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Alps

View of the town of Gurro, Italy. Source: Alessandro Vecchi/CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Is There a Scottish Village in Italy? (Video)

Nestled amidst the rugged terrain of the Italian Alps lies Gurro, a village with a surprising heritage. Legend has it that Gurro is populated by the descendants of Scottish soldiers who sought refuge...
Analysis of over 1,000 animal bones from Ranis showed that early Homo sapiens processed the carcasses of deer but also of carnivores, including wolf. Source: Geoff M. Smith / CC-BY-ND 4.0 / Nature

New Evidence of Early Humans Crossing the Alps 45,000 Years Ago

Between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, the lands of present-day Europe and Asia experienced a population exchange between Homo sapiens (modern humans) and Neanderthals , with the former steadily...
The journey of Hannibal, a strategic genius whose audacity and brilliance reshaped the course of ancient history during the Second Punic War.

The Story of Hannibal: The Nightmare of the Roman Empire (Video)

In the tapestry of ancient conflicts, the clash between Rome and Carthage etches a defining chapter. Carthage, a maritime power commanding critical Mediterranean trade routes, resisted Rome's...
New study challenges what was initially believed about 5,300-year-old Ötzi the Iceman genes. (Inset: The Ötzi mummy)  Source: OetziTheIceman/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (Inset; Cell Press)

Ötzi the Iceman Genes Trace to Early Anatolian Farmers, and He Had a Receding Hairline

The world’s oldest Alpine celebrity, fodder for many different kinds of studies and analyses over the years since his discovery on the mountainous border between Austria and Italy in 1991, ‘ Ötzi the...
Interior of salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria. Source: Posztós János / Adobe Stock.

7,000-Year-Old Austrian Salt Mine Holds Bronze Age Secrets (Video)

Hallstatt, an ancient salt mine nestled in the picturesque Austrian Alps, holds an extraordinary tale of human history dating back an astonishing 7,000 years . While all mines necessitate regular...
Roman legions at the last battle in the Second Punic War. 	Source: vukkostic/Adobe Stock

The Second Punic War – Hannibal’s Infamous Offensive

In the annals of ancient history, there emerges a clash of titans that shook the foundations of the Mediterranean world—the Second Punic War. It was an epochal struggle that pitted Rome, the rising...
Hannibal of Carthage is most famous for having crossed the Alps along with his African war elephants. Source: vitanovski / Adobe Stock

Hannibal of Carthage: Military Commander and Greatest Enemy of Rome

Throughout time there have been great military leaders, whose skills and strategic prowess have shaped and defined the path of human civilization. One such military leader was Hannibal of Carthage. A...
Examples of the bronze votive offering body parts given to the Veneti Pora Reitia nature goddess at her sanctuary in Este, Italy.		Source: McDonald / House of Secrets

The Ancient Italian Adriatic Veneti and Their Pora Reitia Nature Cult

Between the eighth and seventh centuries BC, the first manifestations of the Italic people known as Veneti appear in the territory of today's Veneto, the main region of the northeast of Italy...
Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general who lived between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. He is perhaps best remembered for his military campaign against the Romans in the Second Punic War. Thanks to...
Window looking into the Iceman's refrigerated cell. A new study explores the environment in which the Tyrolean Iceman (Otzi) died. Source: South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Ochsenreiter

New Study Raises Questions about the Tyrolean Iceman’s Murder Scene

A new study of ice cores at a previously unexplored ice dome in the Ötztal Alps on the border of Austria and Italy has examined the environment in which the Tyrolean Iceman, popularly known as Otzi,...
What will this frozen goat teach us about famous human ice mummies?

What a Frozen Alpine Goat Can Teach Us About Famous Ice Mummies

DNA is especially important now in understanding our ancestors and the past. However, there is a problem in that it can often be difficult to analyze and preserve. The discovery of a mummified...
Archaeologists investigating the German burial site.  Source: Antiquity Publications Ltd

6000-Year-Old German Burial Chamber Destroys Egalitarian Ideologies

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a 6,000-year-old hilltop burial mound that indicates Neolithic societies were much more hierarchically organized than previously thought. The story of the...
Left: representation of an alpine glacier. (ryszard filipowicz / Adobe stock). Right: 19th-century depiction of St Thomas Becket, showing a sword piercing his head. St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, UK. (Cnbrb / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alpine Glacier Reveals Unlikely Insights Into Murder of Thomas Becket

Laser scans of an alpine glacier reveal a climate catastrophe in the shadow of England’s Archbishop Thomas Becket’s murder. A team of researchers using lasers to read the levels of lead pollution in...
The Battle of Zama. Source: Art Institute of Chicago / Public domain

When Hannibal Met His Nemesis: The Battle of Zama

The Battle of Zama was a decisive battle of the Second Punic War (also known as the Hannibalic War, or the War Against Hannibal), which was fought between Rome and Carthage. The battle was won by the...
Colorful sunset at Lake Dwellings of the Stone and Bronze Age at Pfahlbaumuseum in Unteruhldingen on Lake Constance, Baden-Wurttemberg.

Pfahlbaumuseum, Germany: 5000 Years of Incredible History Preserved on Alpine Lakes

Prehistoric ‘pile dwellings’ were discovered only 150 years ago, and Europe’s past, before the advent of the written word, is well-preserved in numerous lakes and wetlands throughout the foothills of...
Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants by Nicolas Poussin

Military Historian Discovers Hannibal’s Long-Lost Battlefield

The history of Hannibal Barca , one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world, is one which has fascinated historians and generals throughout the last two millennia, and yet his final...
The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War that took place on 2 August 216 BC in Apulia, in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage, under Hannibal, surrounded and decisively defeated a larger army of the Roman Republic

Analysis of Roman Coins Proves Roman Empire Got Rich on Iberian Silver

An analysis of Roman coins has revealed information about the defeat of the Carthaginian General Hannibal and the rise of the Roman Empire . The scientists who examined them suggest that the defeat...
5,800-Year-Old Snowshoe Kept in Office as a Keepsake by its Finder is Oldest in the World

5,800-Year-Old Snowshoe Kept in Office as a Keepsake by its Finder is Oldest in the World

A crude snowshoe dating back about 5,800 years has been turned over to authorities after an Italian cartographer found it near where the ice mummy of Otzi the Iceman, a Neolithic hunter slain some...
Secrets of Stone Age Jade Axes Revealed in Scotland

Secrets of Stone Age Jade Axes Revealed in Scotland

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland showcases a rarely seen collection of Stone Age jade axeheads. Most of them were brought to Scotland around 4,000 years BC. In those times they...
Swiss cheese

Iron Age Man Was as Fond of Swiss Cheese as We Are

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that Swiss cheesemaking dates back to prehistoric times, paving the way for such delicacies as Gruyere and Emmental. An international team led by the University...
Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants.

How Ancient Horse-Dung Bacteria is Helping Locate Where Hannibal Crossed the Alps

Chris Allen / The Conversation Despite thousands of years of hard work by brilliant scholars, the great enigma of where Hannibal crossed the Alps to invade Italy remained unsolved. But now it looks...
The Iceman's hand.

Further Tales of the Family of the Iceman Come to Light

Just last week it became known that the Iceman (also known as Ötzi) was infected with the bacterium H. pylori when he was killed. Now, researchers looking at his mtDNA have pinpointed the origins of...
Mountain range vista of the Central Eastern Alps.

Bronze Age Mining in Europe Dates Back Earlier than Previously Thought

Mining in the Alps dates back much further than previously thought -- in the Austrian region of Montafon since the Bronze Age. Thanks to C14 dating, a group of researchers from Goethe University in...
New tattoos on 5,300-year-old Otzi the Iceman mummy

Scientists discover new tattoos on 5,300-year-old Otzi the Iceman mummy

Scientists have discovered four more tattooed lines on ‘Ötzi the Iceman’, a 5,300-year-old mummy, bringing the total number of tattoos to 61. Researchers are still divided over whether the tattoos...

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