Cult

Decapitated skeleton excavated at Great Whelnetham, UK

8 January, 2019 - 18:17 Ed Whelan

Roman Burial Site Found in England Includes 52 Skeletons With 17 Bizarre After Death Decapitations

Sometimes archaeologists make grim and even shocking discoveries. In England, there has been one such find. Experts have found a cemetery, dating from the Roman era which contained a great many...

A statue of Artemis as the mythological Roman huntress Diana.

16 November, 2018 - 18:52 Alicia McDermott

Artemis, the Chaste Huntress: You Really Didn’t Want to Mess With This Greek Goddess

The ancient Greek goddess Artemis was many things to many people. A huntress, virgin, midwife, twin, independent woman, protector, plague-bearer…the list goes on and on. Her appearance did not change...

Medea with her children. The children became the focus of a hero cult in ancient Greece.

14 July, 2018 - 13:27 Carly Silver

Baby, Baby, Baby: Why Did the Ancient Greeks Turn Dead Children into Heroes?

When we use the term “hero” today while discussing Greek mythological figures, it usually designates a man whose superhuman exploits and semi-divine parentage make him a person of legend. But in real...

8 July, 2018 - 22:32 dhwty

The Mithraic Mysteries and the underground chamber of San Clemente

Prior to the adoption of Christianity as its official religion at the end of the 3 rd century AD, the Roman Empire’s religious policy was one of tolerance. Along with the official Roman religion,...

Glastonbury Tor, and Bull Nandi (Public Domain/Deriv)

16 June, 2018 - 01:59 MarkPinkham

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

One form associated with the Bull Son of the Bull Cult was the Shiva Lingam, the sacred symbol that unites the phallus, the universal symbol of the male principle, with the ovum, the universal symbol...

8 June, 2018 - 02:19 lizleafloor

Could Iron Age settlement be the biblical town of Libnah from the Book of Exodus?

Excavations at Tel Burna, an Iron Age settlement in the Shephelah region of modern-day south-central Israel, have revealed artifacts and fortifications dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries...

A seida (worshiped stone) Tromsø, Norway.

18 May, 2018 - 19:01 Riley Winters

Sami Spirituality and the Cult of the Sacred Stones

The Cult of the Sacred Stones belong to the Sami people of northern Europe. The Sami (occasionally spelled Saami) live in Lapland, a part of northern Europe near Norway, Sweden and Finland, and...

Artist's rendering of the hof, a pagan temple, in Uppsala, Sweden.

27 December, 2017 - 22:48 dhwty

The Heathen Hof: Resurrecting a Germanic Pagan Temple

A heathen hof, also referred to as a Germanic pagan temple, is the name given to a place of worship in the Germanic religion. These were pre-Christian temples found in various parts of Northern...

12 December, 2017 - 01:56 ancient origins

Discovery of 1,000 Sealings Reveals an Ancient City’s Devotion to the Graeco-Roman Pantheon

Classical scholars from the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" of the University of Münster discovered a large number of sealings in south-east Turkey. "This unique group of artifacts...

King Herihor and Queen Nodjmet adoring the god Osiris in the afterlife. (Photo credits: Trustees of the British Museum (Wikimedia Commons)); Deriv.

6 September, 2017 - 15:23 anand balaji

The Hunt for Herihor: Waning Pharaonic Power and Advent of Priest-kings–Part I

Early in the Twenty-First Dynasty, a High Priest of Amun-Re, Herihor, declared himself ruler. The custodians of the cult of the state god finally got what they had always yearned for—overtly and...

24 August, 2017 - 01:55 Theodoros Karasavvas

Archaeologists Discover a 3,200-Year-Old Pagan Ritual Hall in Israel

Excavators from Israel have announced the discovery of three millennia-old pagan ritual evidence, which supports the hypothesis of pagan worship at Tel Burna back then. Experts suggest that the new...

Collection of Egyptian Art, design by Anand Balaji

5 July, 2017 - 15:34 anand balaji

Akhenaten: Imperishable Art of an Iconoclast: Creativity Blossoms in the Desert—Part I

Never before had a pharaoh ushered daring, almost bizarre and inconceivable transformations in religion and statecraft as Akhenaten did. Not only did he oust the pantheon of traditional gods and...

Images A, C and D show incisions while B shows the hole drilled into the skull.

29 June, 2017 - 19:00 Mark Miller

Evidence of the Earliest ‘Skull Cult’ Activity: Drilled and Carved Skulls Found at the World’s Oldest Temple

Just as people at the world’s oldest known temple site in Southeast Turkey began to make the transition from hunter-gatherers to a more settled lifestyle, they also started a “skull cult” in which...

Aerial view of circular henge remains and burials

25 May, 2017 - 22:55 Theodoros Karasavvas

Archaeologists Discover a Stone Age “Cult” Henge Site and 4,000 Year-old Human Remains

A team of archaeologists has discovered a Stone Age “cult” henge site and human remains that are estimated to be nearly 4,000 years old. Experts suggest that the human remains, found near Stratford,...

3 May, 2017 - 19:13 Mark Oliver

4 Completely Different Versions of the Story of Moses

The story of Moses doesn’t just show up in the Bible. In the ancient world, nearly every culture had their own version of what happened. The Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans all had their own...

16 March, 2017 - 22:12 ancient-origins

2,000-year-old Warrior Armor Made of Reindeer Antlers Found on the Arctic Circle

By: The Siberian Times Reporter The ceremonial suit was embellished with decorations and left as a sacrifice for the gods by ancient bear cult polar people, say archeologists. The discovery is the...

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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.

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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.