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Thunderbird Shaman. (Deriv Liz Leafloor)

The Coming of the Thunder People: Denisovan Hybrids, Shamanism and the American Genesis

In 2010 the existence of a previously unknown archaic human population was revealed following the DNA sequencing of a finger bone over 41,000 years old. It was discovered in 2008 in the Denisova Cave...
The grave of the unusually tall Bronze Age man found in Bulgaria. (Primorsko Museum of History/Nova TV) Representative image of the entrance to a tumulus near the town of Strelcha, Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Looters Couldn’t Get Their Hands on the Grave of an Unusually Tall Bronze Age Man Buried with a Severed Arm

Archaeologists in Bulgaria are fighting a battle against looting in the Black Sea town of Primorsko. Unfortunately, it seems grave robbers are getting ahead of the experts in the number of graves...
‘Vitellius dragged through the streets of Rome by the populace’ Georges Rochegrosse (1883). (Deriv.) Is he one example of a Roman emperor assassinated due to bad weather?

Fair-Weather Friends: A Weird Explanation for 20% of Roman Emperor Assassinations

Long bouts of bad weather have been blamed as a cause for the downfall of ancient civilizations around the world. Now, researchers have proposed a hypothesis that seems to support the idea that the...
It has been announced that a collection of 5000-year-old priceless artifacts that were looted in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 have been identified in London. Local police seized the objects from an illegal dealer in antiquities.

Looted Iraqi Antiquities Can Finally Return Home After Simple Identification by British Museum

It has been announced that a collection of 5000-year-old priceless artifacts that were looted in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 have been identified in London. Local police seized the...
The skull of the  ‘golden man’ found in the Saka burial mound.

Archaeologists Unearth the ‘Golden Man’ of the Saka Burial Mound in Kazakhstan

Last week, Ancient Origins reported on the fascinating discovery of a golden treasure left by the ancient Saka people in a burial mound in Kazakhstan. It was called one of the most significant finds...
Aerial view of the excavations of the huge Bronze Age citadel found in Romania.

Huge Bronze Age Citadel, Three Times Larger than Troy, Found in Romania

Archaeologists had no idea of the immensity of the project they had begun when they started excavating an archaeological site in Sântana, Arad county, Romania almost a decade ago. They’ve now...
New Persian dynasty ruler, Ismail declares himself "Shah" by entering Tabriz; his troops in front of Arg of Tabriz, painter Chingiz Mehbaliyev.

The Plurality of the Persian Empire: Part II - Persian Dynasties and a New Breed of Rulers Arise

[Read Part I Here] Following the conquest of Persia by the Arabs, the region lost its significance as the center of an empire, it was now a mere province in the larger Islamic Empire. The decline of...
Eveliina Salo taking samples of the hearth structure.

Submerged Stone Age Settlement ‘Opens Up New Path’ for Finnish Archaeology

Pia Purra / University of Helsinki The prehistoric settlement submerged under Lake Kuolimojärvi provides us with a clearer picture of the human occupation in South Karelia during the Mesolithic and...
Left: Upper jaw bones of a walrus, with tusks removed. Right: an elaborately-carved ecclesiastical walrus ivory plaque.

Lost Norse of Greenland Fueled the Medieval Ivory Trade, Ancient Walrus DNA Suggests

The Icelandic Sagas tell of Erik the Red: exiled for murder in the late 10th century he fled to southwest Greenland, establishing its first Norse settlement. The colony took root, and by the mid-12th...
Illustration of Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont by Heinrich Harder (1858-1935)

The Great American Origins Debate: Clovis First vs Pre-Clovis

The standard school curriculum teaches that Native Americans descended from a small band of Paleo-Indian people from north-east Asia who walked across the now-vanished Beringia land-bridge between...
The Roman ruins of Volubilis, Morocco.

Once At the Far Reaches of the Roman Empire, Volubilis Rises Once More in Morocco

In northern Morocco the great ancient city of Volubilis is rising again and is becoming a major tourist attraction. The city that was once neglected and half-forgotten is now being opened to the...
Faravahar, one of the best-known symbols of ancient Iran (Persia). Relief in Persepolis.

The Plurality of the Persian Empire: Part I – The Achaemenids to the Sassanians

The land of Persia (also known as Iran) has been the center of several important empires throughout history. Between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, this was the land from which the mighty Achaemenids...
Zmaj and the Dragon Lore of Slavic Mythology

Zmaj and the Dragon Lore of Slavic Mythology

The dragon is one of the most well-known creatures in ancient mythology, and many cultures have this creature (or one of its related forms) in their folklore. In East Asian countries, for instance,...
The August 7, 2018 Ibn Sina Google Doodle.

Who Was Ibn Sina and Why is He a Google Doodle?

A surprising Google Doodle has greeted users of the search engine in the UK. The image celebrates the 1038th birthday of Persian polymath Ibn Sina. For many in the West, this may be the first...
Roman era coin found in England, provisionally dated to 3rd century AD.

An ‘Absolutely Stunning’ Roman Gold Ring Is Unearthed In England

An amateur treasure hunter has made a ‘stunning’ find from the Roman era in the south-west of England. With the help of a metal detector, the man discovered a golden ring at a site being investigated...
The ruins of Beni Hammad Fort.

Beni Hammad Fort: Ruins Attest the Dreams of a Medieval Algerian Islamic Dynasty

Today, only the ruins of the city attest to the important status Beni Hammad Fort once enjoyed in the history of Algeria. It saw glory as a Medieval stronghold and as the capital of a local dynasty...
Medieval Knights are viewed as moral do-gooders.

Medieval Chivalry Wasn’t Just Knights and Valor

By Kathleen McGarvey / University of Rochester Our popular ideas of the chivalric world are off base, according to historian Richard Kaeuper. The gallant knights on horseback and banners unfurling...
Excavations at the recently discovered ‘House of Jupiter’.

House of Visual Delights Discovered in Pompeii

The director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Massimo Osanna has announced another momentous discovery at the ruined city. Archaeologists have unearthed a house that belonged to a member of the...
The Rake by Inenarrable.

13-year-old Mythical Beast Filmed in Canadian Wilderness?

Was an unknown 'humanoid creature' spotted stalking a moose in Gaspésie, Québec, Canada, or is this shaky video another poor quality Internet hoax? What appears as a six-foot "faceless," hitherto...
‘Yorinda and Yoringel’ by John Duncan (1909)

Once Upon A Time: Concepts of Afterlife and Altered Consciousness Concealed in Faerie Folklore

Once upon a Time, they all lived happily ever-after. In the 1891 publication The Science of Fairy Tales , the folklorist Edwin Sidney Hartland devoted three chapters to ponder over ‘The Supernatural...
The damaged section of the Great Wall of China.

Repaired With Duct Tape And Bubble Gum? A Section Of The Great Wall Of China Collapses

As many parts of the world are fighting scorching heat waves and fire outbreaks, several weeks of extraordinarily heavy rainfall in the northern region of China have collapsed a newly renovated...
In this illustration, the modern pygmy village, Rampasasa, is shown at left; in the center, a modern Rampasasa pygmy wearing the traditional head covering and clothing is juxtaposed against the face of a Homo floresiensis reconstruction; at right, pygmy elephants play in the Liang Bua cave where theH. floresiensis fossils were discovered in 2004.

Scientists Understand Why there are Short-statured Indonesians Today, But Can they Explain Hobbit Height?

Michael Westaway & Francis David Bulbeck / The Conversation Humans are diverse in size and shape – but some populations are of relatively low average height, and historically described using the...
 "Israel in Egypt" by Edward Poynter, 1867

Pharaoh Ramses’ Anti-Israelite Policy Now Explained

Why were the Jews enslaved in Egypt? New evidence from a French Egyptologist, Alain Zivie, now points to an Egyptian suspect: Pharaoh’s vizier ‘Abdiel, whose Semitic name means ‘a servant of [the god...
Loftus Hall

Loftus: The Hall of Dreams

​ “There had stood a great house in the centre of the gardens, where now was left only that fragment of ruin. This house had been empty for a great while; years before his—the ancient man’s—birth. It...

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