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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.

Some of the ancient ghost footprints marked with pin flags discovered in Utah. Source: R. Nial Bradshaw / US Air Force
29 July, 2022 - 15:00 Sahir

Almost 100 Human “Ghost Footprints” Found in Utah Dating Back to the Ice Age

88 human “ghost tracks” dated to the erstwhile Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago, have been discovered in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. Mystical in nature, they appear when just the right amount of...
Marble body lines of young naked Roman women of Renaissance Era Source: Neurobite / Adobe Stock)
28 July, 2022 - 14:59 Robbie Mitchell

A Guide to Exploring Love, Sex, and Homosexuality in Ancient Rome

When people think about love and sex in ancient Rome, it tends to be pretty scandalous: orgies here, there, and everywhere! But the truth is rarely black and white. Were the Romans more sexually...
Main: Earliest surviving beadnet dress with the lozenge pattern (CC by SA 3.0). Inset: A bead-net dress. Photo source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
26 July, 2022 - 19:00 Mark Brophy

Dress like an Egyptian: Fashion, Style and Simplicity in Ancient Egyptian Clothing

The ancient Egyptians may have created some of the most mind-bogglingly complex and intricate monuments known to man, but when it came to clothing, they kept it remarkably simple. Ancient Egyptian...
Diogenes, depicted here by the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, was a philosopher of the cynic school of Greek philosophy and many thought he was crazy, but he was super popular with the people of Athens. Source: Jean-Léon Gérôme / Public domain
25 July, 2022 - 18:52 Mark Brophy

Diogenes: The Crazy Greek Philosopher Plato Called ‘Socrates Gone Mad’!

Diogenes (412 BC- 323 BC) was a Greek philosopher like no other. One of the founders of the cynic philosophy, Diogenes believed that people should live simple lives that reject all natural desires...
Members of the international team working at the likely site of the long-lost Khan palace in Van Province, Turkey. Source: The Daily Sabah / Anadolu Agency
24 July, 2022 - 18:56 Sahir

Long Lost Palace of Genghis Khan’s Grandson Found in Turkey

Turkish and Mongolian scientists may have found the remains of a long-lost Khan palace in eastern Turkey that they believe was built by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu Khan. Hulagu Khan was the ruler...
Replica of a sculpture made by the Olmecs, the ancient rubber people of Mesoamerica. Source: Stoica / Adobe Stock
23 July, 2022 - 18:56 Mark Brophy

The Ancient Rubber People of Mesoamerica

Ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central America were making rubber decades before Michelin ever entered into business. For the Aztecs, Maya, and Olmecs, rubber production was a central part of...
The waterway wonders of China’s Grand Canal are both picturesque and ancient in some sections but also super modern and unattractive in others. This part of the canal is in the ancient, preserved section of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. Source: gui yong nian / Adobe Stock
22 July, 2022 - 22:57 Lex Leigh

The 2500-year-old Genius of China’s Grand Canal System

Ancient China is known for its famous dynasties, rich culture, and some of the first “advanced” technological innovations in the world. One of the best-known works created in ancient China is China’s...
Alatri acropolis cyclopean wall by the Porta Maggiorre. Source: Laura Tabone
21 July, 2022 - 23:00 Laura Tabone

The Cyclopean Problem: Who Built Italy’s Astounding Ancient Walls?

Megalithic cyclopean masonry is found in many parts of Italy, including Lazio , Abruzzo, Campania, Umbria, Tuscany and Molise. This type of masonry involves fitting together huge differently shaped...
Rabana ‘sanctuary, fortifications at the Rabana-Merquly. Source: © Rabana-Merquly Archaeological Project / Antiquity Publications Ltd
20 July, 2022 - 14:58 Nathan Falde

Lost Royal City of Natounia May Have Been Found in Zagros Mountains

An ancient, fortified settlement known as Rabana-Merquly, which was located high in the north-central Zagros Mountains of modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan, was protected by impenetrable fortifications...
Latest Tavşanlı Höyük excavation site, with inset Mycenaean-like dagger-sword. Source: Kazılar ve Araştırmalar Dairesi Başkanlığı / Turkish Dept of Excavations and Research
19 July, 2022 - 22:59 Sahir

Mycenaean-like Dagger-Sword and Unique Seal Discovered at Anatolian Mound

Kutahya in Western Anatolia is home to one of the world’s oldest settlements, which began 8,100 years ago. At this very site, during the excavations of Tavşanlı Höyük or the Tavşanlı Mound, a 3,300-...
Central Mayapan showing the K’uk’ulkan and Round temples. Source: Bradley Russell / Nature
19 July, 2022 - 17:00 Nathan Falde

Drought-Induced Conflict Caused Collapse of 15th Century Maya Capital

An international assembly of scientists with impressive credentials in a diverse range of fields has completed an extensive study of climate change in the post-classical Maya Empire, which existed...
Mosaic being revealed at the recently discovered Roman city site of El Forau de la Tuta, in Zaragoza, Spain. Source: Gobierno de Aragón
18 July, 2022 - 18:55 ashley cowie

A ‘Monumental’ Unknown Roman City Discovered In Spain

For over a decade, four teams of Spanish archaeologists have been digging at different excavation sites. Now they’ve realised it was all one thing - an enormous lost Roman city. You might never have...
The Nymphaeum of Illyria at the ancient city of Apollonia, Albania fed by underground water sources, built in the middle of the 3rd century BC. It is the biggest and best-preserved Apollonia monument covering an area of 1,500 square meters or 16,146 square feet. Source: Carole Raddato / CC BY 2.0
18 July, 2022 - 15:00 Jake Leigh-Howarth

Illustrious Post-Macedon Illyria and the Roman Illyrian Wars

The legendary and illustrious tribal kingdoms of Illyria were located in current-day Albania and Montenegro, just across the Adriatic from Italy. The Illyrian world was also an important strategic...
The Lascaux Taurus, with the Pleiades on its back. Source: Author provided
16 July, 2022 - 01:50 ralph ellis

Dating Lascaux Art by Precession

I did not realize until recently, that there may be some astrological imagery within the magnificent Stone Age paintings in the Lascaux Cave complex, in the Dordogne region of France. But although I...
Circular gate in the Suzhou gardens. Source: rudiuk / Adobe Stock
15 July, 2022 - 22:54 Lex Leigh

The Classical Gardens of Suzhou: A Sight to Behold

Some of the most beautiful sights to see in China are the classical Suzhou gardens. Suzhou, located in Jiangsu province in eastern China, is known as the home of these gardens, which are often called...
The medieval peasant off to work in the fields. Source: Demian / Adobe Stock
15 July, 2022 - 14:59 Molly Dowdeswell

The Hard and Dirty Life of a Medieval Peasant

The daily life of a medieval peasant in England and elsewhere was extremely difficult, long, and busy. They faced endless days of manual labor working on farmland starting as early as three in the...
The Tower of Babel. Source: Александр Михальчук / CC BY-SA 4.0
15 July, 2022 - 01:56 pkoutoupis

Gateway to the Heavens: The Assyrian Account of the Tower of Babel

The story of the fabled Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis has come to inspire artists throughout history and to symbolize the idea of human ambition. Once a real-life ziggurat at the center of...
El Tepozteco temple in Mexico. Source: Tolo / Adobe Stock
14 July, 2022 - 22:59 Sahir

El Tepozteco – The Aztec Temple Dedicated to the Drunken Rabbit God

On a lonely peak of the Sierra de Tepoztelan in the state of Morelos in Mexico stands the Aztec temple of El Tepozteco. The temple is dedicated to an unusual deity, Ometochtli - Tepoztecatl, one of...
Colonial sources attest that Juan Cortés, slave of the soldier Juan Sedeño, was the first African registered in New Spain. He was part of the military consortium led by Hernán Cortés in 1519 (Bishop Diego Durán). Source: Arqueología Mexicana / Raices / Antiquity Publications Ltd
14 July, 2022 - 14:57 ashley cowie

Cross-Cultural Living and Dying in Colonial Campeche, But No Sex

2022 is shaping up to be a big year for colonial era discoveries in Central and South America. Only in May Ancient Origins covered the story of archaeologists studying “42 syphilis-ridden colonial...
A statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester. Descended from a long line of kings of the Kingdom of Wessex, Alfred the Great was the son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex. Source: Tony Baggett / Adobe Stock
13 July, 2022 - 18:44 Molly Dowdeswell

The Kingdom of Wessex and the Birth of England

The early history of England was characterized by instability, disorder and uncertainty. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex was the first formation of the modern idea of England, and in its early...
The site of the old town Kaupang, a Viking village for tourists, is an interpretive center where visitors can learn about the Viking Age, as well as about archaeological techniques and processes. Source: J. P. Fagerback, BSD
12 July, 2022 - 22:57 Mark Johnston

An Archaeological Needle in the Haystack: The Viking Village of Kaupang

Ancient Norse literature is filled with place names of towns, farms, and fjords. While many of these names have survived to the modern day, making their discovery relatively straightforward, others...
The new Nottingham Market Wall augmented reality Android app, recreated using old maps, creates this ancient breast-high wall that kept the city’s French Normans and non-French Anglo-Saxons separated for nearly 700 years! Source: NTU
12 July, 2022 - 18:58 Sahir

Nottingham Market Wall That Split the City Brought Back to Life With AR

A most peculiar medieval feature of Nottingham Old Market Square has been recreated using a new augmented reality (AR) app. Nottingham Market Wall divided the center of the city for almost 700 years...
Research at the site of Vista Alegre, has uncovered evidence that this was once a bustling port used by the coastal Maya. Source: lunamarina / Adobe Stock
12 July, 2022 - 15:00 Nathan Falde

Massive Research Initiative Reveals Truth about Ancient Coastal Maya

An international team of archaeologists, anthropologists, and marine scientists has just published a landmark article in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology that details their research into...
The mummified 2,000-year-old Egyptian woman at The National Museum in Warsaw, who has been examined as part of a medical project to better understand cancer origins. Source: Pawel Supernak / Science in Poland
10 July, 2022 - 18:47 ashley cowie

Ancient Egyptian Mummy Shows Evidence of Nose Cancer

Archaeologists in Poland have been studying the mummy of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian woman who died young and evidence suggests she died from nose cancer. Scientists suspect this mummy could provide...

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