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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.

Left; Ecuadorian tsantsa or shrunken head on display at the Chatham-Kent Museum in Chatham, Right; Micro-CT scan of the same. Source: Left; PLoS ONE, Right; Andrew Nelson/Western University

Canadian Researchers Prove Old Shrunken Head Found in Museum is Human

A team of Canadian researchers have accomplished a feat that up to now had proven impossible. As they explain in an article just published in the journal PLOS One , they used clinical computed...
Three different images of the recently discovered souterrain underground tunnel system north-northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The middle image was the discovery of the roof in a cauliflower field. Source: Joe Thompson / Dublin Gazette

Bold Explorer Enters Underground Souterrain Tunnels Exposed By Farmer

An amateur explorer has released a video of himself exploring a hitherto lost underground “souterrain” chamber. But the journey he filmed inside this strange place is not for the claustrophobic among...
Examination of a Witch (1853) by T. H. Matteson, inspired by the Salem trials, which have been finally “closed” by the exoneration of the last Salem witch, Elizabeth Johnson. Source: Peabody Essex Museum / Public domain

Last Salem Witch Has Been Exonerated Posthumously By Boston Court

It’s not just something one can bury in the recesses of history because even today many cultures across the world accuse women of practicing black magic and witchcraft. And women accused of this...
The Temple of the Sun at Tonina Archaeological site, Chiapas. (Mauricio Marat / INAH)  Entrance to the newly discovered crypt  Temple of the Sun of Toniná, where the bodies of their rulers were cremated. Source: Mauricio Marat / INAH

Mesoamerican Ball Game Rubber Balls Were Made With Human Ashes

Archaeologists in Mexico have discussed the ritual significance of the Maya “Cave of Death”. It contained ingredients of rubber sporting balls laced with human ashes. The pre-Columbian Maya city of...
Enormous golden filigree chain found with the Wonder shipwreck in the Bahamas. Source: Nathaniel Harrington / Allen Exploration

Billionaire Explorer Reveals Lost Treasures of the Wonder Ship

Between 2019 and 2020, an explorer in the Bahamas scanned a 17th century shipwreck using over 8,000 underwater metal detectors. As a result, he literally struck gold, big time. This week a new museum...
A closeup of the 37,000-year-old New Mexico mammoth bones discovered during excavations at the site. This random mix of ribs, broken cranial bones, a molar, bone fragments, and stone cobbles is a refuse pile from mammoth butchering. Source: Timothy Rowe / The University of Texas at Austin.

New Mexico Mammoth Bones from 37,000 years ago “Upend” Clovis Theory

A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Texas have uncovered compelling evidence to prove human beings settled in North America much earlier than had once been believed. That...
Left, King Boleslaw, Right; the sword from the Boleshaw era found in Poland.  Source: Left; CC BY-SA 3.0 / Right; Joanna Klimek-Szymanowicz Wójt Gminy Lewin Kłodzki / The First News

1,000-year-old Polish Boleslaw Sword Reveals Glorious Knighthood Era

A 1,000-year-old “Boleslaw sword” (i.e., from the glorious reign of Boleslaw the Brave; lived 967-1025 AD) dated to the beginning of the 11th century and believed to have belonged to a knight working...
This almost perfect medieval lion pendant found by the HS2 archaeological project. Source: HS2

Royal Medieval Lion Pendant Released To Spur On the Ladies at Wembley

A crowd of almost 88000 filled the stands to watch the finals of the Women’s Euro 22 soccer championship on Sunday, July 31 at Wembley stadium, most cheering madly for the English team. The...
Replica of the “Saxon Princess” bed burial at Kirkleatham Museum. Source: Prioryman/CC BY-SA 3.0

Bed Burials Linked to Medieval Christian Husband Hunters

A burial practice among elite medieval Europeans was to be interred on their beds, a rite which archaeologists call “a bed burial.” An English researcher has now completed an analysis of 72 bed...
Portrait of a male Viking wearing fur. Source: Digital Storm / Adobe Stock

Elite Danish Vikings Wore Beaver Fur as a Status Symbol

A new study has revealed that elite Vikings, specifically highly ranked Danish Vikings, used and wore beaver furs as a means of showing off their exalted social status. This practice is not...
Aerial view of the Al-Faw archaeological site, home to a neolithic settlement, in Saudi Arabia. Source: CC BY-SA 4.0

8,000-Year-Old Neolithic Temple Discovered in Saudi Arabia

The once magnificent capital of the Kingdom of Kindah, Al-Faw south west of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has been the subject of a project spearheaded by the Saudi Heritage Commission, headed by a Saudi...
Study has found that human herpes was spread by kissing throughout history. Source: boyloso / Adobe Stock

Human Herpes Linked to Emergence of Kissing in the Bronze Age

It is generally accepted among historians that kissing had no one point of origin, but the habit began as a human trend in different regions. The earliest known written record of romantic saliva...
Some of the ancient ghost footprints marked with pin flags discovered in Utah. Source: R. Nial Bradshaw / US Air Force

Almost 100 Human “Ghost Footprints” Found in Utah Dating Back to the Ice Age

88 human “ghost tracks” dated to the erstwhile Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago, have been discovered in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. Mystical in nature, they appear when just the right amount of...
The rare 69-AD Batavian mask find. Source: City of Krefeld, Press, and Communications

Rare Batavian Calvary Mask Worn in Revolt Against The Romans Found

Archaeologists excavating an ancient Roman site near the German city of Krefeld, just a few miles west of the Rhine, uncovered a rare Batavian mask, face-fitted for the elite Batavian cavalrymen,...
A 1,800-year-old Roman coin portraying the goddess Luna was recovered from the Israeli Mediterranean. Source: Dafna Gazit / Israel Antiquities Authority

Rare Roman Coin Portraying Moon Goddess Luna Retrieved from Israeli Waters

A rare and beautiful bronze coin from the reign of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, who ruled as emperor between 138 and 161 AD, has been discovered off the coast of Haifa in Israel. The 1,850-year-old...
Two skeletons known as The Lovers of Valdaro (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Activist Group Tells Archaeologists Not to Assume Gender of Ancient Skeletons

Self-declared “anarchist archaeologists” are warning archaeologists not to assume the gender or race of ancient skeletons because they see the categorization of sexes as discriminatory to the dead...
Recently, a team of Turkish scientists have recreated a 1200-BC Mesopotamian perfume made by the "world's first female chemist" Tapputi. These glass bottles are full of “modern” perfumes that all benefited from the first scent pioneers of the ancient world. Source: gal2007 / Adobe Stock

3,200-Year-Old Mesopotamian Perfume Recreated from Ancient Text

A woman named Tapputi carried the distinction of being the first female chemist in Mesopotamia and the first female perfume maker anywhere in the world, approximately 3,200 years ago. Working with a...
Members of the international team working at the likely site of the long-lost Khan palace in Van Province, Turkey. Source: The Daily Sabah / Anadolu Agency

Long Lost Palace of Genghis Khan’s Grandson Found in Turkey

Turkish and Mongolian scientists may have found the remains of a long-lost Khan palace in eastern Turkey that they believe was built by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu Khan. Hulagu Khan was the ruler...
A relief depicting the god Anubis attending to the mummy of a worker. The recent study seems to indicate that Egyptian physicians were familiar with stroke victims and how to treat them. Source: Jean Robert Thibault / CC BY-SA 2.0

Scientists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Stroke Victim

A detailed medical examination of the remains of one Egyptian mummy led to a surprising and unprecedented discovery. A team of researchers from New Jersey University in the United States, Alcalá...
Egyptian mummy head found in an attic in Ramsgate, England. Source: James Elliot / Paleoimaging

Egyptian Mummy’s Head Discovered In English Attic Scanned

Archaeologists and hospital staff in England have been working together. They’ve CT scanned an ancient Egyptian mummy’s head that was discovered in an English attic. In the 1820s a 2,700-year-old...
Egyptian commander’s tomb, sarcophagus and grave goods uncovered at Abusir, Egypt. Source: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

Excavation Unearths Unique Tomb of 6th Century BC Egyptian Commander

While performing excavations near the Giza Plateau , a team of Czech archaeologists from Charles University in Prague unearthed a tomb that belonged to a powerful Egyptian military commander who...
The stone carved chrysalis found at the Shangguo Site in Wenxi County in the city of Yuncheng, north China's Shanxi Province. Source: Provincial archaeology institute of Shanxi/Handout via Xinhua

5,200-Year-Old Carved Stone Chrysalis Unearthed from the Dawn of The Silk Road

Sericulture, or the rearing of silkworms to produce raw silk, was perfected by ancient China as early as the Yangshao period (5000-3000 BC), a thriving Neolithic culture. The marvels of silk and the...
One of the two perfectly preserved Purbeck marble gravestones cargo of the oldest known English shipwreck, Dorset. Source: Bournemouth University

England’s Oldest Known Shipwreck Found, With A Morbid Cargo

A wreck hunter in England has discovered a rare 13th century ship, the oldest shipwreck known in English waters. Onboard her well-preserved hull, buried among a collection of valuable marble stones,...
Rabana ‘sanctuary, fortifications at the Rabana-Merquly. Source: © Rabana-Merquly Archaeological Project / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Lost Royal City of Natounia May Have Been Found in Zagros Mountains

An ancient, fortified settlement known as Rabana-Merquly, which was located high in the north-central Zagros Mountains of modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan, was protected by impenetrable fortifications...

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