New research into the lifestyle of the Scythians, the nomadic culture that reigned supreme on the steppes of Central Asia in the first millennium BC, is questioning the long-held historic narratives...
Back in 2020 researchers claimed that they had discovered a Neanderthal Covid gene which decreased our ability to fight the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19. Now a new research project in Japan...
Researchers have sequenced the oldest known DNA in the world. Using material from the Early and Middle Pleistocene sub-epochs, the ancient DNA analysis shatters the record for the world’s oldest...
A deep and detailed analysis of Neanderthal DNA has revealed the existence of a distinct gene, called NOVA1, that would have significantly influenced early brain development in this long-extinct...
The Shroud of Turin is believed by many to be the bloodstained burial cloth Jesus of Nazareth was wrapped in after his crucifixion. But skeptics say it is a forgery, or at best only a religious...
A team of archaeologists researching in Indonesia have come across what they think is the world’s oldest cave painting. The image has now been found to date back 45,500 years, older than any other...
Today, Nicolaus Copernicus is hailed by many historians as the originator of heliocentrism, one of the first steps towards modern cosmology and away from the Aristotelian cosmology which had...
Did Stone Age Neanderthals wait out the coldest days of winter snuggled up safely beneath furs deep inside caves, in a state of suspended animation for months while the winds raged, and the snow...
In 1533, a famous Portuguese trading vessel called the Bom Jesus went missing on its way to India. It sank off the coast of present-day Namibia while it was filled with more than 40 tons of precious...
The Spartans of ancient Greece were always known as fierce warriors and determined fighters. Much of what we know about them is related to their military history and equally militarized society. Many...
Altamura Man was a Neanderthal who lived in southern Italy at least 130,000 years ago. His fossilized skeleton was uncovered by a team of cavers in 1993 AD, entombed within calcite mineral deposits...
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...
American history is peppered with famous duels. On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton, the former secretary of the treasury and leading federalist, squared up with Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson´s vice...
Thanks to news DNA analysis, prehistoric remains discovered in Austria have been found to contain the earliest evidence of twins found to date anywhere in the world. The discovery of infant remains...
An international team has found evidence that could change our understanding of a mysterious species of early humans, the Denisovans . They have found DNA from these humans in a Buddhist cave on the...
Scientists in Scotland have analyzed DNA samples from a bizarre 14th-century Scottish burial and have made headway in solving the mystery of the “six-headed chief.” Over the last two years, several...
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...
Scientists have tracked ancient Viking genes across Europe further detailing the cultural, political and economic impact of the legendary raiders and traders of the Middle Ages. The Germanic Iron Age...
DNA is especially important now in understanding our ancestors and the past. However, there is a problem in that it can often be difficult to analyze and preserve. The discovery of a mummified...
A new method for analyzing modern and archaic human DNA has thrown up some fascinating results. It appears that modern humans ( Homo Sapiens ) mated earlier and more frequently with an archaic human...
Russian scientists have retrieved the nearly complete remains of a woolly mammoth in Russia. The Siberian mammoth remains are so well-preserved that they still have flesh and hair. These remains are...
New evidence is emerging about the links between Polynesian and South American populations in the Pacific before the arrival of the Europeans . The theory that South Americans first colonized Easter...
Mass burials are common remnants of the many plague outbreaks that ravaged medieval Europe . A number of these graveyards are well documented in historical sources, but the locations of most, and the...
Scientists in Sweden have completed a multidisciplinary genetic and archaeological study that provides clarity to the mysterious cross-cultural influences found in the grave sites of Stone Age...
![The Shroud of Turin: modern, digitally processed image of the face on the cloth [left] and the full body image as seen on the shroud [right].](https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_optimized/public/field/image/The-Shroud-of-Turin.jpg?itok=C6wvY5Gn)
