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14 May, 2018 - 17:45 ancient-origins

The Art of Peacemaking

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - 00:45
What does peacemaking mean, and how do we embody peacemaking in our own lives? Mandaza carries the honorary title of Peacemaker. He will talk of what that means, how that is rooted in African tradition (many people these days have heard about the principle of Ubuntu which is a Peacemaking principle) and how this can be applied in our lives. Through dreams and visions Peacemakers reconnect with...
Knights of the Holy Ghost embarking on the crusades. After a miniature in a manuscript of the XIVth Century in the museum of the Louvre.
14 May, 2018 - 16:29 Cam Rea

The Seven Most Deadly Weapons of the Crusades, or Were There Eight?

By Cam Rea / Classical Wisdom Any weapon can be deadly when properly used, so by no means is this list all inclusive. The timeline of the Crusades spans from 1096 AD to 1272 AD, with the 9th Crusade...
Great Hall of the Bulls, 15,000–13,000 BCE, Paleolithic rock painting, Lascaux, France ©Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
14 May, 2018 - 13:58 micki pistorius

Famous Lascaux Rock Art of France Comes to Africa in Ultra-Realistic Replica

For the first time in history, Africans will be treated to a never-to-be-repeated opportunity to experience the cave art of the famous Lascaux Caves, near the village of Montignac in Dordogne,...
pper part of a gypsum statue of a Sumerian woman. The hands are folds in worship.
13 May, 2018 - 22:32 dhwty

Nammu: A Forgotten Tale of the Sumerian Mother of Gods

Nammu was the primeval Sumerian mother goddess who gave birth to the gods and created humanity. Despite her extremely important role, much of her story is wrapped in mystery. Some information can be...
The remains of an ancient Roman horse have been found in Pompeii
13 May, 2018 - 19:31 Alicia McDermott

2,000-Year-Old Remains of Horse Killed by Pompeii Volcano Found in Tomb Raider Tunnel

Donkeys, pigs, and dogs have all been found amongst the ruins of Pompeii , but the remains of a carbonized horse are the first example archaeologists have come across of that animal. While the...
Neanderthal man at the Natural History Museum London
13 May, 2018 - 14:44 Alicia McDermott

Spectacular Science! Lab-Grown Mini Neanderthal Brains Could Explain What Makes Humans Different

We’re living in an age when many people believe there are no limits to what technology can do. Apply that to paleogenetics and you’ll see research into ancient disease, the domestication of animals,...
The Woolly Mammoth at the Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia
13 May, 2018 - 01:55 ancient-origins

Could Resurrecting Mammoths Help Stop Arctic Emissions?

If you managed to time travel back to Ice-Age Europe, you might be forgiven for thinking you had instead crash landed in some desolate part of the African savannah. But the chilly temperatures and...
Bronze Chariot & Horses w/ Coachman ―Qin Dynasty, 221-206 BC
12 May, 2018 - 22:58 dhwty

The Wonders and The Terrors of the Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty in the history of China. It was also the shortest-lived dynasty, lasting only 15 years between 221 BC and 206 BC. Nonetheless, it was hugely important,...
Illustration of an ancient city in Mesopotamia.
12 May, 2018 - 18:58 Ed Whelan

Hoard of Ancient Tablets Found in Iraq Reveal Location of Lost Royal City of Mardama

In an exciting discovery, archaeologists have found the location of the lost royal city of Mardama. The ancient Hurrian city had laid buried for millennia until archaeologists unearthed the remains...
Side view of the Saqqara bird
12 May, 2018 - 14:07 Dr Massimo Bonasorte

The Saqqara Bird: Did the Ancient Egyptians Know How to Fly?

The pride of flying too close to the sun was a costly endeavor for Icarus. Mythology says he fled Crete on wings of feathers and wax built by his father Daedalus, of King Minos’ labyrinth fame. His...
A stele from Heliopolis shows Akhenaten worshipping the Aten; design by Anand Balaji
12 May, 2018 - 01:59 anand balaji

Horemheb the Usurper: Monumental Oversight in a Project of Utter Destruction —Part II

(Read Part 1) By all counts, Horemheb was not only forced to remain subservient until the death of his immediate predecessor, Pharaoh Aye – a vizier-turned-ruler – but had faced a challenger in...
Detail of ‘The Emperor depicted as a Taoist magician.’ From ‘Album of the Yongzheng Emperor in Costumes,’ by anonymous court artists, Yongzheng period (1723—35). One of 14 album leaves, colour on silk. The Palace Museum, Beijing.
11 May, 2018 - 23:02 dhwty

The Mandate of Heaven: Morality Influenced the Rise and Fall of Chinese Emperors

The Mandate of Heaven is a philosophical concept found in the ancient Chinese civilization. It suggests the emperor’s authority came from Heaven itself and gave him a divine right to rule. The...
The Summerstone slab, found near Bearsden
11 May, 2018 - 18:58 Alicia McDermott

An Eagle with a Blood-soaked Beak: Antonine Wall Carvings Warned Scottish Tribes to Obey, Or Else!

The Romans were not afraid of getting graphic if it would incite fear and compliance in their enemies. X-rays and laser analysis of Roman carvings reveal that disturbing images of captive and...
Image from the Shahnameh of the Simurgh (benevolent Persian mythological creature) carrying Zal (held in her claws) to her nest.
11 May, 2018 - 15:31 MartiniF

Simurgh, the Mysterious Giant Healing Bird in Iranian Mythology

The image of the serpent is widely acknowledged in western culture to symbolize medicine. One of the most recognizable symbols for medicine today is the rod of Aesculapius with its entwined single...
A limestone sculpture from the Temple of Amun in Thebes depicts Horemheb standing beside the state god; design by Anand Balaji
11 May, 2018 - 13:59 anand balaji

Horemheb the Usurper: Magical Potency and the Rough Road to the Throne—Part I

Usurpation of monuments and funerary goods occurred over much of ancient Egyptian history. Quite a few Pharaohs and nobles indulged in this practice—and far from our modern notion of greedy monarchs...
Normal liver on the left, liver with cirrhosis on the right.
11 May, 2018 - 01:51 ancient-origins

Study Reveals Hepatitis Virus has been Killing Humans Since the Stone Age

An international team of scientists led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Kiel has successfully reconstructed genomes from Stone Age...
Dagger axe with engraved decoration of a tiger, China, Warring States period, 475-221 BC, bronze - Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm.
10 May, 2018 - 22:51 dhwty

Warring States Period: More than 200 Years of Blood-fueled Chinese History

The Warring States Period is an era when power was concentrated in the hands of seven major states. This was a bloody time in Chinese history and continuous warfare meant countless casualties. It was...
‘The Tower of Babel’ (1595) by Lucas van Valckenborch.
10 May, 2018 - 18:57 Mark Oliver

Inside Etemenanki: The Real-Life Tower of Babel

If there was a tower of Babel, it was Etemenanki: a massive, stone ziggurat at the center of Babylon built to be a passageway up to heaven. The Babylonians didn’t see their tower of Babel as a...
Dunnideer Castle, built on the site of a hillfort with a remaining vitrified rampart.
10 May, 2018 - 14:01 Ed Whelan

No Atomic Blast. Fire Melted the Stones of Iron Age Forts Say Investigators

In Scotland, archaeologists believe that they have solved the mystery of an Iron Age fort in which stones had melted in a process termed vitrification. The team of experts studied the vitrified fort...
Selection of artifacts collected at Panga ya Saidi cave.
10 May, 2018 - 02:03 ancient-origins

Cave Provides 78,000 Years of Cultural and Technological Evolution in East Africa

An international, interdisciplinary group of scholars working along the East African coast have discovered a major cave site which records substantial activities of hunter-gatherers and later, Iron...
Two people portrayed on the walls of the ancient Egyptian general’s tomb.
9 May, 2018 - 22:26 Alicia McDermott

Immense Tomb Provides a Fascinating Peek at the Life of High Steward of Ramesses II

Saqqara has given Egyptologists a wealth of knowledge on life and death in ancient Egypt. Recently, it has provided information on Queen Ankhnespepy II , King Tut’s Wet Nurse , and a royal messenger...
The Burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s Army (1630-1660)
9 May, 2018 - 18:44 Mark Oliver

By the Rivers of Babylon: Life in Ancient Babylon’s Thriving Jewish Community

In the 6th-century BC, the armies of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah. They tore down the city walls, burned the temples, and ran down every person who tried to escape. The few...
Bronze statuette of the funerary deity, Wepwawet; design by Anand Balaji
9 May, 2018 - 15:35 anand balaji

Wepwawet, Lord of Abydos and Champion of Royalty: Jubilees, Worship and Resurrection—Part II

From being a god with militaristic overtones, in time, Wepwawet was hailed as the ‘Lord of the Necropolis’, a role he acquired from Osiris, at his cult centers in Abydos and later Asyut too. A...
A possible portrait of Saladin, found in a work by Ismail al-Jazari, circa 1185.
9 May, 2018 - 13:59 Alicia McDermott

The Puzzling Death of Sultan Saladin: A 12th Century Medical Mystery Solved?

Here’s a 12th century medical mystery for you: What malady killed well-known Sultan Saladin? Was it small pox, tuberculosis, typhoid, or maybe malaria? Look at his symptoms – some of them were...

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