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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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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.

Cheomseongdae observatory at night, Gyeongju, South Korea. Source: Ivan / Adobe stock
2 April, 2020 - 19:00 Caleb Strom

Star Gazing at Cheomseongdae - East Asia’s Oldest Observatory

The Korean peninsula is known for many things. One thing that may be less well known about Korean culture is its contribution to world astronomy. One particularly visible contribution is the oldest...
Top 15 interesting facts about ancient Egypt. Source: Maurizio / Adobe stock
31 March, 2020 - 18:59 Aleksa Vučković

Top 15 Interesting Facts About Ancient Egypt That You May Not Know

One of the greatest civilizations in our history belonged to the ancient Egyptians. It flourished in the fertile valleys of the world’s longest river - the Nile, where a magnificent civilization rose...
The inside of measuring shaft of the Roda nilometer. (Baldiri / CC BY-SA 3.0)
21 March, 2020 - 18:15 dhwty

Nilometers: Ancient Egypt’s Ingenious Invention Used Until Modern Times

For thousands of years, nilometers measured the water level of the Nile River during the annual flood season. This, in turn, was used to predict the fortunes of the annual harvest, the taxes to be...
Ogham sticks
20 March, 2020 - 21:44 Kerry Sullivan

The Celtic Ogham: An Ancient Tree Alphabet that May Disappear Before Showing its Roots

In secluded fields, on the walls of churches, and beneath construction sites, stones have been found with intricate markings that rise from the lower left up to the center and then down to the lower...
Does the Buache Map show Antarctica without ice?
12 March, 2020 - 18:16 dhwty

The Buache Map: A Controversial Map That Shows Antarctica Without Ice

The Buache Map is an 18th century map commonly claimed to accurately depict the continent of Antarctica before it was buried by ice. By extension, it has been claimed that this map is evidence that...
Investigating the enigmatic Lady of Elche has revealed new links with an Indian goddess. Source: SoniaBonet / Adobe stock
12 March, 2020 - 13:05 JJ Ainsworth

Spain’s Lady of Elche Reveals New Links with Indian Goddess

Many of us have heard of the famous Lady of Elche and are intrigued with her mystifying appearance, and the strange enigma surrounding her origins. In reality not a whole lot is known about the bust...
Helmet of the ancient Greek warrior Miltiades the Younger
11 March, 2020 - 17:31 Natalia Klimczak

The Helmet of Miltiades, Symbol of a Famous Ancient Greek Warrior

When a magnificent helmet was recovered from the ruins of the temple of Zeus researchers couldn't believe their eyes. It is very rare to find an item which belonged to a famous warrior of the ancient...
The Egyptian egg ovens are still in use by farmers still over 2,000 years later. Source: Lenny Hoferwerf / Courtesy of Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2006) / Reproduced with permission
9 March, 2020 - 18:01 Aleksa Vučković

Ancient Egyptian Egg Ovens That Are Better Than Modern Tech

It is no secret that the ancient Egyptians left a lasting and impressive heritage. The relics of their time dot the world and are marveled by many - from the pyramids to the mummies, from imposing...
Ghar Dalam – Malta’s Unexplained Cave of Bones
8 March, 2020 - 02:14 pjshield

Ghar Dalam – Malta’s Unexplained Cave of Bones

2000 years before the Pyramids and Stonehenge , we have evidence of man’s presence in the ‘Cave of Darkness’ – Ghar Dalam on the Mediterranean island of Malta . This remarkable cave provides evidence...
The oldest board game in the world, the Royal Game of Ur. Source: Shriram Rajagopalan / CC BY 2.0
5 March, 2020 - 02:06 Niels Bjerre Jo...

Play the Oldest Board Game in the World: Royal Game of Ur - Part 2

In the first part of this article, we attempted to unravel the mystery symbolism on the oldest board game in the world - the Royal Game of Ur. The Heliopolitan creation myth was used to explain how...
Detail of Ornament from Panagyurishte Gold Treasure, Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria Source: CC BY-SA 2.0
3 March, 2020 - 14:04 dhwty

How The Thracian Panagyurishte Treasure Changed Bulgaria’s History

The Panagyurishte Treasure is a set of gold vessels from Panagyurishte, a town in the southern Bulgarian province of Pazardzhik. The treasure was discovered by accident during the 20 th century. The...
The bizarre face of one of the Mont’e Prama Giants. Source: Author provided
29 February, 2020 - 13:37 Pierluigi Tombetti

The Mont’e Prama Giants: A Massive Archaeological Mystery

1974, Sinis region, Sardinia (Oristano): the plow of a farmer being blocked by a piece of stone marked the beginning of a series of excavations in the area of Mont'e Prama, near the village of Cabras...
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Wenzel Peter, Vatican Museum
17 February, 2020 - 23:08 christianobrien

What Happened in Eden? Alternative Translation Tells a Very Different Story

All modern concepts of the Garden of Eden stem from a few verses in the biblical Book of Genesis, none of which is entirely free from ambiguity. The ancient Hebraic documents, from which the early...
Representation of ancient writing of one of the oldest languages in a book. Source: Andrey Lavrishchev / Adobe stock
17 February, 2020 - 13:56 Aleksa Vučković

10 of the World’s Oldest Languages Still Used Today

Languages have always been the very fiber of humanity. The cornerstone of society, and the force that paved the way for civilization. Without it, societies could not have developed as they did - it...
The Acropolis Athens (where the cyclopean wall can be found) during sunset. Source: sea and sun / Adobe stock
12 February, 2020 - 19:03 Freddie Levy

The Acropolis' Cyclopean Wall, Sages and Our Deeply Connected Past

The Athenian Acropolis . This rocky citadel sits alone, striking out imposingly against the backdrop of the dry, blue Mediterranean sky. Towering 490 feet (150 meters) over the modern cityscape, the...
Kosher Female Figurines in Judah During The Biblical Period?
11 February, 2020 - 14:10 Rabbi Allen Maller

Kosher Female Figurines in Judah During The Biblical Period?

Israeli archeologist Dr. Aaron Greener asks “what are clay female figurines doing in Judah during the biblical period?” My non-archeologist answer is; they represent kosher (suitable for religious...
Detail of The Boxer at Rest, Greek Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a sitting nude boxer at rest. Credit: giorgio / Adobe Stock
9 February, 2020 - 18:40 dhwty

Boxer at Rest: The Most Iconic Ancient Bronze Statue in the World

The Boxer at Rest is a bronze sculpture from the Hellenistic period , the most iconic ancient bronze statue in the world. When it was discovered in Rome during an excavation in the 19th century it...
History through a lens – the importance of questioning history.
30 January, 2020 - 14:20 Gloria Moss

The Importance of Questioning History: From Malta to the Dead Sea Scrolls

According to George Orwell, Sir Walter Raleigh stopped writing his History of the World after he was unable to identify the cause of the scuffle and murder that took place outside his cell in the...
Left: Front angle of the reconstructed Bull Headed Lyre found in the Sumerian Royal Tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia, c. 2500 BC. Source: Penn Museum
13 January, 2020 - 23:00 Niels Bjerre Jo...

Satire in Mesopotamia: Unravelling the Bull Headed Lyre of Ur

Many of us tend to think that the people of early cultures were less sophisticated than us. The wealthiest people may have lived lives of luxury with gold and slaves, but admittedly we cannot really...
Stone Age clothing suggests our ancestors were more interested in comfort than style.
12 January, 2020 - 22:52 Aleksa Vučković

Stone Age Clothing: Function Over Fashion

One of the defining periods of early humans and their development is the Stone Age . This long era of our earliest history lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and gradually ended between 8500 BC to...
The evolution of stone tools. Source: andrey gonchar / Adobe Stock.
9 January, 2020 - 22:55 B. B. Wagner

Taking a ‘Knapp’ With Our Ancient Ancestors - Stone Tools Through the Ages

The process of creating lithic tools took our hominin species millions of years to perfect. However, we often dismiss stone tools as simplistic primitive technology. The mastering of stone knapping...
A cuneiform tablets (representative image) Source: dimamoroz / Adobe Stock
8 January, 2020 - 16:58 ashley cowie

Controversial Cuneiform Tablets Tell Tales of Security Dogs and a Lost City

An archaeologist has admitted that around 1,400 cuneiform tablets might have been stolen from Irisagrig, a 4,000-year-old lost Sumerian city in modern day Iraq. While the robbers obviously know the...
Ancient Egyptian eye makeup was protective and poisonous
24 December, 2019 - 12:23 Mark Miller

Ancient Egyptian Makeup: Beauty and Protection with Poison

It’s sort of like the evil eye , but in reverse: the good eye, brought on by an application of lead-based kohl makeup that was unknowingly poisonous to ancient Egyptians but also had anti-microbial...
A depiction of Ahmose fighting back the Hyksos from Egypt. Source: Public domain
19 December, 2019 - 13:45 dhwty

Did the Hyksos Pull Off a Peaceful Invasion of Egypt?

The Hyksos were a dynasty of kings who ruled over the northern part of Egypt during the 2 nd millennium BC. They were not native Egyptians, but came from the East, most likely Western Asia...

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