Ancient Origins articles related to General in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends.
A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE , has revealed that indigenous people in Canada had superior ways for harvesting clams and molluscs compared to methods used today. Their ancient method...
The binary numeral system – where each position is written as a 0 or 1 – forms the foundation of all modern computing systems. In essence, binary code produces a representation of reality; it is...
Archaeologists have discovered that the ancient remains of a man found last year in a tomb in Sudan on the banks of the River Nile had a spreading form of cancer, the oldest example so far of the...
Forensic geologist, Scott Wolter, has put forward a radical new theory concerning a set of three inscribed stones found near Spirit Pond in Phippsburg more than 40 years ago. According to Wolter, the...
The thigh bones of a medieval monk were exposed in a cliff face by a spate of bad weather along the British coastline. A beach walker was surprised to see the monk’s leg bones sticking out of the...
A new analysis of a sandstone-walled pit in Mesa Verde National Park, known as Mummy Lake, has suggested that the channels were used by the Ancestral Puebloans for holding rituals , not for...
From specially-tailored dog outfits to slave eunuchs to serve their every need, the royal dogs of China’s Forbidden City had it all. Now researchers have revealed the opulent life of these royal...
An Australian scientist is working to collate ancient methods of weather prediction in the Pacific , saying that the study could help improve contemporary forecasting tools, record important cultural...
More than 10,000 years ago, ancient people living in the Judean Desert and Hills abandoned their nomadic lifestyles and established permanent settlements. Around this time, art, culture, and...
Modern science has been paying increasing attention to the value and efficacy of ancient Chinese Medicine. A study earlier this year, for example, found that a Chinese herbal remedy involving the...
I pray that you are in good health night and day, and I always make obeisance before all the gods on your behalf. I do not cease writing to you, but you do not have me in mind. These are the...
Members of the Mah Meri tribe of Malaysia have just completed their annual ancestor-worship ceremony, an elaborate ritual involving dancers with intricately-carved masks who perform the historic Main...
Archaeologists have found the 1,200-year-old remains of an old church beneath the “Old Cathedral” in Mainz, Germany, today known as the Evangelical Church of St John. The discovery is the only...
Unusual clumps of an unknown material found on the necks and chests of the famous Chinese mummies of the Tarim Basin have now been revealed to be the world’s oldest cheese, dating back an incredible...
Sultan Moulay Ismaïl of Morocco, "The Bloodthirsty," was the second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty and reigned from 1672 to 1727. Like others of the dynasty, he claimed to be a descendant of...
Despite intensive research over many decades on one of the most famous kingdoms of the ancient world , scientists still know little about the diseases which plagued the people of Mesopotamia. An...
We’ve got to hand it to the persistent and determined researchers who have not given up hope of decoding the enigmatic Voynich manuscript despite dozens of studies over the last few decades, many of...
New research conducted at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center is finally unearthing some of the ancient mysteries behind leprosy, which has plagued mankind throughout history. The study...
An amateur treasure hunter equipped with a metal detector has discovered a hoard of gold and silver dating back to late Roman times in a German forest. The finding has prompted speculation that it...
Hollywood actors George Clooney, Bill Murray and Matt Damon have become embroiled in one of the fiercest of all heritage controversies: should the Parthenon marbles be returned by the British Museum...
A company based in Utah, who has been mummifying beloved pets for the last three decades, are offering people a modern-day version of the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification , at a cost of...
The bottle gourd, otherwise known as the calabash plant, was prehistoric man’s most useful plant. It is believed to be the first cultivated plant in the world, and may have been domesticated even...
The World Heritage Committee (WHC) has halted the reconstruction of the magnificent Bamiyan Buddhas , which were obliterated by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 despite wide-spread campaigns to...
Scientists have abandoned high-tech devices for a 2,000-year-old Chinese woodblock in order to find an improved way of squeezing tiny, individual living cells out into orderly patterns for lab...