building

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...

The Crooked House of Windsor. Left: From the Front. Right: From the Back

7 August, 2017 - 14:00 dhwty

A House with a Twist: The 16th Century Crooked House of Windsor and Its Colorful History

The Crooked House of Windsor, also known as the Market Cross House, is a 16th century building located in the market town of Windsor, in the southeastern English county of Berkshire. As its name...

Pages

Myths & Legends

A coloured rendition of the Sun Stone Calendar - Atzec

The Aztec Calendar Wheel and the Philosophy of Time

The Aztec calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for centuries. It was not just a way to keep time - it was a complete philosophy of time in which every day had a religious significance...

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

Messengers of Misery: Mourning Women in Mythology

Helen of Troy, The Beauty Who Sparked the Trojan War

The Real Story of Medusa, the Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Human Origins

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Sumer, or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and writing, architecture and arts, astronomy and mathematics.

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

Creation Myth of the Maori – New Zealand

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

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

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

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.

Robots Guarded Buddha’s Relics in a Legend of Ancient India

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

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

Ancient Places

Were the Chislehurst Caves Originally Created By Druids?

The Chislehurst Caves are a series of man-made subterranean tunnels, rooms, and caverns located in the southeastern part of Greater London. The caves were originally chalk and flint mines, which were abandoned around the early 19th century.

Vikings in Ireland: Recent Discoveries Shedding New Light on the Fearsome Warriors that Invaded Irish Shores

First Feast? The Burial at the Hilazon Tachtit Cave Site

Khajuraho: The Sexiest Temples in India

Somalia: The Ancient Lost Kingdom of Punt is Finally Found?

How Ancient People Marked the Equinox Around the World

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.