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Recent research and experimentation has recreated the original "high-tech" way of Egyptian olive oil production. This stone panel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), entitled "Clutching an Olive Branch," is from circa 1353–1323 BC in the New Kingdom, Amarna Period.			Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptian Olive Oil Production Method Recreated With Delicious Results!

Dr Emlyn Dodd, an archaeologist specializing in the study of ancient food and drink, has attempted to recreate the ancient and original method of Egyptian olive oil pressing called the torsion method...
Ancient amphorae, China. Source: lotusjeremy / Adobe stock

4,000 Years Ago, Chinese Advances Were Fueled By Mass Beer Production!

What were the important forces and factors that led to notable evolutionary leaps in Chinese culture more than 4,000 years ago? New research identifies one major cultural development that helped...
Aerial drone image of the Cerne Giant chalk figure, Dorset, England.		Source: Roberto / Adobe Stock

The Cerne Giant and the Egyptian Osiris Hypothesis

In the county of Dorset in southwest England is an enigmatic figure which has been carved into the side of a hill. Known as the Cerne Giant, it is a 55-meter (180 foot) tall depiction of a naked man...
‘The selection of the infant Spartans’ (1840) by Giuseppe Diotti. The origins of eugenics are traced back to ancient Greece. Source: Public Domain

The Shocking Ancient Greek Origins of the Eugenics Movement

Eugenics, the science of selectively choosing human genetics, is most synonymous with the modern world and the horrors of Hitler’s ‘final solution’, in which millions of Jews and other ‘undesirable’...
A man destroyed these Greek artifacts (Dallas Museum of Art) at the Dallas Museum of Art. (KeithJonsn / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Man Angry at His Girlfriend Smashes Ancient Greek Artifacts Worth $5 Million!

A man “mad at his girl” broke into The Dallas Museum of Art in Texas and destroyed three Greek artifacts, estimated to be worth up to $5 million and faces years in jail. The destructive attacks...
The Black Death or the Bubonic plague killed millions and was completely impossible for "doctors" to understand let alone treat. But they invented all kinds of cures for plague from sensible ones to totally insane ideas!          Source: illustrissima / Adobe Stock

Blood, Emeralds, Snakes & Poop: Bizarre European Medieval Plague Cures

Originating in China in the 1300s, plague arrived in Europe aboard a ship, bringing fearsome death in its wake. The Black Death ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351, carrying away at least a third of...
The 2,000-year-old silver penis pendant was discovered by a metal detectorist. Source: The Portable Antiquities Scheme

Roman Penis Pendant Found in Britain Declared a “National Treasure”

A Roman “penis pendant,” or more accurately a phallic amulet, found in England 18 months ago, has been declared a national treasure. Described as a first-of-its-kind find, it was discovered by metal...
The first ever stylistic representation of the “young corn god” of the Maya, from the 7th century, recently discovered in a lost ritual pond in the vast remains of Palenque, Mexico.		Source: INAH

1300-Year-Old Severed Head Sculpture Located in the ‘Lost City’ of Maya

The first published European account of the lost city of Palenque is from 1567, by the Spaniard, Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, who found this vast abandoned Maya city. The local Chol Maya called...
Oxford University overlaid with Aztec sun stone. Source:  luisrsphoto / Adobe Stock / ryanking999 /Adobe Stock

The University of Oxford is Older than the Aztec Civilization!

The University of Oxford is so old that its existence predates the Aztec civilization by more than 200 years! Here are the facts: People were learning at the University of Oxford by 1096 and the...
Artists working on the replica Cosquer Cave in Marseille. Source: Cosquer Méditerranée

Race Against Time to Save the 33,000-Year-Old Underwater Cosquer Cave

During glacial Pleistocene, the entry to the famous Cosquer Cave was 100 meters (330 ft) above sea level, but the Holocene sea level rise, propelled lately by climate change, has meant that the...
Mount Nemrut, Apex Of The Kingdom Of Commagene

Mount Nemrut, Apex Of The Kingdom Of Commagene

Crowned by Mount Nemrut , the territory of the Kingdom of Commagene, landlocked by Syria on the south, Cilicia on the west, Cappadocia on the north-west, Sophene on the north-east and Osroene on the...
Dr. Margaret Maitland, Principal Curator of the Ancient Mediterranean at National Museums Scotland, with the recently discovered ancient Greek graduate yearbook. Source: National Museums Scotland

Ancient Greek ‘Graduate Yearbook’ Discovered in Scottish Vault

An unknown ancient Greek marble inscription stored in a museum vault since the 1880s has been rediscovered in Scotland. New research now shows that the tablet includes a list of young men who took...
The red painted curse found in a new tomb at UNESCO-listed Beit She'arim, Israel, about 100 km or 62 miles northwest of Tel Aviv, which warns would-be grave robbers that Jacob is watching!	Source: IAA

Disturbing Red Painted Curse Discovered In Jerusalem Catacomb

An ancient painted curse has been discovered in a tomb in Beit She'arim. Representing the first such discovery in 65 years, the timeworn Greek text warns thieves that Yaakov (Jacob) “the Proselyte”...
A gentleman and a moustache cup. Source: be free / Adobe Stock

British Gentlemen Drank From Moustache Cups that Protected Their Facial Hair

The attitude to facial hair throughout history has been exceptionally fickle, and the moustache is no exception. As fashions have come and gone, so too have the tools and accessories for grooming and...
The Swiss pikemen today in a Pike Square re-enactment during the 2009 Escalade in Geneva. 		Source: Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 FR

The Swiss Pikemen: Europe’s Most Deadly Middle Age Military Formation!

The medieval pike, around 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) in weight and just under 5 meters (16.4 feet) in length, was a weapon supposedly invented in Turin, Italy in 1327 AD. However, its history was...
The Condor pot discovered at Chavín de Huántar 	Source: Antamina

Hidden Tunnels Lead to 3,000-Year-Old Condor Gallery At Chauvín de Huántar

When an archaeologist in Peru squeezed into a tunnel at Chauvín de Huántar in Peru, he discovered a hidden 3,000-year-old chamber. At the center of the ancient space he came across a singular...
An unusually large amber bead is the “apple-of-our-eye” find from the Gjellestad Viking ship excavation, according to archaeologist and project manager Christian Løchsen Rødsrud.  Source: Museum of Cultural History, Oslo

Most Exciting Finds From The Gjellestad Viking Ship So Far

It was in the May of 2020 when a 1,000-year-old Viking ship burial site, the Gjellestad Viking ship, was planned for extensive excavations. The site was discovered in 2018 and since then Ancient...
Naked Warriors: Celtic Mercenaries Went to War in the Buff

Naked Warriors: Celtic Mercenaries Went to War in the Buff

It would take a lot of confidence and courage to face up to a heavily-armored Roman army with neither armor nor clothing. But this is precisely what a band of Celtic mercenaries known as the Gaesatae...
The Curious And Precarious Life Of A Medieval Jester

The Curious And Precarious Life Of A Medieval Jester

The medieval jester has become an iconoclastic figure in society, regularly appearing in the TV shows, films, and video-games of the modern era. The classic jester, replete with flamboyant colorful...
Excavation area in Cueva de Ardales with evidence from the Middle Paleolithic period.	Source: Ramos-Muñoz et al., CC-BY 4.0

The Ice Age Art Gallery Just Got Excavated at Cueva de Ardales

Last year mainstream archaeologists struggled to accept that almost 70,000 years ago someone painted rock art in Cueva de Ardales, a cave in modern day Spain. Now, a team of researchers has shown...
This ancient Urartian bronze belt, a rare artifact from the mysterious Urartu culture, was recently discovered in the ancient city known as Satala in Turkey.                 Source: TRT Haber

Bronze Urartian Belt Proves Kingdom Extended Much Further North

The past four years of excavations in Turkey’s ancient city of Satala have produced many exciting finds. Perhaps the most remarkable of the artifacts discovered there so far are the ornate Urartian...
Composite of May’s top stories images. 	Source: Credited in article

A Run Down of May’s Top Ancient News Stories

The top breaking stories of May 2022 include: A primeval forest in a Chinese sinkhole, the first full DNA sequence of a Pompeii victim, the oldest fake eye found in Iran, another Roman penis...
King Charles VI had a glass delusion. Source: LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS / Adobe Stock

Troubled King Charles VI of France Believed He Was Made of Glass

For several centuries, beginning around the 14th century AD, a strange affliction known as the ‘glass delusion’ spread around Europe, particularly amongst nobles, royals and elite members of society...
Aerial view of the excavations revealing the Mittani Empire settlement at Kemune with Bronze Age architecture partly submerged in the lake.	Source: © Universities of Freiburg and Tübingen, KAO

Drought in the Tigris River Uncovers Hidden Mittani Empire City

Extreme drought and heat in Iraq has caused the historical Tigris River’s water levels to rapidly drop, revealing a 3400-year-old Mittani empire-era city. Water being diverted. Climate change,...

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