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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Stars

Representational image depicting the use of star paths by Minoan civilization. Source: Alessandro Berio / CC BY 4.0

Star Paths Likely Guided Minoan Culture

Minoan civilization may have been heavily dependent on celestial star paths up above to help them navigate their way throughout the Mediterranean. A study has found that Minoan palaces were even...
Detail of the palimpsest under multispectral analysis. Source: Museum of the Bible / CC BY-SA 4.0

World’s Oldest Star Chart Discovered Hidden in Medieval Codex

In 2012, a student at Cambridge University identified what he suspected was an ancient Greek star map hidden behind text in a medieval codex. Compiled with astronomical data from the 2nd century AD,...
The Nebra Sky Disk

Bombshell Study Calls Astronomical Theories of the Nebra Sky Disk “Obsolete”

Until today, the Nebra Sky Disk was known as the oldest concrete depiction of cosmic phenomena worldwide. Scholars believed it was a 3,600-year-old artifact depicting a sun or full moon, a lunar...
The Milky Way is important in Australian Aboriginal astronomy

Looking to the Stars of Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

Astronomy played an important role in many ancient societies. Through this natural science, the ancients were able to make calendars, navigate during the night, and even explore the nature of the...
Ancient Greek astronomy has baffled experts for centuries – how did they know what they knew so long ago? These four discoveries epitomize this. Pictured: view of the Earth, Moon and Sun from the space elements (original image from NASA). Source: vovan / Adobe stock

Four Discoveries of Ancient Greek Astronomy That Still Baffle Experts

The Histories by Herodotus (484BC to 425BC) offers a remarkable window into the world as it was known by ancient Greek astronomy in the mid fifth century BC. Almost as interesting as what they knew,...
Cheomseongdae observatory at night, Gyeongju, South Korea.          Source: Ivan / Adobe stock

Star Gazing at Cheomseongdae - East Asia’s Oldest Observatory

The Korean peninsula is known for many things. One thing that may be less well known about Korean culture is its contribution to world astronomy. One particularly visible contribution is the oldest...
Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, in the night sky. 	Source: 	Aliaksei / Adobe stock

Were Egypt’s Pyramids Megalithic Machines or Magical Mausoleums?

Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza were always my favorite ancient mystery growing up. I was forever debating whether they were high-tech super machines or massive tombs of the pharaohs. Their odd angled...
Illustration of meteor entering Earth's atmosphere    Source: lassedesignen / Adobe Stock

Oldest Material On Earth Discovered To Be Older Than The Sun

Stars have life cycles. They're born when bits of dust and gas floating through space find each other and collapse in on each other and heat up. They burn for millions to billions of years, and then...
Zorats Karer, the Armenian Stonehenge

Zorats Karer: The Incredible History of the 7,500-year-old Armenian Stonehenge

Armenia is full of archaeological surprises. It is a country where mysterious stories appear at every corner and most of them still wait to be solved. However, one of the greatest stories of...
Radio Telescope

Powerful Radio Telescopes in South Africa are Revolutionizing Astronomy

The world’s largest radio telescope is expected to come online sometime in 2020. The S quare Kilometre Array (SKA) is an internationally sponsored and funded initiative that will include more than...
The Waitomo Glowworm Cave, New Zealand

Living Lights: Majestic Glowworm Cave of Waitomo is Like a Starry Night

The Waitomo Glowworm Cave is a magnificent subterranean cave system in Waitomo, New Zealand, which as its name suggests, is renowned for its glowworm population. The glowworms, sometimes referred to...
The Pleiades

From the Ancient Greek Pleiades to the Hindu Matrikas: Mother Goddesses, Music and the Sacred Number 7

In Brihat-Samhita , Indian astronomer Varahamihira (505–587 CE) says that "Mothers are to be made with cognizance of gods corresponding to their names” leading to the birth of Matrikas (“Divine...
The Pylos Combat Agate, an ancient object found in Pylos, Greece and created around 1450 BC.

Is this Minoan Artistic Marvel a Miniaturization of the Heavens?

The discovery of the Pylos Combat Agate in a Mycenaean shaft-grave tomb dating to 1500 BC may be one of the most significant archaeological and artistic finds in decades, perhaps in centuries. The...
Yurri and Wanjel - the Gemini stars Castor and Pollux in the Wergaia traditions of western Victoria, Australia.

Kindred Skies: Ancient Greeks and Aboriginal Australians saw Constellations in Common

Look up on any clear night and you can see myriad stars, planets, and the Milky Way stretching across the sky. The chances are that you know some of the constellations. The International Astronomical...
What Would The Ancient Astrologers Have Told Us About 2017?

What Would The Ancient Astrologers Have Told Us About 2017?

Modern astrology as we know it – in the form of a yearly, monthly or daily horoscope – is based on a celestial coordinate system known as the “zodiac”, a Greek word that means the circle of life. And...
Foundations of Stone – Part II : Investigating the Megalithics of West Virginia and the Connection to the Pleiades

Foundations of Stone – Part II : Investigating the Megalithics of West Virginia and the Connection to the Pleiades

Several mounds of the Charleston works featured these cup marked stones. Along the Elk River North of Charleston, Norris excavated a conical mound 50 feet (15 meters) broad and five feet (1.5 meters...
Teen Makes Stellar Discovery of Previously Unknown Maya City

Teen Makes Stellar Discovery of Previously Unknown Maya City

William Gadoury, a 15 year-old Canadian from Quebec, has revolutionized the academic world by using ingenious reasoning to discover a previously unknown Maya city. Based on his own theory - that the...
The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn: fresco by Giorgio Vasari and Cristofano Gherardi, c. 1560

Wandering Sky Gods: The Personification of Astronomical Phenomena in Ancient Times

It is 1000 BC, roughly 3000 years ago. Things have changed in the civilized world. The Bronze Age is fading, to be replaced by the time of Iron. Armies strive across portions of the Near East and the...
One of the Greek temples in the Valley of Temples outside Agrigento, Sicily

New Study Shows Some Greek Temples Were Oriented to the Moon or Stars, Rather than the Sun

The Ancient Greeks, who designed temples in honor of gods, goddesses and heroes, usually oriented them facing the rising sun or to the cardinal directions. But a new study shows that a few of the...
Ancient astronomical symbols in Peru

Archaeologists find stone engraved with 3,500-year-old astronomical symbols in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru made a remarkable discovery when they found what they believe is a stone altar containing ancient petroglyphs dating back to 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, according to a news...
The Great Pyramid - Star Shaft

The Star-Shaft Theory of the Great Pyramid - Busted

Many Moons ago a theory was proposed, which claimed that the small shafts inside the Great Pyramid pointed towards certain stars in the night sky. Furthermore, because the position of these stars...
Pyramids - Orion

Mirrors of Orion: Star Knowledge of the Ancient World – An Introduction

Egypt is the image of the heavens, and the whole Cosmos dwells here, in this its sanctuary— but the gods will desert the earth and return to heaven abandoning this land that was once the home of...
Australia’s Stonehenge

Australia’s Stonehenge Resurrected Part 2: Original Elders and Custodians on Site

This Original complex of “terraces, mounds and stone arrangements,” according to the President of the Australian Archaeological Research and Education Society, Frederic Slater, contained “the basis...

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