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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Asia

Ancient places can be found all over Asia. Their fascinating histories and impressive artifacts open intriguing glimpses to times past, and open up a window on Asian history. Visiting such historical places in Asia can be an unforgettable experience.

Science is constantly discovering new archaeological places and uncovering more evidence into what we once thought we knew about our history, therefore offering new pieces to the ever changing puzzle of humanity’s past and altering how we interpret it. This section will present the most interesting archaeological sites all over Asia, as well as new discoveries of ancient places that are worth paying a visit.

Left, a Sedducee, who some scholars claim the Teacher of Righteousness is based on. Right, A fragment of the Damascus Scroll in which the Teacher is most mentioned. Source: Left; Hartmann Schedel / Public Domain, Right; CC0
3 May, 2022 - 23:02 Bipin Dimri

Who was the Teacher of Righteousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

The Teacher of Righteousness is supposedly the person who replicated the God-like figure by his words, beliefs and actions. Who was he? Was he Jesus? The Teacher of Righteousness is a figure...
Artists impression of Brahmin, representative of the of the Sena Dynasty elite, who were part of the Brahmin top-echelon caste in India who forged the Sena Empire. Source: Olena / Adobe Stock
2 May, 2022 - 14:59 Jake Leigh-Howarth

The Sena Empire: Rise and Fall of the Last Hindu Kings of Bengal

The kings of the Sena Empire, who were part of the Brahmin top-echelon caste in India, originally came from Karnata in southern India before they moved to the Bengali region. The history of the Sena...
Petra, Jordan and Jerusalem are both much older than Islam’s holiest site and some say the original location of Mecca lies elsewhere in the mists of history before the prophet Mohammed finally established “his Mecca” in Saudi Arabia.
30 April, 2022 - 22:00 Forest Bauer

Where Is the True Location of Mecca?

Most people will recognize Mecca as the name for the Holy City of Islam. Do you know where the Holy City is? Do you know where it should be? Did it get lost? Was it ever found? Believe it or not,...
Ayodhya seer was denied access to the Taj Mahal. Source: Wit.Siri / Adobe Stock
28 April, 2022 - 18:46 ashley cowie

Weapon-Holding Ayodhya Seer Blocked from Taj Mahal Sparks Protests

This week, security guards at the Taj Mahal, the enormous 17th century white marble mausoleum built in Agra by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan , forbade entry to Ayodhya-based Hindu seer, Jagadguru...
Frankincense resin and oil of the Boswellia tree. Source: Madeleine Steinbach/Adobe Stock
26 April, 2022 - 01:58 Sahir

Ancient Remedy of the Boswellia Tree - Still Great for Joint Health!

The Boswellia tree has long been used in traditional Indian, Chinese, Arab and African rituals and medicines. This gum resin from several species of Boswellia is also known as frankincense, which has...
The Mongol invasion of Japan. Kamikaze of 1274 and 1281. Source: Fair Use
25 April, 2022 - 14:28 Joanna Gillan

Kamikaze – The Divine Winds that Saved Japan

The Mongols attempted two major invasions of Japan during the 13th century, in 1274 and 1281 AD, led by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan . On both occasions however, a massive typhoon (tropical...
The ruins of the Enlil temple, or the Ekur, in Nippur, which was once the most important pilgrimage destination in Mesopotamia. The brick structure on top was constructed by American archaeologists around 1900. Source: David Stanley /CC BY 2.0
23 April, 2022 - 23:14 Lex Leigh

Nippur: The Great Mesopotamian Holy City That Gave Early Ideas Of God

The ancient city of Nippur is one of the most interesting holy cities in the Middle East. Now only known as a dilapidated, prehistoric town, Nippur was once recognized as an essential religious...
Ancient City of Qalhat in Oman Source: derusu / Adobe Stock
16 April, 2022 - 22:58 Lex Leigh

1,000-Year-Old Ruins of Qalhat, Oman’s Ancient City

Qalhat, an ancient city located in a northeastern region of the country of Oman, has an interesting history behind it. Located just north of Sur, the capital of the Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate,...
Archaeoacoustics and Ancient Architecture: Megaliths, Music and the Mind
15 April, 2022 - 23:00 Linda C. Eneix

Archaeoacoustics and Ancient Architecture: Megaliths, Music and the Mind

Before introducing the Big Question, let’s ponder a minute. Isn’t it amazing that for hundreds of thousands of years, all of humankind lived the same way everywhere on Earth. We were all indigenous...
One of the four Umayyad inscriptions recently discovered at the ancient city of Knidos in southwestern Turkey. Source: DHA
6 April, 2022 - 18:49 Sahir

Four Umayyad Inscriptions Unearthed in Turkey’s Ancient City of Knidos

Four Umayyad inscriptions inscribed on limestone and marble blocks have been discovered among the ruins of the 2,600-year-old city of Knidos in western Turkey. The four Umayyad inscriptions, from...
One of the Ural pictograms found along the Neyva River Source: Данила Дубровский / CC BY-SA 3.0
31 March, 2022 - 22:57 Lex Leigh

The Ural Pictograms: Ancient Rock Art Depicting Modern Chemical Compounds

The Ural Mountains run north to south through western Russia. The range runs from the border of the Arctic Ocean in the north all the way to the Ural River in the south. It is known as the primary...
This fat and shaggy Bactrian camel in a mountain landscape more or less captures the image of the extinct giant camel. Source: ilyaska / Adobe Stock
28 March, 2022 - 18:59 Sahir

Mongolian Giant Camels and Hominins Coexisted 27,000 Years Ago

A new report by an international team of researchers in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science has shown that the last of Mongolian giant camels may have coexisted with the much smaller wild Bactrian...
The temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Source: mikefuchslocher / Adobe Stock
25 March, 2022 - 00:59 aprilholloway

The Mysteries and Spectacular Architecture of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a fascinating temple complex in northwestern Cambodia, located in what was once the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire which presided over a vast kingdom in Southeast Asia. While...
Neolithic Anatolian Çatalhöyük burials, a new study has revealed, involved painting skeletons with red ochre and other dyes or paints, and this was in 7,000 BC! Source: Jason Quinlan / Catalhoyuk Research Project
24 March, 2022 - 17:44 Nathan Falde

Red Ochre Colored Skeletons Revealed in Çatalhöyük Burials, New Study

In Neolithic Anatolian Çatalhöyük burials, in what is often called the world’s oldest city (modern-day Turkey), people sometimes decorated the skeletal remains and the burial chamber walls of the...
The early Bronze Age Maykop culture of the Caucuses region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea dates to the 4th-3rd millennium BC and was connected to more places than you might think! Source: Google Arts & Culture
22 March, 2022 - 13:59 Jake Leigh-Howarth

The Maykop: Lost Bronze Age Culture of the Exotic Caucasus Region

In 1897, Professor Nikolay Veselovsky, a Russian archaeologist and orientalist, specializing in the history and archaeology of Central Asia, uncovered one of the greatest archaeological finds of...
Eggs protruding from the side of the egg-laying mountain in China. Source: AsiaWire
19 March, 2022 - 17:59 Lex Leigh

China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs

Mount Gandang, a mountain in the southwest region of China, has an interesting phenomenon that geologists, researchers, and locals have been observing for decades. Located in the province of Guizhou...
Tell al-Sultan in Jericho is an archaeological site with remains dating back to 10,000 BC. Source: Robert Hoetink / Adobe Stock
16 March, 2022 - 00:58 johnblack

The Ancient City of Jericho: The Oldest City in the World

Located in the Palestinian West Bank, Jericho’s claim to fame lies in being the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. Surrounded by springs, the city has attracted humans for thousands of...
Four warriors of ‘The Immortals’, from the famous glazed brick friezes found in the Apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa ( Wikimedia)
14 March, 2022 - 13:19 mrreese

The Immortals: Elite and Formidable Army of the Persian Empire

The first Persian Empire (550 BC – 330 BC), called the Achaemenid Empire, is known for having an elite force of soldiers. Named the “Immortals” by Herodotus, this army consisted of a heavy infantry...
After 900 years the cursed prophecy of the broken Killing Stone has come true in Japan, and many are worried about what comes next! Source: ITmedia
9 March, 2022 - 17:58 ashley cowie

Japan’s Killing Stone Has Cracked, Sparking Widespread Fear

A legendary volcanic rock in Japan associated with an ancient evil vixen-demon, has split in two. While geologists assure the occurrence is natural, others are convinced the chaotic fox spirit has...
The evidence found in north China from roughly 40,000 years ago, including advanced stone tools and ochre processing knowledge, was created by ancient humans. However, archaeologists are still trying to figure out who these ancient hominins were, and the choices are Neanderthals, Denisovans or Homo sapiens. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock
8 March, 2022 - 13:59 ashley cowie

40,000-year-old Tools Used by Ancient Humans Unearthed In North China

Archaeologists in China have unearthed a hoard of intricately crafted stone blades and ochre processing activities attributed to ancient humans living less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of...
Archaeologists have discovered the oldest ochre workshop in East Asia in north China and a recent study in the Nature journal shows how the lithic tools found at the site link to Africa. Source: Griffin University
3 March, 2022 - 21:55 Sahir

Advanced Human Culture Dating Back 40,000 Years Found in China

A new study published in the journal Nature by an international team of archaeologists has provided fascinating new insights into hunter-gatherer lifestyles 40,000 years ago in north China, and Homo...
The Ajanta caves in India. Source: mukulbanerjee / Adobe Stock
3 March, 2022 - 00:59 ancient-origins

The Wondrous Buddhist Rock-Cut Architecture of the Ajanta Caves

It was in 1819 when John Smith, a British army officer in pursuit of a tiger came across a cave near Ajanta village in India. More than thirty caves carved inside the rock of the mountainside and...
One of the 13th-century-BC Tell el Kedwa fortress water wells recently found in the North Sinai Governate of Egypt, along the ancient Horus military road to Canaan. Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
2 March, 2022 - 16:55 Sahir

Unique 13th-century-BC Water Wells Discovered Near Fortress in North Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula, the only part of Egypt located in Asia, sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, is a land bridge between Asia and Africa. This peninsula has been the subject of...
Men working at the Roman cemetery discovered in Gaza. Source: Gaza Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
25 February, 2022 - 13:58 Nathan Falde

Construction Project Digs Up 2,000-Year-Old Roman Cemetery in Gaza

A construction crew working at a residential building site in northern Gaza in Palestine unearthed a most unexpected and historically significant find. While digging deep into the bedrock, the...

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