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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago, diverse European cultures from the Gravettian period utilized marine shells, teeth, beads, and other ornaments for personal adornment, shown here. Source: J. Baker, et al/Nature

Prehistoric Jewelry Unveils 9 Distinct Paleolithic European Cultures

A fascinating new study has explored the cultural behavior of prehistoric humans in Europe from tens of thousands of years ago, and learnt that our ancestors adorned themselves with a diverse array...
Turkana stone beads. Credit: Carla Klehm

Turkana Stone Beads Tell a Story of Herder Life in East Africa 5,000 Years Ago

On the shores of Lake Turkana in east Africa, about 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, pastoralists buried their dead in communal cemeteries that were marked by stone circles and pillars. The north-west Kenya...
A Gothic boxwood miniature prayer bead. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain.

The Intricate Carvings of Gothic Boxwood Miniature Prayer Beads (Video)

Unlocking centuries-old mysteries, Gothic Boxwood Miniature Prayer Beads have long baffled experts with their intricate scenes delicately carved into walnut-sized spheres during the 1400s and 1500s...
Human skeletal remains (representational image). Source: Thanakrit / Adobe Stock

11,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found in British Cave

An astounding discovery in the Heaning Wood Bone Cave in northern England has revealed the oldest human remains found in the region, dating back 11,000 years. A team from the University of Central...

Baby Slings Were a Thing 10,000 Years Ago, New Discovery Reveals

A team of archaeologists have studied the remains of a 10,000-year-old baby with high technology. Their new paper not only found signs of ritual burial, but it reveals that baby carriers, or baby...
Lindisfarne Castle on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne is currently part of crowdfunded archaeological digs through DigVentures, and their most recent find were prayer beads made from salmon vertebrae. Source: Chris Combe / CC BY 2.0

Diggers Find England’s Oldest Prayer Beads on Lindisfarne Holy Island!

Archaeologists exploring Lindisfarne, an island known for its rich religious history - including the first Viking invasion - have recovered the oldest prayer beads ever found in England. While...
The oldest pearl bead found in Qatar recently reveals just how long pearl trading and diving has been practiced in the region. (Qatar Marine)

The 6,500-Year-Old Pearl Bead Found in Neolithic Grave in Qatar

In March, 2022, media accounced the discovery of the oldest pearl bead in Qatar, which has a rich history of pearl diving and trade. As reported on by I Love Qatar (ILQ), the archaeological mission,...
The Bizmoune Cave sea snail shell beads have been dated to at least 142,000 years ago, according to the latest research study, making them the oldest jewelry

Were Bizmoune Cave Shell Beads A Form Of Ancient ID?

Humans were adorning their persons to make fashion statements 142,000 to 150,000 ago, according to a new analysis of the sea snail shell jewelry beads found in Morocco’s Bizmoune Cave. Conducted by a...
World’s Oldest Jewelry Excavated at a Moroccan Cave

World’s Oldest Jewelry Excavated at a Moroccan Cave

Human beings have been wearing necklaces, bracelets earrings, and other forms of jewelry for a long time. But when you are next looking at a cross bracelet in an antique store and wondering what...
Artifacts in Alaska Prove Pre-Columbian America-Europe Trade

Artifacts in Alaska Prove Pre-Columbian America-Europe Trade

The stunning discovery of pre-Columbian artifacts, originally from Europe, in Alaska could be definitive proof that ancient trade networks existed between Europe and northern Alaska in the mid-15 th...
Glass Beads Help to Map Unknown Medieval African Trade Routes

Glass Beads Help to Map Unknown Medieval African Trade Routes

For several decades, a team of researchers have been carrying out excavations at old cemeteries and villages at sites in central Mali and eastern Senegal. Over the years they’ve come across a handful...
Artifacts discovered at ritual platform discovered in Dûmat al-Jandal in northern Saudi Arabia.         Source: ©Mission archéologique de Dûmat al-Handal / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Ritual Platform Discovered in Saudi Arabia, With Egyptian Artifacts

While the megalithic stone monuments of northern Arabia remain largely unknown, the discovery of a vast ritual platform and Egyptian artifacts in northern Saudi Arabia has shed light on the evolution...
Ostrich eggshell beads have been used to cement relationships in Africa for more than 30,000 years.  Source: John Klausmeyer, Yuchao Zhao & Brian Stewart / University of Michigan

Prehistoric Ostrich Egg Unravels Clues to Human Life 33,000 Years Ago

A team of scientists have discovered 33,000-year-old ostrich egg beads in the Lesotho Highlands, about a 1,000 kilometers away from where ostriches roamed. This establishes hitherto unknown...
Main: Hopewell burial mounds in Ohio (CC by SA 3.0). Inset: One of the meteoritic iron beads found in a Hopewell mound.

Jewelry from Outer Space: Hopewell Culture Made Beads from Meteoritic Iron

A team of scientists has discovered the origins of the ancient Hopewell culture's meteorite jewelry. The beads were found in a burial mound in Havana, Illinois, in 1945. Many questions about the...
Glass beads of all colors found in the ancient city of Ile-Ife.

1000-year-old Glass Beads Provide First Evidence of Glassmaking Development in Sub-Saharan West Africa

A newly found treasure trove of more than 10,000 colorful glass beads and evidence of glassmaking tools, makes scientists think that an ancient city in southwestern Nigeria was one of the first...
How Were They Made? Unlocking the 500-Year-Old Secret to Gothic Miniature Boxwood Carvings

How Were They Made? Unlocking the 500-Year-Old Secret to Gothic Miniature Boxwood Carvings

A mystery that lasted for nearly five centuries was finally solved with the assistance of modern technology. The magnificent 16th century miniature boxwood carvings that had been puzzling viewers and...
High Fashion of Ancient Egypt: The Bead-Net Dress

High Fashion of Ancient Egypt: The Bead-Net Dress

Fashion trends are not just a modern construction. In ancient Egypt, looking fashionable was an important part of everyday life, especially for the elite members of society. One of the high class...
Fascinating Artifacts Unearthed in TWO Newly Discovered Neighboring Anglo-Saxon Sites in England

Fascinating Artifacts Unearthed in TWO Newly Discovered Neighboring Anglo-Saxon Sites in England

Preparations for two new Cambridgeshire housing development projects have uncovered a fine collection of precious ornamental items and weaponry from Anglo-Saxon times and rare Roman era domestic...
Main: 1,500-year-old tomb holding the coffin and skeleton of a woman named Farong, in Datong City, China. Inset: Two gold earrings were found beside Farong's skull in Datong City, China.

1,500-Year-Old Tomb Found in China with Incredible Golden Jewelry

A 1,500-year-old tomb unearthed in China was found to contain spectacular golden jewelry inlaid with gemstones and amethysts and a 5,000 bead necklace. A number of burials from the Northern Wei...
The area known as “street 9” in Lothal, Gujarat, India.

The Extensive Indus Valley Sites of Gujarat

The Indus Valley Civilization is believed to have existed between the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BC. This civilization covered an area of around 1,210,000 square km (467,183.6 square mi). As a...
One of the newly-discovered graves in Demark containing a blue bead matching glass from an Egyptian workshop

Glass beads link King Tutankhamun and Bronze Age Nordic women

Scientists working in Denmark have unearthed glass blue beads crafted in an ancient Egyptian workshop for King Tutankhamun that made its way north to Europe 3,400 years ago. The find helps prove...
Indus Valley Civilization artifact

The Indus Valley Civilization: An ornamented past, revealed in 5,000-year-old artifacts and jewelry

The Indus Valley Civilization was rich with culture and tradition, revealed in its wealth of beautiful, intricate, and elaborate ornaments, jewelry and artifacts. These items and more are on exhibit...
Ancient Egyptian Jewelry from Space

Origin of Ancient Egyptian Beads is Out of this World

A new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science has revealed that Ancient Egyptian beads found in a 5,000-year-old tomb were made from iron meteorites that fell to Earth from outer...