Genes

9 January, 2019 - 23:02 Rabbi Allen Maller

Unity in Diversity: Studies Reveal Surprising Stories for the Genes of Ancient Hindus and Jews

New research using ancient DNA is rewriting the genetic history of two ancient peoples; the Hindus and the Jews - and it shows that their two religious civilizations are the result of multiple...

Three different Jewish people giving Selichot prayers at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

18 September, 2018 - 01:56 Rabbi Allen Maller

Can Jewish People be a Nation, and a Religion, and a Race?

Although Jewish people usually, but not always, share a common gene pool, they are not a race because any non-Jew who converts to Judaism will be recognized as being Jewish by all those rabbis who...

Prehistoric Man Hunting Bears by Emmanuel Benner the Younger.

8 June, 2018 - 13:56 ancient-origins

Neolithic Male Genetic Diversity Plummeted – Here’s Why

Starting about 7,000 years ago, something weird seems to have happened to men: Over the next two millennia, recent studies suggest, their genetic diversity - specifically, the diversity of their Y...

First Americans, photo of mural in the Page Museum, Los Angeles by Travis S.

2 June, 2018 - 01:51 ancient-origins

Previous Models of Ancient Populations in the Americas were ‘Unrealistically Simple’

A new genetic study of ancient individuals in the Americas and their contemporary descendants finds that two populations that diverged from one another 18,000 to 15,000 years ago remained apart for...

A modern human, left, and Neanderthal woman, right.

29 March, 2018 - 22:56 aprilholloway

Research Confirms that Neanderthal DNA Makes Up About 20% of the Modern Human Genome

Though it was disputed for many years, there is conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with modern humans (Homo sapiens). The first complete mapping of a Neanderthal genome took place about five...

The Stone Age’ (1882-1885), detail of a painting by Viktor M. Vasnetsov.

12 January, 2018 - 01:48 ancient-origins

Ancient DNA Sheds Light on the Mysterious Origins of the First Scandinavians

Jan Apel / The Conversation 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...

10 September, 2017 - 01:48 aprilholloway

Sons of the Sun? Looking for the Origins of the Uros People

The Uros people live on 42 artificial floating islands on Lake Titicaca. They call themselves "Lupihaques" (Sons of the Sun) and descendants of the ancient Uros, a pre-Incan people. However, there...

Representation of a Bronze Age woman in Dartmoor.

6 September, 2017 - 13:58 Alicia McDermott

New Study Questions Archaic Views on Gender Roles, Showing Women as Cultural Leaders

Saying that someone with archaic views on gender roles lives in the Stone Age may not work anymore. A new study suggests that men and women in Lechtal, Germany during the Stone and Bronze Ages...

Weakened Neanderthal amongst plant foodstuff

9 August, 2017 - 13:58 Theodoros Karasavvas

New Studies Clash with Previous Analyses On the Life and Fate of Neanderthals

Two new studies have emerged in the past week claiming to provide more details than ever about the Neanderthal’s genetic contribution to the modern population plus a new theory on how it eventually...

Professor Kasimir Popkonstantinov and the marble reliquary that potentially held John the Baptist’s bones.

2 May, 2017 - 02:01 ancient-origins

Can We Ever Find Jesus’s DNA?

It was the first stop on an extraordinary journey. On a bright but bitterly cold January afternoon earlier this year, I found myself on a small island in the Black Sea, just off Sozopol on the east...

A representation of Leonardo da Vinci. (Deriv.) Background: Structure of DNA.

21 April, 2017 - 13:59 Theodoros Karasavvas

Can Researchers Crack da Vinci’s DNA Code? Recently Discovered Relics Attributed to the Legendary Renaissance Man May Help

A team of Italian researchers claim that they have discovered two relics belonging to Leonardo da Vinci, which could them help in tracing the DNA of the legendary polymath whose work epitomized the...

7 December, 2016 - 03:47 Mark Miller

Researchers Find Evidence for Deadly Malaria in Imperial Rome 2000 Years Ago

Biologists and other academics have long debated whether there was malaria in ancient Rome, and recent analysis of teeth of human remains from the time has confirmed it, says a story just published...

30 October, 2016 - 21:04 ancient-origins

Evidence of Unknown Extinct Human Relative Found in DNA Study of Melanesians

Traces of long-lost human cousins may be hiding in modern people’s DNA, a new computer analysis suggests. People from Melanesia, a region in the South Pacific encompassing Papua New Guinea and...

19 August, 2016 - 03:49 ancient-origins

Schizophrenia Emerged After Humans Diverged from Neanderthals

Schizophrenia poses an evolutionary enigma. The disorder has existed throughout recorded human history and persists despite its severe effects on thought and behavior, and its reduced rates of...

7 August, 2016 - 14:50 Alicia McDermott

Biggest Known Genetic Difference Between Humans and Neanderthals May Be Related to Autism

A recent study says that a genetic change suddenly arose in the primate family tree about about 280,000 years ago. The researchers claim it is responsible for the largest genetic difference between...

7 June, 2016 - 21:44 ancient-origins

Inbred Neanderthals Left Humans with a Genetic Burden

The Neanderthal genome included harmful mutations that made the hominids around 40% less reproductively fit than modern humans, according to estimates published in the latest issue of the journal...

Pages

Myths & Legends

A coloured rendition of the Sun Stone Calendar - Atzec

The Aztec Calendar Wheel and the Philosophy of Time

The Aztec calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for centuries. It was not just a way to keep time - it was a complete philosophy of time in which every day had a religious significance...

The symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000-year-old history

Messengers of Misery: Mourning Women in Mythology

Helen of Troy, The Beauty Who Sparked the Trojan War

The Real Story of Medusa, the Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Human Origins

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Sumer, or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and writing, architecture and arts, astronomy and mathematics.

11 Mysterious Human Species That Most People Don’t Know Existed

Creation Myth of the Maori – New Zealand

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

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

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

Ancient Technology

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

The Norimitsu Odachi is a huge sword from Japan. It is so large, in fact, that it was said to have been wielded by a giant. Apart from the basic knowledge of it having been forged in the 15th century AD, measuring 3.77 meters (12.37 ft.) in length, and weighing as much as 14.5 kg (31.97 lbs.), this impressive sword is shrouded in mystery.

Robots Guarded Buddha’s Relics in a Legend of Ancient India

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

Ancient Places

Were the Chislehurst Caves Originally Created By Druids?

The Chislehurst Caves are a series of man-made subterranean tunnels, rooms, and caverns located in the southeastern part of Greater London. The caves were originally chalk and flint mines, which were abandoned around the early 19th century.

Vikings in Ireland: Recent Discoveries Shedding New Light on the Fearsome Warriors that Invaded Irish Shores

First Feast? The Burial at the Hilazon Tachtit Cave Site

Khajuraho: The Sexiest Temples in India

Somalia: The Ancient Lost Kingdom of Punt is Finally Found?

How Ancient People Marked the Equinox Around the World

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

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

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

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

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

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.