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 team of scientists in Turin, Italy , have claimed the alignment of one of the city streets marks the day Roman Emperor Octavian (“Augustus”) was titled “father of the country” - but not everyone...
Archaeologists have determined rubbish mounds outside the city walls at Pompeii were “recycling sites” where trash was sorted, reformed and resold, revealing the ancient Pompeiians were eco-conscious...
Molecular food remains sampled from Neolithic pottery determines dairy farming “took hold” in what is modern-day Britain and Ireland . A new study of pottery fragments by a team of scientists led by...
Paleolithic rock art found in Siberia and Mongolia is some 7,000 years older than previously thought, with ancient artists using the same artistic style in both locations. Scientists have closely...
Over the last few months as the world was slowly shutdown with the prevailing pandemic, a team of archaeological and anthropological researchers led by Franck Leandri, head curator of the French...
Does a “hidden-pattern” at Göbekli Tepe in central Turkey suggest 12,000-year-old hunter-gatherers knew rudimentary geometric principals, indicating a more complex society than previously assumed by...
The Histories by Herodotus (484BC to 425BC) offers a remarkable window into the world as it was known by ancient Greek astronomy in the mid fifth century BC. Almost as interesting as what they knew,...
In Egypt, archaeologists from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have found a mysterious and diverse collection of rock art. They were located deep in a cave in the Sinai and are not like...
Microscopic marks discovered on the shoulder bones of two ancient female warriors bring the legendary woman warrior, Mulan , from eastern mythology into historical reality. Disney’s 1998 animated...
In the mid-16th century the hyper-violent forces of Spanish conquistadors burned, tortured, raped and spread diseases as they made their way across Mesoamerica in the name of their one god. Yet they...
Archaeologists have found the bejeweled mummy of a teenage girl in a coffin filled with ancient treasure, which may have been her trousseau, near Luxor, Egypt. The remarkable find dates back over 3,...
Researchers have unearthed the only historically documented case of people being struck by a meteorite. Tales of meteorites falling to Earth are carved on prehistoric stones and featured in the Bible...
An elite prehistoric chieftain and possibly his older shaman have been discovered beside a sacred mound in southwest England’s most important prehistoric ritual center. During a new archaeological...
Florida Museum of Natural History Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Spanish...
William Mitchell / The Conversation William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time and one of the most important and influential people who has ever lived. His...
Archaeologists in Spain have discovered the lost battlefield where the legendary Hannibal won his first great victory before his march on Rome. Hannibal was the famous Carthaginian statesman and...
The vast archaeological site of Saqqara is located about 30 km (19 mi) south of modern-day Cairo in Egypt and it’s home to the earliest and first documented pyramid, the Unas, the famous Step Pyramid...
Marine archaeologists have found a large number of shipwrecks in a deep body of water known as the Levantine Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean. Experts have been looking for these wrecks for many...
In Germany, a team of experts have made a very important discovery. They have established that an ancient wooden artifact is a throwing stick (or ‘killing stick’). This is allowing them to understand...
Three skeletons believed to have been murdered as part of human sacrifice rites have been discovered within the foundations of a 1,000-year-old castle in South Moravia. Břeclav is a town in the South...
Genetic research has revolutionized our understanding of Switzerland’s prehistoric past. A group of researchers have carried out a study of genomes from individuals who lived in the Late Neolithic...
Portuguese researchers believe that they have identified the long-lost process and plant that provided a unique purple-blue pigment in the Middle Ages . This was used to color many things including...
Archaeologists have applied the principals of AI to distinguish between ancient human and dog poo, cleaning up a storm of scientific confusion over the matter. Looking deep into the future, in...
Experimental archaeology is a relatively new field and it is allowing experts to test their hypotheses about the past in a new hands-on way. A fascinating recent experiment has solved the mystery as...
