archaeology

10 May, 2019 - 01:58 dhwty

The Magnificent Treasures of Sutton Hoo, The Final Resting Place of Anglo-Saxon Royals

Sutton Hoo is an archaeological site located near the town of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. This site is best known for the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds that were discovered during the...

4 April, 2019 - 17:09 ancient-origins

Meet the 800-Year-Old Golden Rhinoceros that Challenged Apartheid South Africa

It may be small enough to sit in the palm of your hand, but even now – nearly 800 years after it was lost to sight in what is now South Africa – the Golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe has powerful...

Ancient Saladoid child foraging for shellfish.

28 March, 2019 - 21:58 ancient-origins

Shell Heap Shows Ancient Caribbean Children Helped With the Groceries [New Report]

Researchers have long thought that snail and clam shells found at Caribbean archaeological sites were evidence of ‘ starvation food ’ eaten in times when other resources were lacking. Now, a...

Mudlarking on the exposed foreshore at low spring tide.

6 March, 2019 - 14:00 dhwty

Mudlarking the Thames: How a Riverbed Became the World’s Biggest Archaeological Site

A mudlark is the name given to a person who scavenges in the foreshore of a river for objects that could be sold. This term applies specifically to those operating along the Thames River in London...

Forensic facial reconstruction of Homo erectus

25 February, 2019 - 13:57 Sarah P Young

Forensic Facial Reconstruction: The Journey to Connect with our Ancestors

Facial reconstructions allow us to look eye to eye with our ancient ancestors and relate to them in a way that skeletal remains do not inspire. It can be dehumanizing to look at a bare skull , and...

Drivers from the ‘Underwater Archaeological Expedition to Guatemala’ project.

11 February, 2019 - 22:58 Ed Whelan

Divers Find Hundreds of Ritual Offerings in Lake Sacred to the Maya

The civilization of the Maya is one of the most fascinating of the many that flourished in ancient Mesoamerica and it has just been announced that a joint Polish and Guatemalan team have retrieved a...

4 February, 2019 - 18:54 Ed Whelan

Oldest Evidence of Beer in Britain Found By Accident During Road Project

A road construction project in Britain has uncovered the first evidence of the brewing of beer . Workers uncovered some evidence of charred residue and other matter that would indicate brewing,...

Lost Ancient Tswana City called Kweneng near Johannesburg.

31 January, 2019 - 18:54 ancient-origins

Lost African City Found and Recreated With Laser Technology

By Karim Sadr / The Conversation There are lost cities all over the world. Some, like the remains of Mayan cities hidden beneath a thick canopy of rainforest in Mesoamerica, are found with the help...

Left; Whitehawk woman Right; Neanderthal Woman Reconstruction Exhibition, Brighton.

30 January, 2019 - 23:01 Ed Whelan

Facial Reconstruction Brings People Face-to-Face With Their Ancient Ancestors

Detailed data and minute details have both fed into an exhibition taking place In the English city of Brighton, that offers people a chance to see not only physical cultural items, but their ancient...

29 January, 2019 - 01:44 ancient-origins

Our Capable Cousins Were Tech Savvy – Practical Tests Prove Neanderthal Spears Could Kill at a Distance

By Dr. Annemieke Milks and Dr. Matt Pope / Science Daily Neanderthals have been imagined as the inferior cousins of modern humans, but a new study by archaeologists at UCL reveals for the first time...

Study finds an archaic hominin had modern dental growth.(Inset: Two digitally reconstructed teeth)

17 January, 2019 - 22:51 ancient-origins

104,000-Year-Old Tooth of Mysterious Hominin Child Raises Questions About Human Evolution

By Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg / Science Advances A relative of modern humans that lived at least 104,000 years ago in northern China showed evidence of dental growth and development very similar to...

Modern Icelandic horses are probably descendants from the horses that were buried by Viking.

9 January, 2019 - 17:48 ashley cowie

Archaeologists Prove That Vikings Rode ‘Stallions’ Rather Than Mares, Especially into The Afterlife

More so than females, the male Norse explorers who took residence in Iceland more than 1,000 years were buried with their horses and new DNA evidence proves that the horses slaughtered to accompany...

The excavated burial of the ancient woman in Nicaragua.

4 January, 2019 - 18:57 Ed Whelan

Super Strong Woman Found in Lower Central America’s Earliest Human Burial

Nicaragua is a country which is not associated with many archaeological finds, unlike other nations in Central America. However, recently archaeologists in the country have found the oldest human...

The remains of the hospital at Port Arthur, Tasmania

4 January, 2019 - 01:51 ancient-origins

Why Archaeology Is So Much More Than Just Digging

By Richard Tuffin and Martin GIbbs /The Conversation It is our experience that most people think archaeology mainly means digging in the dirt. Admit to strangers that you are of the archaeological...

11 December, 2018 - 15:24 ancient-origins

ANCIENT DEER MASK (11,000-year-old hunting bone rituals discovered!)

One of the most significant archaeological discoveries in recent times was uncovered at Star Carr in the North of England, where many incredible Mesolithic artifacts have been preserved in a nearby...

The seven trumpets of Jericho, by James Tissot.

12 November, 2018 - 15:57 Prof Willem Boshoff

How a Woman Toppled the Legend of the Walls of Jericho: The Legacy of Kathleen Kenyon

According to the Bible, in the Book of Joshua , the Israelites encountered the city of Jericho as the first Canaanite stronghold they had to conquer in order to settle in their promised new land. In...

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Myths & Legends

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Source: Luca Oleastri / Adobe.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Searching For a Way to the Home Planet

In contrast to many theorists, this unconventional retelling of key parts of the Epic explores the idea that Gilgamesh was not searching for life eternal on Earth, as has been suggested as the theme of the Epic, but was instead searching for the means of transport to return to his goddess mother Ninsun’s home planet in the heavens.

Say the Magic Word: The Origins of Abracadabra

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The Nature and Dangers of the Legendary Kobold

The Menhune of Hawaii – Ancient Race or Fictional Fairytale?

Human Origins

The Pagan Wheel of the Year: What Elaborate Rituals and Events Mark this Sacred Cycle?

Although it may be a long time (if ever) before pagans reclaim their Yule from Christmas or their Samhain from Halloween, it is worthwhile to explore these ancient religious traditions. The Wheel of the Year follows the cycle of pagan festivals.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

Are the Distinctive Kalash People of Pakistan Really Descendants of Alexander the Great’s Army?

Ancient Technology

An ancient Roman road at Leptis Magna, Libya

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

It was not uncommon for the ancient Romans to travel long distances all across Europe. Actually during the Roman Empire, Rome had an incredible road network which extended from northern England all...

The incredible earthquake detector invented nearly 2,000 years ago

Mummy Brown – the 16th century paint made from ground up mummies

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

Romans in Pompeii Repaired the Roads with Molten Iron

Why Are There 365 Days in a Year? Organizing Dates with an Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Ancient Places

Royal Palace at Ebla. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

First Kingdoms: The Forgotten Mesopotamian Kingdom of Ebla

Spectacular things were happening in Mesopotamia in the period we call the Early Bronze Age, particularly in the southern part of it, commonly called Babylonia.

Sumer: Where Written Language, Arithmetic and Civilization Were Born

Explaining the Fall of the Great Akkadian Empire

Homer’s Iliad Casts Doubt on the Aegean Location of Troy

The Great Ziggurat of Ur

The Incredible Subterranean City of Kish

Opinion

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Our Mission

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.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

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By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions 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.