Language

Early man looking up at the stars (Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock)

7 January, 2019 - 18:53 Derek Cunningham

Translation of 5,500-Year-Old Babel Text from China Reveals Oldest Known Map of Inner Solar System

It is obvious to any astronomer that some of the brightest objects in the night sky are the planets. It is thus mysterious that there are so few references to the planets in ancient literature. Prior...

God the Father’ (1510-1520) by Ludovico Mazzolino.

2 January, 2019 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

Dyeus Pater—The Original All-Father of the Gods

The ancestors of the Indo-European peoples looked up into the sky and saw a father, a cosmic patriarch with authority over the realm of daylight. Many Indo-European pantheons contain gods associated...

13 November, 2018 - 16:44 lizleafloor

Elfdalian, the Ancient Viking Forest Language of Sweden, Set to be Revived

The ancient Viking language of Elfdalian has been almost entirely wiped out, with an estimate of only 3,000 people in a tiny forest community in Sweden currently keeping it alive. Now, people fight...

Top of Statue of Saints Cyril and Methodius

3 November, 2018 - 13:15 Caleb Strom

Cyril and Methodius - Spiritual Fathers of Slavic Civilization

In many ways, Eastern Europe owes its cultural and religious shape to the two missionary brothers, Saint Cyril (827-869 AD) and Saint Methodius (826-884 AD). These two brothers were sent as...

29 October, 2018 - 13:03 ashley cowie

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: ‘Savage’ Pictish Warriors of Scottish Highlands Had Written Language

The Picts were an ancient race of people that inhabited the northern territories of what is known today as Scotland. Recorded as uncultured savages in defamatory Roman accounts, new findings suggest...

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)

12 October, 2018 - 16:01 pkoutoupis

Of One Language: In Search of Our Mother Tongue

Mankind is familiar with the narrative surrounding the construction of the Tower of Babel, passed down through the generations and across multiple cultures. The most well-known version is chapter 11...

‘The tower of Babel’ (1550-1584) by Pieter Balten. Is it possible to interpret another meaning of the Tower of Babel?

29 September, 2018 - 13:55 Rabbi Allen Maller

The Qur’an and Torah on the True Meaning of the Tower of Babel and Multiple Languages

The conventional understanding of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is that humanity arrogantly challenged God 's space through invading it by building a "tower; with its head reaching up to the...

Aztec Calendar Sun Stone, used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico and Central America

1 August, 2018 - 01:56 Caleb Strom

Nahuatl, The Language of the Aztec Nation

Today, Spanish is the dominant language of Mexico and most central and South American countries. There was a time, however, when Nahuatl, a language spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of the Valley...

A Sámi family in front of goahti and lavvu housing, early 1900s, Norway

24 July, 2018 - 13:27 Alicia McDermott

A Window into the Traditional Sami Culture: Reindeer and a Worldview

The Sámi are an indigenous people with a rich cultural history. They have lived in northern Europe for thousands of years. The area they live in, Sápmi, includes the northern sectors of Norway,...

22 April, 2018 - 13:59 aprilholloway

More than Brutish Grunting: Can One Bone Prove Neanderthal Speech Existed?

For a long time, the common depiction of Neanderthals was a group of unintelligent subhumans who could only communicate through wild gestures and loud grunts. But many researchers were not convinced...

Tauriel daughter of Mirkwood from Lord of the Rings

18 March, 2018 - 12:55 ancient-origins

How to Invent a Tolkien-Style Language: Ancient Languages Inspire Modern Movies

The success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies brought the languages that JRR Tolkien invented for the Elves to the attention of a much wider public. There are now numerous...

17 March, 2018 - 21:56 ancient-origins

In Medieval Britain, If You Wanted to Get Ahead, You Had to Speak French

The study of modern languages in British secondary schools is in steep decline. The number of students taking French and German GCSE has more than halved in the last 16 years. But as the UK prepares...

Ancient art in the Altai Mountains, Russia. While the world’s best-known cave art exists in France and Spain, examples of it abound throughout the world.

14 March, 2018 - 00:40 ancient-origins

Did Humans Speak Through Cave Art? Ancient Drawings and Language's Origins

When and where did humans develop language? To find out, look deep inside caves, suggests an MIT professor. More precisely, some specific features of cave art may provide clues about how our symbolic...

Homo erectus statue, taken at David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins as the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

23 February, 2018 - 18:54 ashley cowie

Primeval Navigation Suggests Language Began 1.5 Million Years Earlier Than Thought

Were our primeval ancestors skilled mariners who sailed thousand of miles to distant islands using language, or did they grunt at each other while holding onto tree trunks being blown randomly on the...

The Wise Men visit the Baby Jesus and offer gifts.

26 December, 2017 - 22:50 ancient-origins

Uncovering the Language of the First Christmas

Around the Christmas period, the now typical jokes pile up on social media. Jesus is commended for having a “stable upbringing”. The three wise men fret: “We’re running low on Frankincense. Don’t...

16 November, 2017 - 13:56 Caleb Strom

Age of the Wise Men: What Distinguishes Homo Sapiens from the Other Great Apes?

Homo Sapiens represents the last of a long line of hominin races that once consisted of five different species spanning four continents. Today, we are the last humans, that is, the last of the genus...

Pages

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.

The symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000-year-old history

Lovelock Cave: A Tale of Giants or A Giant Tale of Fiction?

The Real Story of Medusa and the Gorgons

Mount Meru – Hell and Paradise on One Mountain

The Ballad of Hua Mulan: The Legendary Warrior Woman Who Brought Hope to China

Human Origins

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Sumer , or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and...

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Facing the Facts: Just How Accurate Are Facial Reconstructions?

They’re Alive! Megalithic Sites Are More than Just Stone

Ancient Technology

Stone of the Pregnant Woman, an example of ancient high-tech stonework in Hajar al Hibla at Baalbek in Lebanon.

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

Both a Princess and a Priestess, What Did the First Known Author Have to Share with the World?

They’re Alive! Megalithic Sites Are More than Just Stone

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Ancient Places

Were the Women of Petra More Important Than the Men?

The Nabataeans were a society who inhabited Arabia and the Southern Levant from the 3rd century BC to approximately 106 AD when the Nabataean kingdom was annexed by the Roman Empire.

Trance Rock Art of Nsangwini - Communing With the Spirits

The Colossal Hand of Hercules, So Where is the Rest of Him?

Eridu: The Sumerian Garden of Eden and the Oldest City in the World?

The Where, When and How of Quarrying Stonehenge 'Bluestones' Is Revealed in New Report

Hill of Crosses: A Hundred Thousand Times Lithuania Has Stood Up

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

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.