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Detail depicting of the famous crossing of the Alps by Hannibal’s elephants. Hannibal's Crossing of the Alps by Heinrich Leutemann. Source: Public domain

Unsolved Mystery: The Mysterious Origins of Hannibal's Elephants

The saga of the perilous journey of the Carthaginian general Hannibal across the Alps during the Second Punic War was immortalized not only by his military prowess but also by the awe-inspiring...
Wooly mammoth. Source: thejokercze / Adobe Stock.

Can This Man Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth? (Video)

Since 2015 a visionary geneticist in Boston, Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School, has been at the forefront of a scientific endeavor that challenges the boundaries of possibility. He...
Anglo-Saxon ivory rings were sourced from African elephants. Source: kyslynskyy / Adobe Stock

Anglo-Saxon Ivory Rings Found in Britain Came from African Elephants

Unusual rings made from ivory have been unearthed in dozens of early Anglo-Saxon burials in England. The origin of the Anglo-Saxon ivory rings had remained a mystery for 200 years, but scientific...
A gladiator fights a lion at the Gladiator Games in ancient Rome. Source: (DigitalGenetics/Adobe Stock)

The Exotic Menagerie: The Wild Animals Slaughtered in Gladiator Games

The ancient Roman gladiator games were a spectacle of blood and brutality that captivated audiences for centuries. While we may imagine sword-wielding gladiators fighting to the death in the arena,...
Researchers and volunteers with the Florida Museum of Natural History have discovered the ancient remains of several gomphotheres (elephant ancestors) at a fossil site in North Florida. Source: Kristen Grace/Florida Museum

Paleontologists Uncover 6-Million-Year-Old Elephant Graveyard in Florida

While digging along a dried-up riverbed in northern Florida, a team of paleontologists and volunteers from the Florida Museum of Natural History unearthed a collection of bones from an elephant...
Amazing African elephant with dust and sand and large ivory tusks. Source: byrdyak/Adobe Stock

Blood-Stained Ivory: The Dark History of the Trade in Elephant Tusks

The ivory trade is a story as old as human civilization, filled with tales of adventure, greed, and exploitation. For millennia, ivory has been prized for its beauty, rarity, and versatility, making...
The elephants hunted by the Neanderthal groups would have been even larger than this African elephant. Source: peterfodor/Adobe Stock

Giant Elephant Hunt Reveals Emerging Neanderthal Society

New evidence has emerged that Neanderthals were more advanced hunters and gatherers than previously thought. A study published in Science Advances reveals that these ancient humans hunted and...
Historic illustration of execution by elephant. Source: Pixaterra / Adobe Stock

Execution by Elephant Was a Brutal Form of Capital Punishment For 2,000 Years

Elephants are one of the smartest and most powerful animals in the world. It is no wonder then that these magnificent beasts were exploited and trained to be brutal executioners. Death by elephant is...
Alexander driving off elephants with war pigs and musical instruments in a detail from a French illuminated manuscript from 1420’. Source: The British Library / CC BY 4.0)

War Pigs: A Flaming History of Nature’s Cutest Creations in Battle

Throughout human history, animals have been effectively domesticated and used as an extension of the territorial desires of human beings. While dogs and cattle became effective elements in the...
The idea of the woolly mammoth hybrid is based not on ancient DNA cloning but on reverse engineering living Asian elephant DNA and then growing the embryo in an artificial womb. No one knows for sure what the mammoth hybrid will look like, but many of the features of this ancient extinct species will be recreated no doubt. 		Source: dottedyeti / Adobe Stock

Mammoth Hybrid To Be Made Using Asian Elephants

An American company has announced its plans to create a woolly mammoth hybrid using Asian elephant DNA. Based on the now extinct woolly mammoth, the company’s team of genetic scientists claim their...
A closeup of a few of the 98 verified elephant bone tools found in Rome, Italy, which have been attributed to an archaic hominin species based on a recent study published in the Plos One journal.		Source: 	Plos One

Archaic Hominin Made Elephant Bone Tools 400,000 Years Ago, Study Finds

Archaeologists examining artifacts collected from a site in Italy found that an archaic hominin species had made elephant bone tools, including pointed tools for carving meat and wedge-shaped tools...
Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general who lived between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. He is perhaps best remembered for his military campaign against the Romans in the Second Punic War. Thanks to...
Artist’s reconstruction of a savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. In the foreground Homo erectus, stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos are depicted. Water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest in the background. Source: Peter Schouten / Nature

Nature Killed Off Megafauna, And It Could Happen Again

The giant beasts and ancient megafauna that roamed Southeast Asia 100,000 years ago died because of climate change. A team of scientists from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, has published...
Representational image of a war elephant. The recently-discovered fortress at Berenike guarded a port that supplied war elephants

2300-Year-Old Fortress Which Guarded Port That Supplied War Elephants Found in Egypt in Major Discovery

A Polish-American archaeological team have discovered the ruins of a 2,300-year-old fortress that once protected the Ancient Egyptian port of “Berenike”, situated strategically on the coast of the...
San Lorenzo Colossal Head 1, Olmec culture, Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Mexico.

6 Discoveries that Show the Pre-Columbian Americas Traded Across the Oceans

Ancient civilizations look ever-more advanced with each passing year as new discoveries continue to showcase just how sophisticated they truly were. Yet, the idea that our ancestors were able to make...
Bust of Timur ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ), and Timur defeats the Sultan of Delhi

To Plunder, Destroy and Kill: Atrocity and Terror as Tamerlane Sacks Delhi— Part II

Timur, historically known as Tamerlane (1336 - 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia. After having conquered much of the Near East,...
Bust of Timur ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ), and Timur standing with cane (Public Domain)

When I rise, the world shall tremble! Tamerlane’s Deadly Drive into India—Part I

Timur, historically known as Tamerlane (1336 - 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia. Timur rose through the ranks by gaining the...
 Drawing of Balearic Slinger and Castelo Branco - Jardim do Paco

A History of Hamilcar: Akre Leuca, Dream City of Hamilcar Barca– Part II

Like ancient Carthage, Akre Leuca was not only a military center but also a culturally-advanced city in its time. There was no other city like it. If evidence in the urban structure of Castelo Branco...
Drawing of Balearic Slinger (Public Domain) and stonework at Castelo Branco (CC BY-SA 2.0);Deriv.

A History of Hamilcar: The Legend of Cardosa and a Lost Carthaginian City – Part I

Deep in the heart of the Portuguese arid interior lies a city. It is the regional capital of the lands known as Beira Baixa and is strategically well-placed near the grand Tejo river, the...
Ancient pet cemetery and ship hull uncovered at Red Sea port

Ancient pet cemetery and ship hull uncovered at Red Sea port

An international team of archaeologists from Poland and the USA have made two significant discoveries at the 2,000-year-old ancient port of Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, according to a news...