Bacteria

This illustration shows the structure of the Eustachian Tube in a Neanderthal male and it's similarity to the human infant. Source: SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

19 September, 2019 - 23:07 ancient-origins

Did a Common Childhood Illness Take Down the Neanderthals?

A 21st century nuisance for parents may have proved deadly to early man . It is one of the great unsolved mysteries of anthropology. What killed off the Neanderthals , and why did Homo sapiens thrive...

Man looking out to the cosmos. Credit: Kevin Carden / Adobe Stock

12 August, 2019 - 22:53 ancient-origins

Our Cosmic Ancestry in the Stars: The Deepest Questions

Where have we come from? Where are we going? What are we here for? Is life unique to this rocky planet we call Earth? These are the deepest of philosophical questions and perhaps the very first that...

The written instructions for an onion and garlic eye salve from the Anglo-Saxon manuscript Bald's Leechbook. The remedy was found to kill MRSA bacteria.

13 July, 2018 - 01:13 lizleafloor

Medieval Medicine: 1,000-year-old Onion and Garlic Salve Kills Modern Bacterial SuperBugs

To the surprise and excitement of researchers, a ninth century Anglo-Saxon treatment for eye infections has been used successfully to kill tenacious bacteria cultures. The ancient remedy consisting...

Salmonella bacteria, a common cause of foodborne disease, invade an immune cell.

23 March, 2018 - 00:57 ancient-origins

Scientists Find DNA Evidence of the Bacteria that Almost Wiped out the Aztecs

Architectural investigations of the Grand Plaza resulted in the unexpected discovery of a large epidemic cemetery associated with the 1545-1550 cocoliztli epidemic. The cemetery was found to contain...

18 February, 2017 - 02:04 Alicia McDermott

Have Researchers Discovered What Caused the 16th Century Mexican Epidemic That Killed Over 80% of the Population?

A pair of recently published studies point the finger at a deadly form of salmonella as the cause of millions of deaths in a 16th century Mexican epidemic outbreak. This cocoliztli (pestilence in...

The skeleton of a woman who died 800 years ago on the outskirts of the ancient city of Troy in modern Turkey.

13 January, 2017 - 14:46 ancient-origins

800-Year-Old Skeleton Discovered in Troy Shows Signs of Death from a Fatal Infection

Eight hundred years ago, in a hardscrabble farming community on the outskirts of what was once one of the fabled cities of the ancient world, Troy, a 30-year-old woman was laid to rest in a stone-...

15 April, 2016 - 00:49 ancient-origins

Neanderthals May have been Infected by Diseases carried out of Africa by Humans, say Researchers

A review of the latest genetic evidence suggests infectious diseases are tens of thousands of years older than previously thought, and that they could jump between species of ‘hominin’. Researchers...

Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants.

5 April, 2016 - 03:49 ancient-origins

How Ancient Horse-Dung Bacteria is Helping Locate Where Hannibal Crossed the Alps

Chris Allen / The Conversation Despite thousands of years of hard work by brilliant scholars, the great enigma of where Hannibal crossed the Alps to invade Italy remained unsolved. But now it looks...

Reconstruction of the Iceman. Prehistory Museum of Quinson, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France.

8 January, 2016 - 00:53 Alicia McDermott

Stomach Troubles for the Iceman: How Otzi Continues to Provide Information About the Past

Ötzi, the Copper Age man, continues to tell tales of our homo sapien past. Now, an international team of scientists including paleopathologist Albert Zink and microbiologist Frank Maixner from the...

Bronze Age skeleton found at Stragglethorpe, during archaeological work on the Highways Agency scheme, England.

1 October, 2015 - 20:01 lizleafloor

Bronze Age Britons Mummified the Dead: Smoked over Fires, Preserved in Bogs

Mummification may have been more common in Bronze Age Britain than previously believed, and the ancient Britons may have purposefully mummified their dead with unknown funerary rituals—but why and...

30 September, 2015 - 14:42 Mark Miller

Amber encases a flea infected 20 million years ago with bubonic plague-type bacteria

Closely related ancestors of the bacteria that cause the bubonic plague may be millions of years older than the 14 th century, when the disease devastated Asia and killed more than half of Europe’s...

Living bacteria found in Siberian permafrost

20 September, 2015 - 14:49 ancient-origins

Russian scientists make progress on secret of eternal life

Scientists have decoded the DNA of a bacteria found thriving in ancient permafrost, and are now seeking to understand the genes which provide its extraordinary longevity. Work is also underway to...

La Peste (1695) wax sculpture, Gaetano Zumbo, Museum of Specola, Florence

13 September, 2015 - 04:12 ancient-origins

The Black Death: the Plague that Sowed Terror and Death in Medieval Europe - Part 2

Read Part 1 Science had to wait until the nineteenth century to banish the idea of a supposed supernatural origin of the plague. The fear of a pandemic on a global scale persisted for four...

This photo shows the mummy of Michael Orlovits in the Mummies of the World exhibition. Dry air preserved the decease people’s bodies and clothing.

10 April, 2015 - 14:33 Mark Miller

Mummified 18th century bodies give scientists clues about spread of TB

Scientists recently examined tissue samples from tuberculosis-infected bodies that were naturally mummified in a church crypt in Vac, Hungary. Researchers found that the tuberculosis that killed them...

19 July, 2014 - 00:15 aprilholloway

Otzi's non-human DNA: Opportunistic pathogen discovered in ancient Iceman

Ötzi the iceman, as he has come to be known, is a 5,300-year-old mummy who was discovered by some German tourists in the Alps in 1991. He was originally believed to be the frozen corpse of a...

20 September, 2013 - 00:56 aprilholloway

Scientists Reveal Extraterrestrial Life Found in Earth’s Atmosphere

British scientists have found evidence for a microscopic organism living 27 kilometres above Earth in the stratosphere and argue that it could not have been carried up into the atmosphere by storms...

Pages

Myths & Legends

Glastonbury Tor. Source: vlorzor / Adobe. Inset: Representational image of a skeleton.

The Glastonbury Giant: Who Did the Mystery Bones of A Nine Foot Skeleton Belong To?

When researching the reality of giants in the past, one story which has survived the ages is the apparent discovery of the ‘Glastonbury Giant’ which was allegedly unearthed in 1190, on orders of King Henry II, following rumors that the legendary King Arthur was in fact buried at that specific location.

Ragnar Lothbrok: A Real Viking Hero Whose Life Became Lost to Legend

Lilith: Adam’s First Wife in Eden or a Diabolical Demoness?

Was Moloch really Ba’al, the Ancient God Who Demanded Child Sacrifice?

The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History

Walking the Waves: Celestial Puns Resolve the Conflicting Accounts of Jesus’ Sea-Walk Miracle

Human Origins

Silhouettes (Public Domain) in front of blood cells (Public Domain) and a gene.

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

Most people who have the Rh blood type are Rh-positive. There are also instances, however, where people are Rh-Negative. Health problems may occur for the unborn child of a mother with Rh-Negative blood when the baby is Rh-Positive.

11 Mysterious Human Species That Most People Don’t Know Existed

Facing the Facts: Just How Accurate Are Facial Reconstructions?

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Easter Island’s Birdman Cult: A Story of Struggle and Survival

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Ancient Technology

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

The Norimitsu Odachi is a huge sword from Japan. It is so large, in fact, that it was said to have been wielded by a giant. Apart from the basic knowledge of it having been forged in the 15th century AD, measuring 3.77 meters (12.37 ft.) in length, and weighing as much as 14.5 kg (31.97 lbs.), this impressive sword is shrouded in mystery.

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

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

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

Ancient Places

The Templar’s Tunnel (olegmayorov / Adobe Stock)

The Templar Tunnel: Knight’s Strategic Passageway Was Lost for 700 Years

The Templar Tunnel is an underground passageway located in the city of Acre, in what is now Israel. This tunnel was built by the Knights Templar when the city was under the rule of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and served as a strategic passageway connecting the Templar palace to the port.

The Macabre Capela dos Ossos: Why was it Decorated with the Dead?

The Five Good Emperors: Prosperity and Power Before the Final Fall

The Ottoman Empire: 600 Years of Domination

The White Slaves of Barbary

The Where, When and How of Quarrying Stonehenge 'Bluestones' Is Revealed in New Report

Opinion

Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes?

Halfway up a near-vertical ravine in the Andes, someone carved an inverted V-shaped entrance into the mountainside. Then they sliced the bedrock with great precision to create a shallow door that...

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

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

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.