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.

This photo shows the mummy of Michael Orlovits in the Mummies of the World exhibition. Dry air preserved the decease people’s bodies and clothing.

10 April, 2015 - 14:33 Mark Miller

Mummified 18th century bodies give scientists clues about spread of TB

Scientists recently examined tissue samples from tuberculosis-infected bodies that were naturally mummified in a church crypt in Vac, Hungary. Researchers found that the tuberculosis that killed them...

10 April, 2015 - 03:49 Mark Miller

A sacred mountain, water, and earthly power converged in Maya city of Nakum

A new study suggests the rulers of the Maya city of Nakum used water as a social control method. They represented themselves as rainmakers, researchers say, showing themselves on monuments with water...

The trepanning of the man’s skull, the edges of which had healed, may have been to relieve pain from the deformity of his jaw.

10 April, 2015 - 01:23 Mark Miller

Medieval man with facial deformity may have had head drilled in an exorcism

A medieval or Saxon man whose skeleton was found in a Roman villa in Hampshire, England, may have been buried in the countryside because of a jaw deformity that made his community consider him...

Chinese Explorer Zheng He - Mystery of Island

9 April, 2015 - 21:58 lizleafloor

Mystery of island visited by 15th Century Chinese Explorer Zheng He now solved

The 15 th century voyages of Chinese maritime admiral and diplomat Zheng He have been well documented by historical accounts. Zheng He, highly influential in Ming emperor Yongle’s court, was...

Scythian Golden Fish from the Treasure of Vettersfelde circa 500 B.C.

9 April, 2015 - 00:54 lizleafloor

Long Hidden Scythian Treasure Site Located at Ceremonial Spring in Poland

A farmer made an amazing discovery more than 130 years ago in a field outside Vettersfelde (now Witaszkowo) Poland. He stumbled upon a great hoard of golden treasure, including dozens of ornaments...

8 April, 2015 - 22:13 aprilholloway

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

8 April, 2015 - 03:41 ancient-origins

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...

7 April, 2015 - 15:22 aprilholloway

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...

6 April, 2015 - 21:58 Mark Miller

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...

6 April, 2015 - 01:18 aprilholloway

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...

5 April, 2015 - 01:40 Mark Miller

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.

4 April, 2015 - 01:01 Mark Miller

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

3 April, 2015 - 22:43 aprilholloway

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.

2 April, 2015 - 14:52 aprilholloway

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...

2 April, 2015 - 00:13 Mark Miller

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

1 April, 2015 - 22:32 lizleafloor

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...

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Myths & Legends

The Last of the Siberian Unicorns: What Happened to the Mammoth-Sized One-Horned Beasts of Legend?

Elasmotherium, also known as the Giant Rhinoceros or the Giant Siberian Unicorn, is an extinct species of rhino that lived in the Eurasian area in the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. They have been documented from 2.6 million years ago, but the most recent fossils come from around 29,000 years ago.

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula?

The ancient origins of the legendary griffin

Ramayana: The Grand Epic of Ancient India

A Pilgrimage of Thought: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

When Kalki the Destroyer Descends, the Apocalypse Begins

Human Origins

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

This is the account of the discovery of a skull that has the potential to change what we know about human evolution, and a suppression and cover-up which followed. In 1959, in an area called...

The Controversial Lapedo Child – A Neanderthal / Human Hybrid?

The Little Ice Age and Its Giant Impact on Human History

How the Universe Came to Be: The Bible and Science Finally in Accord?

The Morbid Legacy Of The Doctor Who Tried To Weigh The Human Soul

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Ancient Technology

Mammoth in the Royal BC Museum in Victoria (Canada). The display is from 1979, and the fur is musk ox hair.

Surprising Stone Age Knowledge Revealed on a Mammoth Bone Bracelet

In Sivershchina, close to the village of Mizyn in Ukraine is one of the oldest and most unique settlements of humans – and it was discovered in a parking lot. The now well-known archaeological site, known plainly as the Mizyn parking lot, dates back 18-20 thousand years.

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

The Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: Were Humans the First? Part 1

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

Ancient Places

Great Chain of The Golden Horn: Constantinople’s Impenetrable Barrier

For all large capital cities in ancient and modern history, protection was one of the major survival strategies. And what historical capital was bigger than legendary Constantinople?

Tomb of the Lord of Sipan, Mochican Warrior Priest

Buried Beneath the Sand, The Ziggurat of Jiroft May be Largest and Oldest of its Kind in the World

The Theopetra Cave and the Oldest Human Construction in the World

The Judean Date Palm: Extinct Tree Resurrected from Ancient Seeds

Who Destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria?

Opinion

3 Problems to Remember When Trying to Find Atlantis

It is perhaps the greatest unsolved mystery of all time: Did the lost city of Atlantis actually exist? And if it did once exist, where was it located before its watery demise? Fortunately, the...

Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes?

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

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.