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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.

Archaeologists Uncover Preserved Ancient Pottery Workshop in Egypt

Archaeologists Uncover Preserved Ancient Pottery Workshop in Egypt

Archaeologists digging in the Aziza hills area of the Beheira governate in northern Egypt have recovered the remains a pottery workshop dating to the Graeco-Roman period, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism...
Researchers at the Mummy Project of Milan, Italy around an Egyptian mummy about to enter a CT scan. Earlier this year, Mummy Project researchers began their examination of a famous priest mummy, hoping to learn more about his life, health, and mummification.            Source: Mummy Project

Italian Researchers CT Scan Egyptian Priest Mummy

A known Egyptian priest mummy, from over 3,000 years ago, has recently been transferred from Italy’s famous Museum of Civil Archeology in Bergamo to the Policlinico of Milan hospital to conduct a...
Altar in the Zoroastrian Chak-Chak fire temple in the mountains near Yazd, Iran.

Rare “Divine” Ancient Fire Temple Found in Iran

The remains of an ancient mountain fire temple have been discovered in Iran. While archaeology knows of almost 200 fire temples around the world this one is special because it displays a rare ancient...
King Cassander and his army on the left about to arrest Olympias (mother of Alexander the Great) on the right, in a painting by Jean-Joseph Taillasson (1745-1809). Cassander, it is said, executed this extremely powerful and much-loved woman, who fought valiantly for her family until the end.             Source: Jean-Joseph Taillasson / Public domain

Tomb of Olympias, Alexander The Great’s Mother, Found!

The lost tomb of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, has finally been discovered. Recent excavations in the Tomb of Korinos in northern Greece have resulted in what amounts to a massive...
Lacquerware from the Chinese Hemudu culture. (LukeLOU/CC BY-SA 3.0)

8,000-Year-Old Lacquerware Dug Up in Eastern China is Oldest Ever Found

Archaeologists working in China’s Zhejiang Province recently unearthed something ancient and extraordinary. While performing excavations at a site near the city of Ningbo on Hangzhou Bay, they found...
The archaeological dig site of the Westminster Abbey Sacristy will be part of the abbey’s Hidden Highlights tours this summer at Westminster Abbey, photographed above. Source: coward_lion / Adobe Stock

Henry III’s Rediscovered Westminster Abbey Sacristy Opens to Tourists

The long-lost Great Sacristy of Henry III, built nearly eight centuries ago and rediscovered in 2020, will be open to the public for the first time this summer. The 13th century king ordered this...
The sandpit where the Lusatian graves were discovered. Source: zarynaszemiasto / The First News

Polish Children Unearth Ancient Lusatian Graves In Sandpit

A group of Polish children digging in a playground sandpit made the unexpected, and quite morbid, discovery of a Bronze Age Lusatian grave. The children are fine, but we adults should be asking if...
Detail of Dante, between the mountain of Purgatory and the city of Florence by Domenico di Michelino. Source: Public domain

Dante’s Handwritten Notes Discovered 700 Years After His Death

An Italian national treasure, and one of the greatest poets and writers to emerge from the Italian Middle Age (indeed, ever), Dante Alighieri was a 13th century and early 14th century writer who was...
A landscape view of qubba tombs, a type of Islamic burial tomb or shrine, around an area known as Jebel Maman. (Costanzo et al. / CC-BY 4.0)

A ‘Galaxy’ of Islamic Burials Exhibits An “As Above, So Below” Concept

Sudanese Islamic burial sites are not randomly located as was traditionally believed. Quite the opposite. Thanks to satellite technology , it has been discovered that contrary to the belief that...
Neanderthals Were Likely Battling the Common Cold 700,000 Years Ago!

Neanderthals Were Likely Battling the Common Cold 700,000 Years Ago!

Evidence has emerged that the common cold virus has been around for longer than previously believed. A lot longer, in fact. In a study published online in the open access journal bioRxiv , a team of...
Drone image of the excavation site that could be the location of the long-lost Viking capital of Skailvoighand in the Shetland Islands off Scotland.

Lost Viking Capital May Have Been Found on Scotland’s Shetland Islands

What is being described by one Shetland islander as a “hugely significant discovery " has reached the press. While nobody is just yet sure what the five ancient circular structures found on the...
Study analyzed genus Homo fossils, some of which are shown in this image. Source: Dr. Manuel Will / Nature

New Findings On How Climate Affected Body and Brain Size in Genus Homo

A new study of fossils from the genus Homo from all over the world has concluded that human body size is linked to differences in climate and temperature. In essence they have found that cold...
Ancient Elites Mutilated Their Faces Says Iroungou Cave Study

Ancient Elites Mutilated Their Faces Says Iroungou Cave Study

It is now known elite members of an ancient culture living around Africa’s deep and inaccessible Iroungou Cave in Gabon mutilated their faces by removing selected teeth, which changed the shape of...
The reconstructed solar barge of Khufu.

Egypt’s Second Khufu Ship - Fully Excavated, Ready for Reassembly

After years of work, researchers have now completed their exhumation of all the artifacts of the Second Khufu Ship found next to the Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) in Giza. The next steps are restoration...
This close-up shot shows one of the Sigtuna Viking burials found north of Stockholm, Sweden. They are believed to be Christianized Vikings who lived about 1,000 years ago.

Swedish Viking Burial Shows Transition to Christian Burials Says Study

In Sigtuna, Sweden, just north of Stockholm, seven well-preserved Viking tombs have been discovered, including the graves of two possible infant twins. As per the Swedish press release on this...
A hacksilber hoard dated to the middle of the eleventh century BC found by the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon.       Source: We are grateful to L. E. Stager and D. Master, directors of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, and to D. T. Ariel, for allowing us to publish these photographs.

Scientists Track Silver Trade From Trojan War to Roman Republic

A team of French, Australian, and Israeli scientists has collected evidence proving there was an active and thriving silver trade network in the eastern Mediterranean region in the Late Bronze Age...
Fourteen Living Descendants of Leonardo da Vinci Identified in Study

Fourteen Living Descendants of Leonardo da Vinci Identified in Study

Two Italian historians have announced they have found the “lost descendants” of Leonardo da Vinci after a 10-year-long quest into the family tree of the famous polymath, inventor, and artist. Italian...
Engraved giant deer phalanx from a late Middle Palaeolithic context (layer 4.5) at Einhornhöhle, Lower Saxony, Germany.

51,000-year-old Carving Reveals Neanderthals Produced Art

51,000 years ago, our Stone Age hominin cousins, the Neanderthals, left behind a thoughtfully carved and decorated deer toe bone. This piece of conceptual art found in northern Germany has just been...
An artist's (Dimtry Bogdanov) depiction of a dead Hadrosaur claosaurus dinosaur floating in the Western Interior Sea of Kansas during the Cretaceous period with two Squalicorax sharks circling around it. The shark teeth found in the City of David (Jerusalem) and also in other Middle Eastern deserts, like those in Morocco, were from this very species!

80-Million-Year-Old Shark Teeth Found in the City Of David, Israel

A stash of 29 “out of place” 80-million-year-old shark teeth have been discovered at a 2,900-year-old site in the City of David neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. The find has challenged scientists...
Lifting Machine May Have Moved Huge Objects at Stonehenge and Egypt!

Lifting Machine May Have Moved Huge Objects at Stonehenge and Egypt!

A man in the UK claims to have solved the mystery of how large objects such as the standing stones at Stonehenge and Egyptian statues and mega-stones were moved in the past. Steven Tasker has created...
Florida Museum archaeologist Charles Cobb holds an axe head known as a celt. To create this distinct shape, a Chickasaw craftsperson reworked a Spanish iron object to mimic traditional stone versions. Credit: Florida Museum, Photo by Jeff Gage

Artifacts Seized from Conquistadors by Chickasaw People in 16th Century Uncovered

A team of archaeologists digging at the Stark Farms Native American site in east central Mississippi have found more than 80 metal artifacts that were not manufactured by the Chickasaw people who...
Ancient Greeks Used Moveable Stage in Messene Theater!

Ancient Greeks Used Moveable Stage in Messene Theater!

Moveable theater props and three stone tracks have been discovered at the ancient Greek Messene Theater in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece . These new findings related to ancient Greek...
A Roman Coffin has been unearthed during restoration works in Bath.

Roman Sarcophagus Containing Two Skeletons Unearthed in Bath

Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset and, as the name suggests, it is renowned for its Roman-built baths which were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century AD...

Study of Ushabti Copper Origins Enlightens Egypt’s Dark Age

While many archaeologists focus on the symbolic meaning of recovered temple treasures and grave goods, others concentrate on their origin stories. In this case a team of scientists have used high...

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