We bring you all the latest historical news and archaeological discoveries relating to ancient human history. Read more history news from around the world here at Ancient Origins.
Seeking to correct an 80-year-old injustice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has returned a collection of looted cultural artifacts to the people of Okinawa, Japan. These artifacts were...
A complex Neolithic burial with two monumental mounds has been unearthed on the Eulenberg near Magdeburg, Germany. Dated to 6,000-years-ago, the year long excavation has yielded these two mounds at a...
Over five millennia have passed since Ötzi the Iceman was struck down by an arrow from an unknown assailant in the frigid northern regions of the Alps. But still the ancient frozen body has secrets...
For centuries, the pale blue doors of a formidable stone Ming Dynasty tomb in China’s Shanxi Province have remained tightly shut, shrouded in mystery. Upon gaining entry, archaeologists were greeted...
Bacterial poisoning via food and water – but also via contact such as kisses – caused a lot of suffering during the Stone Age. Diseases that today can be treated with antibiotics were then fatal, a...
Underwater archaeologists exploring the sea bottom off the beaches of Greece’s Kasos Island discovered something not entirely unexpected, but still quite surprising. Over the course of four years of...
Driving through the business parks of Tewkesbury, you might miss the hidden pieces of a medieval past that lie discreetly among the modern structures. One such gem, Cowfield Farm, reveals a rich...
An unexpected discovery in the heart of Nuremberg has cast new light on the city’s traumatic history. Archaeologists, initially set to inspect an area for new apartment construction in the Franconian...
A 3,300-year-old clay tablet unearthed in central Turkey has painted a tale of a devastating foreign invasion of the Hittite Empire during a period of internal strife and civil war. As the civil war...
The world’s most expansive and complex Etruscan necropolis continues to produce surprises, revealing more details about the powerful civilization that preceded the Romans as the dominant force in...
David B. Hollander /The Conversation This silver denarius, minted over 2,000 years ago , is hardly the most attractive Roman coin. And yet, the coin is vital evidence for the early stages of a...
Something unexpected from the early Neolithic has been found in Turkey. During excavations in an ancient cemetery, a team of archaeologists from several institutions unearthed more than 100 small...
At the remote, ancient mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly in Iraqi Kurdistan, German archaeologists have made a surprising discovery. Evidence has emerged that suggests the site had been used as a...
Remnants of the world’s oldest fossilized forests and trees, dating back 390 million years, have been uncovered along the Devon and Somerset coast among high sandstone cliffs. The trees likely...
Excavations at the Anciens Arsenaux site in Sion, Switzerland, have changed the way we understand prehistoric agriculture in Europe forever. Compelling evidence has emerged suggesting that Neolithic...
Researchers have mapped the ancient dispersal of the cacao or cocoa plant from South America to Central America. Not only did they discover the plant was a central commodity in ancient trading, but...
Pragya Agarwal /The Conversation In the medieval period, medical science was still dominated by the ancient writings of Hippocrates from the fifth century and Galen of Pergamon from the second...
In a remarkable find, an artifact of significant historical importance has been recovered by an avid magnet fisherman. Trevor Penny was scouring the River Cherwell near Enslow in Oxfordshire,...
A whopping 30,000 artifacts dating back to between 1250 and 1650 have been unearthed during excavations in medieval Kalmar, a town in southeastern Sweden. This includes a 15th-century gold ring...
In an ambitious archaeological endeavor, Beaumont Abbey, located in Indre-et-Loire, France, has been fully excavated, revealing layers of history dating back 800 years. This monumental 14-month...
During excavations two years ago at the famous ancient Anatolian city of Çatalhöyük , archaeologists uncovered a large furnace-like structure that would have been used as a communal oven. They also...
Getting high off toxic solvents and chemicals to induce mind-altering effects is a public health concern today. But dial back 5,000 years, in the Iberian Peninsula, and groups of women adorned in...
For gold lovers, it doesn’t get much better than this discovery at the archaeological park of El Caño in Panama. Archaeologists have unveiled the tomb of an esteemed Coclé lord from the pre-Hispanic...
Tom Almeroth-Williams /University of Cambridge The identification of an eleventh century Islamic astrolabe bearing both Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions makes it one of the oldest examples ever...