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Ancient Traditions

Ancient Origins brings you articles related to Ancient Traditions from all over the world. Find related articles in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends.

Psilocybin magic mushrooms are being voted on in the Pennsylvania state legislature as a way to treat stress, trauma and more. Source: Iarygin Andrii / Adobe Stock
15 March, 2022 - 00:59 ashley cowie

US Vets and Others May Get Legal Access To Old World Magic Mushrooms

It has often been said that nature’s ancient medicine cabinet holds everything required for humans to reach and maintain a state of homeostasis. Following this timeworn rule US veterans are now using...
Common treatments for cancer included bloodletting. Source: Public domain
12 March, 2022 - 17:57 Lex Leigh

The Many Ways Cancer Was Treated in the Ancient World

How did people of ancient times treat the difficult and complex condition known today as cancer? In recent years, a rising number of scholars have taken a look at the prevalence of cancer diagnoses...
The caltrops the Ukrainian Art of Steel workshop has been manufacturing with traditional blacksmithing for the current war with Russia. Source: Art of Steel
10 March, 2022 - 17:39 Sahir

Medieval Caltrop Defense Weapon Coming to the Aid of Ukrainian Resistance

When nations go to war, the most tragic aspect is the disruption and annihilation of civilian lives. International media has been reporting the robust resistance put up by Ukrainian citizens in many...
Easter Island. Source: Aliaksei / Adobe Stock
6 March, 2022 - 14:00 Cecilia Bogaard

Easter Island and the Mysteries of the Moai

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui , is a remote Chilean island a few thousand kilometers west of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Described as an archaeological Disneyland, the island has...
Eating insects goes back to the beginning of human time and continues today in more ways than you might think of. Source: freshidea / Adobe Stock
5 March, 2022 - 18:00 Jake Leigh-Howarth

Eating Insects: The History of the Human Hunger for Bugs

Have you ever thought about eating insects? Do cricket cookies, chocolate covered silkworms, or smoke cured mopper moth caterpillars make you froth at the mouth? This certainly was the case for our...
4 March, 2022 - 21:50 Meagan Dickerson

King Aelle and the Blood Eagle: Ritual Sacrifice in Viking Age Britain

Thanks to recent attention in popular culture, the story of King Aelle’s violent death at the hands of Ivar the Boneless in a type of ritual killing known as the “blood eagle” is well-known. The...
Maxilla and tooth specimen excavated at the Stone Age burial site in Portugal’s Cabeço da Amoreira. Source: Petroteo-Stjerna et. al. / CC BY 4.0
28 February, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

African Remains Discovered in Prehistoric Shell Heap in Portugal

In an intriguing discovery, the remains of an African man who died just 350 years ago have been found buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. The middens in Amoreira and other...
Ancient columns at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt. Source: EwaStudio / Adobe Stock
28 February, 2022 - 14:00 Phoenix Vald

5 Unique Facts Straight Out of Ancient Egypt

A lot of things viewed as unusual by the people from the present day used to take place in ancient Egypt. While some of these aspects are fascinating, others can be simply regarded as odd. Going...
Collage of various measures of unit of length. Source: Andrey Armyagov / Adobe Stock
27 February, 2022 - 14:00 ancient-origins

A Rediscovered Unit of Length and Implications for the Neolithic

Following work which began in the 1970s and spanned nearly 40 years, Peter Harris and Norman Stockdale identified a “new” unit of length in 2015. They called it the Harris and Stockdale Megalithic...
Sarmatia bronze dolphin coins, 5th-4th century BC, from the ancient city of Olbia, which was first Greek, and then Scythian and then Roman. Source: catawiki
25 February, 2022 - 21:51 dhwty

Olbia: Greek, Scythian, Roman Trade Center That Had Dolphin Money

Olbia (also spelled Olvia) began as an ancient Greek colony on the northern coast of the Black Sea, in the southern part of modern-day Ukraine. Olbia was famous as an emporium, and the importance of...
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
25 February, 2022 - 01:00 Jari Padoan

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...
Book pages curled into a heart for Valentine’s Day. Source: pirotehnik / Adobe Stock
14 February, 2022 - 22:00 mrreese

Day of Love? The Complex Origins of Valentine’s Day

On February 14, couples from around the world recognize Valentine’s Day. For most, Valentine’s Day is a day of love, a day to shower your beloved with gifts and tokens of appreciation, to enjoy a...
Viking style conquest had a profound impact on Russia's history. Source: Iobard / Adobe Stock
13 February, 2022 - 17:30 Nathan Falde

New Study Finds Roots of Modern Russia in its Viking Style Past

A new study published in the journal Russian History has revealed some surprising details about economic, political, and cultural developments in medieval and modern Russia. It seems that the Russian...
Demonic Evil Meets Human Evil: When Evil Was Released into the World “There is no good, and there is no evil. There is only the flesh and the patterns to which we submit it.” At least that was one of the things which the character Pinhead was supposed to say according to a proposed script for one of the Hellraiser movies based on the writings of Clive Barker. Even though the line was not used in the film, to a certain extent, there is some truth to that. The dual perspective based on the good-evil distinc
12 February, 2022 - 22:00 Phoenix Vald

Demonic Evil Meets Human Evil: When Evil Was Released into the World

“There is no good, and there is no evil. There is only the flesh and the patterns to which we submit it.” At least that was one of the things which the character Pinhead was supposed to say according...
The legendary Silver Shields of Alexander the Great went on to serve Eumenes as the house of Argead battled the Macedonian forces of Antigonus but in the end family trumped loyalty. Source: Honga
10 February, 2022 - 22:00 Thanos Matanis

Silver Shields: Alexander's Crack Troops Who Betrayed Their New Master

Could a ragtag team of elite troops in their later years, and a bureaucrat-turn-general take on the military powerhouse of the day? Eumenes, the Greek general, was tasked by Olympias (Alexander’s...
A stunningly made and preserved silk textile, one of many, found at the Astana Cemetery in far northwestern China. Source: Public domain
8 February, 2022 - 01:00 dhwty

The Astana Cemetery and Perfectly Preserved Textiles of Gaochang

The Astana Cemetery is an ancient cemetery located near Turpan, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, northwestern China. The cemetery was used during the 1st millennium AD by the inhabitants of...
Uncovered bulls head from the northeast platform in building 77 at Çatalhöyük. Source: Çatalhöyük Research Project / CC BY-NC 4.0
6 February, 2022 - 22:00 ancient-origins

How Domesticated Cattle Changed Life in Çatalhöyük

Those who have studied Çatalhöyük are aware that cattle appear to have been a hugely important animal in the Neolithic Central Anatolian town of Çatalhöyük East on the Konya Plain in modern-day...
The persecution of witches is a common theme within the history of witchcraft. Source: Matrioshka / Adobe Stock
5 February, 2022 - 22:00 Phoenix Vald

The Long History of Witchcraft Persecution

Since the beginnings of history, humans believed in religions of a polytheist type, worshipping a plurality of gods and spirits. By proposing a monotheist religious system, Christianity intended to...
An aerial view of the newly discovered BC Buddhist temple found in the Barikok ruins of Pakistan. Source: Ca' Foscari University
2 February, 2022 - 22:00 Sahir

One of the Oldest Known Buddhist Temples Found in Barikot, Pakistan

Archaeologists from an Italian archaeological mission, working in collaboration with the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO), have found the remains of a Buddhist...
According to folklore and myths, certain Finnish trees hold spirits and deities and hugging them brings people in closer contact with these. Source: leonovo / Adobe Stock
31 January, 2022 - 18:00 Niina Niskanen

Greeting Old Friends: Sacred Trees in Finnish Folklore

Finland is known as a country with many forests. In fact, over 75% of Finland is covered in forests. Therefore, it is not surprising that Finnish folklore includes several myths and stories told...
Covesea Caves with screenshot of one of the bones discovered inside. Source: Society for Antiquaries of Scotland
31 January, 2022 - 14:00 Sahir

Mystical Mummification: Latest Secret of Scotland’s Covesea Caves

The Covesea Caves range just short of Inverness on Scotland’s northeastern coast have been known to archaeologists since 1929, but each round of exploration and analysis throws up fresh surprises...
One of the skulls from the Nahal Hemar Cave. KEYWORD Source: Clara Amit / IAA
22 January, 2022 - 13:43 Nathan Falde

Fascinating Asphalt-Coated Skulls Excavated in Israel Date to 7,000 BC

Nahal Hemar cave in Israel’s southern Judean Desert has proven to be one of the most artifact-rich excavation sites in the region. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has provided details of a new...
Wendigos fall into the larger definition of cannibalism as they consume parts of living people. Source: Daniel / Adobe Stock
22 January, 2022 - 01:00 Phoenix Vald

Atypical Nourishment – Hematophagy, Cannibalism and Necrophagy

The character Renfield from Bram Stoker's “Dracula" admitted the importance of blood, saying that “The blood is the life." This idea is not new, for example, Maya kings attempted to obtain the good...
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
21 January, 2022 - 22:00 ashley cowie

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...

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