Columbus

World Map in a Double Hemisphere Piri Reis (circa 1467 – circa 1554 ) Walters Art Museum

27 February, 2019 - 18:11 jim willis

Shifting Earth Crusts: Does the Ancient Piri Reis Map Pinpoint Atlantis?

A master’s degree post graduate from Harvard University, Charles Hapgood served on what would eventually become the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and was a liaison officer between the White House...

1 February, 2019 - 22:56 Ed Whelan

Colonization of the Americas Caused Climatic Change

New research indicates that the death toll of the indigenous population of the Americas during and after European colonization was so high that it changed the environment around the globe and led to...

Detail of General Zheng He statue in Sam Po Kong temple, Semarang, Indonesia.

11 November, 2017 - 18:56 aprilholloway

The Chinese May Have Beaten the Famous Voyage of Columbus by 70 Years

There are a few controversial claims floating around that the Americas were reached by oversea cultures before Columbus made his well-known visit to the “New World” in 1492. For example, Italian...

Charcoal drawn face from a cave in Mona, Puerto Rico

30 October, 2017 - 21:55 Theodoros Karasavvas

Cave Art in the Dark: Thousands of Indigenous Pre-Columbian Paintings Brought to Light

A team of British and Puerto Rican archaeologists claim to have uncovered the long-lost art of a forgotten civilization on a tiny and remote uninhabited island in the Caribbean. Experts suggest that...

18 October, 2017 - 22:58 Ken Jeremiah

How Much of What We Believe About Ancient History is Really True? Thinking Critically about Myths and Legends

A legend is a tale regarded as historical even though it has not been proven, and the term “myth” can refer to common yet false ideas. Many myths and legends describe our history, but they are often...

22 July, 2017 - 19:08 ancient-origins

Mysterious Map Emerges at the Dawn of the Egyptian Civilization and Depicts Antarctica Without Ice – Who Made it?

On a chilly winter day in 1929, Halil Edhem, the Director of Turkey's National Museum, was hunched over his solitary task of classifying documents. He pulled towards him a map drawn on Roe deer skin...

Portrait attributed as Christopher Columbus (Public Domain) Deriv.

12 May, 2017 - 14:03 XpoKolon

Christopher Columbus: Master Double Agent and Portugal’s 007

Henry IV of Spain – known as "The Impotent" for his weakness, both on the throne and (allegedly) in the marriage chamber – died in 1474. A long and inconclusive war of succession ensued, pitting...

Posthumous portrait of Queen Isabella I of Castile.

30 April, 2017 - 01:54 dhwty

Queen Isabella I of Castile: What Drastic Measures Did She Take to Keep Her Power?

Isabella I was a Queen of Castile and León who lived between the middle of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries. Her reign is notable for a number of important events, including the...

Amerigo Vespucci meeting fair skinned and blond natives upon his arrival on his first voyage to the New World, 1497.

18 April, 2017 - 18:55 Caleb Strom

Did a Welsh Prince Reach the New World Before Columbus?

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506 AD) has already been dethroned as the European discoverer of the Americas. Most historians now agree that the first known Europeans in the New...

Painting depicting La Niña, La Pinta, and the Santa Maria. San Diego Maritime Museum.

31 July, 2016 - 14:41 Natalia Klimczak

Forgotten, Lost, or Destroyed? Exploring the Final Fate of the Famous Three Ships Led by Columbus

The story of Christopher Columbus would not have been complete without three ships: Santa Maria, La Pinta, and La Niña. Their names are still famous, but the ships themselves seem to have disappeared...

21 July, 2016 - 14:47 ancient-origins

Cave discoveries shed new light on Native and European religious encounters in the Americas

Recent fieldwork by a collaborative Anglo-Puerto Rican team has uncovered new evidence in the Caribbean of an early religious dialogue between Europeans and Native Americans. A large collection of...

12 June, 2016 - 21:45 ancient-origins

Evidence Accumulates for Ancient Transoceanic Voyages, Says Geographer

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times Theories on the fringe of science sometimes slowly work their way into the core as the evidence accumulates. “A classic example is the continental drift [theory],” said...

23 May, 2016 - 00:49 ancient-origins

A New Lead in the Search for Elusive Norse Settlements

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times CODROY VALLEY, Canada – A story passed down in my family for generations may be the clue to finding a lost Norse settlement. The only Norse settlement in the New World...

20 May, 2016 - 21:31 XpoKolon

End of the Enigmatic Christopher Columbus: A Man at Last Emerges to Eradicate the Myth

History is a record of the past – sculptured by omissions, interlarded with distortions, brazen lies and innocent befuddlement – forming an amalgam that's often stubbornly resistant to analysis. For...

"The Last Days of Tenochtitlan, Conquest of Mexico by Cortez", a 19th-century painting by William de Leftwich Dodge.

3 April, 2016 - 00:44 ancient-origins

Genes of 92 prehistoric Native Americans give further evidence of a terrible holocaust

The genocide of Native Americans is considered by many to be the worst of any in history—outstripping the later Jewish and Roma Holocaust by as much as an order of magnitude. Now a study of the...

‘Leif Eriksson Discovers America’ by Christian Krohg (1893).

26 January, 2016 - 03:49 Natalia Klimczak

Years Before Columbus: Leif Erikson, His Life and His Voyage of Adventure to the New World

Many people still believe that the person who “discovered” America was Christopher Columbus, forgetting the fact that there were already indigenous people living there. An additional fact that is...

Pages

Myths & Legends

“Full moon rising over Mount Shasta, as seen from northern valley.”

Mount Shasta: Inner Earth Realms and History of the Lava Beds

There are legends all over the world, found in every culture, which populate caves with spirits and supernatural guardians who dwell in a subterranean realm hidden just beneath surface of our own...

Baba Yaga: The Wicked Witch of Slavic Folklore

The Enigma of the Anasazi

The Pyramid Complex and the Hopi: Creation Myth Sheds Light on Building Plan

A Herculean Effort: What Led to the 12 Labors of Hercules and How Did He Succeed?

The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

Human Origins

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,...

Pangu and the Chinese Creation Story

Do you dare enter a fairy ring? The mythical mushroom portals of the supernatural

The Origins of the Faeries: Encoded in our Cultures – Part I

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

Ancient Technology

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The plague doctor mask is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Black Death. Though the image is iconic the relationship may be a little anachronistic. While plague doctors have been plying their trade since the Middle Ages, it was only after this period, during the 17th century, that they acquired their creepy trademark costume. But what does it mean?

Did Egyptian Mummification Descend from a More Ancient and, Perhaps, Reversible Preservation Technique?

Poisonous Pigments: History’s Deadliest Colors

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

The Indian Sage who developed Atomic Theory 2,600 years ago

The ancient invention of the steam engine by the Hero of Alexandria

Ancient Places

Why Isn’t This Map in the History Books?

By the age of 10, most children in the United States have been taught all 50 states that make up the country. But centuries ago, the land that is now the United States was a very different place...

The Dark Secret Behind the Hidden Room of Glamis Castle

Mount Shasta: Inner Earth Realms and History of the Lava Beds

The Anomaly of King Orry’s 5000-Year-Old Grave

Ancient Greek Theater and the Monumental Amphitheaters in Honor of Dionysus

The Lifegiving Aqueduct of Segovia, a Glorious Roman Heritage

Opinion

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

Mount Shasta, located near the Oregon border in northern California, holds the distinction of being one of the world’s preeminent sacred mountains. It is recognized as an eligible Native American...

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?

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

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.

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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.