australia

View through sacred rocks beyond Dhambala Homeland center, Elcho island.

12 May, 2019 - 22:03 Ed Whelan

Will Ancient African Coin Found in Australia 'Change Everything'?

The tenacity of amateur archaeologists and historians searching on a remote island off the coast of the Northern Territories in Australia seems to have finally paid off. The team has found a small...

A saber-toothed cat stands atop a boulder on a grassy plain. Credit: Daniel / Adobe Stock

8 May, 2019 - 23:00 ancient-origins

Of Bunyips and Other Beasts: Evidence of Extinct Megafauna Displayed in Art and Stories

On many continents during the last ice age , typically from about 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, species of megafauna that had lived there for hundreds of thousands of years became extinct...

19 March, 2019 - 17:51 dhwty

How Does the Aboriginal Executioner ‘Kurdaitcha Man’ Avenge the Dead?

Kurdaitcha (known also as Kurdaitcha man) is a ritual ‘ executioner ’ in the culture of the Australian Aborigines , in particular the Arrernte people of Central Australia. The job of a Kurdaitcha was...

Detail of the breastplate from Captain Matthew Flinders' grave. (HS2) Insert: Watercolour miniature portrait of British navigator Matthew Flinders, dated about 1800.

25 January, 2019 - 22:52 Ed Whelan

Archaeologists Find the Lost Grave of Captain Flinders – The First to Circumnavigate Australia

Archaeologists working at a famous burial site in London have identified the remains of a very important British explorer and navigator. They have found the coffin and remains of Captain Matthew...

‘Arrival of Burke, Wills and King at the deserted camp at Cooper's Creek, Sunday evening, 21st April 1861’ (1907) by John Longstaff.

16 January, 2019 - 14:04 Caleb Strom

Exploration and Misfortune—The Tragic Tale of the Burke and Wills Expedition

Going out into the unknown comes with a cost. This was learned the hard way by the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-1861, the first European expedition across Australia from Melbourne, Victoria in...

Prison turned government building at KAVHA on Norfolk Island (1825-55).

28 November, 2018 - 01:38 Ed Whelan

Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area on Norfolk Island was Hell in Paradise

Australia is famous for its convict settlements and penal colonies. One of the most important and infamous convict settlements was at Norfolk Island in the South Pacific Sea. Today the penal colony...

Tetrodon Loop, Dirk Hartog Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia

16 October, 2018 - 14:00 ashley cowie

Australian Dirk Hartog Island Undergoes $16million Fauna Roll Back to 1616

One of Australia's oldest landing sites of pre-European settlement has been successfully restored to “how it was 400 years ago” saving an entire ancient ecosystem from collapse. Dirk Hartog Island...

20 September, 2018 - 22:56 Ed Whelan

Have Experts Finally Located the Wreck of Cook’s Ship HMS Endeavour?

Marine archaeologists are about to announce that they have solved one of the greatest maritime mysteries of all time. They believe that they have finally discovered the wreck of HMS Endeavour, the...

Uluru, also referred to as Ayers Rock, is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area. It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

27 August, 2018 - 23:46 Robin Whitlock

Aboriginal languages could reveal scientific clues to Australia’s unique past

The loss of Australian aboriginal languages could obstruct access to unique scientific information regarding Australia’s ancient geological history, according to a story reported this week by BBC...

Ancient Aboriginal drawings of mythical quinkins/yowies. Laura, Australia.

15 August, 2018 - 19:12 Bryan Hill

The Australian Yowie: Mysterious Legends of a Tribe of Hairy People

In 1804, the book Modern Geography – a Description of the Empires, Kingdoms, States and Colonies: with the Oceans, Seas and Isles: In all Parts of the World was published by John Pinkerton. In it...

The 40,000-year-old remains of Mungo Man were discovered in 1974 on the southern sector of the eroding Lake Mungo shoreline.

8 July, 2018 - 22:56 ancient-origins

Fifty Years Ago, at Lake Mungo, the True Scale of Aboriginal Australians’ Epic Story was Revealed

This month marks the golden jubilee of a watershed event in the history of this nation that should cause all Australians to pause and reflect. On July 15, 1968, while searching for clues to past...

One of the four images of the cockatoo gifted to Frederick II by the ‘Sultan of Babylon’.

27 June, 2018 - 13:59 ashley cowie

The Dark Legacy of an Exotic Parrot Gifted to an Ancient Emperor

Four images of an Australasian white cockatoo discovered in a 13th century Sicilian manuscript have reset historical models of the European “discovery’ of Australia. What is more, they mark the...

The 2,200-year-old coin will go on display at the Cairns Museum later this year.

4 June, 2018 - 18:53 ashley cowie

WW1 Souvenir? Or Proof Ancient Egyptians Sailed to Australia?

While the legacy of an ancient Egyptian coin discovered in a rainforest in far north Queensland, Australia baffles experts, it equally excites a growing faction of people who believe that ancient...

Representation of prehistoric people around a campfire.

30 May, 2018 - 23:00 Alicia McDermott

Cave Holds Evidence of a 20,000-year-old Kangaroo Meat Family BBQ

Some 20,000 years ago a family of eight to ten people shared in a timeless tradition – they had a BBQ. But the meat on their menu was probably not a kind of steak you’d normally put on your grill…...

Sunset looking across Port Warrender to the Mitchell Plateau on the Kimberley coast. It is in Wunambal Gaambera country

25 May, 2018 - 23:00 ancient-origins

How to get to Australia … more than 50,000 years ago

The Conversation Over just the past few years, new archaeological findings have revealed the lives of early Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu potentially as early as 65,000...

The oldest known message in a bottle was found on a beach north of Wedge Island in Ausatralia.

9 March, 2018 - 01:53 Alicia McDermott

A New Find of the ‘Oldest Message in a Bottle’ Was Part of a German Experiment

Over 130 years ago a bottle was cast overboard during a voyage of a German merchant sailing barque… Before you get your head filled with romantic notions of pirates, shipwrecked souls, long-lost...

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Myths & Legends

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Source: Luca Oleastri / Adobe.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Searching For a Way to the Home Planet

In contrast to many theorists, this unconventional retelling of key parts of the Epic explores the idea that Gilgamesh was not searching for life eternal on Earth, as has been suggested as the theme of the Epic, but was instead searching for the means of transport to return to his goddess mother Ninsun’s home planet in the heavens.

The Warriors of the Rainbow Prophecy

Say the Magic Word: The Origins of Abracadabra

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The notorious and much feared ancient order of Hashshashins

Gateway to the Heavens: The Assyrian Account to the Tower of Babel

Human Origins

Work using the Statue of Gilgamesh and Lamassu. Source: CC BY 4.0

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

This retelling of key parts of the Epic explores the unconventional idea that Gilgamesh was not searching for life eternal on Earth, as has been suggested as the theme of the Epic, but was instead searching for the means of transport to return to his goddess mother Ninsun’s home planet in the heavens. Taking poetic licence, the author merges some ideas from modern science and technology with the story from the ancient text.

The Pagan Wheel of the Year: What Elaborate Rituals and Events Mark this Sacred Cycle?

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

Evidence that Noah’s Ark Landed on a Mountain 17 Miles South of Ararat

Ancient Technology

Egyptian Blue – The Oldest Known Artificial Pigment

Egyptian Blue, also known as calcium copper silicate, is one of the first artificial pigments known to have been used by man. The oldest known example of the exquisite pigment is said to be about...

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

Romans in Pompeii Repaired the Roads with Molten Iron

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Ancient Places

Sumer: Where Written Language, Arithmetic and Civilization Were Born

The Sumerian civilization (known also as Sumer) was one of the earliest civilizations in the world. This ancient civilization emerged in the region of southern Mesopotamia (modern day southern Iraq), between the Tigris and Euphrates River.

First Kingdoms: The Forgotten Mesopotamian Kingdom of Ebla

Homer’s Iliad Casts Doubt on the Aegean Location of Troy

The Theopetra Cave and the Oldest Human Construction in the World

Fuerte De Samaipata - A Site of Ceremonial Carvings and Sacrifice

Explaining the Fall of the Great Akkadian Empire

Opinion

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.