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Ancient-Origins Ancient-Origins

This is the Ancient Origins team, and here is our mission: “To inspire open-minded learning about our past for the betterment of our future through the sharing of research, education, and knowledge”.

At Ancient Origins we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained .

Our goal is to highlight the very latest archaeological findings, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, we explore lost civilizations, examine sacred writings, tour ancient places, and question mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.

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Days were shorter during the time of the dinosaurs.  Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock

Days Were Half An Hour Shorter 70 million Years Ago

Earth turned faster at the end of the time of the dinosaurs than it does today, rotating 372 times a year, compared to the current 365, according to a new study of fossil mollusk shells from the late...
Development of ancient farming: representation of early human protecting his farm. Source: benevolente / Adobe stock

As Farming Developed, So Did Cooperation – And Violence

The growth of ancient farming / agriculture led to unprecedented cooperation in human societies, a team of researchers, has found, but it also led to a spike in violence, an insight that offers...
Geologists think Earth was once a water world.         Source: Credit: peangdao / Adobe Stock

Geologists Determine Early Earth Was a 'Water World'

The Earth of 3.2 billion years ago was a "water world" of submerged continents, geologists say after analyzing oxygen isotope data from ancient ocean crust that's now exposed on land in Australia...
77,000-year-old engravings from Blombos Cave used in cognitive experiments. Source: Original Rock Art / CC BY-SA 4.0

Cognitive Experiments Give a Glimpse into the Ancient Mind

By Aarhus University Symbolic behavior - such as language , account keeping, music , art, and narrative - constitutes a milestone in human cognitive evolution. But how, where and when did these...
Human interaction accelerates innovation.   Source: (Image: beamue/ UZH)

Cooperation Between Hunter-gatherers Accelerated Human Evolution

Humans began developing a complex culture as early as the Stone Age . This development was brought about by social interactions between various groups of hunters and gatherers, a UZH study has now...
Nura Rupert, Australia, c.1933. Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia, Mamu (Spooky spirits) 2006, Ernabella, South Australia, synthetic polymer paint on linen 92x122cm. Ed and Sue Tweddell Fund for South Australian Contemporary Art 2006. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.            Source: © Nura Rupert, courtesy of Ernabella Arts.

Aboriginal Monsters and their Hidden Meanings

Christine Judith Nicholls / The Conversation A rich inventory of monstrous figures exists throughout Aboriginal Australia. The specific form that their wickedness takes depends to a considerable...
View at Machu Picchu, probably the most famous Inca settlement recorded by the big data archaeology model.          Source: fife76 / Public Domain

Big Data Used to Create Comprehensive Map of Inca Settlements

Parker VanValkenburgh, an assistant professor of anthropology, curated a journal issue that explores the opportunities and challenges big data could bring to the field of archaeology. PROVIDENCE, R.I...
The Ancient Greeks Had Alternative Facts Too

The Ancient Greeks Had Alternative Facts Too

By Joel Christensen / The Conversation In an age of deepfakes and alternative facts , it can be tricky getting at the truth . But persuading others – or even yourself – what is true is not a...
Magic was an everyday part of life in the Graeco-Roman empire. Source: John William Waterhouse / Public Domain.

Ancient Spells and Charms for the Hapless in Love

By Adam Parker / The Conversation Valentine’s Day is not all love, hearts, and roses for everyone. For the hapless in love, the day can be a yearly reminder of failed romances, unrequited love and...
The fossil of a thalattosaur with a needle-sharp snout.       Source: University of Alaska Museum of the North

Ancient Pincer Nosed Killer Discovered in Southeast Alaska

Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago. The new species, Gunakadeit joseeae , is...
Two manuscripts of the visionary, writer and composer St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) survived the Dresden bombings after a librarian stashed them in a bank vault. Source: Deutsche Fotothek‎ / CC BY-SA 4.0.

How Two Women Pulled Off a Medieval Manuscript Heist in Post-War Germany

By Jennifer Bain / The Conversation Seventy-five years ago, in February 1945, during the Second World War, Allied forces bombed the magnificent baroque city of Dresden, Germany, destroying most of it...
Representation of a quarantine zone.           Source: James Thew / Adobe stock

Where Did the Ancient Measure of Quarantine Start?

The recent global spread of a deadly coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China, has led world leaders to invoke an ancient tradition to control the spread of illness: quarantine. The practice is first...
Siberian river; inset, some of the pottery shards selected for the research.      Source: anton_shoshin / Adobe Stock; inset, Shoda et al./Science Direct

Culinary Innovations Helped Hunter-Gatherers Survive the Ice Age

By The Siberian Times reporter Ancient pottery started to appear in the Amur region in the Russian Far East between roughly 16,000 and 12,000 years ago, as the Ice Age slightly eased. But what was...
Computer science graduate student and project manager Cameron Merrill explores a virtual archaeology cave excavation experience he helped create. Source: Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois

Virtual Reality Game Redefines Archaeology Education

Before they can get started at their field site -- a giant cave studded with stalactites, stalagmites and human artifacts -- 15 undergraduate students must figure out how to use their virtual hands...
Neanderthal ancestry found in Africans.        Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

Neanderthal Ancestry Detected in Africans For the First Time

When the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, using DNA collected from ancient bones, it was accompanied by the discovery that modern humans in Asia, Europe and America inherited approximately 2%...
Excavation of archaeological deposits in Chagyrskaya Cave indicate long distance  nomadic Neanderthals traveled from Europe.

Stone Tools Reveal Epic Trek of Nomadic Neanderthals

Kseniya Kolobova et al / The Conversation Neanderthal ( Homo neanderthalensis ) fossils were first discovered in western Europe in the mid nineteenth century. That was just the first in a long line...

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