healing atonements, perform astrology, and how to cure demonic possession. While these skills may seem archaic now...
Native mythology on San Andrés talks of the privateer Captain Henry Morgan burying a vast treasure in a sea cave and in December 2018, after two years of researching the life and times of Captain...
A short distance from the bustling Irish town of Tralee in County Kerry there is an otherworldly looking glen which is known as Scotia’s Grave. According to Irish folklore, the glen was the location...
The Greek city-state of Sparta is famous for being a city of soldiers. Its entire society was oriented towards warfare. The Spartan phalanxes were unstoppable on land and known for their...
The Lost City of Z is the name British surveyor Percy Fawcett gave to a secret city buried in the jungles of Chile that was said to have streets paved in silver and roofs made of gold. It’s also the...
The first evidence of wine making is from the Caucasus Mountains bordering Eastern Europe and Western Asia around 6000 BC. From there it spread throughout the ancient Near East to gradually become...
New findings suggest ancient people in the late Neolithic period travelled hundreds of kilometers across Britain’s wild landscapes to attend great feasts and festivals at stone circles in Wiltshire...
Shinigami are Japanese death gods or death spirits. They are akin to the Grim Reaper in many ways, however these supernatural beings may be somewhat less frightening and they arrived later on the...
