Evolution

Charred food remains from hearths were discovered, left by ancient humans eating starch. Source: PetarPaunchev / Adobe.

21 May, 2019 - 01:41 ancient-origins

Earliest Evidence for a Cooked Starch Paleo Diet

New discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa's southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically modern...

Finger bone fragment containing Denisovan DNA. Source: Thilo Parg / CC BY-SA 3.0.

18 May, 2019 - 18:49 Glenn Dahlem

Did the Denisovans Walk to North America?

For a people from whom one 41,000 year old finger bone fossil from a nine year old girl, along with a bracelet she wore, were (until recently) the only authenticated known artifacts, the mysterious...

16 May, 2019 - 22:27 ancient-origins

Tooth Study Has Modern Humans Splitting From Neanderthals 400,000 Years Earlier Than Thought

Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA -based estimates, according to new research by a UCL academic. The research,...

Neanderthal. Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

23 April, 2019 - 22:54 Mark Maslin

All About Neanderthals – The Surprising Facts

Current evidence suggests that Neanderthals and humans shared a last common ancestor sometime between 765,000 and 550,000 years ago. We speculate that this ancestor was H. heidelbergensis . The story...

The Solid Muldoon was supposedly a prehistoric ‘petrified human body’ unearthed in 1877.

23 April, 2019 - 14:02 dhwty

Solid Muldoon: Petrified Prehistoric Man was an Elaborate and Daring Hoax

The Solid Muldoon is the name given to a supposedly petrified prehistoric man that was ‘discovered’ in 1877. This ‘ petrified body’ was unearthed by William Conant at Muldoon Hill, a small hill not...

Penablanca, Cagayan Province, Philippines, near the entrance to the limestone Callao Cave where there is evidence of a new human species. Source: Michael / Adobe. Inset: A foot bone from Homo luzonensis. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

18 April, 2019 - 14:00 ancient-origins

How Much Evidence is Enough to Declare a New Species of Human from a Philippines Cave Site?

The announcement of a new species of ancient human (more correctly hominin) from the Philippines , reported today in Nature , will cause a lot of head-shaking among anthropologists and archaeologists...

Cthulhu fossil reconstruction of Sollasina cthulhu. Source: Elissa Martin / Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

10 April, 2019 - 18:59 ancient-origins

'Cthulhu' Fossil Reconstruction Reveals Monstrous Relative of Modern Sea Cucumbers

An exceptionally-preserved fossil from Herefordshire in the UK has given new insights into the early evolution of sea cucumbers, the group that includes the sea pig and its relatives, according to a...

What Peregocetus, the legged ancient whale might have looked like.

6 April, 2019 - 01:31 ancient-origins

Ancient Whale with Four Legs Found Along the Coast of Peru

Cetaceans , the group including whales and dolphins , originated in south Asia more than 50 million years ago from a small, four-legged, hoofed ancestor. Now, researchers reporting the discovery of...

Man walking in a sea cave at sunset, illustration painting. New research on the Denisovans provides more insight on their lives and population spread.

3 April, 2019 - 22:53 Andrew Collins

A Trove of New Denisovan Discoveries Revealed At A Recent Anthropological Conference

The annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists held at the end of March in Cleveland, Ohio, was eagerly awaited by those with an interest in human origins as it would be...

The Stoned Ape theory proposes magic mushrooms helped the Homo erectus evolve quickly.

3 April, 2019 - 19:02 Sarah P Young

The Stoned Ape Theory and the Dawn of Human Consciousness: Did Our Prehistoric Ancestors Evolve by Getting High?

The origins of behavioral modernity and what exactly makes us human are topics which have fascinated people for hundreds of years. There is a plethora of theories as to which archaic human ancestor...

Homo erectus pekinensis, forensic facial reconstruction.

13 February, 2019 - 01:57 ancient-origins

A Snapshot of Our Mysterious Ancestor Homo erectus

By Ian Moffat / The Conversation If you bumped into a Homo erectus in the street you might not recognize them as being very different from you. You’d see a certain “human-ness” in the stance, and his...

Portrait of three girls of different nationalities.

30 January, 2019 - 01:44 ancient-origins

Genetic Breakthrough Changes the Way We View Skin Color

University College London / Science Daily Skin color is one of the most visible and variable traits among humans and scientists have always been curious about how this variation evolved. Now, a study...

DNA molecule spiral structure with unique connection.

24 January, 2019 - 22:43 ancient-origins

Study Proves Human Mutation Rate Is Slower Than Believed Posing New Date For Human-Neanderthal Separation

By Christina Troelsen / Science Daily Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, and Copenhagen Zoo have discovered that the human mutation rate is significantly slower than for our closest primate...

18 January, 2019 - 18:35 ancient-origins

Artificial Intelligence Has Identified Previously Undetected Hominid in the Human Family Tree

By combining deep learning algorithms and statistical methods, investigators from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) of the Centre for...

Representational image of human skeletons. The discovery of anomalous skeletons suggests humanity may be older than we think.

26 December, 2018 - 18:57 J.P. Robinson

Ancient Anomalous Human Skeletons: Humanity Could be Much Older Than We Think

There are many reported human skeletal finds which are in discordance with current evolutionary beliefs dating back to anomalously ancient geological periods in the distant past, way before it is...

West African rain forest during amazing sunset, Liberia, West Africa

7 September, 2018 - 22:56 ancient-origins

Human Evolution: Secrets of Early Ancestors Could Be Unlocked by African Rainforests

By Eleanor Scerri / The Conversation Think of African rainforests and the picture is inevitably one of a dark and forbidding realm where life is abundant, yet alarmingly cryptic. Rather than the...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Source: Luca Oleastri / Adobe.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Searching For a Way to the Home Planet

In contrast to many theorists, this unconventional retelling of key parts of the Epic explores the idea that Gilgamesh was not searching for life eternal on Earth, as has been suggested as the theme of the Epic, but was instead searching for the means of transport to return to his goddess mother Ninsun’s home planet in the heavens.

Say the Magic Word: The Origins of Abracadabra

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The Nature and Dangers of the Legendary Kobold

The Menhune of Hawaii – Ancient Race or Fictional Fairytale?

Human Origins

The Pagan Wheel of the Year: What Elaborate Rituals and Events Mark this Sacred Cycle?

Although it may be a long time (if ever) before pagans reclaim their Yule from Christmas or their Samhain from Halloween, it is worthwhile to explore these ancient religious traditions. The Wheel of the Year follows the cycle of pagan festivals.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Enlightenment and Source of Religions

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Ancient Technology

3D printed model of the ancient site of Puma Punku, Tiwanaku.

Advanced Ancient Architecture of Puma Punku Site is Fully Recreated With 3D Printing

Part of the ancient archaeological site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, believed by Incans to be where the world was created has been reconstructed using 3D printed models of fragments of an ancient building.

The incredible earthquake detector invented nearly 2,000 years ago

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

Romans in Pompeii Repaired the Roads with Molten Iron

Advanced Ancient Architecture of Puma Punku Site is Fully Recreated With 3D Printing

Mummy Brown – the 16th century paint made from ground up mummies

Ancient Places

Royal Palace at Ebla. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

First Kingdoms: The Forgotten Mesopotamian Kingdom of Ebla

Spectacular things were happening in Mesopotamia in the period we call the Early Bronze Age, particularly in the southern part of it, commonly called Babylonia.

Sumer: Where Written Language, Arithmetic and Civilization Were Born

Explaining the Fall of the Great Akkadian Empire

Homer’s Iliad Casts Doubt on the Aegean Location of Troy

The Incredible Subterranean City of Kish

The Great Ziggurat of Ur

Opinion

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.