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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Paleolithic

Four views of the Venus of Willendorf, which a recent study proved was made from oolite limestone from a prominent prehistoric site in northern Italy.		Source: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 4.0

High-Tech Scans Prove Austria’s Venus of Willendorf Originated in Italy

During an archaeological dig near the village of Willendorf in Lower (Eastern) Austria in 1908, a laborer dug up a small statue that proved to be one of the most important pieces of prehistoric art...
African genetic research has gone to a new level by looking at what happened in Africa after the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens migrated into Eurasia. Rock painting of humans and antelopes from the Drakensberg mountains, South Africa by the San bushman tribe. 		Source: EcoView / Adobe Stock

Genetic Research Untangles Africa’s Human Evolutionary History

An international team of anthropologists, archaeologists, and genetic researchers that included 44 scientists from 12 countries has completed a new African genetic research study that reveals more...
Excavations at Jebel Faya Rock Shelter, once home to Paleolithic humans. Source: Knut Bretzke

Paleolithic Humans Were Much More Adaptable Than Thought

Using the very latest in archaeological dating technology, an international team of researchers has discovered that human beings were living on the Arabian Peninsula tens of thousands of years...
Reconstruction of ancient human cave dweller in the Lazaret Cave, France, showing the hearth at the side of the cave. 	Source: De Lumley, M. A. / Public Domain

Ancient Cave Dwellers Managed Fire to Reduce Smoke Exposure

An enlightening new study conducted by prehistoric archaeologists from Tel Aviv University in Israel has revealed how early humans cave dwellers who lived 150,000 to 170,000 years ago managed the...
View of the Romanelli Cave in Italy. 	Source: Sigari et. al. / Antiquity Publications Ltd

New Stone Age Rock Art Discovered at Romanelli Cave

Expert researchers with an interest in ancient European rock art have just completed an exhaustive study of Romanelli Cave, an impressively decorated rock art site located on the southeastern tip of...
Engraved giant deer phalanx from a late Middle Palaeolithic context (layer 4.5) at Einhornhöhle, Lower Saxony, Germany.

51,000-year-old Carving Reveals Neanderthals Produced Art

51,000 years ago, our Stone Age hominin cousins, the Neanderthals, left behind a thoughtfully carved and decorated deer toe bone. This piece of conceptual art found in northern Germany has just been...
Paleolithic cave dwellers used torches, lamps, and fireplaces. Source: Gorodenkoff /Adobe Stock

Conquering the Dark: Finding the Light Behind Paleolithic Cave Art

Fascinating scientific experiments at Isuntza 1 Cave in the Basque region of Spain have attempted to replicate Paleolithic lighting conditions. The work is inspired by a desire to understand and...
Paleolithic Age Footprints of Children Discovered in La Garma Cave

Paleolithic Age Footprints of Children Discovered in La Garma Cave

Cantabria in northern Spain is famous for its cave systems that are adorned with deeply-ancient prehistoric drawings . In archaeological terms National Geographic calls the Museo de Altamira “the...
Lines On A Wild Cow Bone May Be 120,000-Year-Old Symbols

Lines On A Wild Cow Bone May Be 120,000-Year-Old Symbols

Researchers have uncovered what they claim is among the earliest-known use of symbols “ever discovered.” The collection of lines carved into a bone fragment date to approximately 120,000 years ago,...
Artistic representation of Titanoboa.

Titanoboa: The Monster Snake that Ruled Prehistoric Colombia

You may not want to read about this frightening creature if you suffer to any degree from ophidiophobia, or even if you are about to embark on a camping trip. Titanoboa fossils show it was the...
Pieces of the carved mammoth ivory from Siberia analyzed to determine production method. Source: Archaeological Research in Asia

Ancient Siberian Carved Mammoth Ivory Yields Amazing New Information!

A team of Siberian archaeologists has studied a collection of 24,000-year-old mammoth ivory revealing hitherto unknown secrets of ancient craft technologies. The year 2020 has produced a number of...
View over Swaziland from the mouth of Border Cave. Source: (Public Domain)

Newly Discovered ‘Oldest Bed’ Found in South African Cave

In 2020, archaeologists in South Africa announced that they had evidence of the oldest bed ever found. They believed that they had discovered bedding material dating from an incredible 200,000 years...
Devetashka – Bulgarian Cave

Devetashka - the Bulgarian Cave with 70,000 Years of Human Habitation

Devetashka cave is an enormous cave in Bulgaria, which has provided shelter for groups of humans since the late Paleolithic era, and continuously for tens of thousands of years since then. Now...
The discovery that a collection of shells were threaded onto 120,000-year-old strings, at a cave in Israel is an important discovery which advances our understanding of human evolution. Source: Bar-Yosef Mayer et al/Plos One/PA Wire

Evidence of 120,000-Year-Old String Discovered in Israeli Cave

A team of archaeologists excavating a cave in Israel have made the incredible discovery of a collection of shells that were once threaded onto strings and worn by humans as beads 120,000 years ago...
Man using bow and arrow. Credit: Oksana Volina / Adobe Stock

45,000-Year-Old Weapons Discovered In Sri Lankan Cave

Evidence of the earliest use of the bow and arrow by humans outside of Africa has been discovered in Sri Lanka , dating back around 45,000 to 48,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic Period began...
The bird figurine is the oldest-known sculpture to be found in East Asia.         Source: Francesco d'Errico/Luc Doyon / PLOS ONE

Oldest Example of East Asian 3D Art Discovered in Waste Pile

Examination of a tiny bone object extracted from a pile of waste material from digging a well in China revealed it to be what the experts think is the oldest example of three-dimensional art ever...
Reconstruction of the Schöningen lakeshore as the humans discovered the elephant's skeleton.          Source: ©Benoit Clarys Tubingen University

Human Activity Detected At Site Of 300,000-year-old Elephant Skeleton

Elephants ranged over Schöningen in Lower Saxony 300,000 years ago. In recent years, remains of at least ten elephants have been found at the Paleolithic sites situated on the edges of the former...
The Paleolithic rock art of the mammoth discovered at Baga-Oygur III in early 2000s. Source: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS / Siberian Times

15,000-Year-Old Paleolithic Rock Art Gallery Identified On Russian Border

Paleolithic rock art found in Siberia and Mongolia is some 7,000 years older than previously thought, with ancient artists using the same artistic style in both locations. Scientists have closely...
Main: View over the excavations in Schöningen in Germany. Inset: The ‘killing stick’ that was unearthed at the excavation site.           Source: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

300,000-Year-Old ‘Killing Stick’ Sheds Light on Evolution of Hunting

In Germany, a team of experts have made a very important discovery. They have established that an ancient wooden artifact is a throwing stick (or ‘killing stick’). This is allowing them to understand...
Mammoth-bone structure is dated at around 24,000 BC.       Source: auntspray / Adobe Stock

Monumental Mammoth-Bone Structure Built 25,000 Years Ago

A mammoth-bone structure discovered in Russia dating to 24-25,000 BP is declared as “the oldest ever built” by Homo sapiens. The Upper Paleolithic , or Late Stone Age, in Eastern Europe loosely...
Paleolithic rock art found on walls of Font Major Cave near L'Espluga de Francolí        Source: Generalitat de Catalunya

15000-Year-Old Rock Art ‘Sanctuary’ Uncovered in Spanish Cave

In the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain , archaeologists have uncovered a treasure trove of prehistoric rock art that is around 15,000 years old. The engravings were found on cave walls during a...
Neanderthal tools included shell scrapers. Source: procy_ab & Comugnero Silvana / Adobe Stock

Coastal Neanderthals Went Diving For Tools

Neanderthals are known to have used tools, but the extent to which they were able to exploit coastal resources has been questioned. New research shows they collected clam shells and volcanic rock...
Stone Age clothing suggests our ancestors were more interested in comfort than style.

Stone Age Clothing: Function Over Fashion

One of the defining periods of early humans and their development is the Stone Age . This long era of our earliest history lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and gradually ended between 8500 BC to...
The evolution of stone tools. Source: andrey gonchar / Adobe Stock.

Taking a ‘Knapp’ With Our Ancient Ancestors - Stone Tools Through the Ages

The process of creating lithic tools took our hominin species millions of years to perfect. However, we often dismiss stone tools as simplistic primitive technology. The mastering of stone knapping...

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