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.
China loses it on a new national fad. Chinese museum authorities have turned its most recognized cultural artifact into an “ugly” flying horse toy. To begin with let’s look at the word “fad.” It...
A team of 65 Bournemouth University archaeology students exploring an Iron Age site in Dorset County in southwest England have been credited with a significant discovery. While digging at a location...
A vampire slaying kit has been sold for five times more than expected at an auction in Derbyshire, England. The sale of this bizarre box of artifacts, once believed to help guard against vampires,...
2,000-year-old frescoes dating back to the time of Emperor Hadrian will be on public display at the site of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. The frescoes, which belong to different time periods and...
A 5.5-inch-long pregnant Hermann’s tortoise was another casualty at Pompeii, but this time it was a different kind of natural disaster that caused death. It was an earthquake rather than the famous...
The lost tomb of the 10th century Viking King, Harald Bluetooth, has “probably” been identified “again.” When Old King Gorm died around 935 AD, the new Viking ruler of Denmark and Norway became...
The Roman empire has historically been associated with wine and winemaking. Now more about just how they produced the beverage that was consumed by practically all in the nation, rich or poor, has...
Archaeologists exploring Lindisfarne, an island known for its rich religious history - including the first Viking invasion - have recovered the oldest prayer beads ever found in England. While...
While carrying out routine field work in the Burren lowlands of County Galway in Ireland, field archaeologist Michael Gibbons discovered a Bronze Age fortress that may be almost 3,200 years old. The...
The ancient city of Kelenderis on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is the site of the Greek Celenderis, a port and fortress in ancient Cilicia and later Isauria. From here, a furnace for commercial...
The analysis of over 2,500 Aramaic inscriptions in Palmyra in south-central Syria has helped solve a 100-year-old mystery. Two hundred texts, dated mainly to the 2nd and 3rd century AD have been...
A 30,000-year-old baby mammoth has been discovered perfectly preserved in permafrost in the far reaches of Canada’s northwest Yukon province. Covered in skin and patches of hair, the Yukon baby...
In May 2022 I wrote an Ancient Origins news article about the discovery of “42, syphilis -ridden, colonial Spaniards.” These bodies were unearthed at a 500-year-old hospital in Lima, Peru’s capital...
Archaeologists believe they are uncovering the lost city of Bassania, an ancient Illyrian settlement mentioned by Livy as lying between two important ancient centers - the Illyrian capital of Shkodër...
A beachcomber exploring sea caves along the north coast of western Oregon, USA discovered timbers from the hull of the Beeswax wreck Spanish galleon that sunk in the Pacific Ocean more than 300 years...
Until now most only associated the word “Antikythera” with an ancient computer. But that now will change, after Greek divers recovered a giant marble head from the world-renowned shipwreck...