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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.

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...
Anemoi, Tower of the Winds, Athens, Greece
17 December, 2019 - 23:00 dhwty

The Anemoi and the Ingenious Invention of the Tower of the Winds

In ancient Greek mythology, there were eight wind gods known as the Anemoi . Each deity was given a cardinal direction from which their wind blew. In addition, the winds were associated with...
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Source: The British Museum / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
14 December, 2019 - 18:25 Caleb Strom

Mathematics of the Pharaohs: The Rhind Papyrus and Ancient Egyptian Math

Western civilization has always had a fascination with the civilization which grew up along the Nile River around 3,000 BC. Greek intellectuals, such as Thales, visited Egypt and were enamored by the...
Native American parents crafted mini weapons to teach their children vital life skills. Source: mmilliman /Adobe Stock
10 December, 2019 - 17:17 Alicia McDermott

Mini Weapons Taught Children Survival Skills in Oregon

Researchers believe that some weapons found at the Par-Tee site in Oregon, USA were purposely made for little hands to train children and youth life skills. These weapons for children were carefully...
The Kinderdijk Windmills and surrounding waterways during spring, The Netherlands Source: Nikolay N. Antonov / Adobe Stock
4 December, 2019 - 02:00 Ed Whelan

Defenders of the Dutch Polders: The Kinderdijk Windmills

The Netherlands is a remarkable society in many ways. Much of the country was once underwater and still remains at risk of being inundated by the sea. The country has developed an ingenious system...
Scene on the Gundestrup Cauldron. Source: British Museum
1 December, 2019 - 18:08 Niels Bjerre Jo...

The Gundestrup Cauldron Decoded - With a Tantric Twist

All the hammered figures on the silver vessel known as the Gundestrup cauldron obviously mean something. Found dismantled in a peat bog in Denmark in 1891, this mysterious vessel continues to puzzle...
The location of the Treasure of Lima remains a mystery. Source: fergregory /Adobe Stock
25 November, 2019 - 18:59 Aleksa Vučković

Search for the Treasure of Lima and Wealth Beyond Measure

We all remember how the daring, thrilling novels of pirates, buried treasures, and exciting swashbuckling sparked our imagination when we were kids. The iconic novels such as “Treasure Island” by...
Chinese jade dragon seal (representational)
24 November, 2019 - 14:14 dhwty

The Lost Heirloom Seal of China's First Emperor

The Heirloom Seal of the Realm (known also as the Heirloom Seal of the First Emperor, or the Imperial Seal of China) is a Chinese artifact that is now lost. This artifact was a jade seal created by...
Egyptian papyrus, Book of the Dead
23 November, 2019 - 19:17 dhwty

Book of the Dead: A Magical Guide to the Egyptian Underworld

The Book of the Dead is not a book per se , but rather, a corpus of ancient Egyptian funerary texts from the New Kingdom . Each ‘book’ is unique, as it contains its own combination of spells. In...
The Book of Kells: An Immortal Cultural Heritage of the Gaels
22 November, 2019 - 18:40 Aleksa Vučković

The Book of Kells: An Immortal Cultural Heritage of the Gaels

Over the centuries, from its earliest beginnings, Christianity was the inspiration for some truly stunning art. From early frescoes, to illuminated manuscripts , magnificent churches and abbeys,...
Evidence of human tooth jewelry has been found at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Source: SCOTT HADDOW / UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN
22 November, 2019 - 13:57 Ed Whelan

Human Tooth Jewelry Found In Stone Age City

A team of international specialists has found evidence that Stone Age people who lived in what is modern Turkey, once wore human tooth jewelry . They have found three Neolithic molars that were...
The Flower of Battle is an Italian martial arts manual from the Renaissance. Source: sheikoevgeniya / Adobe Stock.
19 November, 2019 - 18:49 dhwty

The Flower of Battle – A Medieval Manuscript of Martial Arts

The Flower of Battle is an Italian martial arts manual from the Renaissance. This manual was written by Fiore Furlano, a knight , diplomat, and itinerant fencing master who lived between the 14th and...
Painting by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, Orientalism genre, representation of The Book of Exposition. Source: Jeangagnon / Public Domain.
15 November, 2019 - 19:08 B. B. Wagner

The Book of Exposition and the Enigmatic English Bohemian

Though this title may make many an aspiring writer think it to be instructional for forbidding the writing of on the nose dialogue, The Book of Exposition is far from the case. The Kitab al-Izah Fi'...
Wu zhu bronze coins found in Liu He’s tomb. Source: nocoev.com
14 November, 2019 - 22:59 Aleksa Vučković

Liu He and the Tomb of Two Million Coins

Archaeology is always full of surprises. When an excavation is started, the team never knows what the next artifact will be to see the light of day. Many times a find is mundane – pottery shards,...
Lost treasures. Source: dbrus / Adobe Stock.
9 November, 2019 - 13:57 Aleksa Vučković

10 Spectacular Treasures That Have Never Been Found

Nothing is ever so thrilling as the stories of lost treasures and the hidden riches of the world that are on the borders of the legendary. Sunken galleons, plundered gold, and thrilling museum heists...
Rabanus’ pattern poem a square text on angels. (Goodbichon / Public Domain)
4 November, 2019 - 23:02 dhwty

Ancient Pattern Poetry – A Visual Story

Pattern poetry (known variously as figure poem , shaped verse, visual poetry, concrete poetry, and carmen figuratum) is a form of poetry that may be easily recognized due to the arrangement of its...
A gorgeous example of a gold cross found in the Staffordshire Hoard.
1 November, 2019 - 20:20 mrreese

Staffordshire Hoard: The Most Exquisite Anglo-Saxon Gold Collection

Many people enjoy searching with a metal detector in hopes of finding treasures that have either a financial value or some historical significance. While most people may be lucky to find a few odds...
Do the Unicorn Tapestries Tell Christ’s Story?
27 October, 2019 - 08:48 dhwty

Is the Story of Christ Portrayed in the Unicorn Tapestries?

The Unicorn Tapestries (known also as The Hunt of the Unicorn ) is a set of seven tapestries housed today at the Cloisters, in Fort Tryon Park, northern Manhattan, New York. Incidentally, the...
Stone Age sea travel
25 October, 2019 - 12:14 johnblack

The Discovery that Revealed Ancient Humans Navigated the Seas 130,000 Years Ago

It was a few years ago that a Greek-American archaeological team made a startling discovery – they found the oldest indications of seafaring and navigation in the world, in an area called Plakia on...
Traditional totora reed raft usage is fading away. Source: ecuadorquerido / Adobe Stock
9 October, 2019 - 23:25 george fery

Riding Peruvian Waves for 2000 Years on the Totora Reed Raft

Traveling on the dry windswept northern coast of Peru, beside a spectacular landscape, one finds interesting ways whereby people make a living. That’s how we stumbled on a strange little raft made of...

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