Genes

Neanderthals and woolly mammoths seem to have shared more than just an environment.

9 April, 2019 - 22:55 ancient-origins

Convergent Evolution: Neanderthals and Woolly Mammoths May Have Shared Genetic Traits

A new Tel Aviv University study suggests that the genetic profiles of two extinct mammals with African ancestry - woolly mammoths, elephant-like animals that evolved in the arctic peninsula of...

‘Indian Barbers Saharanpore’ by Edwin Lord Weeks. Scientists have recently found just how diverse both Indian and Jewish genes really are.

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...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Easter is a festival and holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world who honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days...

Is the Island of Dolls Haunted? An Eerie Tribute to a Little Mexican Girl

Legends of Mount Shasta: “The Abode of the Devil” Part I – The Legend of J.C. Brown

The Story of the Scary Shtorka and the Revival of Croatian Mythology

Ragnar Lothbrok: A Real Viking Hero Whose Life Became Lost to Legend

Involuntary Initiation: Tales of Demonic Powers of Sorcery Transmitted to the Unsuspecting

Human Origins

Heavens Gates Opening. Source: Alswart / Adobe.

What and Where is Heaven? The Answers Are at the Heart of the Easter Story

My pious Baptist grandmother once shockingly confessed, at the ripe old age of 93, that she didn’t want to go to heaven. “Why,” we asked? “Well, I think it will be rather boring just sitting around on clouds and singing hymns all day” she answered. She had a point.

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

One Hundred Thousand Adams and Eves?

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

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Are the Distinctive Kalash People of Pakistan Really Descendants of Alexander the Great’s Army?

Ancient Technology

Handle of one of the wooden tools from the Poggetti Vecchi site.

171,000-Year-Old Fire Forged Tool Discovered Beneath a Giant Elephant

171,000 years ago, in Tuscany, a set of ancient tools were crafted and forged with fire. Archaeologists in Florence, Italy, made an incredible discovery during construction work at Poggetti Vecchi. A paper published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Romans Mastered Nanotechnology and Used it for Eye Catching Decoration

Does ‘New Evidence’ Prove Noah’s Ark Is Buried on a Turkish Mountain?

Is this a 300 million-year-old screw or just a fossilized sea creature?

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

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

Ancient Places

Legends of Mount Shasta: “The Abode of the Devil” Part I – The Legend of J.C. Brown

Many of Mount Shasta’s strangest tales have yet to be told. Ancient Native American legends speak of a fallen race of prehistoric giants who once inhabited the Pacific Coast of North America...

Peel Castle: Centuries of History, a Mysterious Pagan Lady, and a Phantom Dog

The Dark Underworld of the Paris Catacombs

Ashurbanipal: The Oldest Surviving Royal Library in the World with Over 30,000 Clay Tablets

3,000-Year-Old Ain Dara Temple in Syria Reduced to Rubble by Turkish Airstrikes

Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria: Vestiges of the Mysterious Guanche People

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.