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.
There is something in the soul of humans that inspires us to create. Evidence of this creative impulse going back to 8,000 or even 10,000 years is found in Siberia in the form of drawings of horses...
A Catholic priest and archaeologists in Israel are excavating an ancient synagogue and a site that may have been the home of Mary Magdalene, who has been called Jesus' most beloved disciple...
Scientists conducting a chemical analysis of four skeletons, with the support of information from historical documents, have now identified them as leaders of the first permanent English settlement...
Rescue archaeology is a common occurrence for those in the field. This time, a team of archaeologists are fighting against time to complete excavations at a 2,600 year old Urartian necropolis in...
More than 5,000 years ago people in Ireland carved a representation of an eclipse into three stones at a megalithic monument—the first known recording of a solar eclipse, scholars say. Researchers...
Remains of an o-kabe style building have been excavated in Takatori, Nara prefecture, Japan. Evidence suggests that the building was used for meetings by foreigners. It has been dated to the 5th...
Examples of some of the oldest kanji, or Chinese characters written in Japanese, inscribed on tiles, have gone on display to the public. They were found years ago at what scholars believe is Japan's...
Archaeologists from the National Trust, Southampton and Leicester Universities, and Allen Environmental Archaeology are trying to find out where the people who built the world-famous Avebury Stone...
Archaeologists digging in a kingly palace in Israel have found 120 large wine jars, some with residue, and grape seeds from 4,000 years ago from which they may be able to resurrect some ancient...
A mass grave with 25 bodies from the Medieval era is being excavated “just a couple of feet below” on the grounds of a private college in Aberdeen, Scotland. The bodies, some from the 13 th century,...
Divers exploring the Mentor ship that wrecked off the southern coast of Greece in 1802 while carrying the Parthenon marbles to England have found other antiquities at the site. Greek Culture Ministry...
Treasure hunters exploring the waters off the coast of Florida, USA, have discovered a hoard of long forgotten treasure that has been lying on the seabed for at least 300 years. At a depth of about...
The lure of the [Viking] raid was… more than booty; it was about winning and preserving power through the enchantment of travel and the doing of deeds. Thus states a new paper by an archaeologists...
A giant and well-rounded discovery has been unearthed in Cosma, Peru. They look like the remains of giant dinosaur eggs, but archaeologists believe the newly found structures are either giant pots or...
Early Viking settlers in Iceland were Pagan worshippers of the Aesir, the family of gods that included Thor and Odin. However in 1,000 AD Iceland converted to Christianity by decree of the country’s...
Archaeologists excavating a modern housing estate on the English-Welsh border in Monmouth, UK, have discovered an ancient fortress consisting of a wooden island with a fortified farmhouse elevated...
The skeletal remains of nearly 100 bodies have been found crammed into the ruins of a tiny wooden house in northeast China, and archaeologists are trying to piece together the puzzle of what happened...
Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is 'Do not march on Moscow.' – Bernard Montgomery, British military figure. About 675,000 men of Napoleon's Grand Army set out for Moscow to conquer Russia in...
It was in the Middle East that hunter-gatherers first started to switch to plant cultivation, thereby initiating the first movement towards organised agriculture. This is why the region is popularly...
Two pages from a Koran, which are believed to have been written down by a contemporary of Mohammed himself, have been found in a library in England. The folios had been in a collection in the...
Archaeologists have unearthed a 4,000-year-old adolescent who lived near Stonehenge and was buried in the fetal position with an amber necklace. Now archaeologists working at the site of Marden Henge...
The bones of a child from 100,000 years ago display gnawed tooth marks, and researchers are trying to determine if this is evidence of cannibalism in the prehistoric Xuchang Man of China. The two...
Two fragments of a prehistoric female figurine have been discovered in a cave at Hohle Fels in Germany. The figurine was carved from mammoth ivory and fit together to form an artifact measuring 23 mm...
The 1845 Franklin expedition aimed to discover a sea-route through the Canadian Arctic. It consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror . In command was Sir John Franklin who had previously...
