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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Europe

Ancient places can be found all over Europe. Their fascinating histories and impressive artifacts open intriguing glimpses to times past, and open up a window on European history. Visiting such ancient places in Europe can be an unforgettable experience.

Science is constantly discovering new archaeological places and uncovering more evidence into what we once thought we knew about our history, therefore offering new pieces to the ever changing puzzle of humanity’s past and altering how we interpret it. This section will present the most interesting archaeological sites all over Europe, as well as new discoveries of ancient places that are worth paying a visit.

San Petronio Basilica, Bologna, Italy.

The Basilica of San Petronio: The Biggest Church in the World…if the Pope Had Allowed it

The Basilica of San Petronio is one of the most important churches in Bologna, the largest city (and the capital) of the northern Italian administrative region of Emilia-Romagna. The basilica is...
Radzyń Chełmiński Castle.

Radzyn Chelminski: The Captivating History of a Castle of the Teutonic Order

Radzyń Chełmiński is located far from the big cities of Poland and is 15 km (9.32 Mlies) from Grudziądz in Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Near the castle there is a small town with about 2,000...
Detail of the Laxe dos Carballos  at Campo Lameiro, Galicia, Spain

A Walk Amongst the Petroglyphs of Galicia: Prehistoric Designs Trace Life and Times of Bronze Age Europeans

From the Upper Palaeolithic and down through the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and into the Bronze Age, our ancestors in western Europe left behind traces of their thoughts and beliefs through rock art...
Fortifications at Monterreal Castle.

Ancient Gondomar Castle and its Historic Connections to Caesar, Columbus, and Drake

Near the Atlantic Ocean, on a small peninsula there is a castle known as Monterreal Castle, Gondomar Castle, or Ox Hill Fortress. Although it has been destroyed many times over the years, it remains...
Chartres Cathedral, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France. The north facade.

The Chartres Cathedral – A Sacred Site for Ancient Druids and Christians

The monumental Chartres Cathedral hides within its walls stories which connect the world of ancient Druids, the cult of the Divine Feminine and Christianity. It is located on a leyline linking...
Stone at Newgrange and Celtic with X symbol

Research Decodes Ancient Celtic Astronomy Symbols and Links them to Jungian Archetypes

My nonprofit educational corporation, The Celtic Collection Program, exhibits the largest privately owned collection of Celtic artifacts in the United States. When we started purchasing the artifacts...
Golubac Fortress, Serbia.

Golubac Fortress: The Best Preserved Medieval Fortress in Europe

Golubac Fortress is a medieval fortified city located in the northeastern part of modern day Serbia. This fortress is situated at the very entrance of the Djerdap Gorge, which is known also as the...
"Isolde" (1911) by Gaston Bussiere. Isolde, an Irish princess, and her lover Tristan are the principal characters of a famous medieval romance story that was based on a Celtic legend.

Examining the Rich Tomb of a Mysterious Celtic Princess

Celtic princesses are almost mythical in today’s modern culture. They are often considered as women with mystical talents and hidden stories. A grave discovered beside the Danube River brings much...
Inside view of the Pula Arena - Croatia

Pula Arena: Exceptional Roman Amphitheater in Croatia Still Alive and Kicking

The Pula Arena is a Roman amphitheater located in Pula, on the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, north-western Croatia. It has been estimated that there are around 230 Roman amphitheaters that...
Giant rock structure in Monte Pindo.

Monte Pindo: A Legendary Celtic Olympus from Ancient Galicia

Monte Pindo is a mountain located on the Atlantic coast near Carnota, Galicia, in Spain. Every year, thousands of people visit this beautiful place looking to immerse themselves in pure nature and,...
An artistic representation of the burial at Paviland Cave.

The Peculiar Narrative of the Red Lady of Paviland, A Man from Paleolithic Wales

During the 1800s, archaeologists discovered human remains in one of the most famous caves in the world. The bones were dated to be 33,000 years old. This is one of the oldest ceremonial burials of a...
A fulacht fiadh.

Fulachtai Fia: Legends of the Mysterious Bronze Age Pits of Ireland

A fulacht fiadh (spelled also as fulacht fian ) (the plural form being fulachtai fia ) is a type of archaeological feature found in Ireland. Such features have also been found in other parts of the...
The famous Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire, England, as imagined in a 1:50 scale model made by landscape architect Sarah Ewbanks.

Architect presents radical new theory that Stonehenge was a two-storey, wooden feasting and performance hall

Could the prehistoric Stonehenge megaliths once have been the support for a wooden, two-storey roundhouse, a venue for feasting, speakers and musicians? That’s the theory of an English landscape...
The Tower of Hercules

Inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria – The Roman Tower of Hercules

The only still functioning Roman lighthouse stands in the north-west part of the Iberian Peninsula, in Galicia. It is called the Torre de Hércules - Tower of Hercules. When Julius Caesar arrived to...
Statue from Gobeklitepe at Urfa Museum, Orion Nebula and Gobekli Tepe

Göbekli Tepe Shamans and their Cosmic Symbols – Part I

Göbekli Tepe is an ancient and significant site which has been pushing back the beginnings of civilization further than we previously assumed. As each temple, pillar, and engraving at the Neolithic...
The Leaning Tower of Pisa at night.

Fame from Fault: Reasons Why the Famous Tower of Pisa Leans

The Tower of Pisa, also known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is one of the most iconic buildings in Italy. As its names suggests, this tower is best known for its tilt, and is perhaps the most...
Matera, Basilicata, Italy. The Sasso Barisano looking east.

Echoes from the Past: The Cave Churches of Matera

Matera, is an Italian city located in a southern region known as the Basilicata; between the heel and the tip of the boot of Italy. UNESCO reports that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic...
: Inside the eerie chambers of the Nekromanteion (Evilemperorzorg/CC BY-SA)

How Ancient Greeks Took Trippy Journeys to the Land of the Dead

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times The Nekromanteion, or the “Oracle of Death,” was an ancient Greek temple in Epirus, Greece, in which supplicants sought to consult shades of the dead. Sensory...
Ruin of a second-century public toilet in Roman Ostia.

Rats, Exploding Toilet Seats and Demons of the Deep: The Hazards of Roman Sewers

I have spent an awful lot of time in Roman sewers – enough to earn me the nickname Queen of Latrines from my friends. The Etruscans laid the first underground sewers in the city of Rome around 500 BC...
Close-up of human skulls that are part of the Chapel of Bones of the Church of San Francisco in Évora, Portugal.

The Story Behind a Frightening Chapel of Bones in Portugal

There is a Church of San Francisco found in the Portuguese city of Évora, 140 km (87 miles) from Lisbon. Inside this church, next to the cloister of the former Franciscan monastery, in the place...
Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle

The Dramatic History of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle in Ukraine: From Castle to Prison

It has been claimed that Kamianets-Podilskyi is the city with the most places of architectural interest in Ukraine after Kyiv and Lviv. This city is located on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine,...
San Esteban archaeological site , Presentation of the gold and silver coins by Murcia’s department of culture in 2012.

Forgotten Moorish Sites in Murcia Hold Treasures Yet to Be Discovered

The city and Taifa (emirate or petty kingdom) of Murcia were founded during the period of Moorish occupation in Spain. When the Moors occupied the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD they were able to hold...
Ben Bulben, Sligo County, Ireland.

Ben Bulben: An Irish Site that Inspires the Imagination

The name Ben Bulben, also spelt as Benbulbin or Benbulben, is said to be an anglicized version of the Irish Binn-Gulbain, meaning ‘Gulban’s Peak.’ This jaw-shaped rock formation (the word ‘gulban’...
Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth (1861) by Edward Burne-Jones

The Legendary Cretan Labyrinth Cave: Inspiration for the Story of King Minos and the Labyrinth of the Minotaur?

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was a structure built by the famed craftsman Daedalus in order to hold a creature known as the Minotaur. The Minotaur was said to be a creature that was half-man and...

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