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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Ancient Places

Ancient places can be found all over the world. Their fascinating histories and impressive artifacts open intriguing glimpses to times past, and visiting such ancient places in the world can be an unforgettable experience.

Science is constantly discovering new archaeological places and uncovering more evidence into what we once thought we knew about our history, therefore offering new pieces to the ever changing puzzle of humanity’s past and altering how we interpret it. This section will present the most interesting archaeological sites all over the world, as well as new discoveries of ancient places that are worth paying a visit.

A conus shell necklace with abalone pendants and the pot in which it was found.

Witchcraft, Hunger, War, and Disease: Charting the Downfall of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo

About 590 years ago, the inhabitants of a large village in New Mexico abandoned it, just 125 years after its founding. Researchers think severe drought, food shortages, illness, and possible warfare...
Hellenistic culture in the Indian subcontinent: Greek clothes, amphoras, win,e and music. Detail from Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa, Hadda, Gandhara, 1st century AD.

What Does Alexander the Great Have to Do with Buddhist Imagery?

When Alexander the Great arrived in Pakistan and India two very different civilizations confronted and were influenced by each other. The first anthropomorphic representations of Buddha were...
Ruins of Netzahualcoyotl’s palace in the archaeological area of Baños in Texcoco

The Golden Age of Texcoco, Powerful City of King Nezahualcoyotl

Texcoco was a beautiful city full of natural altars, places of culture and impressive buildings. It was located on the eastern bank of Lake Texcoco, on the northeast of the Aztec capital –...
A fulacht fiadh.

Fulachtai Fia: Legends of the Mysterious Bronze Age Pits of Ireland

A fulacht fiadh (spelled also as fulacht fian ) (the plural form being fulachtai fia ) is a type of archaeological feature found in Ireland. Such features have also been found in other parts of the...
The famous Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire, England, as imagined in a 1:50 scale model made by landscape architect Sarah Ewbanks.

Architect presents radical new theory that Stonehenge was a two-storey, wooden feasting and performance hall

Could the prehistoric Stonehenge megaliths once have been the support for a wooden, two-storey roundhouse, a venue for feasting, speakers and musicians? That’s the theory of an English landscape...
The Tower of Hercules

Inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria – The Roman Tower of Hercules

The only still functioning Roman lighthouse stands in the north-west part of the Iberian Peninsula, in Galicia. It is called the Torre de Hércules - Tower of Hercules. When Julius Caesar arrived to...
On Left – Theban tomb - burial site of Pinedjem II and a Royal Cache, tomb shaft. On Right – Pinedjem II as Theban High Priest of Amun. From his Book of the Dead. Source: Left, CC BY-SA 3.0; Right, CC BY-SA 2.5.

DB320 - Uncovering the Impressive Cache of Hidden Pharaohs

The tomb discovered in the summer of 1881 changed Egyptology forever. It was an assemblage containing the mummified remains and funerary equipment of more than 50 kings, queens, and many other royals...
Statue from Gobeklitepe at Urfa Museum, Orion Nebula and Gobekli Tepe

Göbekli Tepe Shamans and their Cosmic Symbols – Part I

Göbekli Tepe is an ancient and significant site which has been pushing back the beginnings of civilization further than we previously assumed. As each temple, pillar, and engraving at the Neolithic...
Re-creation of the port at Eridu, an ancient “Court of the King of the World”.

The Royal Road of the King of the World, and the Ancient Center of the Earth

The Royal Road of the King of the World is a 20-degree band around the Earth that has 30 degrees north latitude as its center. This band is not, technically, the geographical center of the Earth,...
Anonymous Venetian Orientalist painting, The Reception of the Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511, the Louvre.

Damascus: The Ancient City that was Fought Over by Numerous Civilizations is Facing its Biggest Crisis Today

The city of Damascus, which lies in the southwestern part of Syria, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. This city is located in a desert oasis on the eastern foothills of...
Mitanni invaders

A Forgotten Empire: The Ancient Kingdom of Mitanni

Mitanni was a state that existed between the 16th and 13th centuries BC. This state occupied the land of the Hurrians. This area is located in the upper Tigris-Euphrates basin, and corresponds today...
Bas-relief ‘Carrying the Ark of Covenant’, The Aksum Obelisk, and a depiction of the Queen of Sheba from the medieval manuscript ’Bellifortis’ by Conrad Kyeser (c. 1405), Prague school.

How is the Fallen Kingdom of Aksum Connected to the Queen of Sheba and the Ark of Covenant?

The Kingdom of Aksum (also spelled as ‘Axum’) was an ancient civilization located in what is today northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. This kingdom existed roughly between the 1st and the 8th centuries AD...
The Leaning Tower of Pisa at night.

Fame from Fault: Reasons Why the Famous Tower of Pisa Leans

The Tower of Pisa, also known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is one of the most iconic buildings in Italy. As its names suggests, this tower is best known for its tilt, and is perhaps the most...
Archaeological site of Iwajuku

The Controversial Iwajuku Site and the Argument for the Japanese Paleolithic Period

It was once thought that the human habitation of the Japanese archipelago began during the Jōmon period (approximately between 13,000 and 500 BC) This view changed however, with the discovery of...
Matera, Basilicata, Italy. The Sasso Barisano looking east.

Echoes from the Past: The Cave Churches of Matera

Matera, is an Italian city located in a southern region known as the Basilicata; between the heel and the tip of the boot of Italy. UNESCO reports that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic...
An 1853 reversed image of Seth Eastman (known for documenting Native American life in the 1800s) on top of the boulder known as Dighton Rock.

Who Made the Petroglyphs on the Mysterious Dighton Rock?

Are the symbols on the Dighton Rock Native American? Norse? Phoenician? Chinese? Portuguese? Japanese? All or none of the above? There have been numerous theories about who carved the inscriptions...
The riverbed rock carvings also show Nandi, Shiva’s bull mount. The lingam in this photo is the protuberance, and the figure that encircles it is the yoni, or feminine symbol.

Incredible Shiva Lingas Carvings Emerge from the Shalmala River as Dry Weather Lowers the Water

Dry weather has caused a drop in the level of the Shalmala River in Karnataka State, India, revealing thousands of carvings in the rock bed of male and female sexual symbols – linga and yoni – and of...
Ten Precariously Situated Cliffside Constructions from the Ancient World

Ten Precariously Situated Cliffside Constructions from the Ancient World

Over the centuries, ancient people all over the world have built incredible structures on the sides of cliff faces. Some had a desire to be closer to the heavens and were searching for a sacred...
A section of the ruins of the Great Pyramid of Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Once Hidden in Plain Sight and Surprisingly Ignored: The Great Pyramid of Cholula

Mesoamerica is home to a number of pyramids. Some of these pyramids are quite well-known, whilst others are much more obscure. Despite being recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest...
Adena Giant Mound Builders

The Adena Giant Revealed: Profile of Prehistoric Mound Builders

In the 1800s, reports began to surface of the discovery of very large skeletal remains in the burial mounds of North America. These skeletons were described as reaching seven to eight feet (2.4...
The Pyama stupa, which may date to the Pyu period.

Over a Millennium of Influence: The Pyu Civilization and Ancient City-States

The Pyu civilization, known also as the Pyu city-states, is an ancient entity located in present day Myanmar (also known as Burma). One reason this civilization/group of city states is important is...
The beautiful monument, Taj Mahal.

Debate rages as legal case points to evidence that Taj Mahal was once a Hindu temple

The origins of the famous ancient landmark in India, the Taj Mahal, are under some dispute, casting controversy over the long-held history, and pitting religions against each other. A lawsuit claims...
: Inside the eerie chambers of the Nekromanteion (Evilemperorzorg/CC BY-SA)

How Ancient Greeks Took Trippy Journeys to the Land of the Dead

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times The Nekromanteion, or the “Oracle of Death,” was an ancient Greek temple in Epirus, Greece, in which supplicants sought to consult shades of the dead. Sensory...
Sunrise shows the loss of the larger Bamiyan Buddha statue in the Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan.

Could There be a Third Bamiyan Buddha, Hidden for Centuries?

One of the most tragic examples of religious iconoclasm in recent history is the destruction of the two giant standing statues of Buddha by the Taliban in March 2001. These were the famed Buddhas of...

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