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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.

Modern model of the Antikythera Mechanism ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
3 October, 2019 - 13:52 Alexander Jones

Antikythera Shipwreck and the Discovery of Ancient Tech That Shocked the World

Around 60 BC, a ship was wrecked off the northeast coast of a small island called Aigila in the straits between Crete and the Peloponnese. The exact character of the ship is not known, but it was...
A fake shrunken head.
2 October, 2019 - 01:43 Joanna Gillan

Headhunting and Shrunken Heads: Gruesome Ancient War Trophies

Headhunting is a practice that has been carried out by numerous cultures throughout the world. For instance, during the Qin dynasty in ancient China it is claimed that soldiers collected the heads of...
Meteorite swords came from the heavens. Credit: mdorottya / Adobe Stock By Aleksa Vučković
29 September, 2019 - 19:00 Aleksa Vučković

Meteorite Swords Forged from the Fire of the Heavens

From the earliest conscious moments of the human race, we looked up into the distant night sky in wonder and amazement. Our early ancestors glanced at the same skies we see today and pondered the...
View of Timna Valley, Israel area of copper smelting study. Source: boris_sh / Adobe Stock.
19 September, 2019 - 19:01 ashley cowie

Egyptians Provided Technological Leap For Edomite Kingdom

In the Hebrew Bible , the Edomites were the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau, but did an ancient Egyptian invasion trigger technological innovations within this biblical kingdom? Erez Ben-Yosef,...
The removal of meat from a bone using a replica of the Revadim tiny flake tool. Source: Professor Ran Barkai, Tel Aviv University
17 September, 2019 - 23:14 ancient-origins

Acheulian Culture Had ‘Surgical’ Skills in Butchery

The Acheulian culture endured in the Levant for over a million years during the Lower Paleolithic period (1.4 million to 400,000 years ago). Its use of bifaces or large cutting tools like hand axes...
Several of the ancient pigments were deadly. Photo source: Ezume Images / Adobe Stock.
12 September, 2019 - 22:52 ancient origins

Poisonous Pigments: History’s Deadliest Colors

Throughout history, ancient civilizations have been using all kinds of ingenious ways to create pigments for the coloring of clothing, objects and even buildings. While some of the pigments were...
Ancient Chinese seismoscope
9 September, 2019 - 20:10 Joanna Gillan

Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked!

Although we still cannot accurately predict earthquakes, we have come a long way in detecting, recording, and measuring seismic shocks. Many don’t realise that this process began nearly 2000 years...
The Dead Sea Scrolls
9 September, 2019 - 16:40 ashley cowie

Ancient Tech Preserved Dead Sea Temple Scroll

Among the thousands of pieces of parchment found in caves near the Dead Sea, one scroll was unique among the rest. The Temple Scroll was the best preserved and with the clearest writing. Now...
Piri Reis Map
9 September, 2019 - 01:22 beth

Piri Reis Map - How Could a 16th Century Map Show Antarctica Without Ice?

On October 9, 1929, a German theologian named Gustav Adolf Deissmann was cataloguing items in the Topkapi Palace library in Istanbul when he happened across a curious parchment located among some...
Trajan's Column and The Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary at the Trajan Forum, Rome, Italy.
3 September, 2019 - 17:37 Riley Winters

Trajan's Column: An Unyielding Pillar of Imperial Strength

A pillar of Emperor Trajan's military victories, the Column of Trajan is as much a benchmark of Rome's strength as an empire as it is a monument to Trajan's success as a leader. Situated at the...
Red runes carved from wood on the ground. There are 24 runes in the Elder Futhark.
29 August, 2019 - 19:11 Bryan Hill

Futhark: Mysterious Ancient Runic Alphabet of Northern Europe

Runes are the characters of the earliest written alphabet used by the Germanic peoples of Europe called Futhark. The runic alphabet was used within Germanic languages but primarily in Nordic...
The Vedas: Ancient Mystical Texts Offer Charms, Incantations, Mythological Accounts and Formulas for Enlightenment
22 August, 2019 - 18:38 dhwty

The Hindu Vedas: Charms, Myths, and Formulas for Enlightenment

The Vedas are the sacred scriptures of Hinduism and are regarded as the oldest religious texts in the world. Thought to have been composed at least 3,500 years ago, the Vedas are a collection of...
The discovery of the sarcophagus was made during redevelopment work. Source: Département du Lot / Facebook.
19 August, 2019 - 22:34 Ed Whelan

Sarcophagus From the Frankish Merovingian Era Found in France

In France a very significant early medieval tomb has been uncovered in a chance find from a key period in the history of France, under the Franks . Construction workers came across the sarcophagus of...
The discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun is one of the greatest archaeology achievements in history. Source: merydolla / Adobe Stock.
19 August, 2019 - 18:50 Aleksa Vučković

Unearthing the Ancients: Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun

The ancient age of Egypt, the enigmatic pharaohs and the rich history of the Nile valley , are without a doubt one of the most exciting and wondrous aspects of modern archaeology. Filled with several...
The Bhagavad Gita. Source: General Press / CC BY-SA 2.0.
17 August, 2019 - 14:00 Caleb Strom

The Ancient Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, Song of God

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important religious texts in Hinduism as well as one of the most seminal religious texts in the world, alongside the Bible , the Quran , the Torah and the...
Peering Through Time: Early Mirrors in Mesoamerica - Elite Item and Divination Tool
16 August, 2019 - 18:27 dhwty

Peering Through Time: Early Mesoamerican Mirrors for Grooming and Divination

Mirrors are known to have been used by human beings for thousands of years. The earliest examples of manufactured mirrors come from Anatolia (known today as Turkey). These were made from pieces of...
Was King Solomon really the author of the Key of Solomon?
10 August, 2019 - 00:59 dhwty

Grimoires by a Biblical King? The Magical Treatise of Solomon and the Key of Solomon

The ‘Magical Treatise of Solomon’ and the ‘ Key of Solomon’ are two grimoires (magic handbooks) commonly said to have been written by the biblical King Solomon . The latter grimoire has been...
Viking Drinking Hall Unearthed On Orkney Provides ‘Unparalleled’ Insights Into Chieftain’s Life
7 August, 2019 - 18:42 ashley cowie

Viking Drinking Hall Unearthed On Orkney Provides ‘Unparalleled’ Insights Into Chieftain’s Life

Archaeologists excavating on a tiny island off the north coast of Scotland have discovered an 800-year-old Viking ‘Bu’, or drinking hall , once serviced by a high-ranking Orcadian Norse chieftain...
The Acropolis of Athens. Source: moofushi / Adobe Stock.
3 August, 2019 - 14:06 Sarah P Young

The Acropolis Of Athens: A Golden Age Legacy

The Acropolis of Athens is the most famous of the many acropolises from ancient Greece. The Acropolis we know today was initially constructed in the 5th century BC under Pericles , a governor of...
Example skull of Neolithic people. Source: (Author provided/ The Conversation)
2 August, 2019 - 13:54 ancient-origins

Who Were the Mysterious Neolithic People That Enabled the Rise of Ancient Egypt?

By Joel D. Irish , Czekaj- Zastawny Agnieszka , and Jacek Kabacinski / The Conversation To many, ancient Egypt is synonymous with the pharaohs and pyramids of the Dynastic period starting about 3,100...
View of the 2019 construction site and the alignment of steles, standing stones. Source: © SBMA - ARIA SA.
1 August, 2019 - 18:39 Ed Whelan

Rare Stone Steles With Unknown Figures Found At Neolithic Site in Switzerland

A remarkable series of standing stones have been found near one of the most important Neolithic sites in Switzerland , and indeed in the entire Alpine region of Europe. The unearthed stones are...
The 350-year-old gold signet ring found on the lakeshore of Loch Lomond in Scotland.
30 July, 2019 - 19:02 Ed Whelan

Detectorist Finds Falsely Executed 17th-Century Courtier’s Gold Signet Ring

Metal detectorists have made a number of extraordinary finds in recent years. A detectorist on vacation in Scotland discovered a ring that belonged to a 17th-century English courtier who was unjustly...
Surface model of the Xiahe mandible after digital removal of the adhering carbonate crust. Source: Jean-Jacques Hublin, ResearchGate.
25 July, 2019 - 22:56 Andrew Collins

The Teeth Have It: Tracing the Denisovan Legacy Around the World

A dental trait found in the Xiahe Denisovan jawbone as well as in some ancient and modern human populations now provides a rare opportunity to track the geographical reach and perhaps even the final...
Horned figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron
25 July, 2019 - 18:51 dhwty

The Gundestrup Cauldron: Largest and Most Exquisite Iron Age Silver Work in Europe

The Gundestrup Cauldron is an ancient silver vessel that was discovered in a peat bog in Denmark. This cauldron is notable for being the largest known piece of European Iron Age silver work. Thus,...

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