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Oldest Egyptian Soul Map has been found on the text of a woman’s coffin. Source: Boggy / Adobe Stock

9 October, 2019 - 14:00 ashley cowie

Inscription on Coffin Discovered to be Oldest Egyptian Soul Map

A 4000-year-old ancient Egyptian text illustrates the oldest map of the underworld in existence. In 2012 archaeologists opened a burial shaft in the Middle Egyptian necropolis of Dayr al-Barsha and...

9 September, 2019 - 01:22 beth

Piri Reis Map - How Could a 16th Century Map Show Antarctica Without Ice?

On October 9, 1929, a German theologian named Gustav Adolf Deissmann was cataloguing items in the Topkapi Palace library in Istanbul when he happened across a curious parchment located among some...

2 July, 2019 - 02:01 Nathan Falde

Antarctica’s Hidden Mountains Revealed

Antarctica has been covered with ice for thousands of years, and only recently have we been able to fully identify its underlying features. Scientists have turned the spotlight on the topography of...

Detail of ‘Brawl between soldiers and peasants’ (1565-1570) by the Circle of Marten van Cleve. A new ‘murder map’ shows that Medieval London streets were the backdrop to many murders.

28 November, 2018 - 18:57 ancient-origins

Beaten to Death for Littering with Eel Skins: ‘Murder Map’ Reveals Medieval London’s Meanest Streets

The first digital map of the murders recorded by the city's Coroner in early 1300s shows Cheapside and Cornhill were homicide ‘hot spots’, and Sundays held the highest risk of violent death for...

‘Crossing the River Styx’ (circa 1520-1524) by Joachim Patinir. Many ancient people imagined the edges of the earth as strange and magical places.

16 September, 2018 - 13:56 Mark Oliver

What Did Ancient Civilizations Believe Lay at The Edges of the Earth?

The first civilizations didn’t have satellites in the sky, mapping every inch of the world in real time. They only knew the parts of the world they’d seen. Everything beyond that, they had to imagine...

Detail, the medieval Hereford Mappa Mundi, “Cloth of the World” in Hereford, England. Circa 1300.

11 September, 2018 - 01:22 lizleafloor

Hereford Mappa Mundi: Legendary Cities, Monstrous Races, and Curious Beasts in a Single World Map

Secreted away beneath the floor of an English cathedral was a large calfskin canvas featuring what, at first glance, appeared to be a map of the world. Once recovered and repaired, the map now known...

Large petroglyphs found in Western Venezuela. Oblique aerial view of western panel on Picure, with interpretative overlay of main engravings.

8 December, 2017 - 22:56 Theodoros Karasavvas

Man and Beast Depicted in Huge 2,000-Year-Old Petroglyphs Revealed in Venezuela

A team of UCL researchers has announced the discovery of rock engravings spotted in Western Venezuela. According to the experts, a few petroglyphs included are some of the largest ever recorded...

Top left section detail of (1593) [The Codex Quetzalecatzin]. [Mexico: Producer not identified] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

23 November, 2017 - 22:57 Theodoros Karasavvas

Library of Congress Obtains Mesoamerican Map from the Dawn of the Americas

The U.S. Library of Congress has recently announced that a unique, indigenous-made map of Mexico from the era of the Nahuatl people's first contact with European explorers is now part of its vast...

Roman Ruins of Timgad (Wilaya of Batna, Algeria). Street leading to the Arch of Trajan.

20 August, 2017 - 01:53 ancient-origins

Mythbusting Ancient Rome – Did All Roads Actually Lead There?

We all know the phrase “All roads lead to Rome”. Today, it is used proverbially and has come to mean something like “there is more than one way to reach the same goal”. But did all roads ever really...

A globe from 1504 that may be the world's oldest depicting the New World is engraved on ostrich egg halves in this photo from the Washington Map Society

1 August, 2017 - 01:48 aprilholloway

Globe on an Ostrich Egg is World’s Oldest Depiction of the New World

An elaborately carved globe made from joining the lower halves of two ostrich eggs is the oldest known depiction of the New World. The 16th century globe had become lost to the pages of history but...

22 July, 2017 - 19:08 ancient-origins

Mysterious Map Emerges at the Dawn of the Egyptian Civilization and Depicts Antarctica Without Ice – Who Made it?

On a chilly winter day in 1929, Halil Edhem, the Director of Turkey's National Museum, was hunched over his solitary task of classifying documents. He pulled towards him a map drawn on Roe deer skin...

5 June, 2017 - 02:08 Sam Bostrom

The Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: Were Humans the First? Part 1

Much of modern science was known in ancient times. Robots and computers were a reality long before the 1940´s. The early Bronze Age inhabitants of the Levant used computers in stone, the Greeks in...

15 May, 2017 - 01:53 ancient-origins

From Christendom to Europe: How a Continent Got Its Identity

It is tempting to regard the history of Europe as a tale of gradually closer union, an evolution now imperilled by the forces of nationalistic populism that have brought Brexit and the growth of far-...

Illustration representing an ancient explorer.

2 May, 2017 - 19:04 Mark Oliver

Did This Ancient Explorer Make It to The Arctic In 325 BC?

The first arctic explorer isn’t who you think. More than 2,300 years ago, Pytheas of Massalia traveled to the Arctic Circle and back – and, when he came home, nobody believed him. In a time when most...

‘Woman With Brown Hair Near White Painted Wall’ and division of the face according to Mian Xiang

27 April, 2017 - 18:58 dhwty

Can Traditional Chinese Face Reading Provide Insight on Your Future, Health, and Character?

面相 (‘miàn xiàng’, or less accurately as ‘mien shiang’) is a type of Chinese divination that relies on the observation of a person’s facial features. Apart from divining an individual’s future,...

19 April, 2017 - 13:56 dhwty

Cartographic Comedy in the 16th century: The Fool’s Cap Map of the World

The Fool’s Cap Map of the World is an engraving of a map of the world, and is thought to have been made towards the end of the 16th century. This map is peculiar as it is framed within the hood /...

Pages

Myths & Legends

Jason and the Legendary Golden Fleece

One of the most fascinating stories of ancient Greek mythology is the story of the Argonauts and the Quest for the Golden Fleece. The story takes place in the era before the Trojan War, when Hercules...

The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History

Lilith: Ancient Demon, Dark Deity or Sensual Goddess?

The Dramatic True Story Behind Disney's Mulan

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

The Lost City of Aztlan – Legendary Homeland of the Aztecs

Human Origins

Religion Isn’t The Enemy of Science: It’s Been Inspiring Scientists for Centuries

Take notice of any debate in the media and you’ll see that science and religion are, and always were, at loggerheads. Science is about evidence-based fact, religion is about faith-based belief.

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

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

The Outstanding Story of Osiris: His Myth, Symbols, and Significance in Ancient Egypt

The Exodus – Scientific Evidence

Ancient Technology

The Ancient Invention of the Water Clock

Today, the ability to keep track of time seems to be taken for granted. One just simply needs to glance at a watch, clock, or mobile phone to know the exact time, even down to the nearest second...

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

Defenders of the Dutch Polders: The Kinderdijk Windmills

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Ancient Places

Kailasa Temple: How Was This Massive Hindu Temple Carved out of a Single Rock?

The Kailasa Temple has been dubbed as ‘Cave 16’ of the Ellora Caves, and is notable for being the largest monolithic structure in the world that was carved out of a single piece of rock. Apart from the temple’s impressive size, it is also remarkable for its sculptures, as well as for the fine workmanship of its other architectural elements.

The White Slaves of Barbary

The Lost Tribe of Clover Hollow – Oldest Civilization in the World Found in Appalachian Mountains?

The Immortals: An elite army of the Persian Empire that never grew weak

The Grim Reality of the Brothels of Pompeii

The tragedy of Queen Ankhesenamun, sister and wife of Tutankhamun

Opinion

Nephilim - Giants - Sons of God And Daughters Of Man

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Who were the nephilim ? The word nephilim appears twice in the Old Testament of the Bible. They are first mentioned in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis and then again in Number 13:33. But their brief...

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

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

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

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.

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