Britain

4 February, 2019 - 18:54 Ed Whelan

Oldest Evidence of Beer in Britain Found By Accident During Road Project

A road construction project in Britain has uncovered the first evidence of the brewing of beer . Workers uncovered some evidence of charred residue and other matter that would indicate brewing,...

A micrograph of the spliced textile from Over barrow, Cambridgeshire. Credit: M. Gleba, S. Harris, with permission of Cambridge Archaeological Unit

31 July, 2018 - 01:50 ancient-origins

Unraveling the Secrets of Bronze Age Thread: Textile Reveals Highly Advanced and Complex Process Used 3,800 Years Ago

A new study published this week in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences has identified that the earliest plant fibre technology for making thread in Early Bronze Age Britain and...

Two actors from the History Channel series “Vikings.”

2 July, 2018 - 14:58 Mark Miller

Survey Shows About Half of Brits Wish They Were Descended from Vikings…and Many Probably Are!

If you’re from the British Isles, do you ever wonder if you’re a descendant of the marauding Vikings known sometimes to rape and pillage far from home and other times to set up settlements and...

9 June, 2018 - 18:59 ancient-origins

More than Blood and Bling: Our Many Visions of the Vikings

Steven Ashby / The Conversation Does the popularity of the Vikings simply emerge from the romance of mythology and adventure, or is something more interesting at play? The Vikings have an enduring...

27 March, 2018 - 01:56 ancient-origins

Glastonbury: Archaeology is Revealing New Truths About the Origins of British Christianity

Roberta Gilchrist/The Conversation New archaeological research on Glastonbury Abbey pushes back the date for the earliest settlement of the site by 200 years – and reopens debate on Glastonbury’s...

17 March, 2018 - 21:56 ancient-origins

In Medieval Britain, If You Wanted to Get Ahead, You Had to Speak French

The study of modern languages in British secondary schools is in steep decline. The number of students taking French and German GCSE has more than halved in the last 16 years. But as the UK prepares...

Reconstruction of a Beaker burial, (National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid).

23 February, 2018 - 02:02 ancient-origins

90% of the Neolithic British Gene Pool Was Replaced by Beaker Immigrants

Scientists once could reconstruct humanity's distant past only from the mute testimony of ancient settlements, bones, and artifacts. No longer. Now there's a powerful new approach for illuminating...

17 February, 2018 - 19:20 Riley Winters

Magic into Myth: Avalon, Mystical Isle of Medieval Arthurian Literature

The Isle of Apples, Isle of the Blessed, and the Otherworld. These titles have long been associated with the magical resting place of the early medieval king, Arthur Pendragon. A realm imbued with...

Close up of the model of Cheddar Man rendered by Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions

7 February, 2018 - 18:38 ashley cowie

Blue Eyed, Black Skinned British Hunter Closes Race Debate

A 10,000-year-old hunter had “dark to black” skin, a groundbreaking DNA analysis of Britain’s oldest complete skeleton has revealed. The Cheddar Man fossil was unearthed in Gough’s Cave in Somerset...

30 January, 2018 - 13:59 ancient-origins

Britannia, Druids and the Surprisingly Modern Origins of Myths

The new TV series Britannia, which has won plaudits as heralding a new generation of British folk-horror, is clearly not intended to be strictly historical. Instead director Jez Butterworth gives us...

Main: The rough Cullinan Diamond (public domain). Inset: One of the nine stones it was cut into (public domain)

5 January, 2018 - 17:35 micki pistorius

Find of a Lifetime: 3,106-Carat Diamond Worth US $2 Billion Takes Its Place in History

Created an unimaginably distant time in the past, diamonds are the most coveted and valued of precious stones. The story of the discovery and destiny of the Cullinan diamond, to this day the largest...

Caesar's first invasion of Britain: Caesar's boat is pulled to the shore while his soldiers fight the resisting indigenous warriors. Lithograph by W. Linnell after E. Armitage.

30 November, 2017 - 02:00 ancient-origins

First Hard Evidence for Julius Caesar's Invasion of Britain Discovered

The first evidence for Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain has been discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester. Based on new evidence, the team suggests that the first landing of...

L-R: An iron involuted brooch, copper alloy horn-cap, dress pin and cauldron that were found at the site.

28 November, 2017 - 18:40 Theodoros Karasavvas

Ancient British Bake Off? Cauldrons Fit for Feasting Found at Iron Age Settlement

The wealth of evidence found suggests there were many mouths being fed at an Iron Age settlement in the UK that looks to have developed into a regional center for ceremonies and feasting. A Unique...

25 November, 2017 - 18:57 Hugh Newman

The Giants of Ancient Albion & the Legendary Founding of Prehistoric Britain

Giants are at the heart of national folklore concerning the founding of Britain, and archaic traditions state they have inhabited the country since deep antiquity. This article investigates not only...

31 March, 2017 - 14:02 ashley cowie

Scotland’s Catastrophic Comet Conspiracy

In 1945, one of Britain’s social and intellectual elite, William Comyns Beaumont, a hyper-eccentric catastrophist published the most bizarre conspiracy theory of all time in which “Plato's legendary...

Seventy-five graves with about 150 skeletons have been uncovered at the construction site in Pocklington, England. Workers halted construction so an archaeological firm could excavate and document the site. Usually when human remains are exhumed they are returned to the earth later, but grave artifacts go to museums.

30 March, 2017 - 22:55 Mark Miller

Why Did Iron Age People Bury a Chariot and Two Horses?

Yet more fantastic finds are coming out of an Iron Age burial site in England that dates back about 2,500 years. The latest discovery was a burial of a chariot and two horses on the periphery of a...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000-year-old history

The swastika is a symbol that was used in the 20th century by of one of the most hated men ever to have lived, a symbol that now represents the slaughter of millions of people and one of the most destructive wars on Earth.

Lilith: Ancient Demon, Dark Deity or Sensual Goddess?

The Real Story of Medusa and the Gorgons

Tracing the origins of the Serpent Cult

Slithering Through the Stories of Ancient Snake Deities: Serpent Gods of Ancient Mythology

The Age of the Gods: The Legendary History of Japan

Human Origins

Artist's impression of prehistoric hunters.

Dark Skin and Blue Eyes: European Hunter-Gatherers Did Not Fit with Common Representations

The popular image of the light-skinned European hunter-gatherer is not correct. DNA taken from a 7,000-year-old wisdom tooth found in Spain in 2006 shows a different story. A study of the tooth shows that the man who owned it had dark hair, blue eyes, and the dark-skinned genes of an African

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

A Snapshot of Our Mysterious Ancestor Homo erectus

Asherah: God’s Forgotten Wife

Return of the Ancient Gods: The Resurgence of Paganism

Ancient Technology

Stone of the Pregnant Woman, an example of ancient high-tech stonework in Hajar al Hibla at Baalbek in Lebanon.

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

The Beautiful and Complex Artisanship of Glass-making in the Ancient World

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

Boggling Bannerstones of Ancient Americans: Were They a Function of Flight or More a Flight of Fancy?

Ancient Places

One of the 40 monasteries on the Holy Mount Athos.

Mount Athos – Garden of the Mother of God and Holiest of Holy Mountains to Some

Mount Athos, known also as the Holy Mountain, is a mountain located in Greece. The site is a semi-autonomous republic of Eastern Orthodox monks and is considered to be one of the holiest places of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Were the Women of Petra More Important Than the Men?

The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni and an unknown race with elongated skulls

The Mysterious Dropa Stones – Fact or Fiction?

Sacred Powers Fade Along With the Rock Art of the San People at Ha Baroana

The Dispilio Tablet - the oldest known written text

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

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

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

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

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

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.