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Elephant

Artist's reconstruction of a group of Neanderthals butchering a straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). (It is unknown whether Neanderthals wore any type of clothing, so the depiction reflects artistic license). Source: Alex Boersma/PNAS

Neanderthals Hunted Elephants Twice the Weight of Modern Ones

Evidence has emerged from Germany dated to 125,000 years ago showing Neanderthals hunted elephants twice the size of contemporaneous ones. Building on that information, which provides new insight...
Death comes for us all, but some leave better stories than others. These strange deaths will make you shake your head, and think twice! Source: xlaoma / Adobe Stock

11 Very Strange Deaths from History

We all die eventually, but some of us go out in weirder ways than others. With the number of people who have existed throughout human history, at least a few strange deaths are to be expected. Below...
The cyclopes were one-eyed mythological giants of ancient Greece. But did the myth originate from elephant skulls like this?   Source: Left; John Cummings, CC BY-SA 3.0, Right; bigjom/ Adobe Stock

Were Cyclopes Legends Inspired by Ancient Elephant Skulls?

Ancient Greek mythology is full of fantastic beasts and monsters. One of the most famous examples is the brutal one-eyed race of giants, the cyclopes. Several different cyclopes appeared in various...
Arctic explorer Bernard Buigues contemplates the Jarkov woolly elephant tusks emerging from the frozen landscape in Siberia, 1998. These tusks are about three meters (10ft) and over 45kg (100lbs) each.  There is a growing body of evidence that overhunting is the main cause of the extinction of the mammoths. (Francis Latreille / ©The World As It Once Was)

The World As It Once Was: The Shifting Baseline In Iconic Megafauna

Centuries of trophy and commercial hunting, isolation in captivity and poaching, have caused a baseline shift in the perception of iconic megafauna such as Asian and African elephants, which should...
Reconstruction of the Schöningen lakeshore as the humans discovered the elephant's skeleton.          Source: ©Benoit Clarys Tubingen University

Human Activity Detected At Site Of 300,000-year-old Elephant Skeleton

Elephants ranged over Schöningen in Lower Saxony 300,000 years ago. In recent years, remains of at least ten elephants have been found at the Paleolithic sites situated on the edges of the former...
The Battle of Zama. Source: Art Institute of Chicago / Public domain

When Hannibal Met His Nemesis: The Battle of Zama

The Battle of Zama was a decisive battle of the Second Punic War (also known as the Hannibalic War, or the War Against Hannibal), which was fought between Rome and Carthage. The battle was won by the...
Modern representation of a Carthaginian war elephant.

War Elephants: The Military ‘Tanks’ of the Ancient World

“A few only of Ptolemy's elephants ventured to close with those of the enemy, and now the men in the towers on the back of these beasts made a gallant fight of it, striking with their pikes at close...
Handle of one of the wooden tools from the Poggetti Vecchi site.

171,000-Year-Old Fire Forged Tool Discovered Beneath a Giant Elephant

171,000 years ago, in Tuscany, a set of ancient tools were crafted and forged with fire. Archaeologists in Florence, Italy, made an incredible discovery during construction work at Poggetti Vecchi. A...
The public entrance to the Unicorn Cave.

What Extraordinary Discovery Led to Unicorn Cave Magically Transforming into a Cash Cow?

Einhornhöhle, which may be translated as ‘Unicorn Cave’ in English, is a cave located in the Harz, a low mountain range in a highland area Northern Germany. It has been pointed out that the Unicorn...
Elephant-headed goddess Vinayaki is often mistaken for a female Ganesha. Statue of Ganesha

Goddess… or Demon? Hidden History of Vinayaki, the Mysterious Elephant-Headed Woman of Hindu Myth

In one of the shrines of the Thanumalayan temple in Kanyakumari district, India, is the stone sculpture of a four-armed deity sitting cross-legged in Sukhasana (“easy pose” - similar to sitting in a...
Detail of a statue of Ganesha.

Ganesha: How He Lost… And Gained His Head

“Lord Ganesh of curved elephant trunk and huge body, Whose brilliance is equal to billions of suns in intensity, Always removes all obstacles from my endeavours truly...” ― Munindra Misra, Chants of...
A photo inside the Sunland Big Baobab.

Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? You Can at The Baobab Tree Bar

The Sunland Big Baobab is a bar nestled inside the hollow of a baobab tree. This bar is located on the Sunland Farm in South Africa. As baobabs begin to hollow on the inside as they age, empty...
Elephants, Peacocks, and Horses: The Amazing Animals of Alexander the Great

Elephants, Peacocks, and Horses: The Amazing Animals of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was apparently fascinated with everything that could be seen as a symbol of power. Stories about his interest in animals are well known too. He was probably intrigued by other...
Ten Unusual Ancient Traditions that Would Not Thrive Today

Ten Unusual Ancient Traditions that Would Not Thrive Today

Cultures evolve or change over the ages; this is an undeniable fact. However, many of the practices of ancient people and cultures would be practically incomprehensible for most people today. Be they...
The ‘Elephant Slab’, (left) and sketched markings (right).

The Elephant Slabs of Flora Vista: Enigmatic Artifacts with Ancient African Origins

In Did West Africans live in the Four Corners Region of the United States from 12th Century ? , published in Ancient Origins, I discussed the Mande inscriptions found in the Four Corners region of...
Paranormal animals of North America.

Hair-Raising Tales of Paranormal Animals that Possess Humans, See Death, and Act as Messengers of the Gods

Throughout time, numerous people have declared that they had witnessed strange and inexplicable occurrences involving the ghosts of the deceased, fantastic creatures, demons, and other similar things...
16th Century depiction of execution of a prisoner by Ottoman soldiers.

Execution by Elephant: A Gory Method of Capital Punishment

Elephants have played a number of important roles in human history. In some cultures, the elephant is a revered creature. In Buddhism, for example, the vivid dream of Buddha’s mother which foretold...
Strange beasts, mythological and real, graced the pages of ancient bestiaries.

Bestiary, The Book of Beasts: Compendiums of Medieval Monsters and Moral Lessons

During the Middle Ages the phoenix rose from its ashes to be reborn, dangerous dragons battled elephants to the death, and the pelican tore out its own breast to feed its young with its life’s blood—...
Paeleoxodon anitquus was a large elephant species that became extinct.

New study finds ancient humans butchered elephants with stone tools 500,000 years ago

Archaeologists working at a site in Israel have found stone tools made hundreds of thousands of years ago alongside the remains of an ancient species of elephant and other game. The researchers...
Elephant Tomb in Spain- Mithras Temple

Elephant Tomb Discovered in Spain May Have Been a Temple to the God Mithras

The Elephant's Tomb in Seville, Spain, so named because of an elephant-shaped statue found inside , may have been used to worship the God Mithras, archaeologists say. The tomb is located in the Roman...