All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

italy

Ötzi Memorial, Austria (GFDL), Ötzi Arrow (Wierer et al), Ötzi Reconstruction (CC BY SA 3.0 )

The Final Days of Otzi: Stone Tools Reveal What the Iceman Endured

Stone tools found with a 5,300-year-old frozen mummy from Northern Italy reveal how alpine Copper Age communities lived, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ursula...
The hand missing its index finger from a monumental bronze statue of Constantine.

Giant Finger of Emperor Constantine Found At Last

Experts at the Louvre Museum in Paris have made a rather important but strange discovery. They have discovered that an apparent bronze toe, is in fact a finger, and it belongs to a famous statue of...
Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants by Nicolas Poussin

2,200-Year-Old Moat with Artifacts Linked to Hannibal Unearthed in Spain

Spanish university students trying to retrace Hannibal’s war march through northeastern Spain found a huge buried moat with ancient objects in it. The moat may have been meant to protect the ancient...

The Oldest Tree in Europe has been Discovered in Italy

In Italy, researchers have found what they believe to be the oldest living tree in Europe, having calculated its age to be approximately 1230 years old, according to a report from Discovery. The tree...
Interior of Etruscan Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, Italy

The Cerveteri Necropolis, Etruscan City of the Dead

Prior to the rise of Rome, Italy was inhabited by a number of different peoples. The coastal region of southern Italy and Sicily, for instance, was colonized by the Greeks, whilst the interior of...
The remains of an ancient Roman horse have been found in Pompeii

2,000-Year-Old Remains of Horse Killed by Pompeii Volcano Found in Tomb Raider Tunnel

Donkeys, pigs, and dogs have all been found amongst the ruins of Pompeii , but the remains of a carbonized horse are the first example archaeologists have come across of that animal. While the...
The center of Calcata, Italy

The Hippie Town of Calcata - Hiding-Place of the Holy Foreskin of Christ

One of the most important relics in Christendom, the Holy Prepuce (Jesus’s circumcised foreskin) put this clifftop town on the map in the 16th century as a place of pilgrimage. In the 20th century it...
Medieval burial showing the remains of a woman and a fetus in Bologna, Italy.

Medieval Woman Gave Birth AFTER Her Death

A team of scientists in Italy have revealed that the 1,400-year-old remains of a woman and a fetus discovered in Bologna, is a rare case of a ‘coffin birth’, in which the pregnant woman gave birth to...
Detail of two dancers from the Tomb of the Triclinium in the Necropolis of Monterozzi.

Do not Underestimate the Etruscans: Art and Culture of their Own

Many folks see the Etruscan civilization as merely a segue, a follow up to the Greeks and a foreshadowing to the Romans. But casting this ancient society as a sideline character might not do them...
Angel of the Ribaudo tomb, Staglieno cemetery

The Dramatic and Intensely Moving Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno

The Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno is a well-known burial site located in the Italian city of Genoa, which is considered one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the whole of Europe. It is famous...
The Valle dei Mulini.

The Ruins of Valle dei Mulini: Abandoned by Humans, Reclaimed by Nature

Ruins of old mills dot the landscape of the Valle dei Mulini (‘Valley of the Mills’). Their crumbled walls are the remains of abandoned structures which once filled the valley with human life. Now,...
Mór Than's painting The Feast of Attila, based on a fragment of Priscus.

Did the Roughly-Hewn Stone Throne at Torcello Really Belong to Attila the Hun?

On the island of Torcello there exists an ancient white chair that local legend names as the throne of Attila the Hun. The chair is large, of solid stone and certainly has the air of unyielding...
The Colosseum in Rome, once home to the most brutal games in history.

The Colosseum – From Gladiator Fights to Gory Executions and Sea Battles

Gladiatorial fights, sea battles, criminal (and Christian?) executions. These are only a few of the events, if they can even be called such, that happened in the walls of the Colosseum. Known during...
The Roman sundial

Archaeologists Uncover Rare 2,000-year-old Roman Sundial and it Tells Them More than Just the Time

A 2,000-year-old intact and inscribed sundial – one of only a handful known to have survived – has been recovered during the excavation of a roofed theatre in the Roman town of Interamna Lirenas,...
The Apennine Colossus by Giambologna.

Man out of Mountain: The Striking Figure of the Apennine Colossus

"… great father Apennine, lifting elate to heaven his snow-crowned head…" At the feet of the Apennines, Aeneas and his men defeated the Latins in one of the first victories of the early Romans. Amid...
Ötzi’s Ancient Axe is from Tuscany, Giving Firm Evidence of Neolithic Travel and Trade

Ötzi’s Ancient Axe is from Tuscany, Giving Firm Evidence of Neolithic Travel and Trade

Scientists have officially verified that copper used to make Otzi the Iceman’s axe blade did not come from the Alpine region as was initially suggested, but instead it came from southern Tuscany in...
Ruins of Pompeii seen from the above with a drone, with the Vesuvius in the background

A Diet of Delicacies for the People of Pompeii Included Giraffe and Sea Urchin

Several years ago, surprising discoveries were made in a study , which drew on the findings of a sizable excavation of an area of Pompeii. The study, which was presented to the Archaeological...
Main: A diver searches the Relitto del Pozzino shipwreck (Not Only Chemistry). Inset: One of the medicinal tablets. Image via PNAS/Giachi et. al.

Scientists Learn Ingredients of 2,000-Year-Old Roman Pills Found in Ancient Shipwreck

Discoveries of ancient shipwrecks are always exciting, but a small number of them are truly unique in the artifacts they yield, offering up items from the past that have been preserved for centuries...
The helmet of a heavily armed ‘secutor’, first century AD. Rógvi N. Johansen, Department of photo and medie Moesgaard

Roman Gladiators Were War Prisoners and Criminals, Not Sporting Heroes

For centuries, the bloody gladiator conflicts that the Romans staged in amphitheatres throughout the empire have engrossed and repelled us. When it comes to gladiators, it is almost impossible to...
The Veiled Virgin.

Unrivalled Classical Art: Giovanni Strazza's Exquisite Veiled Virgin

The Veiled Virgin is the name of a piece of marble sculpture created by Giovanni Strazza, an Italian sculptor. As its name indicates, this sculpture is a bust of the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a...
Ogre in the park of monsters, close to Bomarzo

Where the Wild Things Are: Garden of Monsters Was Built to Convey the Despair of its Creator

Located in the Garden of Bomarzo, in Northern Lazio, Italy is The Sacro Bosco , or “Sacred Grove,” also known as the Park of Monsters, or the Villa of Wonders. The park was commissioned in 1552 by...
Painting of a scene around the River Nile in Egypt, found in Casa dell'Efebo

Archaeologists Discover Paintings of Ancient Egypt in a 2,000-Year-Old Villa in Pompeii

A team of archaeologists have discovered impressive paintings of Ancient Egypt in a Roman villa in Pompeii . The portraits clearly show the vast influence the Egyptian culture had in early Roman...
A scan of the two teeth with bitumen filling. Credit: Stefano Benazzi

13,000-Year-Old Bitumen Dental Fillings Found in Italy: Earliest Example of Dentistry Known to Date

Researchers have discovered the world's most ancient dental fillings in northern Italy. The fillings were spotted inside a pair of 13,000-year-old front teeth and they were made of bitumen, a semi-...
A richly decorate vase in the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Italy.

Just How Rich Were the Inhabitants of Magna Graecia Really?

A team of archaeologists excavating in the Italian city of Paestum (Poseidonia), has uncovered the remnants of a palatial structure and indispensable ceramics. Almost 2,500 years ago, Poseidonia was...

Pages