What were the origins of the first farmers? Where did they come from and where did they go? This question was recently asked by a team of scientists studying the genomes of Europe's first farmers...
According to the latest research, Stone Age hunter-gatherers in northeast Europe expertly crafted slate friendship rings some 6,000 years ago. These were produced in copious numbers by many makers in...
People in Europe in the Middle Ages boosted libidinal sexual intimacy through the use of medieval aphrodisiacs, some of which are truly bizarre. Dr. Eleanor Janega, a medieval historian based in...
Black Death is said to have killed over half of Europe’s population. However, a new pollen study suggests many parts of Europe were not affected by the bacterial onslaught. Black Death was a bubonic...
Ancient Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology are characterized by a burial practice known as kurgan burials, wherein mounds of earth and stone are raised over a single or multiple graves...
A team of Norwegian scientists have been tracking the evolution of diseases in medieval bodies. Not only have they added to the understanding of how diseases become pandemics, but they’ve revealed...
Speaking of the Iron Age, most people first think of wild barbarian tribes wielding their crude swords and tools made from iron. But the truth is often very far from this. This important age in world...
Excavations at the Church of Our Lady in the heart of historic Bruges, Belgium, have unearthed a third medieval burial vault. Just like the first one discovered back in May, this one also features...
He came from nowhere and became one of the greatest mysteries of 19th century Germany. On May 26th, 1828 he appeared in the streets of Nuremberg. For the next five years he was a source of...
On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay and a few other Templars, after enduring torture and many other humiliations, were sent to death. De Molay was an old man, tired with life and proud of his...
Illuminated manuscripts are manuscripts that are covered with painted ornaments presented under several forms. These documents are perhaps most commonly associated with the European Middle Ages...
An English archaeologist has analyzed “big data” to make a slate of new observations about changing burial traditions in medieval Europe. In business the term “big data” describes large, hard-to-...
In the Middle Ages being dead wasn’t a guarantee you would rest in peace. Researchers have found hundreds of examples of people re-opening graves in cemeteries from Transylvania to southern England...
Archaeologists from Germany and Italy have found convincing proof that people in Late Bronze Age Europe used metal scraps or fragments as a form of money . As excavations throughout Central Europe...
Tracking the migration of humans isn’t easy , but genetics is helping us uncover new information at breathtaking speed. We know that our species originated in Africa and likely reached Europe from...
A witch or not? Guilty or innocent? Witch hunting was all the craze in the late medieval period and onwards in Europe and involved some rather peculiar practices. Witch hunters of all kinds emerged...