All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

History & Archaeology

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.

Ceremonial Site in Peru

Hundreds of Ancient Mummies Discovered at Ceremonial Site in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru made a monumental discovery when they found dozens of tombs with up to 40 mummies in each at a 1,200-year-old ceremonial site in Cotahuasi Valley. So far 171 mummies have been...
A rare ancient Greek gravesite containing two intertwined corpses

Archaeologists Uncover Ancient 'Spooning' Couple in Greece

Almost 6,000 years ago, the man was placed behind the woman with his arms around her body, and their legs were intertwined. They were buried. Why they were interred in this manner is not yet...
Neanderthal flute

Study dismisses remarkable Neanderthal flute as the work of hyenas

The Divje Babe flute, discovered in a cave in Slovenia in 1995, has long been heralded as the oldest musical instrument ever discovered. The item is a fragment of the femur of a cave bear which had...
Tombs of ancient Egyptian priests

Archaeologists uncover 4,200-year-old Tombs of ancient Egyptian priests

Though the tombs of two ancient Egyptian priests excavated recently had been vandalized and their bones scattered across the burial chamber many centuries ago, beautiful paintings on the walls and...
A mummy tested for arsenic poisoning.

New study confirms ancient people of Chile died of slow poisoning from arsenic

Previous studies have established that people of numerous pre-Columbian civilizations in northern Chile suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning between 500 and 1450 AD, through consumption of...
Ancient book of Arthurian stories

Ultraviolet light reveals hidden text in ancient book of Arthurian stories

Scholars in Wales have discovered that parts of one of the most important books in Welsh history was erased and some of the texts on its animal-skin pages overwritten. The book is titled The Black...
Iron Age grave containing father and son weavers.

Together for two millennia: Iron Age burial containing father and son weavers unearthed in Scotland

A father and son buried together about 2,000 years ago in Linlithgow, Scotland, have been unearthed in the course of an archaeological dig. Archaeologists excavating the tomb say the pair were...
Tablets left in honor of family members who practiced Sallekhana

Ancient tablets reveal whole family underwent Sallekhana, ritual fasting unto death

Archaeologists in the state of Karnataka, in South West India, have discovered a set of ancient tablets with inscriptions that reveal a family of six people underwent the sacrificial rite of...
Skeletons were discovered completely intact beneath the Old Divinity School at St John's College.

More than 1,000 Ancient Skeletons found beneath Cambridge University

Archaeologists have discovered an enormous medieval cemetery containing an estimated 1,300 burials beneath St John’s College, Cambridge, thought to be among the largest medieval hospital burial...
Painting considered masterpiece of ancient Egypt

Painting considered masterpiece of ancient Egypt may be an 1870s fake

A painting that was considered a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art may have been faked in the 1870s by an archaeologist excavating the pharaonic family tomb in which the painting was found. Live...
A mysterious ancient stone circle formation of the Turpan Basin, northwestern China

Mysterious Stone Circles of Turpan Basin May be Bronze Age Sacrificial Sites to Solar Deity

Approximately 200 mysterious stone circles dot the landscape in the hot and unforgiving Gobi Desert. These man-made stone formations sitting atop the sand near Turpan City in northwestern China may...
De Materia Medica remedies book

Roseroot, an ancient remedy for fatigue and disease, gets new respect

Ancient Greeks, Vikings, Caucasians, prehistoric Siberians and Mongolians, and ancient Chinese emperors were all taken with the medicinal properties of the wild herb Rhodiola rosea (golden root or...
The ruins of the temple of Cybele at the imperial Roman palace complex Felix Romuliana in what is now Serbia

Vibrations and sounds may have enhanced worship of Great Goddess Cybele

In a mountain valley in Serbia around 300 AD, Romans built a palace complex to honor the Emperor Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, who was born in the area. In this palace, called Felix Romuliana,...
Egyptian pottery fragment from the archeological site at Tel Aviv.

New Discovery Reveals Egyptians Brewed Beer 5,000 Years Ago in Israel

Over a dozen pits used to store ancient beer have been found by archaeologists in Tel Aviv. This archaeological find from approximately 5,000 years ago is reportedly the first evidence of an “...
In Scaloria Cave stalactites on the cave ceiling and at right a mixture of stalactite fragments and human bone fragments, found during 2013 excavations

First evidence of defleshing of human bones in Neolithic Europe found in Italy cave

Archaeologists studying a cave in southeast Italy with remains of people who died 7,500 years ago say they have identified the first known cases in New Stone Age Europe of people scraping the flesh...
The Gateway of the Sun from the Tiwanku civilization in Bolivia.

Archaeologists Find Underground Pyramid at Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, Excavations Planned

The ancient fortress site of Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) in western Bolivia is still revealing secrets thousands of years after its peak as capital of an empire, and home to one of the most important...
Rare medieval skeletal remains excavated in Wales

Rare medieval skeletal remains excavated in Wales date to 13th century

The remains of a woman who died around the late 12 th or early 13 th century were excavated under the foundation a Welsh church that has been converted into a museum. The church was built over an...
This Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) image shows the outlines of the central area of Pilar. At far right is the Citadel.

Ancient Maya citadel discovered in Belize is an anomaly

Many centuries ago on the border of Belize and Guatemala, Maya people built a large city surrounded by a cultivated jungle garden that was home to around 20,000 people, which archaeologists call El...
Famous painting depicts the goddess Aphrodite-Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore.

Temple in ancient city of Odessus reveals Greek Goddess Aphrodite was worshipped by Thracians

A new look into a Thracian temple buried beneath Roman baths is challenging what researchers once thought about the worship of deities in the ancient city of Odessus, now the Bulgarian Black Sea city...
Ancient relic found containing ashes from the grave of John the Apostle

Ancient relic found containing ashes from the grave of John the Apostle

Excavations at a medieval port and fortress in Bulgaria have led archaeologists to discover several artifacts of significance. A lead vessel containing ashes from the alleged grave of John the...
Earliest known breast cancer identified in ancient Egyptian skeleton

Earliest known breast cancer identified in ancient Egyptian skeleton

A 4,200-year-old skeleton that shows signs of deterioration from cancer is the earliest known case of breast cancer, according to the Spanish anthropologists who uncovered her remains in a necropolis...
Mayan Temples

Pre-Maya hunters and farmers may have collaborated in building temples

The prevailing theory among archaeologists holds that prehistoric people settled down as they began to grow crops and manage livestock and then built progressively more advanced civilizations with...
Acropolis - Athens, Greece

Incredible Construction: Greek Acropolis Built by Ancient Engineers to Resist Earthquakes

Throughout its 2,500-year history, the ancient ruins of the Acropolis in Greece managed to survive many earthquakes where other, more modern constructions have fallen. How is this possible? Experts...
Paleolithic man (Paleoindians) hunting a glyptodon – ancient ancestor to the armadillo. (Illustration 1920) Did these societies use poison to bring down their prey?

Invisible Killers - Poisons may have been used by Palaeolithic society 30,000 years ago, new testing shows

Poisons are ubiquitous in the plant and animal world – some snakes and frogs are venomous, and various trees and plants are lethally toxic. This was well-known by our ancient ancestors, and they...

Pages