Artifacts

There are undoubtedly millions of ancient artifacts from the past that have served to shed light on the lives of our ancestors from many millennia ago. But some ancient mystical artifacts stand out for their uniqueness, their intrigue, or their ability to expand our knowledge about previously unknown aspects of our history. Here we feature many such ancient history artifacts, from amazing examples of ancient technology, to artistic masterpieces, unexplained objects, ancient texts, and mysterious artifacts that shed light on the daily lives of our ancestors.

The four lead ingots discovered in a shipwreck off the coast of Israel. Source: Ehud Galili / University of Haifa’s Institute for Maritime Studies

23 February, 2022 - 13:58 ashley cowie

Four Ancient Lead Ingots Rewrite Cyprus’ Role in Bronze Age Trade

It’s all changed in the ancient history of Cyprus, thanks to the discovery by archaeologists that the copper-rich island was a significant trader during the fall of empires in 1200 BC. The keys to...

These two daggers were found in King Tutankhamun's burial wrappings: the lower one is King Tut’s dagger made from iron from a meteorite, and likely foreign made according to the latest research study. Source: Ancient Egypt

22 February, 2022 - 20:48 Sahir

King Tut’s Dagger Twist: It Was Not Made In Egypt

Subject of many studies and investigations, Egyptian King Tut’s dagger has already been proven to have been made from meteorite iron. A recent study has now added a new dimension to exactly where...

This statue was originally painted. Left: Painted replica of Augustus of Prima Porta statue with pigments reconstructed for the Tarraco Viva 2014 Festival

22 February, 2022 - 00:58 Riley Winters

A More Colorful Ancient World: Classical Statues Were Once Painted

Once upon a time, long before wars, natural disasters, and erosion took hold of the ancient Greek statues, these ivory gems vibrated with color. Ancient Greek sculptors valued animated and pulsating...

A rare iron arrowhead dating to AD 300-600 was found at Sandgrovskaret in 2018. Source: Espen Finstad/Secrets of the Ice

19 February, 2022 - 14:00 Nathan Falde

Reindeer Hunting Relics Found On Ancient Mountain Trail in Norway

Fittingly, archaeologists who explore landscapes exposed by glacial melt are known as glacial archaeologists. In 2018, a team of these specialized experts were dispatched to the ice-covered mountains...

Pages from the 15th century medieval manuscript the Talbot Shrewsbury Book. Source: British Library / Public domain

18 February, 2022 - 13:59 Sahir

Lost Lovers and Heroes: 90% of Medieval Manuscripts Have Not Survived

A study comparing the survival of medieval manuscripts and tales from regions around Europe has arrived at some stark conclusions about the preservation of the medieval European past. A vast majority...

Earl of Derwentwater's bedsheet from the Tower of London, embroidered with a message made of human hair from Anna Maria Radcliffe in tribute to her executed husband will be part of the Dockland executions in London exhibition. Source: Museum of London Docklands

17 February, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

Bedsheet Lovingly Embroidered With Hair Likely From A Severed Head

The Museum of London Docklands is preparing for a somewhat macabre exhibition entitled Executions [in London]. Slated to begin in autumn, the executions in London exhibits will feature some of the...

The Scythian woman’s skull found in a new Siberian burrow tomb at the famous “Siberian Valley of the Kings,” and her large crescent shaped gold neck ornament clearly visible along with another gold item just below her upper jaw. Source: Igor Pieńkos / Science in Poland

17 February, 2022 - 14:00 Nathan Falde

Unique Golden Pectoral Ornament Found in 2,500-Year-Old Scythian Grave

While performing excavations inside a large barrow (burial mound) at a place known as the “Siberian Valley of the Kings,” a team of Polish and Russian archaeologists uncovered the remains of two...

Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera – Part I

16 February, 2022 - 00:54 WalterJoergLangbein

Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera – Part I

In 1961, the Rio Ica burst its banks and flooded parts of the Ocucaje Desert. Was an earthquake responsible for the flood? When the water had retreated, the local farmers inspected the damage. Their...

China’s world famous Terracotta Army, created over 2,000 years ago, was built to protect the first Chinese emperor on a site near Xian that covered 98 square kilometers (38 square miles). Source: David Davis / Adobe Stock

11 February, 2022 - 17:27 Sahir

Twenty-five “New” Chinese Terracotta Army Officers Unearthed Near Tomb!

Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of unified China, and the first Emperor of the Qin dynasty was buried with his now world-famous Terracotta Army, to protect him in the afterlife. For long, this has...

5th century chamber pot from the Roman villa at Gerace, Sicily (Italy). Source: Roger Wilson / Journal of Archaeological Science

11 February, 2022 - 00:00 Sahir

Parasite Traces Show ‘Storage Jars’ Were Actually Portable Chamber Pots

A brilliant new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science highlights how the archaeologists and researchers involved in analyzing a 1,500-year-old chamber pot have developed a unique...

The gilded side of the Trundholm Sun Chariot. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

9 February, 2022 - 01:00 dhwty

The Astronomy of the Trundholm Sun Chariot

The famous Trundholm Sun Chariot is a bronze and gold artifact pulled out of a bog in Denmark in 1902. Said to belong to the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1700 to 500 BC), the so-called chariot consists of a...

This iron sword, now fragmentary and corroded, was discovered in 1993 in the Byzantine city of Amorium. Its surviving hilt with the ringed pommel is unique. Source: Amorium Excavation Project

7 February, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

Unique Ring Pommeled Byzantine Swords Discovered at Amorium

In classical antiquity, Amorium was an important, strategically located city in the kingdom of Phrygia in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey. Amorium was founded in the...

The so-called Sivatherium of Kish (Field Museum of Natural History/Edwin H. Colbert) compared to a modern representation of a Sivatherium in the Warsaw Museum of Evolution. (Shalom/CC BY-SA 3.0)

6 February, 2022 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

The Sivatherium of Kish: Did Sumerians Tame a Prehistoric Giraffe?

The world is big. Even in this modern day and age, we still don’t have a clue about what lurks in the remote corners of this planet. The oceans, vast and enigmatic, have only been partially explored...

Dr. Marina Ugarković officially displaying the 4th-century BC sword found in a communal grave at the site of the ancient Greek city of Pharos on Hvar. Source: Joško Šupić / Cropix / Free Dalmatia

4 February, 2022 - 22:00 Sahir

4th Century BC Tomb Yields Sword and Classic Greek Artifacts At Hvar

An archaeological team digging at Hvar, Croatia, once home to the ancient Greek island settlement of Pharos, have unearthed a mass Greek communal grave from the fourth century BC. The find is a...

Literature’s first vampiress was called Carmilla. Source: Subbotina Anna / Adobe Stock

4 February, 2022 - 18:00 Aleksa Vučković

The Story of Carmilla: Literature’s First Vampire Was Actually a Woman

The novel Dracula , written by Bram Stoker and published in 1897, became a cult classic of horror literature throughout the world. It brought vampire legends to a wider audience and captivated...

Helmet still in the ground at the Velia temple site. Source: Parco Archeologico Paestum

3 February, 2022 - 22:00 ashley cowie

Two Warrior Helmets Unearthed At Greek Temple In Velia, Italy

A pair of sixth-century BC warrior’s helmets have been discovered along with a ruined temple at Velia in southern Italy. It is believed that these rare artifacts are relics from the legendary Battle...

Reconstruction to the front left garden area of Frewin Hall has revealed Oxford’s lost college, St. Mary’s College, destroyed by King Henry VIII’s dissolution policies. Source: Simon Gannon / Oxford Mail

2 February, 2022 - 17:51 Sahir

“Lost College” of Oxford University Found In Reconstruction Project

Oxford University’s “lost Augustinian college,” i.e., medieval St. Mary’s College, which existed for 106 years in the days of the Tudors (1485-1603). The ancient outlines of the lost college of...

Pictorial ostracon with a baboon and an ibis, the two sacred animals of Thoth, the god of wisdom, one of 18,000 pottery fragments unearthed at the ancient northern Egyptian city of Athribis. Source: Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

2 February, 2022 - 13:55 ashley cowie

18,000 Pottery Fragments Speak of Life in Ancient Athribis, Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have interpreted the text and images on 18,000 pottery fragments. Not only do they tell of ancient Athribis trading culture, but they also detail school punishments. The 18,...

A ceramic Chuiwan golf ball (R) and a modern golf ball (L) displayed in an art gallery at Pingdingshan University, Henan Province, China. Source: Li An / Xinhua

1 February, 2022 - 21:56 ashley cowie

1,000-Year-Old Chuiwan Golf Balls Discovered In China

Mainstream history would have you believe the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland. Golf's first major, and the world's oldest tournament in existence, was The Open Championship (...

In this 17th-century depiction of Stonehenge from the Atlas van Loon one wonders where the Scotsman Stonehenge architect of Dr John Hill’s convincing theory is working and on what. Source: Blaeu, J / Public domain

29 January, 2022 - 14:00 Dr. John Hill

The Scottish Stonehenge Architect and His Aberdeenshire Stone Circles

Sooner rather than later I hope that my fellow archaeologists will accept the fact that Stonehenge was designed by a very small number of exceptional Neolithic architects and one of those Stonehenge...

Blue glowing ball lightning, a phenomenon that was reported in medieval times, with the earliest English reference now confirmed to be 450 years before the previous known mention in an English historical text. Source: sakkmesterke / Adobe Stock

29 January, 2022 - 00:53 Nathan Falde

English Benedictine Monk Describes Ball Lightning in 1195 AD Text!

A pair of academics from Durham University in the United Kingdom have discovered an 827-year-old reference to an unusual weather-related phenomenon in an obscure medieval English text. While...

A limestone plaque with Phoenician writing was uncovered in archaeological digs at Kition, Cyprus, Greece this past year that took place, in part, under a former tennis court. Source: Department of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus

28 January, 2022 - 17:59 Sahir

Phoenician Plaque One of Many Finds Unearthed at Kition Harbor, Cyprus

A four-week project under the supervision of the French Archaeological Mission at the ancient dockyard of Kition (Larnaka-Pampoula) in Cyprus has unearthed a wealth of artifacts and architectural...

At the end of 2021 Turkish archaeologists found 14 incredible artifacts from the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 AD in the ancient city of Uzuncaburç, in Mersin Province. Source: Anadolu Agency

26 January, 2022 - 17:40 Sahir

Southern Turkey Artifacts Dated to 7th-century Byzantine-Sassanid War

In February of 2021, a restoration project was launched under the aegis of Ümit Aydınlıoğlu, associate professor at Mersin University, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General...

The Guennol Lioness of Elam from ancient Iran is over 5,000 years old! Source: Unknown sculptor / Public domain

24 January, 2022 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

The Guennol Lioness and Her Secrets: An Enigmatic Figure in Ancient Iran

The world of the ancient past is undoubtedly filled with many mysteries. The knowledge of the ancients escapes us today: we are not fully aware of the extent of their wisdom and their ability to...

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