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.

A digitally-developed 3D satellite image of Kweneng

7 February, 2019 - 22:57 micki pistorius

Was the Lost African City of Kweneng Linked to Gold Trading?

A lost city, Kweneng, dating to between 1400 and 1875 lies south from Johannesburg, South Africa at the Suikerbosrand archaeological site and nature reserve. The site has attracted archaeological...

Left: Venus of Arles statue in the Louvre Museum: Bronze statuette of a captive Gaul awaiting his death sentence, last quarter of 1st century BC, found during excavations in the Rhone River, Musée de l'Arles antique, Arles, France.

6 February, 2019 - 13:58 Joanna Gillan

Censored! Facebook Blocks Images of 2,000-Year-Old Roman Statues for Nudity

A Geneva Museum of Art and History said that Facebook blocked them from using images of two Roman statues – a half-naked marble Venus and a bronze of a nude, kneeling captive – to promote an upcoming...

Hampi’s UNESCO world heritage site being wrecked by vandals.

5 February, 2019 - 19:00 Ed Whelan

Vandals in India Cause Irreversible Damage to World Heritage Vishnu Temple

There is nothing sadder to see than heritage sites being damaged by the elements or extreme events such as earthquakes or floods. However, when this damage is because of deliberate vandalism it is...

The bed could be a possible English National Treasure.

4 February, 2019 - 23:01 Ed Whelan

Bed Bought Online for £2200 May be 15th Century Bridal Bed of King Henry VII

A bed bought online by an antiques dealer in Britain for just £2200 (US$ 2500) may actually be the only surviving example of royal furniture from the Tudor Era. It is believed that the ornately...

4 February, 2019 - 18:54 Ed Whelan

Oldest Evidence of Beer in Britain Found By Accident During Road Project

A road construction project in Britain has uncovered the first evidence of the brewing of beer . Workers uncovered some evidence of charred residue and other matter that would indicate brewing,...

One of the mummies found in the Tuna El-Gebel burial site.

2 February, 2019 - 22:58 Joanna Gillan

50 Mummies of Men, Women and Children Found in Ancient Egyptian Family Tomb

Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Dr Khaled El-Enany announced today the first significant archaeological discovery of 2019 at the Tuna El-Gebel archaeological site in Minya, south of the Cairo. Fifty...

1 February, 2019 - 22:56 Ed Whelan

Colonization of the Americas Caused Climatic Change

New research indicates that the death toll of the indigenous population of the Americas during and after European colonization was so high that it changed the environment around the globe and led to...

Detail from one of the fragments showing the name Merlin.

1 February, 2019 - 13:57 Ed Whelan

Fragments of Ancient Manuscript About Merlin Have Been Discovered and Could Change Arthurian Legend

A lucky discovery in a rare book has the potential to transform our knowledge of perhaps the most famous story from the entire Middle Ages. Some damaged manuscript pages found inside the volume are...

31 January, 2019 - 22:45 Alicia McDermott

Ecuador’s Mummy of Guano is the Key to Understanding a Painful Global Disease

An Andean mummy in Ecuador may be the missing link to understanding the expansion of rheumatoid polyarthritis from the Americas to Europe. Its naturally mummified remains are set to change both local...

Lost Ancient Tswana City called Kweneng near Johannesburg.

31 January, 2019 - 18:54 ancient-origins

Lost African City Found and Recreated With Laser Technology

By Karim Sadr / The Conversation There are lost cities all over the world. Some, like the remains of Mayan cities hidden beneath a thick canopy of rainforest in Mesoamerica, are found with the help...

29 January, 2019 - 14:01 ancient-origins

World’s Oldest Clove? Here’s What an Ancient Sri Lankan Discovery Says About the Early Spice Trade

The history of the spice trade conjures up exotic images of caravans plying the Silk Road in storied antiquity as well as warfare between European powers vying for control of what, pound for pound,...

29 January, 2019 - 01:44 ancient-origins

Our Capable Cousins Were Tech Savvy – Practical Tests Prove Neanderthal Spears Could Kill at a Distance

By Dr. Annemieke Milks and Dr. Matt Pope / Science Daily Neanderthals have been imagined as the inferior cousins of modern humans, but a new study by archaeologists at UCL reveals for the first time...

Left: The clay horse head from the Hellenistic period. Right: The Iron Age clay horse head

26 January, 2019 - 01:52 Ed Whelan

Riders On The Storm: Ancient Clay Horse Heads Emerge After Heavy Rain In Israel

Many important archaeological finds are a result of chance events and good fortune. In Israel, two clay horses’ heads which once were part of equine sculptures have been found by sheer luck. They...

Detail of the breastplate from Captain Matthew Flinders' grave. (HS2) Insert: Watercolour miniature portrait of British navigator Matthew Flinders, dated about 1800.

25 January, 2019 - 22:52 Ed Whelan

Archaeologists Find the Lost Grave of Captain Flinders – The First to Circumnavigate Australia

Archaeologists working at a famous burial site in London have identified the remains of a very important British explorer and navigator. They have found the coffin and remains of Captain Matthew...

The Cube of Zoroaster at Naqsh-e Rustam - an ancient necropolis located in Fars Province, Iran, with a group of ancient Iranian rock reliefs cut into the cliff, from both the Achaemenid and Sassanid periods.

25 January, 2019 - 18:54 Ed Whelan

The 2500-year-old Cube of Zoroaster To Stay Shaken But Not Stirred

Many archaeologically significant sites are under threat from the elements or because of environmental issues. For some time, one of the most important monuments in Iran was believed to be under...

NYC - Bloomingdale's 2009 Holiday Window - Dynamic Duos - Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

23 January, 2019 - 18:47 Alicia McDermott

Excitement Builds Around Finding Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra

Several sensational claims have emerged recently stating that archaeologists have finally uncovered the long lost tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Others say experts are practically at the door of...

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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...

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

Hermes: Messenger of the Gods and Patron of Traders, Travelers, and Thieves

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

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

Saint George, The Dragon Slayer: The Legend Behind the Hero

Human Origins

Detail of ‘Ashkenazi Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878 painting by Maurycy Gottlieb)

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic group who have their earliest ancestors from the indigenous tribes of Israel…at least on one side of the family tree. A study published in 2013 in Nature Communications has shown their maternal lineage comes from a different, and possibly unexpected, source.

One Hundred Thousand Adams and Eves?

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

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

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)

The ancient invention of the steam engine by the Hero of Alexandria

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

Common Tools or Ancient Advanced Technology? How Did the Egyptians Bore Through Granite?

Romans Mastered Nanotechnology and Used it for Eye Catching Decoration

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

Ancient Places

The Mzora Stone Circle in Northern Morocco.

The Mzora Stone Circle: A Megalithic Mystery in Morocco

When people think of megalithic structures, there is a clear behemoth which undeniably dominates the history books – Stonehenge

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

The Lost Tribe of Clover Hollow – Oldest Civilization in the World Found in Appalachian Mountains?

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

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

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

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.