death

31 October, 2020 - 23:50 Caleb Strom

Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

The technical sophistication of the Middle Ages tends to be underestimated. Near the end of the High Middle Ages, mechanical technology such as clocks and water mills, for example, were becoming...

It’s still possible to celebrate Halloween during the coronavirus pandemic.

24 October, 2020 - 16:39 Joanna Gillan

Halloween CAN Go on With These Fun Ancient Traditions

It’s official. Ireland – the home of Halloween traditions – has banned Halloween parties and traditional trick-or-treating festivities this year as tackling Covid-19 remains top of government’s...

15 October, 2020 - 22:28 Bryan Hill

Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Burning Mystery

For some time, people have debated whether or not human beings could spontaneously combust, or burst into flames, without an external heat source. However, over the past 300 years, there have been...

A collection of shoes, presumably from those who have taken their lives, inside Aokigahara forest.

16 September, 2020 - 20:56 Joanna Gillan

The Aokigahara Forest of Japan: Many Enter, But Few Walk Out Alive

The Aokigahara forest is situated on the north-western side of Japan’s famous Mount Fuji. It was born 1,100 years ago, when Mount Fuji erupted, spewing out lava for miles which later transformed into...

Representation of Hel, the Norse goddess of the Underworld

11 September, 2020 - 19:30 valdar

Going to Hel and Back: The Realm of the Norse Goddess of the Underworld

By far, Loki’s most well-known children are the ones he had with the giantess Angurboda. These include the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent Jormugandr, and the goddess Hel. Legends say that the...

Photograph of a face-down burial, also known as a prone burial, in a churchyard in Berlin, just one of almost a hundred medieval and post-medieval burials in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria included in the study. Source: (Claudia Maria Melisch / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin)

4 September, 2020 - 23:01 ashley cowie

Buried Face-Down 400-Years-Ago, But Through A Fear Of Zombies, Or God?

In 2014 a construction project required Swiss anthropologist Amelie Alterauge of the University of Bern Institute of Forensic Medicine to investigate a very unusual burial in a 400-year-old cemetery...

Dante holding open a copy of the Divine Comedy while gazing towards Mount Purgatory (1530), Agnolo Bronzino

1 September, 2020 - 19:01 Riley Winters

A Pilgrimage of Thought: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The most widely read work of Florentine politician and writer Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy dictates a tale of the three realms of the afterlife as believed by the Italians of the Middle Ages...

Bronze Age death rituals sometimes included curated remains, such as this skeleton that was buried with skulls and long bones of three people who had died much earlier. Source: Tees Archaeology / Antiquity Publications Ltd

1 September, 2020 - 00:05 Alicia McDermott

Bronze Age Death Rituals Included Curating Remains Of Predecessors

No two people deal with death in exactly the same way. Both on the individual and societal level we have to face the inevitable. These days many people turn to their religious, scientific, or...

The Column of Death at Mitla has been closed off from hugging by the public for a long time, as repeated hugging causes damage. But the column in the top photo is exactly identical, in every way, to the true Column of Death hugged by Mesoamericans for centuries.

28 August, 2020 - 22:57 dhwty

The Column of Death at Mitla, Hugged by Mesoamericans For Millennia

The Column of Death is the name given to a pillar at the archaeological site of Mitla , in the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca . The column was named for a legendary ritual in which it appeared...

22 May, 2020 - 18:50 Susan Ardizzoni

The Dramatic Death of Cleopatra – Was it Really Suicide?

According to accepted historical accounts, Cleopatra, the last active pharaoh of ancient Egypt who ruled after Alexander the Great’s death during the Hellenistic period, committed suicide by holding...

Main: view of the Els Trocs cave entrance in the Spanish Pyrenees located on the southern slope of a karst hill on the high plateau of Selvaplana; seen from the pass of the Puerto de las Aras. Source: H. Arcusa Magallón / Scientific Reports. Inset: Images of part of the skeletons damaged by blunt objects/arrows during the massacre. Source: T. Schuerch / G. Schulz / Scientific Reports

11 February, 2020 - 17:30 Ed Whelan

Truth of 7300-Year-Old Violence Uncovered in the Spanish Pyrenees

An examination of human remains found in a cave in the Spanish Pyrenees, that date to almost 7300 years ago has provided proof of the brutality of life in the Stone Age . It is believed that the...

IMAGE Upload an image to go with this article. Show row weights FILE INFORMATION OPERATIONS Image icon Egyptian-Game-of-death.jpg (113.35 KB) Alternate text Depiction of an ancient Egyptian queen playing senet (‘game of death’) from Nefertari's burial chamber, wife of Ramses II. Source: Public domain This text will be used by screen readers, search engines, or when the image cannot be loaded. Image icon game-of-death.jpg (100.58 KB) Alternate text This text will be used by screen readers, search en

10 February, 2020 - 13:56 Ed Whelan

Enigmatic Evolution of Ancient Egypt’s ‘Game of Death’ Revealed

An ancient Egyptian board game that was similar to Ludo or backgammon is offering new insights into ancient religious beliefs. It was not only a game, but it was seen as a way for the dead to...

28 January, 2020 - 16:57 Ed Whelan

Shocking Truth Behind Death of Ireland’s Egyptian Mummy Unraveled

Researchers have established that Northern Ireland’s most famous Egyptian mummy was murdered. The mummy, which is the cadaver of a woman called Takabuti who lived 2,600 years ago, is now known to...

Victims found in a fornici hiding from the blast of Mount Vesuvius Source: Rachelle Martyn et al, Antiquity

23 January, 2020 - 11:00 Ed Whelan

Hiding From Mount Vesuvius Prolonged Victims' Deaths

Herculaneum, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman settlements. Recent advances in science now allow researchers to better understand...

Depiction of one of the deaths of Roman emperors. In this case Roman senators murder Emperor Julius Caesar during a senate meeting. He served as emperor for just over 4 years. Source: Emilio Ereza / Adobe stock

24 December, 2019 - 18:46 Ed Whelan

Stats Geeks Reveal Shocking Trend in Mortality of Roman Emperors

A new study has revealed a fascinating insight into the pattern of violent deaths of Roman emperors. Researchers have been able to create a statistical model of the life expectancy of the rulers of...

Zoroastrians have used Towers of Silence in their funerary practices

6 December, 2019 - 16:55 dhwty

Zoroastrian Towers of Silence: Leaving the Dead for the Vultures

A tower of silence (known also as a ‘dakhma’) is a type of structure used for funerary purposes by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. This Zoroastrian practice for the disposal of the dead involves...

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Myths & Legends

The wild man has many names throughout the legends of the ancient world. Source: warpaintcobra/ Adobe Stock.

Wild Men of the Ancient World: Legends Across the Globe Tell of a Humanoid Beast – Are They Real?

Man-like beasts appear in myths and legends of cultures around the globe. The best known ‘wild man’ phenomena of today is the Sasquatch or Big Foot of North America

Understanding the Gods of Egypt: In Unison With Nature

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

Veles and Perun: The Legendary Battle of Two Slavic Gods

The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

Lilith: Ancient Demon, Dark Deity or Sensual Goddess?

Human Origins

Detail of ‘Ashkenazi Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878 painting by Maurycy Gottlieb)

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic group who have their earliest ancestors from the indigenous tribes of Israel…at least on one side of the family tree. A study published in 2013 in Nature Communications has shown their maternal lineage comes from a different, and possibly unexpected, source.

Ancient Anomalous Human Skeletons: Humanity Could be Much Older Than We Think

Messiah on Temple Mount: Are We Nearing the End of Time?

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

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

Ancient Technology

Etruscans Transported Bees by Boat to Reach the Best Flowers!

The discovery of an ancient Etruscan honey harvesting workshop at Focello in Italy, and the analysis of charred remains unearthed at the site, has let archaeologists to propose a remarkable hypothesis.

Beaver's teeth 'used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the world’

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

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

The steam-powered pigeon of Archytas – the flying machine of antiquity

Could the Egyptian Ankh Symbol Be Spawned of the Viscera of Bulls?

Ancient Places

Ruins of Malden Island and The Mysterious Roads that Lead into the Sea

Malden is a tiny, island in the central Pacific Ocean, covering about 15 square miles in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati and while there are no resident staff on Malden, there are the occasional visits by foreign yachtsmen.

The Mystery of the Williamson Tunnels

To the Shores of Distant Death: The Failed Colony of San Miguel De Gualdape

Has the Function of the Great Pyramid of Giza Finally Come to Light?

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

Etruscans Transported Bees by Boat to Reach the Best Flowers!

Opinion

Floki and the Viking Discovery of Iceland

The Vikings’ next step out into the Atlantic – the discovery and settlement of Iceland – is one of the best documented events of the Viking Age. Medieval Icelanders were fascinated by genealogy, not only because, as emigrants

Messiah on Temple Mount: Are We Nearing the End of Time?

3 Problems to Remember When Trying to Find Atlantis

Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes?

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

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.