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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Baba Vanga, attributed mystic and healer who claimed to have foreseen the future and the Cave of Bastet in Bulgaria. Source: citaty.net /CC-BY-SA-3.0, Natalya/Adobe Stock

The Expedition Sparked by the Cryptic Tale of Baba Vanga's Prophecy

Shortly before her death, the Bulgarian prophetess Baba Vanga is said to have whispered an enigmatic prophecy: “ The time of miracles will come, and science will make great discoveries in the field...
What was the true cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs? Source: Herschel Hoffmeyer / Adobe Stock

Pulverized Rock Dust Killed the Dinosaurs, New Study Says

As enduring as the mighty dinosaurs were, they couldn’t survive the catastrophic climate disaster set off by the crash of a large asteroid into the ocean off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in...
The circular monument discovered in Waskiri, Bolivia. Credit: Antiquity.

Ritual Site Connected to Ancient Andean Cults Discovered in Bolivia

Archaeologists in Bolivia have discovered 135 ancient hilltop sites including an enormous circular structure where they say members of ancient Andean cults would have once worshipped the sun. The...
Inside Egypt's oldest known example of a tomb aligned with the winter solstice. Source: University of Malaga

Oldest Egyptian Tomb is Aligned with the Winter Solstice

Precisely oriented to the rising sun of the winter solstice, researchers have found a tomb in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa ( Aswan ) that registered the entire solar cycle related to rebirth...
Amber’s beauty and utility has been recognized since Neolithic times, being used in jewelry as well as medicine. Source: HJSchneider / Adobe Stock

Amber Through the Ages: Origin Myths, Medical Uses, and Beautiful Baubles

Amber, or succinite as a mineralogist might call it, hails from simple beginnings. It is simply fossilized tree sap. For something so humble, it has managed to captivate the human imagination for...
The Wolves Pursuing Norse sun and moon gods Sol and Mani            Source: John Charles Dollman, 1909, Public Domain, colorized

Celestial Siblings: Norse Sun and Moon Gods Chased Across the Sky

Chased across the sky by a pair of wolves, the Norse sun and moon gods were tasked with a heavy burden. The Sol and Mani were responsible for pulling a chariot across the sky every day and night...
Detail from Helios on His Chariot, a 17th century depiction of Helios the sun god of Greek mythology, by Hans Adam Weissenkircher. Source: Public domain

Deciphering the Role of Helios, the Sun God of Greek Mythology

An unpunished second-generation Titan of Greek mythology, Helios was a deity who was important, but not always recognized for his powers. Until his role was usurped by a newer god, Helios was the...
The Fajada Butte Sun Dagger in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico is a spiral petroglyph that is lit up with brilliant streaks of focused Sunlight at key moments in the year.	Source: YouTube screenshot / Mystery History

Connecting Heaven and Earth: The Sun Dagger of Fajada Butte, New Mexico

Near the entrance to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA is an imposing butte that had sacred significance to the ancestral Pueblo culture, who inhabited Chaco Canyon up until about 1150 AD. On Fajada...
The Moon god of the Chimu and Moche cultures rising behind the Andes Mountains and used as a calendar.		Source: Aliaksei / Adobe Stock

The Case for the Moon: Si, Supreme Ruler of the Gods, Sky and Earth

Si is an androgenous moon god chosen as the leader of the major South American Chimú and Moche culture pantheon, bucking the trend in world mythology where the moon god is both feminine and inferior...
The gilded side of the Trundholm Sun Chariot. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

The Astronomy of the Trundholm Sun Chariot

The famous Trundholm Sun Chariot is a bronze and gold artifact pulled out of a bog in Denmark in 1902. Said to belong to the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1700 to 500 BC), the so-called chariot consists of a...
Aerial photo of the Daisenryo Kofun , the largest of the Mozu tombs, a group of megalithic tombs located in Sakai, Japan. Source: TM / Adobe Stock

Satellite Images Reveal Japanese Kofun Tombs all Aligned to Rising Sun

A team of scientists has mapped the alignments and orientations of hundreds of ancient Japanese Kofun keyhole-shaped burials, only to discover that not some of them, but all of them, face towards the...
536 was a year of climate cataclysm. Winter landscape by Caspar David Friedrich. Source: Public domain

Year of Darkness: The Climate Cataclysm of 536 You’ve Never Heard Of

During 536 the world was beset by a long winter. Dubbed “the year of darkness” in the New Scientist , temperatures plummeted and the sun was dimmed by a vast fog which blocked its rays from hitting...
The thirteen towers of Chankillo, Peru

Chankillo: The Oldest Solar Observatory in the Americas

Located in the Peruvian coastal desert at the Casma-Sechin Oasis stands the incredible monumental complex of Chankillo. The archaeological site consists of a fort located on a hilltop and thirteen...
Planets Align To Form ‘Star of Bethlehem’ This Winter Solstice

Planets Align To Form ‘Star of Bethlehem’ This Winter Solstice

This year, as dusk gives way to darkness on the night of the Winter Solstice (December 21 st 2020), residents of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other nations across the Northern...
Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

The technical sophistication of the Middle Ages tends to be underestimated. Near the end of the High Middle Ages, mechanical technology such as clocks and water mills, for example, were becoming...
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...
Stonehenge will be empty for the summer solstice in 2020. Source: Stephen /Adobe Stock

The Summer Solstice at Stonehenge - A History-Making Livestream

In the northern hemisphere, when the summer solstice occurs around June 21, the North Pole is tilted about 23°27´ toward the Sun, which itself is traveling its longest path through the sky, and that...
The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds Ever?

The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds Ever?

In 2020, as we begin a new decade, Dr Sam Osmanagich and The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation is celebrating its 15 th year since multidisciplinary investigations of the Bosnian Pyramids began...
Left:  A team of scientists have found an alignment that occurs between the rising Sun and a major street in Turin that was constructed around 28 BC. (Guido Cossard) Right: Statue of Emperor Octavian in Rome. (fabiomax / Adobe stock)

Does This Ancient Solar Phenomenon Really Honor Emperor Octavian?

A team of scientists in Turin, Italy , have claimed the alignment of one of the city streets marks the day Roman Emperor Octavian (“Augustus”) was titled “father of the country” - but not everyone...
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...
Representative image of the comet Atlas in the night sky.      Source: Tryfonov / Adobe stock

Ancient Comet ‘Atlas’ Measures Half the Size of the Sun and it’s Back!

A huge icy space rock, comet ‘Atlas’, is currently in the constellation Ursa Major in the northern sky passing through the orbit of Mars , but it’s on a trajectory with our Sun and it will get...
On March 29th ancient people sharpened their swords and went to battle under the power of their resurrected sun gods. Source: Oleksandr /Adobe Stock

March 29: When Viking and Christian Sun Gods Drew Swords

Easter corresponds with the first Sunday following the full moon after the March equinox and as such the holy day occurs on different dates around the Christian world. However, the story of the...
The pocket-sized Ice Age artwork with an eye-like sunburst resembles a simple drawing of a sun. Source: Andrew Thomson, Author provided

Tiny Ice Age Art from Indonesia Confirms Humanity’s Creative Drive

By Michelle Langley , Adam Brumm , Adhi Oktaviana & Basran Burhan / The Conversation Archaeologists have unearthed two miniature stone engravings in Indonesia. These depict an anoa (dwarf buffalo...

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