flea

The remains of a mother and fetus were buried alongside those of two other children in the early days of the Black Death in Italy, however researchers cannot say for certain that they died of the plague.

30 March, 2017 - 01:57 Mark Miller

New Details Emerge on the Black Death by Examining a Plague Victim and her Tragic Coffin Birth

We can only guess about the life and times of a young mother and two children buried with her, possibly felled by the first wave of the bubonic plague in the 1340s in Italy. They were all buried in a...

30 September, 2015 - 14:42 Mark Miller

Amber encases a flea infected 20 million years ago with bubonic plague-type bacteria

Closely related ancestors of the bacteria that cause the bubonic plague may be millions of years older than the 14 th century, when the disease devastated Asia and killed more than half of Europe’s...

Myths & Legends

: Interior of Lovelock Cave located next to the former lakebed of Lake Lahontan in Nevada. Source: BLM Nevada / CC BY-SA 2.0

Lovelock Cave: A Tale of Giants or A Giant Tale of Fiction?

The Paiutes, a Native American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, have an oral tradition that they told to early white settlers of the area about a race of red-haired, white giants or “barbarians”

Haunted Mirrors, Bloody Mary and Superstitious Mirror Mythology

The Erlking: The Powerful Germanic Mythical Snatcher of Children

Araucanian “Staircase to Heaven” Symbolism in the Pre-Hispanic World

Palatkwapi-Sedona: City of the Star People

Ubasute: Is the Ancient Tradition of Dumping the Elderly in a Forest Encouraging Modern Murder?

Human Origins

The Faces of Ancient Hominids Brought to Life in Remarkable Detail

Several years ago, a team of scientists from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, set out to put a human face to ancient hominid species that once walked the Earth.

The Controversial Lapedo Child – A Neanderthal / Human Hybrid?

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

3: The Perfect Number - Trinity Symbolism in World Religious Traditions

Did Ancient People Really Have Lifespans Longer Than 200 Years?

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Ancient Technology

Understanding the Stonehenge calendar is easy if you follow Stephen Childs’ thinking in this article and in his book “Stone Circles Explained.” This image shows sunrise at this ancient site. Source: Gail Johnson / Adobe Stock

The Stonehenge Calendar: A Prehistoric Approach to Time’s Passing

Readers will probably know that Stonehenge’s design highlights the longest and shortest days of the year, but it is not always understood that its strange configuration was designed to enable every day

Medical Mystery of Usermontu: Why the Discovery of 2,600-Year-Old Knee Screw Left Experts Dumbfounded

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

6 Advanced Ancient Inventions Beyond Modern Understanding

The Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: Were Humans the First? Part 1

Dujiangyan: The 2,200-Year-Old Chinese Irrigation System That is Still Used Today!

Ancient Places

Lovelock Cave: A Tale of Giants or A Giant Tale of Fiction?

Exquisitely Made 1,700-year-old Gold Neck Ring Found in Denmark

Kidd Mine Ontario: The World's Oldest Pool of Water

World’s Oldest Surviving Amphitheater Preserved at Pompeii

Castles Align: Unearthing a Navigational Artifact of the Knights Hospitaller

Blythe Intaglios: The Impressive Anthropomorphic Geoglyphs of the Colorado Desert

Opinion

The Shepherds of Arcadia, by Nicolas Poussin, is reproduced on the Shepherd’s Monument, along with the Shugborough Inscription. Source: Public domain

The Enigma of the Shugborough Inscription

In the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, sits an 18th-century monument known as the Shepherd’s Monument. The monument contains a relief, depicting a copy of a Nicolas

Palatkwapi-Sedona: City of the Star People

The Icelandic Theory: Experts Challenge Establishment Dogma to Reveal History of Ivory Vikings

Winter Solstice Resurrection At Saqsayhuaman and Newgrange

Buddhism in Ancient Egypt and Meroe – Beliefs Revealed Through Ancient Script

Baltinglass Hill: Ireland’s Forgotten Gobekli Tepi?

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 exist 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.