building

The design experiment created by MIT scientists Credit: Brandon Clifford & Johanna Lobdell in collaboration with Davide Zampini

19 April, 2019 - 14:22 ashley cowie

Is this How Ancient Megalithic Structures Were Made? MIT Scientist Move 25-Ton Blocks by Hand!

Ancient cultures in Peru, China and Egypt, to name only a few; quarried, lifted, transported and crafted vast megaliths, some weighing several hundred tons. Until now, theories as to how these stones...

How were the pyramids built? The discovery of a quarry ramp may finally provide a consensus on this debate.

1 November, 2018 - 23:28 Ed Whelan

Archaeologists Say They’ve Solved Mystery of How Pyramids were Built After Unearthing 4,500-Year-Old Ramp

Has the riddle of how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids finally been solved? A multi-national team of experts say yes, after they unearthed an ancient ramp, which they say was used to haul...

Egyptian blue shabti figures on display in the Egyptian exhibit at the Louvre in France in 2006.

17 October, 2018 - 13:57 ashley cowie

Eco-Architecture in Egyptian Blue: Scientists Discover Modern Usage for the 4000-Year-Old Pigment

Egyptian blue was a brilliant blue color first created in ancient Egypt over 4000 years ago. Now, scientists have found it to hold unique qualities that can “reduce building energy consumption and...

29 August, 2018 - 23:34 dhwty

Ziggurat: A Mesopotamian Manmade Mountain to Reach the Gods

With their massive terraces decreasing in size as the building rises, ziggurats can easily be called manmade mountains. They are identifiable structures most often associated with ancient...

2 June, 2018 - 22:47 dhwty

The Great Wall of Gorgan: Red Snake of Iran Saw Empires Rise and Civilizations Crumble

The Great Wall of Gorgan, also known as the ‘Red Snake’, is a defense system located in the northern Iranian province of Golestan. This defensive wall dates to the Sassanian period, and is believed...

23 May, 2018 - 23:03 dhwty

The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing: One of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World

Many children have been warned to be careful around their grandmother’s fine porcelain plates. Those kids may grow up thinking that porcelain is a fragile material which has to be handled with care (...

11 April, 2018 - 23:02 Alicia McDermott

Megalithic Examination Explains Why Stonehenge was Built on Salisbury Plain

The ability to excavate at the world-famous Stonehenge archaeological site is a privilege. Not everyone has gained special access to explore the megaliths with the closest detail. Thus, those who...

22 March, 2018 - 12:59 dhwty

The Casa do Penedo: A Portuguese Flintstones House

Sensationally dubbed online as a ‘real life Flintstones house’, the Casa do Penedo dates not to the Stone Age, but to the 1970s. Being such a curious structure, the Casa do Penedo has since become a...

An illustration depicting the construction of the Egyptian pyramids

11 March, 2018 - 14:23 ashley cowie

Demystifying the Egyptian Pyramids with Hard Facts

It has always fascinated, and worried me at the same time, how many people I meet that are still mesmerized by aspects of the pyramids in Egypt that archeologists solved many years ago. The when, how...

31 January, 2018 - 02:00 dhwty

The Ruins of Valle dei Mulini: Abandoned by Humans, Reclaimed by Nature

Ruins of old mills dot the landscape of the Valle dei Mulini (‘Valley of the Mills’). Their crumbled walls are the remains of abandoned structures which once filled the valley with human life. Now,...

12 January, 2018 - 13:58 dhwty

Santu Antine, Sardinia: A Megalithic House Built for a King?

A mysterious civilization built megalithic structures across the island of Sardinia in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The buildings are now known as nuraghes – and the impressive nuraghe called Santu...

Troglodyte structures in Setenil de las Bodegas in Cadiz Province, Spain.

26 December, 2017 - 13:57 dhwty

Setenil de las Bodegas: Peculiar Troglodyte Buildings and a Strange Name for a Quaint Spanish Town

Setenil de las Bodegas is a town located in Cádiz, a province in the southern part of Spain. The current town dates back to the 15th century AD, when the Moors who occupied it were expelled during...

The Colosseum in Rome, once home to the most brutal games in history.

3 December, 2017 - 02:01 Riley Winters

The Colosseum – From Gladiator Fights to Gory Executions and Sea Battles

Gladiatorial fights, sea battles, criminal (and Christian?) executions. These are only a few of the events, if they can even be called such, that happened in the walls of the Colosseum. Known during...

Top image: Archaeologists looking at aerial photography found what they thought to be a hidden long barrow, or Neolithic burial chamber, hidden beneath a wheat field.

22 November, 2017 - 02:02 ancient-origins

No Bones Provides a New Perspective for ‘House of the Dead’

This summer, the University of Reading Archaeology Field School excavated one of the most extraordinary sites we have ever had the pleasure of investigating. The site is an Early Neolithic long...

22 October, 2017 - 14:04 Alicia McDermott

Intricacy and Reflection: Transforming Mandalas from Sacred Designs to Art Therapy

Although the word ‘Mandala’ simply means “circle” or “discoid object” in Sanskrit, the significance is far more complex. Traditionally, mandalas represented the intricacy of the universe and served...

One of the so-called dragon houses (drakospita).

8 October, 2017 - 18:51 Riley Winters

The Mystery of the Ancient Greek ‘Dragon Houses’

Mt. Olympus, the Peloponnesian War, Pericles, Athens, and, of course, the Parthenon. When one considers ancient Greece, these are only a few of the topics that usually spring to mind. The heroic age...

Pages

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.

Say the Magic Word: The Origins of Abracadabra

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The Nature and Dangers of the Legendary Kobold

The Menhune of Hawaii – Ancient Race or Fictional Fairytale?

Human Origins

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

Although it may be a long time (if ever) before pagans reclaim their Yule from Christmas or their Samhain from Halloween, it is worthwhile to explore these ancient religious traditions. The Wheel of the Year follows the cycle of pagan festivals.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

Are the Distinctive Kalash People of Pakistan Really Descendants of Alexander the Great’s Army?

Ancient Technology

An ancient Roman road at Leptis Magna, Libya

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

It was not uncommon for the ancient Romans to travel long distances all across Europe. Actually during the Roman Empire, Rome had an incredible road network which extended from northern England all...

The incredible earthquake detector invented nearly 2,000 years ago

Mummy Brown – the 16th century paint made from ground up mummies

Romans in Pompeii Repaired the Roads with Molten Iron

Why Are There 365 Days in a Year? Organizing Dates with an Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

Ancient Places

Royal Palace at Ebla. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

First Kingdoms: The Forgotten Mesopotamian Kingdom of Ebla

Spectacular things were happening in Mesopotamia in the period we call the Early Bronze Age, particularly in the southern part of it, commonly called Babylonia.

Sumer: Where Written Language, Arithmetic and Civilization Were Born

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

Explaining the Fall of the Great Akkadian Empire

The Great Ziggurat of Ur

The Incredible Subterranean City of Kish

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.