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Enlarged entrance to Carn Euny fogou.

Caves and Portals: The Hidden World Beneath Us & Rites of Passage

To enter the famous European caves of Lascaux, Chauvet, Altamira, Pech Merle and many others is to enter another world. You are greeted by a whole menagerie of hauntingly beautiful representations of...
El Caracol Observatory at Chichen Itza (Wright Reading/CC BY-NC 2.0) and Composite 3D laser scan image of El Caracol from above

Advanced Engineering Discovered at the Maya Observatory at Chichen Itza

In 1526, the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and found most of the great Maya cities deeply eroded and unoccupied. Many generations removed from...
View of the “Cueva del Pirul”, one of the largest systems of interconnected caves to the East of the Pyramid of the Sun. One can notice the many rough pillars left to support the roof and a number of side passages branching out in different directions.

Descending into the Underworld of Teotihuacan: Labyrinthine Tunnels and Rivers of Mercury

Few of the modern visitors to Teotihuacan are aware of the vast and mysterious underworld of caves and man-made tunnels that extends under much of the ancient site and for miles around. The existence...
Image of the North America Nebula, an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb

Northern Cross and the Birth of Shamanism: A Southeastern Mystery Story - Part II

Solving the Riddle of the Rock Piles: The first layers author Jim Willis and his wife removed from rock piles on their property seemed to consist of large stones piled on top of one another roughly...
Image of the North America Nebula, an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star)

The Riddle of the Rock Piles—Effigies and Enigmas: A Southeastern Mystery Story – Part I

Southeastern United States: 2000 years ago | For hundreds of years, people had been accustomed to gathering in this special place near the great river at the sacred time of the winter solstice...
Deriv; The Adena Female. [Image copyrighted © by MARCIA K MOORE CIAMAR STUDIO. The use of which is prohibited unless prior written permission from the artist is obtained.

A Portrait of an Adena Female and Women in Adena Society

The Adena Culture emerged in the Ohio River Valley sometime between 1400 and 800 BC, and persisted until around 300 AD. Adena raised earthen mounds ranging from just a few inches to nearly 70 feet...
Portrait attributed as Christopher Columbus (Public Domain) Deriv.

Christopher Columbus: Master Double Agent and Portugal’s 007

Henry IV of Spain – known as "The Impotent" for his weakness, both on the throne and (allegedly) in the marriage chamber – died in 1474. A long and inconclusive war of succession ensued, pitting...
Cloaked man; Deriv

Merlin: Warrior & Poet. Two Historical Figures that Inspired the Legend

It’s only a few weeks now until the movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword hits the big screen. It will be particularly interesting to see how it portrays Merlin, the royal puppet master in the...
Terra Cotta Soldiers (CC BY 2.0), and Qin Shi Huang in a 19th century portrait (Public Domain);Deriv.

The King Who Made War Illegal! Challenging the Official History of The Art of War and the Terra Cotta Army–Part II

Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of a unified China. His remarkable success in ending 200 years of war and founding the empire through peaceful means had followed a methodology fully articulated...
The 130-million-year-old fossil.

The 130-Million-Year-Old Human Fossil Heist

In 2016, a telephone interview with an artefact collector led me to uncover a scientific conspiracy of Biblical proportions. Professors are the high priests of our technology driven society, but as...
Luminous red nova star - V838 Monocerotis, courtesy NASA, STScI, ESA  (Public Domain); Eye of Providence (Public Domain); Deriv.

Secret Societies and Hidden Knowledge: The Explosive Star that Inspired the Modern World

A few weeks ago, astronomers announced that in 2022 something truly spectacular is to occur: a new star will appear in the heavens. It will be the first such event visible with the naked eye for over...
Ancient Origins Free Ebooks.

4th Year Anniversary - Unravelling Ancient Myths and Legends FREE Ebook

To mark the occasion of our 4 Year Anniversary, Ancient Origins has released our biggest ebook yet - titled “Unravelling Ancient Myths & Legends”. The ebook is a compilation of...
The Rome of America: What Lies Under Teotihuacan? – The Real City of the Gods

The Rome of America: What Lies Under Teotihuacan? – The Real City of the Gods

At its peak, around 200 AD, Teotihuacan counted a population of well over 125,000, boasted hundreds of temples and palaces, and three massive pyramids named after the Sun, the Moon, and the Feathered...
The Search for a Legendary Land: Does the Truth of Plato’s Atlantis Rest on a Shifting Sea Floor?

The Search for a Legendary Land: Does the Truth of Plato’s Atlantis Rest on a Shifting Sea Floor?

Plato wrote over two thousand years ago about a prehistoric Atlantean civilization that existed more than nine thousand years before his time, or over eleven thousand years ago. Plato describes a...
Sword in a Stone and Fairy Tale forest

Who Pulled the Sword from the Stone? The Truth of the Swords of King Arthur

This spring a new movie, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword , is to hit the big screens. Staring Charlie Hunnam as the fabled warrior, the film title suggests that the central theme is Arthur’s...
 Drawing of Balearic Slinger and Castelo Branco - Jardim do Paco

A History of Hamilcar: Akre Leuca, Dream City of Hamilcar Barca– Part II

Like ancient Carthage, Akre Leuca was not only a military center but also a culturally-advanced city in its time. There was no other city like it. If evidence in the urban structure of Castelo Branco...
Drawing of Balearic Slinger (Public Domain) and stonework at Castelo Branco (CC BY-SA 2.0);Deriv.

A History of Hamilcar: The Legend of Cardosa and a Lost Carthaginian City – Part I

Deep in the heart of the Portuguese arid interior lies a city. It is the regional capital of the lands known as Beira Baixa and is strategically well-placed near the grand Tejo river, the...
The Chalice of Magdalene – Is this the Holy Grail?

The Chalice of Magdalene – Is this the Holy Grail?

On January 12th this year BBC News ran a story concerning Mary Magdalene, the woman depicted as a close companion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Vatican has elevated her status amongst the saints...
Ragnarok: The Rainbow Bridge that Connects Heaven and Earth at the Caribbean Basin – Part II

Ragnarok: The Rainbow Bridge that Connects Heaven and Earth at the Caribbean Basin – Part II

According to the Old Norse philologist Rudolf Simek and religious historian Mircea Eliade, Ragnarök marks the end of a cosmic cycle that will repeat ad infinitum. I argue that the Norsemen also...
Ragnarok: Norse Account of Strange & Wonderful Land Doomed to Destruction – Part I

Ragnarok: Norse Account of Strange & Wonderful Land Doomed to Destruction – Part I

Before the rise and spread of Christianity in the first millennium of the common era, paganism was the common religion of Europeans. Just as there is not a single Christian faith, but many...
The Story of the Midgard Serpent: A Mythological Tailspin

The Story of the Midgard Serpent: A Mythological Tailspin

In Teutonic mythology the Middle Earth was wrapped round by the Midgard Serpent. Above this the gods built their mansions in the sky. Yet, curiously, in the lower world there lived all those people...
Mountain of God:  Where was the real Mount Sinai, and the Location of the Ark of the Covenant?

Mountain of God: Where was the real Mount Sinai, and the Location of the Ark of the Covenant?

In the late twelfth century, crusader knights of the Templar order, from the county of Warwickshire in central England, were rumored to have found the Ark of the Covenant while stationed at the...
Legends of Mount Shasta: “The Abode of the Devil” Part 4 – Investigating the Castle Crags Petroglyphs

Legends of Mount Shasta: “The Abode of the Devil” Part 4 – Investigating the Castle Crags Petroglyphs

In the previous articles about Mount Shasta's J.C. Brown mystery, we explored the prehistoric lore of the area, which at face-value could suggest that Brown's claim of discovering a cave containing...
The Miracle of the Sun, 1917: Ancient Angels at Fatima? The Possible Common Origins of Star Gods

The Miracle of the Sun, 1917: Ancient Angels at Fatima? The Possible Common Origins of Star Gods

If the apparitions which are said to have been witnessed at Fatima in 1917 had taken place centuries earlier they might have been described as Fairy encounters or visions of spirits and demons. Today...

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